Page 94 of Bonds of Starfall

Cyrus nodded, patting the bed beside him. "Come here, doll."

She did so warily, sitting beside him with the velvet box in her hands. He reached forward and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers skimming the curve of her cheek as she opened the box.

"Oh, Cyrus," she choked out, voice thick with… nostalgia—or was he just tricking himself? Within the box, a dainty bracelet, white gold that glittered with Ryuxia diamonds, red gems which were found only on Sibeth, near the sea. She traced the edge of the bracelet. "This is old, isn’t it?"

"Yeah. Three hundred years, to be exact. I bought it for you months after we met." Cyrus didn’t tell her the rest—that he had snuck into the throne room in the night, her body cold andlifeless on the floor, as he had lain by her side, holding her hand and willing her eyes to open, willing it to all have been a dream. "You loved it. You never took it off," he uttered, gripped by melancholy, except when he found her eyes, he saw the girl he had loved within them; though, the color was different.

Vesperin held the bracelet out to him. "Put it on me?"

She was so, so soft. So, so sweet. He wanted her to be so his.

Cyrus took her wrist, unable to stop himself from kissing the middle of her palm, running the tip of his nose along her flesh, smelling the scent of thick cherries that lingered there. He clasped the bracelet around her wrist, the white gold chain complementing her pale skin perfectly.

"There," Cyrus said, "now you have a piece of our past."

Rin grippedthe steering wheel of the car she had borrowed from Xara. Thankfully, her roommate hadn’t minded in the slightest when Rin had asked. Xara told her she would use Keir’s, while Rin took hers.

Tucked underneath a stack of worn blankets in the back seat, the hilt of Rin’s Echosword gleamed where it poked out. Her Echogun was in the glove box. Their bags were on the floorboard—packed for a week, hoping that was all this would take.

Getting out of assignments had been easy. Rin had broken down earlier at the indoor shooting range, letting tears fall as she made herself remember Kit. Keir forced her to rest, Director Ilsa witnessing it all. So, when Rin had asked for a week off, citing mental health, the Director had been reluctant—until Rin had mentioned Sabine and Talor.

She hated lying, but it was for good reason. To find out if Lucien was truly who he claimed—or had he been playing thevillain all along? When she remembered what they had done only a few hours prior, desire stirred in her belly. He had kissed her like he wanted to consume her, spoken to her like he wanted his demands etched into the fabric of her being.

His dominance had been a surprise at first, but when she thought of how he always took such care of her, she understood that those demands would seep into other areas. After she had found pleasure on his lap, he had whispered such soft words of praise in her ear, making her forget all about her doubt.

Cyrus was quiet beside her, staring out at the city, his cheek resting on his hand, forehead pressed against the glass like a puppy.

The city whirled by in an expanse of high-rises. She took a smaller, less-traveled road that ran by the ocean, concrete barriers set between, staring out at the water as it consumed the Stars speckled above in the near cloudless night. Neither car nor person was in sight.

The bracelet Cyrus had gifted her glittered on her wrist as she turned off the street and onto the highway, the large sign posted by a copse of trees reading,NOW LEAVING SOLAR CITY.

It would have been completely normal, if not for the warning sign posted beside it.Caution. Leaving Solar City can result in death. Be wary. Drive smart. We hope to see you again soon.

"That’s not scary at all," Cyrus mumbled, rubbing his eyes and sinking into the seat.

Her phone beeped in warning, where it rested in the center console. Rin reached for it, one eye on the road.

Cyrus plucked it out of her hands, tsking. "Don’t text and drive, Ves."

The wheel groaned under Rin’s hands. "What does it say?"

He fumbled with her phone, nearly dropping it as he tried to silence it. When he succeeded, the sudden quiet made her neck prickle as the road veered away from the sea into dark woodsand rough asphalt. "Detecting new location. Hunters do not operate outside Solar City. The Hunter’s Hotline will not work. Find nearby emergency hotline numbers?" Cyrus read aloud.

She told him to ignore it, and he set her phone on his lap.

"Ves, this feels dangerous. Should we be doing this?" Cyrus hedged.

No, she wanted to say, instead she sighed. "You don’t have to come. I can turn around and take you back to the dorms. You’ll have to be careful because of Xara, but it could work."

"No. I’m not letting you do this alone," Cyrus vowed.

Rin nodded. "Okay. The only stop between here and Lunar City is Edenville, about an hour outside the Lunar City boundary. We can stop there for gas." She turned to look at him, giving him her full attention. "You will stay in the back seat,hidden. This isn’t one of your games, Cyrus."

His purple eyes grew dark. "Understood, doll." She thought that was it, until he purred, "If you ever want to use that bossy tone in the bedroom, I’m game."

Rin reached for the radio and turned up the volume, the low, moody beat not doing anything to distract her from the flushing of her cheeks and stirring of want in her core.

Fog curled over cracked pavement,the tires crunching as Rin pulled into a small gas station in the middle of nowhere. A lone light flickered in a lamp post.