Page 36 of Shattered Stars

“You don’t get to decide when this partnership ends. The only way it’s terminated is if I say so.”

“Why? You don’t want to be partnered with me and I sure as hell don’t want to be partnered with you.”

“That’s not what your magic’s saying, piggie,” he says, snatching my hands in his.

I gasp, the bond in my body sparking immediately and my magic firing into life. I should snatch my hands right away from his grasp but the feeling is incredible, like a shot of ecstasy right to the veins.

“Don’t let go,” he murmurs, his gaze locked with mine, his face the most attentive I’ve ever seen it – intelligent, cunning – not that bored rich boy he always tries so hard to project.

But I couldn’t let go even if I wanted to. Our magic is already teasing one another; mine swerving and dodging around his and his leaping and chasing after mine. It’s as if my magic has a mind of its own – a mind determined to frolic with Tristan’s. Like two puppy dogs wanting to play.

His magic tries to catch mine, but it darts away and then our magic is dancing together, pulling out of my control as it twirls and twists like a dizzying spinning top above me.

I can’t help but laugh, the colors so bright, so perfect, streaking against the clear fall sky.

He grips my hands tighter. But it’s not like before, not violent or controlling. This time it’s as if he just doesn’t want me to break away, as if he never wants to let go.

“It’s stronger,” he whispers. “Stronger than before.”

And I think it is. This is the first time I’ve unleashed my magic in days, since I sealed the bond with Stone, and although I suspected as much, I didn’t know for sure. Now I feel just how vibrant and powerful it truly is. I wonder what I could do with it, how far I could push it, how much I could do.

Our magic breaks away, dancing over the tall pine trees that line this side of the meadow. For a minute we watch it shooting above the treetops like fireworks streaking through the air. Then, with my hands in his, I pick up my feet, taking chase after our magic.

“Come on,” I tell him breathlessly, catching a glimpse of his emerald eyes, as deep and lush as the grass all around us.

He smiles at me and we follow our magic through the trees, out of the meadow, away from the others, and to the brow of the hill beyond.

We’re panting now, my heart hammering in my chest and he swings me around to face him again as my magic streaks up into the air like an arrow from a bow and his shoots straight after mine. With my hair dancing in the breeze, I fling my head back to watch our magic, soaring higher and higher until my head tips so far back, I lose my balance, Tristan tumbling with me to the soft ground below.

Then we’re rolling, down the slope, over and over each other, our magic spinning so fast the colors blur into one, merging with the picture of his face, the green of his eyes, the gold of his hair. And I’m laughing, the feeling so freeing, so pure, so beautiful. So magical.

We roll for what feels like forever, until there’s no more slope, nowhere else to go and we land at the bottom of the hill, his heavy weight pressed on top of mine.

The magic stops spinning. It hangs sizzling in the air all around us. Like it’s waiting. Like it’s holding its breath.

My heart thumps. My bond shimmers. My body thrums.

Time stops.

Tristan Kennedy stares down at me, straight into my eyes, and then he kisses me.

11

Spencer

I’m watchingthem from the corner of my eye the entire time. I can’t help myself.

They were paired together. By the principal. Why?

And why wasn’t it me?

And why the hell does Tristan seem so damn pleased about it?

He hates the girl. Or so he says. I’ve also never seen him as obsessed with anything or anyone like he is with her. Not that the majority of students or teachers in this school would notice. He does a very good job at acting nonchalant. But I see it, recognize my own fucking behavior in it too.

“Spencer,” Dan says, snapping his fingers in my direction. Does he want a fucking beating? “Are we doing this or not?”

I roll my shoulders and nod but when he takes my hand in his, I jerk it away.