Page 119 of Starborn Husbands

“Ah, ah, ah. No, we’re not calling me that. I’ll admit that it’s too weird of a lie to make up, but I’m not accepting it yet.”

We’re also missing too many pieces of this puzzle. Why would someone make me super powered only to want to kill me? Does my mother have something to do with it?

“I do believe you, though, about your father yanking you back to Heaven. It doesn’t change anything.”

“Stop being so stubborn. You don’t even love the Centaurus.”

“No,” I admit. “But I don’t love you either. I’m incapable of loving anyone.”

Merrick crushes my hand. “Why would you think that? That’snottrue. Did he tell you that?”

I force him to let go of the hand in his iron grip. “I don’t have time for relationship drama. We’re going to find a way to undo whatever was done to me. If you care about me so much, help me.”

He yanks his shirt sleeve down. “Alright.”

“Alright? No argument?” His lips twitch. “There is no cure for being turned, is there? You were merely going to participate in my wild goose chase.”

Merrick shrugs. “If there’s a cure, I don’t know of one. I’m more than happy to remain by your side while you look.”

I heave a sigh. “C’mon, then. This place has got to have a library somewhere and maybe we get me some more of that custard.”

“I knew you’d like that custard.”

Comfortable silence settles between us as we lace up our boots. He hasn’t put his jacket on, and I’m hit with a powerful gust of gardenias.

Lying by the lake. Waking up in his bed. Kisses pressed along every inch of my body.

“You’re staring. See something you like?” he murmurs.

Yes.“No. I told you; this,” I say, gesturing up and down my body, “is off limits for a turn around the sun. If I’m not dead by then, we’ll talk to Zhang.”

“You’re not going to be able to … never mind. I’ve waited a hundred years for you, I can wait one more.”

* * *

Orange heat drifts across my face. My forearm doesn’t make for a great shield against its blinding luster. “Zhang.Zhang!Shut the damn curtain. Some of us like to waste the day away.”

My nostrils are accosted with gardenias before a pillow lands on my head. “I am not that bumbling buffoon. Get up.”

Shit. So, none of that was a nightmare? My lids are glued shut, but I roll onto my back, hoping the sun can finish the job and pry them open. I don’t want to deal with today, or anything else going on.

Icy tingles shoot down my spine, arching my back in a cat-like display of reflexes. My eyes open wide, meeting the dangerous stare of the world’s angriest archangel. “You need to get up, and you need to get up now.”

“Did you just use angel juice on me?” A pile of clothes lands on my torso. “Shit, there trouble?”

“You could say that. Your friends are here.”

“And that’s a big deal because?”

“They won’t take no for an answer.”

I smile. “Sounds like my friends. We’re talking about Zhang, Gem, and Atlanta, right?”

“I assume Atlanta, but he hasn’t shown his face. Only Zhang and Gemini were admitted past the gates of Atlantis and escorted into the ethers.”

Something moves under my skin, tripping and trilling. Bright light threatens to burst from my skin, but it’s like it knows it’s tempered by the king’s bracelet, and so it sits there, taunting it, a perfect reflection of my personality. I place my palm over my Zhang rune—the marriage one, I’m calling it my Zhang rune now.

“You didn’t rat Atlanta out?”