Page 42 of Starfall

Elias

T hankfully, Darren didn’t remember a thing about his encounter with the star maiden who broke his nose.

I went to see him after Nash and Wyatt had to haul me and Connor apart, the blond giant sporting a black eye.

I winked at Connor before walking up the steps to the boss’s office.

It gave me immense joy when he growled in reply.

Darren had been seated at his desk when I entered, barely acknowledging me other than to ask how training went. When I brought up his nose, he got a dazed look in his eyes and gently touched the busted and bruised cartilage. “Mugged?” he said, wording it like a question.

At least Ari’s power lasted.

That was when I hunted her down. She’d vanished from the arena just as the fight had gotten good. A part of me deflated when I glimpsed the empty stands, but I finished Connor off as quickly as possible to see where she ran off. Obviously not far, as our bond would have had me screaming otherwise.

Oddly enough, I located her in the red room where fighters got ready before showcase or championship matches. The door had been sealed shut, the keyhole on the outside melded together.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” I asked her for the third time since we left Darren’s. She’d been too quiet, her brows stuck in a furrow. “Someone had to have messed with that door…”

It could’ve been a competitor. Another fighter who wanted my spot and saw Ari as a way to mess with me. Fighters had done far worse in the past.

“I told you I’m fine. No need to worry about me,” she argued, but that confused look on her face didn’t vanish. Not even when I offered to cook dinner for her.

Better than crunchy eggs, but I’d never tell her that.

My mother used to cook a delicious baked potato and cheese dish originating from Father’s side of the family. After watching her toil in the kitchen for hours as a child, I recalled how to make it.

Ari took a seat at the table while I brought out my ingredients and set a match to the gas stove.

An hour passed in comfortable silence—me cooking, Ari finally getting up to snag a book from my modest shelves.

She took the book back to the table and read, a smile taking shape on her lips.

I sighed, my shoulders loosening as she lost herself to the tome of fairy tales my mother had once loved.

“Tell me if you hate it.” I shoved the plate before her minutes after the dish cooled, impatient to hear her opinion.

She set the book aside and laughed, the sound sweet and light. “Are you nervous? You only get that scrunched-up face when you’re pissed or nervous.”

“You’re picking up quite the vocabulary,” I said, taking the seat opposite her and crossing my arms. “And I’m not nervous.” Fuck, that sounded weak even to me.

Ari shook her head before grabbing a fork. Carefully, she dug in, the smell of fresh cheese and potatoes filling the apartment. She sniffed it and sighed, her eyes briefly shutting.

“Well, go on. Don’t just smell it.”

“Then stop using your angry voice.” She glowered but slipped the forkful into her mouth.

I nearly died when she released a deep moan.

“All right. You can continue to use your angry voice if you cook like this.” She scooped up another bite with more fervor, her cheeks red with delight as she savored my father’s recipe .

I leaned back and crossed my arms, smiling like a fool. I sat there and watched her finish the entire plate, my chest tightening.

“Thank you for dinner.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed. I hadn’t realized I’d reached for her until she pulled away to stand.

“Wait.” She paused, her body half turned toward the sink. “You didn’t eat.” Before I could say I’d make myself a plate, she already scooped a huge helping onto a clean dish and brought it to me.

“Thanks.” I looked up as she set it down, our eyes instantly locking. My hand drifted to her hip, resting on the curve of her body. It felt natural, this dinner of ours. Too fucking natural for me to let myself like it.

I quickly dropped my hand at the thought and stared at the plate, my stomach churning. Ari cleared her throat before vanishing, likely to the safety of the bathroom. The awkward silence descended in her absence.

Shit. All I’d envisioned when I grabbed her hip was pulling her onto my lap. Feasting on her lips rather than the meal sitting in front of me. I wanted to feast on other parts of her as well…

This time, when Ari left the bathroom wearing one of my long shirts, she grabbed the spare pillow and a throw blanket. My heart sank as she settled on the floor and rolled over, giving me her back.

Ari

Two more days passed.

Elias and I would venture to the bakery in the morning, and he’d buy me treats before I snuck into the red room.

Xavier didn’t return.

Why I wanted him to return baffled me.

Elias asked me to tell him if the being—Xavier—ever returned, but I kept the visit from him. Even the ring resting in my shirt’s breast pocket remained a mystery to Elias. I despised myself for lying, but he’d been acting differently around me.

After our kiss, he’d been gentler. At least by his standards. When he begged me to change his wish, I knew that we toed a dangerous line. Not that I didn’t want to cross that line either…but the heartache of it all might wreck me, and I couldn’t abandon my mission.

Staying strong was all I had. If I failed, I’d fail Lily. And that wasn’t going to happen—screw my own happiness. A happiness that would be short-lived if I lived my life knowing I brought my family suffering.

Xavier had been attempting to tell me something before Elias interrupted, about a way to get everything I ever wanted. A real life. It seemed too implausible to be true.

Each night that I settled on the floor—ignoring Elias’s robust arguments on my sleeping arrangements—I yearned for Xavier to show up in my dreams. He couldn’t just leave me without finishing his theory, not when I felt so very close to teetering off some invisible cliff.

Yet he never appeared there, either.

It was the third day of training, and I made a nest on the lounge in the red room. Liv had brought me some books, claiming “Elias has no taste,” and I currently indulged in a tale about a fairy and a mortal that made me blush every other page. I couldn’t put it down.

So lost in the book, I didn’t hear Elias’s knocking until he hovered over me.

I jumped, much to his chagrin. “What are you reading that’s making you so red, lass?” He cocked his head, trying to read the title, but I hastily angled the cover down, heat traveling from my cheeks to my neck.

“Nothing,” I said too quickly.

“ Mmm , I bet Liv got you hooked on her favorite author,” he taunted playfully. “I’ve learned a lot from those books.” He winked, and my stomach somersaulted.

Shutting the book tight, I shoved it beneath the blanket. I’d have to finish the story later. It was just getting to the good part.

“Are you done with practice?” I noticed he wore his usual black trousers and shirt rather than his red shorts. Shorts, I did not think about when I closed my eyes at night .

“For today.” He shifted on his feet before he said, “We have the first night of the festival, and I thought you’d want to go.”

“But Liv told me she would be off work soon,” I protested. Liv at my side would be the distraction I needed. Elias cooking for me at night, and the brief brushes of bare skin were growing too much to bear.

“You’ll see her soon enough,” he promised. “Besides, she can keep an eye on you at the festival in case Darren sends someone for me.” I scoffed at the idea of a babysitter. “He always gets anxious before a match like this.”

“You’re no fun,” I grumbled, shoving up from the lounge. I smoothed my wool jacket, making sure the long sleeves covered my fingers. I’d been brash tonight, wearing Xavier’s ring, but it complimented my costume. That was the lie I told myself.

Elias’s gaze traveled downward, pausing on the gap of my opened coat. A glimpse of my borrowed lace corset peeked out, and his eyes narrowed, darkening.

My ears heated, and I forced myself to look away. Maybe borrowing Liv’s outfit hadn’t been a good choice. Not with how Elias barely breathed, his muscles rippling at his neck. I held myself back from unbuttoning the rest of my jacket.

“Well.” I sauntered over to him, my heart jumping the entire way.

He never broke contact, his yellow-green eyes glued to my body.

Slipping my arm through his, I smiled coyly, met only with another scowl.

“Ready, brute? I’m excited to see this grand festival you haven’t shut up about.

” He didn’t get the irony—the man barely spoke of the festival.

“My expectations are extraordinarily high.”

“As they should be,” he whispered, tightening his hold on my arm. “Tonight…tonight should be a dream, Ari,” he added, staring at me long enough for my heart to skip several beats. I knew what he meant. What he implied. “I hope it’s everything you imagined.”

He dropped his head when I didn’t speak, and I stole a glimpse of him, watching his throat bob. The simple words had given away his desire, and with it, the vulnerability he often tried to hide.

But not tonight. Tonight he knew the invisible clock was running out, and that whatever magnetic pull that lay between us would vanish .

Night one of the festival had arrived. And in two days, my life would change forever.

I slowly turned away, a decision settling in my chest. I gripped his arm tight, and in reply, he pulled me closer.

All I could choose now was how I spent my time—if I wanted to dream with Elias for just a little while longer.

Together, we walked out the door and into the night to make our own dreams.