Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
JUPITER
The sky was bone gray, a colorless morning that made the woods look like something out of a horror flick.
I needed to get out of the tower. Away from the academy.
I found myself headed for the forest, boots crunching old leaves and moss at the edge of the path.
I followed the path down to the pond, where the gentle drum of the waterfall was the only sound.
It was private and somewhat isolated, and since I already had luck with the pixie, maybe a kelpie or two would grace me with their presence.
I stripped off my hoodie, peeling it over my head, and tossed it onto a rock.
The leggings went next, leaving me in a sports bra and underwear that basically counted as a swimsuit.
The first toe hit the water and I sucked in a breath.
Fuck. It was a lot colder than expected.
I gritted my teeth and waded in up to my knees.
The chill bit at my skin, but I forced myself deeper, up to my waist, then chest.
A sound broke the silence, a low, steady splash. I blinked, peering through the mist. There was a body moving in the water, slicing through it with grace, and there was an ever so slight golden glow emanating from the water around him, steam rising into the air.
Aiden.
For a second, I just floated there, feeling like a creep. He saw me eventually and stopped at the edge of the pond and leaned back, supporting himself on both hands, chest gleaming with droplets, golden eyes fixed on me.
“Didn’t expect an audience,” he drawled, voice like honeyed whiskey with a mean edge underneath.
I rolled my eyes and tried for casualness, as if my heart wasn’t hammering itself to death behind my ribs. “Relax, I’m not here to interrupt your brooding.”
His mouth twitched. “You’re welcome to brood with me anytime.”
I waded deeper in, shivering, his gaze dragging up and down my body, setting every nerve on fire. The water was so damn cold, but in a way it felt good. Refreshing even. But my teeth were chattering, and I had no idea how long I could stand it in here.
For a second, neither of us said anything.
The only sound was the waterfall. The golden glow around him began to expand like sunlight on the water, until it reached my abdomen, encircling my body entirely.
Then, the entire pond began to glow and turn warm, as if Aiden were the sun himself.
Perks of having Leo fire at your beck and call, I supposed. At least I could stop shivering.
I swam out a little deeper, the warm current swirling around my legs. We were only a few feet apart now, close enough that I could see the gold flecks burning in his eyes. He watched me with hunger so raw it was almost violent.
I looked away, focusing on the line where the mist met the surface. “You swim out here a lot?”
“It helps,” he said. “Burns off the energy. The anger. The restlessness.”
I knew exactly what he meant. I felt it in my own body every fucking day.
“Does it help enough?”
He shrugged again. “Nope. Not really.”
We floated in silence, letting the water and the quiet fill the spaces our words couldn’t. Eventually, I paddled closer. “You know, you’re not bad company when you’re not actively threatening to kill someone or pretending to be an asshole.”
He snorted, but his eyes softened. “Don’t tell anyone.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
We drifted together, the current pushing us toward the embankment wall beneath the waterfall.
The sound got louder as we approached, the air filled with mist. He ran a hand through his long golden hair, slicking it back, and then he looked at me like he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words.
“Spit it out,” I said, my chest tight. “Whatever it is.”
He hesitated, and for just a second looked a little nervous, which for Aiden Reece, was extremely weird to witness.
“I heard you,” he said finally. “This morning with Eris.”
My heart detonated. The heat flushed up my neck and out across my cheeks, so intense my vision went spotty. “You… what?”
He grimaced, looking away. “Didn’t mean to. Your walls were thin and I couldn’t shut it out even if I tried.”
A flush like molten lava rolled down my spine. “Oh my god.” I threw my face in my hands and shook my head before splashing them into the water with a groan.
“You should know… it wasn’t just me. I think we all heard.” He looked away, and even slightly guilty.
My face was so hot I thought I might actually die. “Yep. That’s fucking mortifying. I think it’s time for me to find the nearest cliff and take a swan dive off of it.”
He shook his head, lips twitching. “Don’t worry, you’ve still got your mysterious cool girl aura locked in.”
I arched a single brow. “I have a mysterious cool girl aura?”
“You know you do,” he teased, splashing me a little.
Still, I rolled my eyes. “If only the world knew the real me,” I said wistfully.
“Oh, you mean the you that for some reason has an ungodly amount of Twilight merchandise, and tries to fish for pixies with marshmallows in the dead of night?”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “You’ve been listening to Noodle, haven’t you? Such a gossip.”
I drifted a little nearer, letting the water push me lazily sideways. We floated in silence for a second, except for the low roar of the falls and the gentle lap of warm currents against my ribs.
Then he asked, as if he couldn’t hold it in anymore, “Are you happy here?”
I took a breath, looking up at the sky, so beautifully gray and endless. “Yeah. I think I am. It’s weird, right? It’s not what I pictured for myself a year ago. But Imperium…it feels like home to me somehow.”
He nodded, and I could see the relief there, a tension in his shoulders unwinding, just a little.
I swam in a slow circle around him. “But if I’m being honest, there’s still this part of me that’s terrified.
Like, actually, ‘I can’t breathe and my chest hurts and I want to puke’ kind of terrified.
I know I’m supposed to be the one to open the way home, to bring everyone back to the home worlds, but the thought of actually leaving, of stepping through and not coming back…
I don’t know if I can do it. Earth is all I’ve ever known. All any of us have ever known.”
He was quiet for a long time. Then he moved, pushing off the bottom and closing the gap between us, just a foot or so.
“I get it. I feel the same way, if I’m honest. It’s fucking terrifying.
But also…” He paused, searching for the words.
“Part of me just wants to see what’s out there.
Not for the Assembly, or the Order, or anyone else.
Imagine it. A whole new planet to explore.
No rules. Just us. And those who want to come with us.
That’s kind of fucking exciting, actually.
I mean, literally repopulating a new world.
Not to be cheesy or anything but that sounds like the adventure of a lifetime. ”
I laughed, and the anxiety in my chest began to ease for real. “You’re saying you want to repopulate a planet? That’s a lot of stamina, Reece.”
He grinned. “You want to question my stamina, Black? Because I can put that one to bed right now, if you want.”
My cheeks must have been crimson, but I didn’t look away. “You’re awfully full of yourself, you know.”
He drifted a little closer, the current swirling around us, the heat of his magic turning the water hot like a jacuzzi. Then he sobered, jaw tightening. “There is one thing, though.”
“Yeah?”
His eyes flicked up to mine, a furrow between his brows.
“If we do this…if we open the portal, I kind of wish there was a way to keep my dad off the new worlds entirely. I can already feel the Assembly plotting. They’re going to bring all their bullshit with them, wherever they go.
I’d rather leave them here, let them rot on Earth. ”
“You think they’re even going to just let us go when the time comes? That easy?”
He shook his head, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “Nothing’s ever easy with them. But if it was up to me, I’d portal my father and Charles Callahan straight into a black hole and let the home worlds rebuild themselves without all the old parasites.”
I smirked at the mental image. “If you want, I could ‘accidentally’ open a portal that drops both of them onto a comet headed for deep space. Oops, my bad. Portal navigation is so tricky, you know?”
He laughed, and the deep sound made my heart do a traitorous little skip. “I’d pay good money to see that.”
“I accept tips,” I said.
Without warning, he ducked under the surface and disappeared into the shadows behind the waterfall.
For a second I thought he’d decided this conversation was over, but then a golden glow flickered behind the sheet of crashing water, and I realized he’d found a hollow—a cave or maybe just a niche carved out by centuries of spray, hidden from the rest of the world.
He reappeared, hair slicked back, eyes burning bright and golden. “You coming, or are you scared the kelpie’s gonna get you?”
I swam after him, the warm current making it easy, and found myself ducking through the waterfall into a small cove. The sound was deafening for a second, but inside, it was calm and private, the stone arching overhead, the water glowing gold where his magic lit it from beneath.
I surfaced, shaking the droplets from my eyes, and before I could make a joke about secret lairs, his hands were on me.
It wasn’t slow, and it sure as hell wasn’t gentle.
He crashed into me, lips hungry and desperate, hands cupping my face and tangling in my hair.
The heat of him burned straight through the water, and his mouth tasted like sunlight and fire.
He gasped when I kissed him back, genuine shock shivering through his body. I pressed closer, and he groaned. His hands slid to my back, pulling me flush to his chest, and the strength in his arms made my head spin.
He broke the kiss just enough to breathe my name. I ran my hands through his hair and wrapped my legs around his waist, anchoring myself to him. He shuddered in my arms, and I felt the pulse of his magic, the golden warmth now turning hot enough to steam the air.
He buried his face against my neck, kissing and biting down the line of my jaw, my throat, my collarbone, until I was shivering for a completely different reason.
“I’m sorry,” he said, voice raw between kisses.
“God, I’m so fucking sorry, Jupiter. I never should have hurt you.
Please, please, just tell me you can forgive me, tell me you don’t hate me.
I can’t stand it. I can’t stand knowing that the one time I was inside you, you hated me. I can’t fucking stand it.”
I pulled back enough to see his face and his sunlight eyes wild. I cupped his cheek, made him look at me.
“Hey,” I said softly. “It’s alright, Aiden. I mean it. We have time to figure this out.”
He made a broken sound and pressed his forehead to mine, his grip on my hips tightening. When I rocked against him, I felt how hard he was, the line of his cock straining through the wet fabric between us.
He kissed me again, rougher this time, as if he was trying to erase every bad memory with the force of his mouth. I ground myself against him, feeling the heat bloom low in my belly, sending sparks into my fingertips.
“Show me,” I whispered. “You said you regret that I hated you the one time you were inside of me… Why don’t you fix that right now.”
He slammed me back against the stone wall, pinning me there with his body.
The water crashed around us, cutting us off from the world, making everything else fade away.
He kissed me until my lips tingled, and my head spun, hands roaming down my back, under my ass, and he lifted me easily, bracing me against the slick rock.
The pressure of him between my thighs was perfect, and I moaned into his mouth without shame.
He shoved the wet fabric of my underwear aside and found me already soaked, not just from the water, but from months of wanting this, months of denying this.
He groaned, and sounded almost pained. I bit his shoulder, hard, and he hissed in pleasure.
“Don’t fucking stop, Aiden,” I snapped. “You want to fix this, then let’s fix this.”
He freed his cock with one hand, the fabric of his trunks shoved down just enough. He was thick and hot as he lined himself up, and for a moment, just hovered there, forehead pressed to mine, eyes searching.
He pushed in, slow at first, stretching me around him, filling me deliciously.
The sensation was wild, a shockwave of exquisite pleasure that eased the sting of every bad memory, every ounce of shame or regret.
He bottomed out, and for a second, we just hung there in the water, breathing each other in.
Then he started moving. It was nothing like the hate and anger and violence of our first and only time. I wasn’t trying to hurt him. I wasn’t trying to get revenge.
He fucked me through the water, driving me into the stone, his cock hitting every perfect spot inside me. Every thrust made me moan, made me dig my heels into his back and pull him closer, harder, deeper.
He kissed me the whole time, lips and tongue and teeth, until I was dizzy with it, apologies tangled with moans. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I need you, I can’t stop needing you, please…”
I shut him up with my mouth, biting his lip until I tasted blood. We moved together, desperation turning to rhythm, rhythm turning to ecstasy. The water steamed around us, the golden glow rising and falling with his thrusts, bathing us in light.
I came first, the orgasm ripping through me so suddenly I screamed into his shoulder, my whole body locking up as the pleasure crashed through every nerve. He felt it, felt my walls clench around him, and he lost it too, slamming into me one last time and spilling himself as he groaned my name.
We floated there, the world gone quiet except for the crash of water and the sound of our breathing. My legs trembled around his waist. I couldn’t feel the cold anymore. All I felt was the heat of him, the weight of his arms, the wild, dizzying thump of my own heart beating against his chest.
He held me like I might vanish if he let go as his mouth found mine. He kissed me like it was the only thing that kept him alive, hands turning gentle, slipping up to cradle my jaw, thumb tracing along my cheekbone, brushing away water and tears I hadn’t realized were there.
I opened my eyes. He was already looking at me. “If I ever hurt you again, and I don’t mean petty little arguments, I mean if I ever betray you, if I ever break your trust or make you feel small, you kill me where I stand. That’s all I deserve. I mean it.”
He meant every single fucking word. I could feel the conviction through our shared bond. His regret was so potent it was staggering. But there was also relief. Knee-buckling relief, telling me he was all in.
For a second, I just stared at him. Then I laughed. “Be careful what you wish for, Aiden. I’m a lot meaner than I look.”