Chapter 15
Fifteen
Zellie
As it turns out, the trove has been within reach the entire time I’ve been in Astralis.
The southern part of the city has been undeveloped for a reason—to keep citizens away from where the Kosmos keeps their most prized possessions.
While the training grounds are located in the same region, the space is so large that it only takes up a small fraction of the area.
According to Orion, the trove is built at the edge of the world and is difficult to access.
I’d expect nothing less, honestly. Apparently, Orion makes an excellent spy, as he spent the past few days sleuthing and following the officials responsible for keeping inventory.
The trove is well guarded and requires a grueling cliffside climb, but I’m well acquainted with climbing and heights these days.
What treasures could the trove hold that the Kosmos goes to such lengths to protect?
Certainly more than moonstone, that’s for sure.
Orion and I sit facing each other across the island, a bowl of ice cream being shared between us. “Let’s go then,” I suggest.
If we weren’t eating something so easily meltable, I swear Orion would be choking on his bite. He tosses the spoon down with a resounding clank into the bowl. “‘Let’s go’? Stars above, Zi, we can’t just storm the place. We need to plan, map this out, calculate our moves.”
“Or we just go,” I shrug, dragging the bowl to me to steal the next bite. Mint chocolate—Lenny would have loved this flavor.
“Your spontaneity is going to be the death of me.”
“You love it; just as much as you love me.”
I’ve ruined the fun and easy moment, replacing it with something far more awkward and sincere. Orion finally responds, “You’re not wrong.”
My cheeks flush, the ice cream failing to cool my heated skin.
Rather than lean into the moment, I do what I do best and sabotage the moment further, blurting out, “I saw Leo.” He needs to know, I want to keep our communication as open and honest as possible…
especially if this thing between us is going to work.
I give Orion credit; he remains cool and calm, his eyes readily trained on mine.“And?”
“He apologized. Explained how he made a deal with the Kosmos in an effort to protect me.”
A flicker of flame lights behind his hazel eyes. “So you’ve forgiven him, then?”
I shake my head, biting my cheek. My words have the power to change everything, causing this moment to hold weight.
“I told him that it doesn’t change anything.
I think…” I pause, uncertainty and fear of laying myself bare causing me to hesitate.
But I trust my instincts, and I trust Orion.
“Our relationship was over long before I stabbed him, but the moment the dagger sank in, it severed whatever fragile thread still bound us. I’m no longer the person I was then, and I don’t want the same things that I once did. ”
“What do you want, Zi?”
“You,” my voice is barely a whisper.
He rounds the island, his hands cupping my cheek as he traces my jawline with a free finger. “You’ve had me from our very first moment. I’m yours.”
I nod. “I know. You’ve been so patient with me.”
“Are you certain?” It’s his turn for his tone to turn hushed.
“It’s you and me, Ri. I can’t explain it, but ever since I gained my magic, my attraction to you has increased tenfold. I can’t resist it.”
“I know. I feel it too. I think our magic calls to each other.”
Our magic pulses in time, desperate to tangle in the charged moment.
I gasp at the urgency, the inward tug towards him.
My lips part, brushing against the pad of Orion’s thumb.
He grips my chin firmly, pulling me towards him.
As his head dips in, my stomach flutters like a galaxy of stars breaking loose across the night.
We’ve kissed before, but the moment didn’t hold the raw sensitivity that this does.
I feel exposed, susceptible. I close my eyes, moving to close the distance, feeling his breath fan across me.
Knock, knock, knock. “Zell?”
I sigh against Orion, my vision filled with green eyes, ringed in brown, complete with golden flecks.
“It’s Jada.”
“I gathered as much. Do you want me to go?”
“I don’t, but our last conversation didn’t end well.”
“I’ll leave you to it. We’ll catch up later.” He presses a kiss to my forehead before distancing himself and star-shooting out of my apartment. I sigh, looking at the abandoned bowl of ice cream. This wild range of my emotions is going to be the death of me.
I couldn’t recall a time between Jada and me that was ever so awkward.
We stare at each other in a stubborn showdown, wounded pride and hurt hearts lingering between us.
We’ve only had a handful of fights over the course of our lives, most of them when we were younger and dumb.
But I do know one thing—despite her impeccable acting of being mad at me and giving me the silent treatment, Jada always breaks first. I settle into the sofa, ready to wait this out. She came to me after all.
As predicted, she all but bursts, “They’ve offered me a job.” Wait, seriously?
“Will you be moving here, too?”
“No, I’ll travel from Lunara.”
“Good enough to visit but not good enough to live here, then. A shining example of how the Kosmos treats humans and what they truly think of us.”
“I don’t know, Zell. They seem sincere. When they reached out about opening up their world to us, it felt like they were trying to right their wrongs. They’re trying, why shouldn’t we give them the benefit of the doubt?”
“Because they don’t deserve it.”
“We’ve believed in the Order our whole lives, Zellie. Do you expect me to just stop?”
“I expect you to believe me.”
“And to drop what I’ve trusted my whole life without another thought? What exactly do you believe in, then?”
“Myself.”
It feels like so much and nothing at all has changed between us. She’s worlds away from me, even sitting right here. But she is here—and that alone is everything.