Page 117 of Heavenly Bodies

‘I brought you here because it reminded me of the day you first used your powers properly. We soared into the sky, into the clouds—’

‘I remember,’ she said. ‘Of course I remember. I turned around and thought how happy you looked. Howhandsomehappiness looked on you.’

Soft music began playing from the square far below, the sound of a love song and a muffled stream of piano drifting up with the scent of roses.

An almost pained look shot across his face as he extended his hand to her. ‘Dance with me, Elara. Properly?’

Enzo rested his hands on Elara’s hips, hesitant. Watching her every reaction. His eyes were steady, the topaz and honey that she found herself constantly seeking. Her breath hitched, and he held his eyes on her as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Then without saying a word, they began to move.

It was not the sinful, lust-fuelled dance that they had performed below. Instead, it was a soft swaying, an excuse to touch. The music seemed to soar up to meet them, and the duskbirds ceased their singing as night fell.

A cool breeze tickled Elara’s neck as Enzo spun her, holding her with her back to him. They stayed like that, swaying as his hands gripped her front. She was aware of every part of her skin that touched his. His breath caressed the bare nape of her neck, and fire shot down her spine. She stiffened, the intensity of her feelings leaving her torn.

Elara knew that if she stayed, if she let her heart give in to that moment, the present as she knew it would disappear.Something cataclysmic would change between them, and she would be completely at fate’s whim for whatever hurt came from it. But she was sick of her destiny being in the hands of the Stars. She wanted something for herself, wanted to ignore the prophecy—just for a night.

So she looked up heavenward, felt the hard, broad presence of Enzo’s body behind hers, and with a sigh, she dropped her head back against his chest.

It was a small shift, a soft gesture.

Yet the world rocked.

He moaned softly behind her, somewhere between a whisper and a prayer. The emotion in that one wordless sound crumbled all resolve in her, and she turned. Enzo’s eyes were soft and open, never leaving her face, his hands still on her waist. As the ballad reached its crescendo, he took a step closer and cupped her jaw with one hand, the other now caressing her hair.

They held that moment, a millisecond that could have been a lifetime.

Time stopped as they peered into each other’s souls, a question on both their lips.

A breath.

Then his lips were on hers, and sparks flew off her in showers of white.

His touch was soft but insistent. Desperate, like a pilgrim searching for a Star. All she had been searching for was in that kiss. The world finally made sense. She grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him closer, wanting to devour the very essence of him. He broke away to whisper on to her lips, and she moaned, pulling him to her, falling deeper into the kiss. She was dizzy with it, the ache and want, unsure as she kissed him how she had ever gone so many days without his lips on hers.

Suddenly, there was a loud boom. An explosion of light painted the rose sky, causing Elara to break away, startled. She looked to Enzo, lust-drunk, his lips swollen. Flashes caught her eye, cascading from the sky in droplets.

‘Lightworks,’ she whispered, turning back to him. ‘Was thatyou?’

‘I told you that this kiss would be one for the ages.’ He grinned, pulling her back to him as he flicked his hand. Another kaleidoscope of sparkles painted the sky.

‘You took your sweet time,’ she breathed.

He gave a half-smile and murmured: ‘It would have been bad luck not to, today.’

Carefully, his lips trailed her cheeks, her eyelids, her jaw as she whispered his name again, savouring how it sounded on her tongue.

‘Gods, I love my name on your lips,’ he whispered, before crushing his mouth to hers again. She revelled in him until she had to come up for air, gasping.

‘I don’t know how I didn’t do this the first day I met you,’ he said, the words guttural as his hands squeezed her waist.

She pressed her forehead to his. ‘Me neither,’ she whispered back. They both smiled into each other, sharing a breath.

‘My, my, what a sight to behold.’

Elara spun at the sultry voice as Enzo swore loudly, shifting himself in front of her.

Torra appeared through the clouds, every bit the Star of lust and beauty that she was. Her hair fell to her waist, and her face—no longer covered in the mask from the Asterian ball—was even more eye-wateringly stunning. Her full lips curved into a smile, revealing perfect, pearly teeth. There was a figure behind her, still partially shrouded by the clouds and difficult to make out.

‘Torra,’ Enzo said coldly.