Page 119 of Heavenly Bodies

‘Let alone see how it floods your mind,’ Eli muttered.

‘Get out of my damn head, Eli,’ she snapped back.

He shrugged, lips twitching.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Torra,’ Elara continued.

Torra sighed. ‘This isn’t the road I wanted to go down with you.’

‘Then answer me this. Why me? Why this prophecy? I’m to fall in love with Ariete? So why do I—’

She paused, breathing through her nose for a moment. She glanced around once to confirm Enzo was too far away to hear.

‘Why do I feel the way that I do if I’m destined for another?’ She paused. ‘Is the prophecy even real?’

‘Everything that has been foreseen for you is to happen in divine timing,’ Eli replied impatiently. ‘If we reveal more, it could change the course of your path irreparably.’

Elara gave a cold laugh. ‘Ah, yes. The Stars always writing our fate in the skies, then doing nothing to help us. We’re puppets to you.’

‘No,’ Torra said vehemently. ‘The prophecy rings true. But so does what sings in your heart. I can feel it.’ She lay a palm over Elara’s chest. ‘Look deeper, Elara.’

She moved her hand to cup Elara’s face. Torra smelled of honey and almond milk, and Elara’s heart ached a little to look at her beauty. The Star’s gaze flicked to Eli. ‘I think you’re right,’ she said to him.

‘Right about what?’ asked Elara.

Torra’s eyes grew sad. ‘I cannot tell. But I hope you prove us correct.’ She dropped her palm.

Elara heard running footsteps and whirled, Enzo doing the same from the corner where he stood.

Merissa came into view up the path, golden hair streaming, Isra behind her.

‘Time’s up,’ she said. ‘Your glamour won’t last much longer, let’s…’

Her voice trailed off as her gaze flicked between Eli and Torra, finally resting on the Star. Merissa grimaced.

‘Hello, Daughter,’ Torra said, smiling.

Merissa’s lip curled as Enzo’s and Elara’s eyes widened. ‘Hello, Mother.’

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

‘Mother?!’ Elara exclaimed. Her eyes flew between the two women. ‘Tell me this is some kind of joke.’

She heard Eli chuckle as utter horror grew on Merissa’s face. Isra was gaping at her.

‘Yes,’ said Enzo, stalking over to them. ‘Please tell me this is a joke, Merissa. Please tell me that I haven’t been hosting the daughter of afucking Starunder my roof for years.’

Elara looked at Merissa, then Torra, as the glamourer paced closer to the Star—gods, how had she not seen it before? The green eyes, the honey-streaked hair. Merissa had always had an otherworldly beauty to her, how had it never registered—

‘How did you never see what she was, with your magick?’ Elara asked Enzo.

‘It must be because she’s part-mortal. Whenever my magick swept over her, it just saw the human parts of her.’

‘I missed it too,’ Isra said faintly.

Merissa threw her mother a look of pure loathing. ‘No one knows,’ she said to Elara, her voice shaky.

‘But it’s impossible for Stars to bear children,’ Elara pressed.