Page 24 of Fallen Stars

He tentatively placed a hand out, shocked to see that it simply pushed through the invisible wall.

He looked back only once to the cottage before stepping through.

Before him was a river, explaining the sound of rushing waves. The ripples shimmered, fleeting colours running through it. Images, he realised. Was that him in the water? He lunged forwards, getting a closer look. A flashing image flowed past, one of him and Elara on a dragun.

His breath fell shorter as he leaned further, his hand grasping the water as though he could hold the memory himself. And the minute he submerged that hand, a deep calm came over him. As though the river was washing away his pain, his memories, until only the good remained.

He sighed deeply, allowing the water to flow over his skin, to pull him further into its current. Both hands were now in it, Enzo on his knees in the grassy bank. His eyes fluttered shut as the water flowed like silk over him, and everything went dark.

Enzo’s eyes flicked open, surveying his surroundings. He was already walking, the air familiar and dry, a clamour meeting his ears. His eyes widened. He was in Helios.

“What the fuck?” he whispered to himself. He couldn’t control his body as it walked, as though it had its own free will. He tried to turn left, but his body turned right. Tried to speak, but his tongue wouldn’t move. And so, he gave in, wondering what in Stars’ name was happening.

And then, thoughts began to pour into him. He began to blend into the fabric of this reality, and suddenly it dawned on him that this was a memory.

Enzo stormed down the dusty Sol paths, spitting out every black curse he knew as he chased Elara through the city. Not only had she insulted him, but she had insulted Isra too before spinning and storming out of the house in that prim way of hers.

He was pissed off, more by the way the princess had looked at him as she had accused him of all sorts of treacherous things, including the Borderland Fires, than anything else she had done.

He ground his teeth as he turned a corner. He was pissed off with Isra too. Butnotbecause she had nearly hurt Elara. He couldn’t care less if the wayward princess had gotten hurt.

‘Liar,’ the irritating voice of truth said in his mind. He clicked his tongue.

“Shut the fuck up,” he hissed back to it. Having the sight was a pain in the ass, particularly when he accidentally used it on himself. Turning a corner, he heard shrieks and laughter, and he knew he’d found her.

Elara was on the ground, the stupidly pretty gown she had on covered in dirt and dust as Rico pummelled her on the ground with his ball.

“Mercy!” she shrieked in that smoky voice of hers. Gods, the Asterian accent was annoying.

“I can see the gold I paid you was worth it,” he drawled. The light in Elara’s eyes snuffed out as she looked at him, that familiar sneer taking over her features. He hated how she looked at him, hated even more how charming she was with everyone but him.

She was still angry with him. He could see it in the way that she charged on ahead with her horse moments later, veering off in the wrong direction every five seconds. She was so damn stubborn.

His irritation had gotten even worse when he’d had to pull her onto his horse and practically force her to do as he wished. She sat in front of him, hair that looked like silk cascading down her back as she swore at him, his arm a vice around her middle.

“You have a filthy mouth for a princess,” he hissed.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she drawled back.

His arm tightened against his will as an image flashed through his mind, of her mouth wrapped around him, showing him exactly how filthy it was.

He tried to focus ahead, shaking the image, but his only view was of her raven hair… His mind wandered, thinking about how it would feel wrapped in his fist and his cock twitched in his pants.

For fuck’s sake, Enzo. Get it together,he thought to himself. He hated Elara. Hated the way she made him feel. Hated the physical reactions she elicited in him without even saying a word. But he was a man. It was normal to feel a physical attraction to a woman with looks like hers, even if emotionally, he’d rather be burned alive than fall for Elara.

She was spoiled, entitled, and vain. And an Asterian no less.

‘Those words sound an awful lot like your father’s, not yours,’that small voice whispered again. He clenched his jaw, shaking his head.

Almost to try and punish her for the way she was making him feel, Enzo decided to taunt her right back. He knew she shared the same sentiments that he did. She hated him. And yet…he’d seen her leaning over her balcony and admiring his body. He may have flexed a little, shown off with Leo when it had happened.

But that was all this was between them.

A physical attraction.

“Is that an invitation?” he finally murmured against her neck.

A deep satisfaction settled over him as he felt her shift in the saddle, for once no smart retort to give.