Page 112 of Fallen Stars

“What is?” Leo asked.

“His life-giving powers,” Elara said.

“Lifegiving?” Merissa exclaimed.

“I thought it was just a story Eli was telling me, but it’s true. It’s all true,” Elara said shakily as she remembered the other part of his tale. The part about her.

The crab scuttled off Isra and back onto the bed, running along to Elara. She smiled, feeling Enzo’s power within it as she held it in her palm.

Enzo turned to look at Elara, whose heart was soaring for him. It made all sense that her Lion would bring life to all he touched. He had done the same to her, had honed his light and helped her grow and bloom, shedding the darkest chains around her heart. Enzo’s eyes were shining with excitement.

“How does it feel?” she whispered. She tried not to think that while her love had gained a power, she had lost her shadows. And her useless silver light was doing nothing but writhing around in her stomach, though she now had an inkling of what it may do.

“It feels…like taking a deep, clean breath after eons surrounded by smoke and fire. It feels like the light warming my face. It feels…like a part of me. Like hope.”

Elara’s eyes softened as she took Enzo’s face in her hands. “That’s what you do my love. Everything you touch blooms. Everyone turns towards you for a glimpse of your light. You are the centre of the universe. Of my universe.”

Enzo brushed his lips against hers, and Elara felt that same spark again that she had in the throne room, her magick rising up to meet his, despite all her attempts to quell it. His lips were warm and sweet as honey, and she realised she could get addicted to this—this feeling of utter warmth and replenishment that bloomed from his skin under hers.

Merissa cleared her throat gently, and the two broke away, Enzo fully shining again, a golden haze around his form.

“El,” she whispered, her voice tremoring.

Elara looked around, noticing everyone’s eyes on her.

“Enzo must be bringingherpowers to life,” Leo murmured as they all continued to stare.

Elara looked down at her open palm and the glowing silver emanating from it.

But it was what was within it that had everyone’s attention, and Elara’s heart nearly stopped. All that remained of the little crab was a pile of silvered dust, as though the piece of driftwood had simply…crumbled away. Isra was regarding her, and she forced herself to meet the seer’s gaze.

“Soulmates,” Isra said roughly. “Two perfect counterparts, pure opposing forces that are drawn together through more than magick.”

“Oh gods,” Merissa whispered.

“What?” Enzo asked, stroking her hair. Elara nodded, her theory confirmed.

“Remember when I read your fortune?” Isra breathed. “I saw cold silver light, so cold that it burned. Your moonlight. And I felt in it what you were, though then I did not know. I told you that the only cold I had felt like that had been from the dead.”

“Between life and death is only dusk,” Elara recited. “Eli gave me a clue in his dreams. Dusk. He was referring to the twilight hour, where day and night meet. Where both the Sun and the Moon shine in the sky. And he was telling me what we once ruled over.”

“What does it mean? Or have to do with Enzo? And the dust now coating your hands?” Merissa asked.

“It means,” Elara replied, “that if Enzo rules life, then I rule death.”

Chapter Forty

Eli sat in a small caféin the quiet streets of Concordia, sipping a meltedchocolat. It was a fairly new delicacy for the kingdom, and Eli had to admit, it tasted delicious. He wasn’t sure how menacing a God drinking sweet treats was, but for the moment he didn’t care. He was exhausted and wrathful.

All hell had broken loose once the Sun had awoken. Eli had been forced to return and face the wrath of a freshly awoken Ariete, who was murderous after realising that Elara had stolen Enzo’s tether from him and branded him with a moon. Eli had bitten back a smile as he’d seen Elara’s handiwork, the crescent cut stark against Ariete’s throat.

But Eli felt there was something the king wasn’t telling him, that if he was truly so angry about Elara duping him, he would have left The Ruby and chased her ‘til kingdom come. Instead, once the god had calmed down, he’d been almost…subdued. Content, even. Which unnerved Eli even more.

On top of that, the other Stars, fucking idiots that they were, had set a bounty on Elara and Enzo’s heads. Verra, Scorpius, and Aquaria had led the charge after the Sun had awoken, and since Eli had been a little preoccupied, he hadn’t gotten back to the heavens in time to stop the farce. But again…surprisingly, it hadn’t been Ariete who had begun the hunt.

As if that all wasn’t enough to keep his mind occupied, he’d been called back, yet again, to Concordia.

And in the kingdom of love and romance, he had spent the last hour observing the beautiful subjects of the realm while imagining beating Lias’s perfect face repeatedly into a pulp. Eli was no one’s lackey, and yet it was Lias who constantly expected Eli to clean up after the god of love’s messes.

---