Page 39 of The Tenth Muse

“You sure as fuck do.” I rubbed my hands together, thinking of where we could go for a little privacy. “Got it.”

My courtyard was shrouded in high shrubs, keeping us away from any watchful eyes. The sky was starting to shift into night, that time of day when the stars were winking awake, but there was still a bit of orange mixed in with the dark blue. The moon wasn’t shining yet, but it would be soon. The faint curve of it peaked behind sporadic wispy clouds. Some of the flowers were puckering shut for the evening, appearing like stunted buds. But I’d been out here enough to know they’d be awake and unfurled by the morning. The others were still open wide, bringing bright color into the mostly green space. Zuri let out a sigh as she dropped onto the chair, her limbs hanging loose at her sides. She hadn’t been sleeping much, being worked from the moment she woke to the moment she slept. The other night, she fell asleep sitting straight up—in the middle of a sentence. I had to take her to her bed and cover her with blankets.

Zuri was stubborn, not wanting to let me get her out of these duties. Maybe I could convince her now that I wasn’t even involved in the wedding anymore. Why would my handmaiden be needed if I wasn’t needed? There was only a slim chance she’d agree, but maybe I’d try. Her head hung off the back of the wrought iron chair, and I moved behind her. Placing a gentlekiss on her forehead, I watched her eyelashes flutter with a hint of a smile. Even exhausted, she was a work of art. Her light brown curls were still in perfect spirals, even with all the running around she’d done.

She still hadn’t moved, so I bent down further and kissed both of her eyelids. I felt her pupils move before I descended to her nose, then her mouth. Her lips moved against mine, and I nipped at her as I smiled.

“I can help you relax,” I said without breaking contact.

“Hm, how do you propose you do that?”

“I’m more of a show, don’t tell kinda girl,” I responded.

Before she could respond, I swept her up with my air magic, leaving the chair behind and bringing her to the thick padded grass. The fact she didn’t try to figure out what I was doing, didn’t even try to open her eyes, made my chest warm. She fully trusted me, and I couldn’t ask for too much more.

The first thing to go was these dreadful clothes. Heavy, boring fabric that I’d never put on my body, let alone Zuri’s perfect form. She sighed as each piece came off, leaving her in just her underwear and a camisole. The urge to slide them down and taste her almost overcame me, but it wasn’t the time. I must have spent too much time lingering with the thought because Zuri peered down her body at me.

I smiled coyly and lifted her bare leg, working my thumbs into her calves. She groaned, and I thought maybe I had hurt her for just a moment before the pure bliss spread over her face. Opening a small portal to my bathroom, I grabbed a jar of cream and set it down beside me. The smell of it was divine—crisp and minty—but it also was supposed to help with soreness. I scooped up a bit of it and warmed it in my palms before I rubbed it into her skin. The muscles in her thighs were tighter than her calves, and I kept going until I didn’t feel any more knots.

I kissed from her ankle up to her hip, and somehow I had even relaxed myself in the process. The arch of her back had me pausing, but she had been rubbing her neck and shoulders earlier, so I sighed as I flipped her over. The curve of her ass was definitely worth it. I straddled her back as I kept rubbing, using the base of my palm to really get into the problem areas. Her skin glistened as the moon finally showed her face, and while I was definitely doing this so Zuri felt better, I couldn’t help but enjoy myself.

I studied the length of her neck and the freckles across her shoulders that were a perfect match to the ones on her face. They looked so much like stars, and I wanted to learn every constellation. I swept her hair to the side to make sure I didn’t accidentally pull it … definitely not the time for pulling on hair. Even if the thought had me biting my lip. I’d thought that the way vampires got their blood was vicious, but part of me understood the impulse as I rubbed my fingers up and down her neck. I scooted back to sit atop her ass and made sure her lower back got just as much love. When Zuri was basically a puddle on the ground, I hopped off her back and watched as she stretched with ease.

“You don’t know how bad I needed that,” she sighed.

Judging from the amount of knots I’d just released … I did know. The moon was full, a spotlight directly on the courtyard. I laid down beside her and put my head in the crook of her neck. The smell of the cream still wafted in the air, and we both let out a sigh at the same time. This was something I hadn’t done in quite some time, lying in the grass and simply staring up at the night sky. Zuri’s fingers tangled with mine, her middle finger tracing the lines of my hand without her looking.

“What do you see when you look at the stars?” I asked.

She didn’t respond right away, and I tilted my chin up to look at her. Zuri watched with intent, as if she had to remind herselfof what she saw. I watched the stars glimmer in her irises, the moonbeams grazing over her brown skin. She closed her eyes, and I thought she wasn’t going to respond until her lips parted.

“I remember looking up at the sky as a child and wondering what the stars were. I thought they were glowing bugs, then I thought they were precious gems. Of course, I was educated on the reality, but I still like thinking of them as gems. My brother leaned into my beliefs and said that when we died, our essence was turned into a jewel and launched into the sky.”

She rarely said anything about her childhood other than the fact that it hurt too much to talk about it. I didn’t want to scare her off or make her feel like she needed to retreat and hide again so I stayed quiet.

“That one.” Zuri pointed to a bright cluster with whims of blue and green bracketing it. “That’s him.”

I pulled her closer to my chest, pushing her curls out of my face and tucking them behind her ear. She hummed against me, a song I didn’t recognize, but it evoked emotions within me. It was hard to determine if it was sad, or bittersweet. I felt each note ring through my body, even thought I felt a warm tear through my shirt, but I didn’t ask any further questions.

“When I was little, my mom told me they were pockets of power. Similar to what you said, but the opposite. She told me that power waited up there to be reincarnated, that every time a witch was born, a star fell from the sky and into the soul of the baby. The Amapolas came from the brightest stars. It always felt like there were more and more stars each year as we struggled to keep our numbers up through the war.”

The coterie room was my favorite place to look up at the night sky. With the domed ceiling and the openings between the beams, it was something like an observatory. I’d sit at the top row of the room, and I’d map them. There was even a time I talked to the stars. Of course, I didn’t expect a response, butsometimes, it felt like they were the best listeners because of that. With not many people I could turn to for help, it was nice to get things off my chest. So I’d sit out there and talk to my ancestors, to the souls who would be born again.

“Let’s say we’re both right.” Zuri rubbed her cheek into my side.

“Let’s say.”

We stayed beneath the twinkling sky, watching as a few of them shot across the wide, dark expanse while keeping each other close. I was the calmest I’d been since being sent to Sanjry. The most in tune and … the happiest. Zuri’s friendship, and whatever else it was we were, made me truly happy. The fact I couldn’t stay here with her forever beneath the sky hurt. Not only was it something that needed to be kept from my fiancé, but it needed to be kept from my mother. If she found out, it wouldn’t end well for any of us. There were no limits to what that woman would do to keep her power. Absolutely none.

“What are we going to do,” I whispered.

“I don’t know,” she answered, the words seeming to bubble up around us. Neither of us knew. It could all be taken away in a moment.

“I don’t even want to have to doanythingwith him. Let alone marry and …”

“You might have to.” Zuri’s hand snaked up my side and to my jaw. “Where else can we go? I know what you’ll have to do. I’ve made peace with it. I just want toberight now. Just be in this moment.”

“Okay,” I said, even though I really wanted an answer.

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