Page 66 of Shadows of Stardust

I nudge her with my shoulder. “Hey, would it be so bad? Fame and a lover… or two? Plans have a way of changing, you know?”

She huffs a laugh. “Yeah, I guess. And youwouldknow.”

A bit of color climbs my cheeks, and my eyes drift back to the game, where Zandrel is surprisingly still in the thick of things. And, even more surprising, he seems to beenjoyinghimself. Or, at least not in acute distress over having to socialize.

Despite his initial standoffishness, Zandrel is… making friends. Wild.

Or maybe all the guys are just star-struck over having the chance to hang out with a living, breathing member of the Aux. Honestly, all things considered, that possibility isn’t entirely far-fetched. They’re practically in danger of bursting a blood vessel with the way they flex and posture when he’s around.

But still, Zandrel’s making an effort. And it’s earning us even more brownie points with production.

“Howareyou and Zandrel?” Juni asks, interrupting those thoughts. “Things seem… better.”

I swallow around a wave of guilt.

There’s no way I can tell Juni what Zandrel and I are actually up to. Not that I think she would run off and tattle to production, but it’s just… too much of a risk.

Still, I feel like an ass for keeping it from her.

“Yeah,” I say, and that guilty pit gets even deeper. “We’re good.”

“How could you not be?” Juni asks with a dreamy sigh. “I mean, look at him.”

Powerless to stop myself from doing just that, I turn my eyes back to the game.

Zandrel is shirtless, and with the benefits of the dark shades covering my eyes, I let myself admire him for a few long moments.

The plated ridges on his arms and shoulders continue onto the broad expanse of his chest. Like a full suit of living armor, they cover his torso, contoured around his pecs and abdominals and lower. The ridges continue all the way to dip beneath the waistband of his black swim shorts, and I can’t help but wonder if—

No. Not going there.

Sure, the Revexoran iskind ofhot.

Maybe.

By some people's standards.

But we still barely trust each other. We’reusingeach other to get what we want while we’re here, and letting my thoughts stray down any other path would be monumentally stupid.

So I shut down that train of thought immediately.

For the sake of the performance, though, I give Juni some murmured non-answer, hoping it’ll be good enough.

I should have known better.

“Oh comeon,” she says. “You can’t be blasé, not about that. Not abouthim. Have youseenhim?”

“Fine,” I huff. “He’s… attractive.”

She gapes at me. “Wait. Is this some kind of human thing? Some weird hangup about admitting how fuckable your big, handsome—”

“It’s not,” I hastily assure her. “I just…”

Flailing helplessly, and with a hovercam drifting close enough to Juni and me to be privy to the conversation, my eyes land on Zandrel.

Only to find Zandrel staring right back at me.

And, if I had any confidence reading his thoughts in all the hard, stoic lines of his face, I’d say he almost looks… smug.

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