Page 57 of Ecliptic

“That worked?” I asked in utter shock.

“No. He told me to shove the stones up my ass,” Rowen replied with a forced yet amused smile. “Thus began our negotiations, during which he proved quite shrewd.”

“Oh my god, please tell me we don’t have to endure some candlelit dinner with him,” I moaned. I still couldn’t bear the thought of looking at him.

Rowen made a face somewhere between a grin and a grimace. “I told him he could train with us.”

“Seriously?” I groaned.

“You were pretty spot on with him wanting the candlelit dinner. At least this way, you can kick the shit out of him.”

“I don’t need an excuse to kick the shit out of him,” I said matter-of-factly.

“I know, but what about Dyani?” he asked with a mischievous smirk.

“You’re negotiating skills are impressive,” I said, immediately perking up at the prospect of Dyani rearranging Maddock’s face. I eyed the limited supplies Rowen had packed for our getaway. “I guess we’re going camping.”

22

The sky stretched out like a canvas as the earth crunched beneath our boots. Takoda once said that everything was connected, from the smallest seed to the most distant star, but as I studied the oil-painted night, its ambivalence appeared endless. For what worries could the cosmos have over rocks and men?

“You’d never think anything was wrong just by looking up,” I said, voicing my musings aloud as Rowen and I ventured beyond the village.

“That’s the beauty of it,” he said with a smirk, our rucksack and supplies for the night strung over his shoulder. “That’s why I wanted to bring you here. It has the best views for stargazing.”

“Do many people know of this place?” I asked, stepping over a fallen log.

“It’s long been abandoned, and I’ve never shown it to anyone,” he said, pushing aside a curtain of branches, inviting me to pass through. “I’ve only ever come here alone, but now I want to share it with you.”

I stepped through the tunnel of trees as a hidden meadow unfolded before me. In the center of the secluded sanctuary, theruins of a breathtaking temple emerged like a forgotten dream. “What is this?” I asked in an awed whisper.

“These are the ruins of Fleur Uaine. From what I understand, it used to be a lush and thriving garden temple,” Rowen said, leading me to a colonnade of arches and thin pillars crafted from white marble. The delicate structure looked as though branches and vines had been coaxed into stone but were now slowly succumbing to time. The overhead awnings were full of weathered gaps and tears. But the intricate carvings upon the stone told tales of maidens dancing amidst lush hanging vines, fountains overflowing with water, and foliage cascading in abundance. The ethereal temple, even now in its forgotten ruin, left me speechless.

“It’s beautiful,” I breathed, tracing my fingers along the etchings.

“This used to be one of my old sleeping camps,” he said as if he hadn’t been plagued with misery while searching for this sanctuary. “I found it after I escaped the Crypts the first time.”

My soul flame bond tightened painfully in my chest. Rowen’s memories weren’t even mine, but with our golden connection, they may as well be. I felt his emotions as strongly as my own. It was why I had been so drawn to him and could always feel him near.

An intrusive thought wiggled inside my brain. Had Maddock suddenly felt a swift tug on his heart? Was he questioning why now, in this exact moment, he suffered from a memory he couldn’t quite recall?

I wanted to feel empathy, but all I felt was anger. If Madds was experiencing pain from Rowen’s past, then it served him right for being a bond stealer.

I shook the thief from my mind as Rowen unfurled our bed and laid it in the center of the ruins.

“This is how you used to sleep?” I asked, lowering myselfonto the thin bedroll. I understood roughing it, but this was something else entirely.

“I came here frequently, especially the nights you stayed in my dome,” he said, joining me on our bed for the night. He rested his elbows on his knees and tilted his head toward me. “As you know, I didn’t care much about what happened to me. I used to come here to escape myself, but when you arrived, I came here to escapeyou.”His gaze met mine, dark and swarming with desire. “My will to keep away from you was weak. I knew if I stayed in the village, nothing would stop me from entering your room and taking you in my bed. I considered all the ways I could have you without anyone knowing. At night, after I was seen leaving you, I would steal my way back through the shadows and quietly open your door. I’d join you on the bed and slowly remove whatever thin bottoms you were wearing. My fingers would inch open your thighs to bare you before me. I would trace and tease you until you woke, and when your eyes shot wide, I’d clamp my palm over your mouth, silencing your screams as I sank my fingers deep inside you and made you come.”

Desire flared along my touched-deprived skin, making my mouth water. “That’s what I always hoped you would do. Sleeping in your bed without you was agony."

“I believed I was protecting you. Escaping here. Sleeping under the stars is what granted me the strength to stay away. Though when I used to come here, the land was thick and ripe with life, but now . . .” His throat tightened as he looked at the desolate scene, the dead leaves and vines hanging around us. “Most nights, I’d be lucky if I made it to one of my encampments. I would walk circles around the village, waking to find I’d collapsed from exhaustion, sleeping wherever I fell, my gaze always tilted towards the heavens.”

My heart twisted thinking of the life he’d led after escapingFou. “I know the feeling of using the sky as an escape. It’s what I used to do when I was younger.”

“You once shared with me how you felt trapped in your old life. How you would look at the stars for hours, taking comfort in the fact that somewhere, something was free. Even if it was only a speck of light in the sky.”

“You remember that?”

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