Page 50 of Starfallen
“I wish you would’ve stayed with us, kitten.”
Silence for a few seconds.
Is she thinking the same thing? Is she regretting my return? Is she imagining how much better her life was before I wedged myself back into her world?
Like air being blown over a glowing piece of coal, the fury in my heart flares hotter.
“No,” she whispers. “I love that cave. As much as I care for both of you, I wouldn’t have been happy anywhere else, not after losing him.”
I drop my gaze to the dirt at my feet. She’d been alone for weeks while I’d made my way back to her. The look on her face when she’d realized I truly stood before her—alive, whole, and free—had been like stepping into a pure ray of sunlight.
How long has it been since I’ve seen her face filled with that kind of joy?Too long.
Still, she sits here in the safety and protectionI’vebeen working for and spills her heart to Rhys, of all people?
“Tilly,” Harper asks. “What was the surprise?”
“The baby.” Tilly’s voice brightens.
Everything within me stills, my focus hyperaware of her breathing, of the lilt in her tone, of the faint smell of sunshine and citrus that always emanates when she’s around.
What does she mean, the surprise was the baby?I creep a tad closer, barely daring to breathe.
“Awe, I can’t wait to meet him, Tilly. What are you, six months along now?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, you look positively radiant,” Harper gushes. “So what was the secret that couldn’t even entice his demon father to come visit?”
“Be nice, Harper,” Tilly says.
A low grumble comes from the other woman, but she doesn’t say anything else.
“He started kicking for the first time today. It was one of the happiest moments of my life. It felt like he was turning somersaults and trying to rearrange my ribs.”
Harper squeals and Rhys chuckles.
But me? I clutch the side of the hull and gasp.
She begged me to come home so I could feel the baby kicking.
Sick to my stomach but furious at the same time, I’m unwilling to hear anything else. A desperate, insane urge swarms through me to move, to do anything but listen to this torture.
I storm up the ramp and stomp into the ship until I reach the back of her chair.
Rhys and Harper’s faces are on a floating holoscreen. They sit side-by-side in a darkened cockpit, probably another skirmisher from the looks of the design.
“Red,” I snarl, my attention only for my wife. “Why didn’t you tell me that’s why you wanted me to come home?” I twist her chair around until I can see her face.
Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Rhys leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head, his face probably shining with satisfaction at seeing me squirm.
Tilly jumps, then her eyes round for a moment before narrowing in on me. “Because it was asurprise, Jareth.”
“But...but...” Words fail to form. Betrayal, shame, pain, and guilt tumble in my heart and in my head. I can’t get ahold of which emotion hurts the worst.
Betrayal.That’s what burns hottest. “If you would’ve told me why, I’d have come home immediately.” It’s hard to get the words out clearly through the rage erupting in my bones and blasting through every pore of my skin.
My eyes flick to the screen. Harper’s staring with avid interest and Rhys’s lips are curved into a smug smile as he watches my face.
