Page 84 of Starchaser
“Aster Oberon?” she asks, her voice clear and calm. “Ah, itisyou, isn’t it?” Her eyes brim with warmth, but her smile is merely polite, as if it were an afterthought. “I’ve heard so much about you. It’s a pleasure to finally meet.” She extends her hand to me, and I shake it, noting her strong grip. “My name is Eva Mercer.”
I glance at her daughters, fawning over Will.
Oh.
“Lovely to meet you,” I say, my smile feeling out of place on my lips.
She follows the direction my eyes darted, nodding slowly. “I assume you’ve already met my daughters?”
“Briefly.”
She offers a coy smile. “I see.” She taps her nails on her wineglass. “Well, surely you must understand how important it is for a girl to marry well. I believe Lord Castor will make a fine husband for one of them—if only he’d hurry up and choose.”
I feel as if I just took a cannonball to the face.
Choose? Marry?
Will?
I wet my lips to speak, to say something—what, I can’t possibly begin to know—when Eliza appears at my side. She looks as if she’d rather be anywhere else, her eye twitching, lip slightly curled, but her expression shifts as she plasters on a wide, charming grin, the portrait of geniality.
“Eva, darling!” Eliza kisses the air on either side of Eva’s face. “You’re here! How marvelous. You know, a few people have been just dying to make your acquaintance, and who am I to deny them? Come, come,” she says, ushering Eva toward the banquet tables. “Oh, and your lovely daughters, too!” she adds, smiling sweetly.
Eva glances at me, then Will, her eyes narrowing before she calls out, “Girls! Girls! Come along, leave Lord Castor be.”
Clemson and Davina groan in unison before blowing Will a barrage of kisses as they trail after their mother. When their backs are turned, Eliza glances over her shoulder at me, jerking her head in Will’s direction.
Thank you, I mouth.
She winks at me, leading the group of women away.
“We’ll have to be quick,” Will says, his voice low and deep. He closes the gap between us in seconds, taking me by the hand and leading me out a door in the glass wall that lines the plaza and down a crumbling set of steps near the balcony railing. “Theceremony will start soon, and if I’m not already out on the water, I’ll be forced to share a boat with those two.”
The waves lap at the stone staircase, water spraying my arms, my face. When we reach the bottom, Will helps me into an ornate wooden rowboat, the seats littered with both rose petals and the purple petals of his beloved mystiks. The moment I’m seated, Will takes the oars, rowing us out to sea. Not too far off, party guests have begun to depart from the dock there at the castle harbor, dozens of rowboats making their way into the bay, but Will makes a point to row us in the opposite direction, keeping a reasonable distance between us and them.
The sun slips below the horizon, and for a moment, the world seems to hold its breath. Slowly, the stars twinkle into being, silver beams of moonlight penetrating a wispy cloud overhead. And the water… deep sapphire blue.
I reach out, my fingertips gliding across the surface of the water, as soft and as cool as silk. The sensation stirs something within me, and a feeling of contentment seems to settle in my chest, soothing my aching heart.
“I met Eva,” I say, unwilling to look at him, although I feel his gaze on me. I watch as lanterns float above the surface of the water, drifting up from the dozens of rowboats littering the bay, their golden light illuminating the darkness. “If Titus were to obtain the cure… you would marry one of her daughters, wouldn’t you?”
I take his silence to mean guilt, but when I look at him, his mouth gapes with open shock.
“You can’t honestly believe that?”
I mirror his surprise, my brows raised. “Why wouldn’t I? In all the time we’ve been here, you’ve done nothing butentertainthem.You’re a Nightweaver, Will! And I’m—” I half-laugh, half-groan. “I’m a human—a halfling! We both know this was never meant to be. Regardless of the law, I will always be a pirate, and you will always be the great Lord Castor. But these Mercer girls… suppose the Order asked you to marry one of them—would you do it?”
Indignation and laughter war in his features, his brow furrowing, lips twitching, before he finally gives in to the latter. “Aster, your mother asked that I get close to the Mercer girls to ensure Eva Mercer follows through with the bargain she’s made with the Order.”
I struggle to take a breath, the tight band around my stomach hindering my every attempt. “And I’m supposed to take your word for it?”
He drops the oars, running his hands over his face. “Of course not,” he says, gaining some measure of control over his composure. “Ask your mother—ask Killian, he knows! Eva Mercer has agreed to allow the Order’s naval forces through her trade route, enabling the attack set to take place tomorrow, on the day of the wedding. I just need Eva to believe for one more day that one of her daughters is set to enter a beneficial marriage proposal, and then I will never,everhave to speak to them again. Ever.”
I want to believe him, but… he promised he wouldn’t keep any more secrets from me, and yet that’s all he’s done. What if this is who he is, and of all the secrets he keeps, I am his biggest secret of all?
He leans forward, taking me by the hand, suddenly serious. “It has been the worst form of torture having to remain apart from you—having to pretend as if I’m not going out of my mind every minute of every day that you’re not by my side.” His thumb strokesmy knuckles, his other hand coming up to brush my cheek, and I think I see tiny dark green veins peeking out from his sleeve, as if the curse were trailing up his arm, into his fingers. “There is only one girl I wish to spend the rest of my days with—that I wish to spend my final hours with, however few they may be, and she’s sitting right here, in this boat, looking more beautiful than the stars themselves. And you’re right,” he adds quickly, wincing as if in pain, “I can’t give up. I won’t. Even if I turn, I’ll keep fighting for us. For our future together.” Our gazes meet, his green eyes ablaze with emotions so intense I almost look away. “I love you, Aster.”
The air whooshes from my chest at his admission. He’s going to fight for us—for our future.
