Defy the Sun (Beware the Night #2) - Jessika Fleck Page 0,94

personal trophies.”

“Oh, Nico, thank you so much. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until now.” She strokes the weapon and darts, the leather case it’s in, with care. “The blades I’ve been using are all right but awkward and inferior in comparison.” She throws it over her shoulder. “All better. Like being reunited with an old friend.” Aside from the bonnet and baker’s uniform, Veda is completely aglow. A warrior in her own right. Lunalette.

We stare quietly for a moment, both of us waiting for the other to begin saying goodbye. But the hourglass not too far up the Hill chimes the three in the morning call and does it for us.

“I should be going,” she says, glancing toward the window. “I promised myself I’d leave long before sunrise, and I’d say I’m cutting it close.”

“Right. Of course. And we’ve got everything all sorted? The plan is in place?” I think. I hope.

Veda pats her pocket beneath the baker’s uniform where several medallions jingle. “All sorted.”

Arching up on her toes to reach me more easily, she places her hands at the sides of my face, urges me to stare straight in her eyes. “It’s going to be all right.” She lays a small kiss on my lips. “Ad astra, my love.”

And, my Sun, hearing the words leave her lips sends me into a glorious tailspin. With Veda I’m unstoppable. Invincible. I pull her closer, wrap my arms around her lower back.

She pulls me right back, takes my lips against hers.

I try with all I have to express the inexplicable love and passion and life I experience when with her. Memorize her scent, each tiny ridge of her lips, the divot above her mouth, and the warmth of her skin. The way her hair lays carelessly over her right eye. The beating rhythm of her heart against mine and how her hands find my hair and I can never get enough of this moment.

Veda is the moon, often hidden and ever a mystery. She’s a constant force, yet calming, and always there when I need her. And I’m like the tides. Veda pulls and pushes, but I’m always ready for more. Happily at her command but also working alongside her to balance things. To smooth the storm.

“Ad astra,” I say once more.

Too soon, as quietly as she glided into my bedroom, atlatl slung over her shoulder, she’s gone.

Standing at the window, gazing out onto the palace grounds, the moon shining down, I try to watch her. Somehow protect her.

As if the moon at daybreak, she’s disappeared.

But like the moon, I know she’s still present.

That she’ll shine again, as the turn of the hourglass, in due time.

CHAPTER 22

VEDA

Why did it take me so long to see it?

To see him?

I’m light as a cloud … Drunk on Nico—my own personal strain of moonroot. But unlike moonroot, this sensation leaves me with all my senses. I’m clearer, more focused than ever. Sure, I can’t get the images of his lips, his warmth, his skin against mine out of my mind.

My stomach spins, and I blush reliving the not-so-distant memories. One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was walk out of his bedroom just now and not look back.

There will be time for that, Veda.

Time enough.

For now? We have a plan.

Nico and I … together … We can do this.

When I return to the Lower, Imi, Xavier, and Dorian are waiting for me in my cave.

“Well,” I say, avoiding Dorian’s eyes, trying not to think about our conversation yesterday. That he knows I spent the night with Nico. “Did something happen?”

Imi stands. “We”—she motions to the three of them—“just wanted to be sure you got back. If not, we”—this time she’s sure to show she’s included Dorian in this—“were ready to go up and find you.”

“Thank you. All of you.” I’m sure to catch Dorian’s eyes. The look he gives me hurts. Not near as much as I’ve hurt him—I know this. “I’m fine. I got in and back out without issue. Raevald was actually gone, so that wasn’t a concern. And—” I turn toward Xavier. “Am I the only one who doesn’t know about Salazar?”

His eyes go a bit wider. “No, now Imi knows too.” So Dorian did know. And the Sindaco, I assume.

“What?” Imi says, looking back and forth between us. “Salazar? As in the High Regent’s assistant?”

Xavier nods. He’s unable to escape the smile slowly stretching across his face. “We’ve been working together for a while now.