Page 29 of Craving Stardust

I nodded.

“Who braced my broken leg? Who went out in the night, all alone, and somehow got a huge ship like this,” He slapped the side of his vessel, “onto a cart and brought it here to hide in her barn?”

I straightened my shoulders. “I did that.”

“Who then held me through the night when I had a fever.”

“Me.”

“Don’t tell me you’re not special. Don’t tell me you’re not brave. There’s no one else like you, Iris. No one.” He stroked his knuckles down my cheek. “Remember that.”

His words brought tears to my eyes and a knot to my throat. It was all I could do to swallow it down.

“I’m going to miss you, Lordek. So much.”

He dropped the tool and gathered me into his arms, just holding me longer than he should, longer than I should take. But I sucked down his warmth, greedy thing that I was. Until I stepped back and gave him a nod. I’d be the brave person he said I was because he was right. I had to be that Iris when he was gone.

After he’d finished repairing the wing, he moved on to one of the engines mounted on the back of the ship. I followed, ready to run for anything he might need.

He worked surprisingly fast, but maybe that part of the ship hadn’t sustained much damage. Once he was done with the engine, he moved inside.

Looking around, he grunted. “I don’t need to fix much here, thankfully. I’m nearly done.”

I stood in the hatch opening holding a jumble of tools, my eyes stinging. Nearly done meant nearly gone from my life forever.

Finally, he left the ship and took the tools from my limp hands. He started down at me, gorgeous with a smear of grease across his face, his eyes alight with both excitement and sorrow.

“It’s done,” he said. “I believe it’s flightworthy now. I can leave soon.”

“What about fuel?” It couldn’t take regular old diesel or gasoline, but what did I know?

“The exterior generates power as the ship flies. Resistance. It converts the friction to energy and transfers it to the engines.” He glanced toward the ship. “Thankfully, none of those sections were damaged in the crash.”

“What’s next then?” Dread coiled tightly inside me. Soon, it would snap, and I wasn’t sure what would be left of me. Nothing, probably. How could there be?

I wanted to grab onto him. Cling to him. Never let him go.

But he was starlight drifting through my fingers, and there was no holding on to something like that.

He tugged me into his arms again. “I don’t want to leave you. I want to stay with you always. Treasure you for the rest of my days.” Leaning back, he looked down at me with love in his eyes. “I wish I could. I’m so sorry. Maybe we shouldn’t have been together.”

“I’m glad we had that. I wish we could have more. Never regret what we did together.” Tears trickled down my cheeks, and he wiped them away.

He kissed me, his mouth searing across mine, branding me in a way nothing else every would.

I pressed myself against him, holding him. If only we could stay this way forever, just us without the world intruding. Love shouldn’t hurt this much.

No one should be allowed to tear us apart.

And that’s when I heard footsteps outside the barn.

TWELVE

Lordek

“Wait here,” Iris hissed at me as she raced toward the front of the barn.

Forget that.

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