Page 34 of Craving Stardust

I bequeath all my worldly possessions to Tessa Mayfair. I’ve left Earth with the alien in his ship and I won’t be coming back.

You work hard, Tessa, and I hope you’ll enjoy living in the farmhouse. Sell it and buy something else if you don’t want it. Sell the bookstore while you’re at it, because that’s yours too. I’ll create a new one or something like it when I reach my new home. None of this can replace your beloved Robert, but whoever said money doesn’t make life better was born wealthy.

Love you. Thanks for being my friend. I’m going to miss you!

Iris.

With one last look around, I whispered. “By Grannie. Grampie. Thank you for all you did for me. You gave me a new chance at life when times were tough, and I’ll never be able to thank you enough for that. I’m taking you with me in my heart.”

Katie meowed as I grabbed her crate and my bag. I raced out the side door and ran to the barn.

The government vehicles were loud on the road; they must be near. Hopefully, the huge maple trees lining the driveway would block the house and barn from the road long enough for us to escape. They couldn’t know to come to my house first. They’d ride by slowly, looking everywhere before stopping and investigating each house.

I ripped open the barn door and stepped inside the cool darkness.

“Lordek?”

When I flicked the light switch, I found the barn empty.

SIXTEEN

Lordek

When I left Iris sleeping, it was all I could do to drag myself from her snug home.

If I stayed, and her government came for me, would they eventually let me see her? I’d do anything they asked as long as they let us be together.

It might be worth whatever they’d do to me as long as I could touch her face and gaze into her eyes one last time.

I suspected that would not be the case, however. Armed and dangerous and shooting on sight, per the words spoken by the male and female on the boxed screen told me they wouldn’t care if I lived or died. There was a good chance I wouldn’t survive long enough to reach wherever they’d take me. If they planned to experiment on me, it might not matter if I was alive. As for seeing Iris again, would they allow someone they considered dangerous to touch another human?

If my ship was gone and there was no evidence I’d been here, they might leave her alone. I clung to this shred of hope, and with that in mind, I rushed to the barn. I quickly strode around my ship, making sure there weren’t any pieces lying around to show it had been inside the building.

After opening the barn doors, I mounted her green farm vehicle and started it—something that took me too many moments to figure out. I engaged the craft and tugged the cart holding my ship from the barn and around to the back. With it hidden behind the building, there might be enough time to lift off and flee this world before they arrived.

I turned off the vehicle and rushed to the front of the barn, securing the doors once more. Then I ran back and lowered the stairs to the ship.

Pausing at the top, I stared in the direction of the farmhouse.

If only I could see her again, touch her again. I just wanted to hold her. Love her. Why was that forbidden?

“Goodbye, my stardust,” I whispered. “I love you.”

Life would be so stark without her.

“I’ll dream about you every single day of my life.” I closed my eyes but only briefly. I didn’t have time to think about her, to mourn. There would be plenty of time to do that during the long voyage to my home planet.

I was stepping inside the ship when I heard her cry out. Pausing, I watched in dismay as she rounded the barn, rushing toward me with a pack on her back and a box made of hard gray material jostling against her leg.

“I have to leave. Please, return to your home, Iris,” I said. “Pretend you never saw me, that you don’t know me.” It was her only chance to remain safe.

“I can’t. Please.” She grabbed onto the thin rail running up the side of the stairs. “Take me with you.”

“What?” I stepped down to the ground beside her, gaping at her, actually. I must’ve misheard her. “That’s not possible. You—”

“I want to go with you wherever you plan to go next, Lordek. I mean it.”

“I’m done exploring.” My hearts no longer ached to travel beyond the next horizon. If I couldn’t see Iris there, no destination mattered. “I’m returning to my home planet to start a new life.” Where I’d struggle to survive without her.

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