Page 17 of Golden Star

“Late start,” she scolds. “Didn’t wake you at a respectable hour because of New Year’s Eve. The only holiday where it’s acceptable to stay out unreasonably late.”

Reasonable.

That’s the quality of hers she’s most proud of, since it’s what she says my mother lacks. She wears it with everything she owns and does, with her modest clothing, her sensible bun, and even her weekly grocery lists. No treats—just essentials.

“I definitely needed the sleep,” I say, glancing out my window.

The sun is high in the sky.

I check my phone, shocked at the time.

Noon.

Aunt Martha let me sleep untilnoon.

It’s crazier than falling into another realm, meeting a gorgeous fae man who claims I have powers, who then gives me a binding magical kiss and disappears into the woods on his giant leopard.

But most amazing is that after all of that, I feel surprisingly refreshed.

I’d think it was all a dream, if it didn’t all feel soreal.

“Lunch will be ready in five minutes,” she says, yanking me out of my thoughts. “Steak and green beans.”

With that, she gives my messy room a disapproving once-over and leaves without closing the door.

One of the major rules of this house is that when we’re both home, we eat together. Which means I have five minutes to freshen up and get to the kitchen table.

In the bathroom, I run a hand over my face and glance in the mirror, half-expecting to see some visible sign of the magic—ofhim.But there’s nothing. Just the same old me.

At least, the same me on the outside.

On the inside, I’ll never be the same.

Aunt Martha glances at me as I enter the kitchen, her lips pressed into the thin line I’ve come to associate with her version of affection. She never says it, but I know she cares. In her own strict, no-nonsense way.

“Steak’s almost done,” she says, moving with precision around the stove.

I set up the table while she finishes up, my stomach growling when she places my plate in front of me.

Steak, barely seared, with green beans on the side.

It’s perfect.

I dig in as if I haven’t eaten for days, and that’s when I see it. Or, more appropriately, I see theabsenceof it.

My bracelet.

It’s not on my wrist.

My stomach drops, my food suddenly unappetizing.

How could I have lost my bracelet? I’ve worn it since it was able to fit on my wrist, and in all that time, it’s never fallen off.

The last time I saw it was… when I drank the water that took me into the fae realm.

Maybe Riven stole it? He was transfixed with it from the moment he saw it. And who knows how long he was hovering over my half-dead body before the ghostly, in-limbo version of myself became consciously aware and was snapped back to life?

Then there was the kiss. I was so spellbound during itthat if he was a practiced thief, he could have stolen it without me realizing it.

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