Page 35 of Celestial Bodies

Souzie took him by the shoulders and forced him to face her—fury blazing in her eyes. “Look at me. You are not broken.Theyare broken.” She made a grand gesture to the world outside her bedroom. “They are disgusting and cruel. You deserve someone who sees you. Who knows you, accepts you, and gives you the love you deserve.”

Her hands reached for his and gripped them as she spoke. “If Dacias can’t be with you because of something you have no control over, then he doesn’t deserve you.”

Julen shook his head.He’s not the one who’s been lying the whole time.“I’m the one who doesn’t deserve him.”

Souzie made an unhappy groan. “I don’t like that line of thinking and won’t tolerate it in myboudoir.”

She paused before curling her lip into a grin and asking, “What’s it like?”

Julen turned to face her, grinning from ear to ear. “So. Fucking. LETHAL. It’sbeautiful,Souzie. They have trees and stones I’ve never seen before. It’s so colorful! His house isblue!Have you ever seen a blue house in Lapistra?”

Souzie laughed. “Nope.”

“He took me to this summer festival, and I watched himshift!Souzie…he’s alion.”

Souzie punched his shoulder. “No! A fuckinglion?And I thought Klorin’s cougar was sizzling.”

Julen narrowed his eyes at her, a scowl stretched across his face. “Oh! About that…”

Souzie rolled her eyes. “What?”

“Here I am giving you every detail about my life, and I don’t evenknowyou are seeing Klorin. I’m so mad.”

“I wanted to tell you!He swore me to secrecy. He’s far more nervous about their brother, Ferrean, than Dacias is. Apparently, he’s a real dickface.Plus,if I had told you, then you would have known that I helped set up the meeting at the bookshop.”

Julen shook his head. “I still can’t believe you did that.”

Souzie looked at him. “Really?”

Julen laughed. “No, I actuallycanbelieve it. That is a very you thing to do.” Julen chuckled, then thought back to the kiss with Dacias. “Souzie! I have to tell you something.”

She cocked a brow. “Yes?”

Julen swallowed and rubbed his hands along his thighs. “When we kissed…something happened. I don’t know what it was, but we…”

Souzie stared wide-eyed. “What?”

“We levitated.”

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him for a long moment. “Excuse me?”

He shook his head. “I know that sounds crazy, but we did. It happened. We started levitating. The wind formed a funnel around us and just…liftedus.”

Souze looked shocked. “Did you… Did you manifest?”

Julen shrugged. “I think? But I’ve never heard of someone doing that before. Have you ever heard anyonelifting themselvesoff the ground with the wind?Accidentally?”

Souzie shook her head. “Never. Have you tried it again?”

Julen nodded. “I can’t do it. It’s like… I can’t do anything here. When I was with him, it just happened, but here. I don’t know; it’s like there’s a block or something.”

Souzie touched her lips, looking deep in thought. “How can you do something so powerful in Rugiria yet have no powers here? Is it the plates?”

Julen shrugged and looked at the floor. “I wish I knew.”

Souzie hunched and rested her chin on her fist. “It happened when you kissed him. Can you describe the feeling when it happened?”

Julen thought back to riding along the cliff on top of Dacias as a lion—the dancing at the festival. The kiss.That kiss.“I felt wonderful. I can’t describe it any other way. I felt so calm. I wasn’t really thinking about anything.Well, other than how fucking sizzling Dacias looked as the sun rose.”

---