Page 115 of Starry with a Chance of Nightshade

“Uh, no. This is the present,” he said.

“Are you sure? Because there is no dust or cobwebs indicating the passage of time,” I replied, motioning around the room. “And I highly doubt any new tenants would have left my stuff as-is like a time capsule for me.”

“I’m sure this is the present,” he said. “Can we focus on what you were thinking when the ring glowed eighteen years ago?”

I cleared my throat and thought back to that night. To how scared I’d been and to how much I’d wanted it all to be over. “Um, well, I was thinking about how much I wanted everyone to be somewhere safe. And how I didn’t want anyone else to end up dead.”

He snorted as if that was the funniest thing he’d heard lately. “That’s it!”

“What’s it?” I asked, missing the humor in my previous comment.

“That’s what happened,” he said as if that explained everything. “The ring has always responded to you. The minute you touched it when it was on my finger and you were only four years old, it reacted. I thought it was a fluke. But it wasn’t. It knew from the start that we have a link. A bond. And it listened to what you wanted, Astria. It took us each somewhere safe.”

I tensed. “I caused that? How? I’m not like you. I’m not a—”

He put his finger to my lip, cutting off my protest.

If he weren’t so sexy, I’d have considered biting his finger just to prove how much I didn’t like to be shushed.

“You heard Dave,” he said. “Your mother was Fae. And your father—”

I lifted a brow before opening my mouth. Instead of biting his finger, I drew it into my mouth slowly, sucking on it.

Stratton’s jaw went slack as the rest of his body tensed. He didn’t pull his gaze from the act even when I was done. He dragged his wet finger over my lower lip and then made a move as if to kiss me.

I artfully dodged the kiss and then grinned in an impish fashion. “I’m not big on being cut off when I talk.”

He nodded, his gaze glued to my lips. “Yes.”

“Sorry I freaked when I found out you’re a Nightshade Hunter.” I pulled his finger away from my mouth and held his hand to my chest. “I remember how much you tried to keep me safe when I was little. Thank you.”

He nodded and then focused on my arm. “Astria, the markings on your arms,” he said, skimming his hand over one. “I think my fear for you during the attack might have caused them. I was desperate to keep you with me, to keep you safe. I think the ring may have responded to both our desires then. I think it knew it wasn’t tailor made for you like it was for me, so it did the next best thing it could—it gave you its version of protection. I’m so sorry. I get the sense you don’t like the markings, but to me they’re beautiful, just like you. They also let the world know who you are to me.”

My breath caught. “They do? Where?”

He touched one of the markings on my upper arm. “That’s my personal mark—my symbol. It represents my name. But it’s in Fae. Translated over it means bright star. My surname is Bright and you…Astria, you’remystar.”

“Whoa,” I managed, knowing it made me sound like a moron. “That’s kind of strange to have on my skin forever.”

He grinned. “I disagree. I could look at it and you forever.”

I thought more on it all. “You were with my uncle when I was little—at the house.”

He nodded. “And again on the campus and here, when the attack happened.”

“Thatwas Uncle Drest?” I asked. “I didn’t recognize him. It had been a long time since I’d seen him and couldn’t remember his face that well.”

“It was,” he said, touching my cheek lightly. “He’s going to shit himself when he gets here. He’s been looking for you, Rachael, and his child for thirty-six years, Astria. Doesn’t matter that we’d been banned from having any contact with any of you for the first fifteen years of that.”

“Banned?” I asked.

He gulped. “Well, I might have tried to kill Henry in a courtroom full of witnesses. The higher-ups frown on that.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yes, but Drest tried first,” he said as if that made it all better. “I’m shocked Drest hasn’t found a way to get into the place your father is being held and kill him. He loves Rachael enough to do anything for her. And you should know, if I see Henry, I will absolutely end him. My feelings for you arethatstrong.”

I didn’t comment on my feelings for him. Telling him that I was pretty sure I was in love with him after really only having a night together as a couple seemed a bit much. I’d save that for the third date or something.

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