Page 114 of Starry with a Chance of Nightshade

“You’re sure everyone is okay?” I asked.

Stratton laced his fingers through mine. “Yes. Dave texted back. Torid is with him. Everyone else is safe and home. He said Bram got a call from Jonathan Harker shortly after we vanished telling him some big guy who could control purple lightning showed up and finished off the last of the monsters that managed to get away.”

I tensed. “Adam?”

“Yes, that’s my guess, but Victor is tall too,” he said. “About my size. They both have the Frankenstein dark hair. And both can create lightning. Consequence of Victor getting hit by electricity at the same time he sent massive currents of it through Adam.”

I took a deep breath. “I’m the daughter of a monster.”

“Astria,” he said, taking our joined hands and using them to tilt my head up to meet my gaze. “The way I see it, Adam is the lesser of two evils as far as fathers go. In my opinion, Henry’s the monster. He unleashed that horde of monsters on you too—a child who thought of him as her father. He blamed you for your mother’s death when it wasanythingbut your fault. And he turned Amice into something she’d never have wanted to be. I never saw her with you when she was alive, but you told me about her taking you out back to see the stars. That she gave you the name Astria because she’d always loved them. That tells me she loved you and would have never wanted you harmed.”

Dammit. He was hot, great in bed, and good at sweeping speeches that tugged at the gut. I was totally out of my league with the man. And he was right. While her face was a faded memory to me, the feel of how much she’d loved me wasn’t. That lived on inside me.

I thought more on the fact Henry wasn’t my biological father. If he’d always known that, it would explain how distant he always seemed to me as a father. I had to always be an ugly reminder that my mother loved someone else but settled for him.

After a minute or so, I nodded. “Henry is the bigger monster. You’re right.”

Stratton kissed the tip of my nose. “I’m sorry that it took me so long to figure out who you were. Had I put it together eighteen years ago I might have been able to change things.”

I pursed my lips. “How? I have a feeling it happened exactly like it was supposed to happen.”

He stared at me. “But I could have had eighteen years with you. Those were taken from us.”

“Actually, I’m not sure I’d have stuck it out with you,” I said. “I mean, yes, I was and am totally attracted to you, but the age gap back then would have made me second-guess something that could have been great.”

He grimaced. “Yeah, that was a sticking point for me too. I felt a little dirty for being so attracted to you.”

“We look closer to the same age now,” I prompted. “Means I can do you now minus any weirdness on my part.”

He laughed loudly. “I’mallfor this plan. Want me to find a table? We haven’t tried it there yet.”

“I need a break,” I said with a smile. “And a nap here soon. I’d say I’m dead on my feet but that seems like a poor choice of words considering I was spawned from the loins of a dead guy.”

He snorted. “Astria, Adam isn’t dead. He’s very much alive. Did he die? Yes. Did Victor bring him back in a rather unconventional way? Also, yes. I think we need to get the two of you to sit down and meet face-to-face. But, uh, let’s do that after I’ve had table time with you. I’m a little afraid he’ll break me in two for touching his daughter.”

I twisted around in his arms, taking in the sight of my old bedroom. It was as if it had been frozen in time. The cut-out stars I’d stuck to the ceiling shortly after moving in were all there still.

The purple bedding was just like I remembered it being, except it was crumpled now from our heavy use of the bed. The pile of clean clothing that Jessica had washed and folded for me was on the floor, having fallen off the end of the bed during one of our numerous romps in it.

A pair of my Chucks were on the floor near the door. Several of my bargain T-shirt buys were draped over the back of my desk chair. My corkboard was still pinned to the wall and on it were various pictures of my aunt and my cousin. Ones I never thought I’d see again.

“I’m still kind of weirded out by the fact we’re in my bedroom from college and it’s not changed at all,” I said, still in awe. “Did we go back in time? If so, how did Dave text from the future? Ohmygod, are we about to relive the attack? Can you explain who the robed men were? And was that a gargoyle that showed up to help, or was I imagining that guy looking just like a stone statue that used to be in the common area on campus? Do you know the vampire who tried to help? Is time travel a thing? Can you Nightshade guys do that? If so, can we visit somewhere cooler than my old room?”

“Slow down. You’re firing off questions faster than I can answer.” He let out a shaky laugh, easing his hold on me marginally. “Let me first pose a question to you. What were you thinking when the ring started to glow on campus last night?”

“Nothing,” I said fast, hoping he’d let the subject drop.

“Astria?”

“I was kind of focused on your lips,” I confessed with a grunt. Guess there is no point trying to hide just how much. We had so much chemistry that we’d be lucky if sex didn’t count as me taking an interest in science. “And how much I wanted to be kissing them in private where I could also tear your clothes off like Peggy suggested. And how I wanted to be somewhere safe, where it could be just the two of us.”

He grinned. “Have you had the ring with you since you were little?”

“Yes,” I said. “I’ve worn it on my chain with my pendant every day since Henry’s army of monsters came flooding out of the basement. I didn’t steal it from you, I swear. It was just there, in my hand when I woke up.”

“I know you didn’t steal it,” he said. “Were you wearing the ring around your neck during the attack here, years ago?”

I exhaled slowly. “So, we’re not in the past?”

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