Page 130 of A Clash of Stars

“Forget everything you just learned about you being a goddess and the story Bethany told you. And before you say anything, yes, I was eavesdropping,” he chuckled before questioning me. “Answer this question. Do you love Evander?”

I sighed and looked deeper into his eyes, “Yes, I love Evander.”

“Now, answer this question. Do you still love Madok?”

I immediately looked away from him, and his hand gently grasped my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes again.

“I’m not sure, Luke. I don’t even know who Madok is anymore. Theo has been pretending to be him off and on since I was eighteen.”

His shoulder shrugged, “Those are two truths you now have. You are unsure if you love Madok, but you are sure you love Evander. He’s your mate. That is for certain.”

He paused and placed both hands around my face. I could feel the slight callus on his palms scraping against my soft cheek.

“Ask me what I’m sure of, Clara.”

I laughed, and his eyes went feral, then simmered back down to focus on me.

“Okay, I’ll bite. What are you sure of, Luke?”

“Thank you for asking.” His thumbs gently made passes over my cheeks as our faces were only inches away from each other.

“I am sure that you will defeat Theo. I am also sure that no matter who you love, it doesn’t define you. You are Clara, victor of the Variance, a goddess, a friend, and the last defense for our people. You will bring down the veil that holds us back from the rest of our world. You will be the one to give us back our truth.” He gently leaned in and kissed my cheek before he continued. “That’s what I’m sure of, Clara. You are our only sure thing, and everyone knows it.”

I felt the tears falling from my eyes, and before I could stop them, the pads of his thumbs wiped them away. “I have never doubted you, and I won’t start now. We will go into this castle, and you will kill Theo.”

I nodded my head in his hands, and he let go, grasping his hand in mine, and we finished the walk to the Dreary Willow.

Once we were under the Willow, I could hear the voices of the soldiers nearby. I couldn’t decipher what they were saying, but I also wasn’t trying to listen to their conservation. I led Luke to the other side of the willow to the door to the cellar.

“Ready?” He nodded as I opened the door leading into the dark stone tunnel. Once Luke closed the door, everything was pitch black. I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face. I felt Luke’s hands grip my shoulders to ensure he stayed with me.

“Now would be a good time to use some of your power,” Luke chuckled. And I realized yeah, I could do that.

I tapped into my natural abilities and envisioned light as an ambient glow radiating from my palms, and I held them up to show us the way.

“That’s a pretty cool party trick. If you had shown me that at our training in Sefida, I would have been instantly in love.”

He chuckled, and I did too. We knew our relationship was platonic, but the banter helped in this highly stressful situation.

Once we reached the tunnel’s end, it opened into my mother’s wine cellar. All her favorite wine, even the bottles from Canarywood that my father bought for her.

Damn. I missed him a lot. I wondered if he’d be proud of me too. His daughter, the goddess—it feels weird to say that internally, but ultimately it was the truth.

My eyes wandered around the room, and I realized the ladder to the entrance was slightly broken. Only a few feet up, but we would need to be hoisted up.

“All right, I need your help, Luke.”

“Yes, my Queen. Anything for you.”

I wanted to slap his smug-lipped smile off his face. I reached the bottom step and started to make my way up. I was much shorter than the other guys I had trained with and undoubtedly curvy, so having any man try to lift me was a nightmare.

“I’m gonna push you to the next step, okay?”

I nodded to him. “Yeah. I’m ready.”

Luke placed both his hands on my ass cheeks and pushed me, without grunting, I might add, which helps a girl’s self-esteem.

I secured my feet on the next step and looked down at him. He had a massive smile on his face. I rolled my eyes at him and continued climbing towards the door. Once I made it, I turned to see Luke scaling the ladder behind me, and he could pull himself up over the gap in the steps.

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