Page 80 of A Clash of Stars

I knew exactly what he was talking about, but there was no way that it would actually happen tonight.

“You know I am not doing that with you,” I declared.

We finally approached a room, not mine, but his. He gripped my face gently, “I know that, Clara. Let’s just get to know one another tonight.”

He pulled me into the room, and the door closing echoed across it, leaving just the two of us.

Strangers.

Husband and wife.

Chapter 23

My eyes glistened with the flames set around the room. Hundreds of candles were everywhere, giving the room a soft and moody glow.

I found Evander’s eyes looking at me like I had never seen him look at me before. It was as if he never wanted to look away, like if he blinked, I might disappear.

“Wow. This is—”

He interrupted me, “My mom did this.”

A chuckle left him, “She wanted us to have a romantic evening together, and she imagined a million candles as the way to do it.”

I walked further into the room, approaching the bed to notice the rose petals. I glanced at Evander as he still tracked my every move.

“Would you like to sit with me, so we can do that talking you said we would do,” I asked him.

I smiled, not forced either, just a natural reaction to him, then turned to sit on the bed in my wedding gown that spread over the entire bed, covering the rose petals that were once so dominant.

Evander approached the bed, and I took him in as he walked. Such determination in every movement. The black suit clung to every part of him. Before he sat,he took off the coat, which exposed a long sleeve white button down with purple emblems of Aster on the cuffs.

I leaned back against the headboard and huffed out a ragged breath. He climbed into the bed next to me, leaning against the headboard. When I turned my head to look at him, the candles’ soft ambient glow radiated off his copper skin. He was truly the most gorgeous man I had ever laid eyes on, and I think he knew that.

Stop looking at me like you want to eat me.

I laughed a deep, belly-filled laugh, and then I smiled at him.

“I would never, Evander.” He smiled in response to my sarcastic statement then his look turned somber.

“I need to tell you something, Clara.” I nodded toward him, unsure of what was going to come out of his mouth next.

“The King is not my father,” he softly declared.

My eyes widened. No wonder he never referred to him as such, and neither did Amari.

“My real father is very powerful. He is in hiding right now, and I am not sure where he is exactly,” he said in another declaration.

I nodded my head like I understood what he was telling me when in reality, I was so baffled.

“Lettie isn’t really my sister. Well, she isn’t my full sister. She is the King’s daughter. I also have a twin brother. When I was young, he was taken. My mother tells me that he looks like our father, I— I’m sorry. Is this too much?” he questioned.

I thought my heart would fall out of my ass with this overload. My mouth was stuck open, and my eyes widened permanently like saucers. The only thing I could mutter was, “W-what?”

“I know that was probably too much information. We can…talk about it later,” he said.

I wastaken aback by that comment, and I sat up immediately, getting in his face. “No. We can talk about it now. You can’t just drop those truths on me and not explain,” I spoke breathlessly.

He laughed. I probably would have, too, with how I just responded to him.

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