“Unbelievable,” I scoff.
“I know I sound cruel, but if you don’t learn to let go and move on from the things that wound you, then those wounds fester and eventually eat you alive. Feel whatever you want about it, but also find a way to move on.” His pained eyes get me. This torments him as much as it does me.
I clench my fists until my body shakes.Who would I be without that thought?
My brain can’t answer the question. Frantic, I look for the clothes I just discarded. “I need some air,” I say.
“I’ll come with you,” Zhang says.
“No.I need to think, and you’re going to stay with him to make sure he doesn’t die.” I’m furious with them, but that doesn’t mean I want anything bad to happen to them. I thrust my leg into my pants, then my feet go into boots. They’re too big—Merrick’s boots then. I don’t bother with a shirt, stealing Zhang’s jacket. I might not want him near me, but I need his scent with me.
“Do not leave the palace, Treyu. That’s an order.”
A husbandly order. “Fine, Sir. Don’t kill each other,” I shout behind me as I storm out the door.
* * *
I rain my wrath everywhere, and people know to give me a wide berth as I stampede through the palace hallways. It’s times like these I’d pick up my sword, but I have no sword to pick up. I can’t believe them, ganging up on me. They don’t even like each other.
But now I’m stuck thinking about all the things they’ve said to me today—including what Merrick said about me loving them both—because I give a fuck about their opinion. I hate giving so many fucks.
The palace has a lot of statues of Gods strewn about the place, and they make good markers because it’s huge, but they’re the last things I want to look at right now. At least I won’t find Mercury among them. Gods pal around in cliques like Earthling high schoolers and, as far as I know, he parted ways with Pleiadian gods a long time ago. Just another reason not to make my full parentage public.
For that reason, I guess I do have to find a way to move on, or I’ll go crazy. I refuse to be paranoid or lock myself away, though. Maybe I should sign on for Daniel’s army, providing he’ll still take me. I liked the hunting gig with Goddesses, but I guess that’s off.
Making my way up, up, up the twisted hallways, I find myself headed toward the tallest tower in the palace. Y’know? I bet it’s a nice night for viewing. Watching our star kin is mesmerizing. Some are ancient and others brand new—either a vibration that’s changing or one that’s just coming to be. In a way, they’re the same thing since a new star is a result of the constant and inevitable shifting of vibrations.
It's a busy night in the tower with several stars coming and going. I guess we haven’t reached curfew yet, and Zhang was just being his overprotective self. Shuffling past several stars—who definitely don’t give me the respect of a Centaurus prince—I spy a thin lady with white hair, captivated by the open sky. Now and then the lustrous canopy overhead shivers, giving away the divine barrier that separates the tower from the open sky. It was created by a series of architectural runes that are carved along the tower’s outer rim.
“Madame Luella.” I saddle up beside her, resting my forearms on the stone rail next to hers.
“Treyu. It’s lovely to see you under better circumstances. Did things work out for you?”
How do I answer that? “In a way, I suppose they did.”
She rests a weathered hand on my forearm. Luella is as ancient as they get. “Good, good. That day wore on my heart. I know you’re a good boy. I still don’t believe you were responsible for that girl, if that means anything.”
I’m a boy to Luella. I may be seven hundred years old, but that’s the blink of an eye to her.
“It does mean a lot, actually. Why don’t you believe I was responsible? Um, if I can ask that.”
“I saw the girl, Treyu. That body was dead for too long.”
That’s what Atlanta said.
“You know what my vote was, but the Guild has always been by majority.”
“I understand, Luella. Don’t feel bad.” Which makes me a hypocrite—me telling someone not to feel bad for something. Maybe … maybe my mother’s death was out of my hands.
She clucks her tongue at an invisible miscreant. “That body wasn’t even from the time period you came from.”
Icy cold chills rattle my bones. “What?”
She nods. “I think it was what the angels said that shook everyone. They told us you were one of them.”
“What did they say?”
“They told us the Gods told them you were a star legacy and that you belonged to Heaven.”
