Page 71 of Edge of Stars

“Hmmm.” Poseidon’s interjection clarifies that I’m not the one who’s noticed. “So now she’s no longer the honored warrior of the Titanomachy?”

“Let it rest,” Maximus snarls. “You’ve heard of better late than never, right?”

Zeus has the grace to give his son a rushed but grateful head jog before moving back in on the more important subject. “We’ve got to assume the imprisonment is as airtight as Tartarus.”

“He’s right.” Kell’s mutter, hardly hearable for the rest of them, comes with her new grip to the back of my elbow. “The sorceress supreme is about the details. When Jaden and I were at Iremia, one of the cats needed their claws trimmed by half a millimeter. Morgana was apologizing like the creature had been a coyote snack instead.”

Maximus’s nostrils flare. His inhalation is heavy but resolved. “Okay. So we’ll go in with a careful plan. Arden Prieto already knows how to get past her security perimeters, and I already know the whole compound pretty w—”

“No.”

He huffs but hardly lets his father slow him. “A not-so-careful plan, then. Blaze of glory, element of surprise. Between you, me, and Prieto, we’ll bring significant cheese to the enchilada. Jaden will probably want in too. That’s a good idea. His skills are better than long-distance radar.”

“No.”

My sharp shout finally speaks to his brakes. He visibly slams them, though with some forced reluctance. Jesse, Zeus, and Poseidon wheel around with him, blunt frowns on their faces.

The only one in the room not looking like I’ve just blasted all the glass in the place is my sister, who backs up my severe scowl with a don’t-even-touch-this sniff. But unlike her, my reaction is homed in on my husband.

I don’t care that he’s actually sweeping long stares at all the shatterable surfaces. That he sweeps his stare back up to me as if his eyes have deceived him or that maybe he’s a few seconds too early. Like I’m only getting ready to smash all the panes but haven’t done so.

Like I’ll stop if he keeps scrutinizing me with such hardcore energy.

He must know better. And is maybe hoping that he doesn’t.

Like he has to know better than to turn himself, his father, his uncle, and my brother into SEAL Team Crazy.

“Maximus.” I step forward, extending a hand to him, fortified when he wraps his fingers around mine too. “I hate this—I hate her—as much as you do. But you’re a student of stories, good and bad, as much as I am. You have to already see how she’s trying to write this one. The plotline she’s boxed us into.”

“No.” He’s entitled to get his turn at the word, except his gritted emphasis takes me aback. Not far enough to untangle his hold, though perhaps I should’ve gone with that. He’s not relinquishing a note of his adamant seethe. “No, Kara. We’re not boxed anywhere. And I’m sorry if you don’t agree or approve of this call, since a few of your Iremia friends will probably be collateral damage when this all goes down, but—”

“Stop.” It shoots out from between my teeth, which are now as tense and gnashed as his. “Stop it. Do you think I—” A jerk backward because the sparks of our touch have never been this hot for reasons other than needy attraction before. After a solid shake of my head, I insist, “I do care about my friends, but not a fraction of a fraction about what will happen to you!”

He looks down. Attempts to grab my hand once more. I recoil again, a dozen times harsher than before. During the flight, I ball up my fingers, twisting them nearly behind me.

Though Maximus tries to subdue his answering flinch, there’s enough there for me to notice—and rejoice about.

Which is not the thing I envisioned getting happiest over just twelve hours after we secured rings on each other’s fingers.

Now I really hate this. Every agonizing second.

Even the next one, when there’s a love-filled rush from deep in my belly—from the being who doesn’t want to stay there. But I clamp down my control and keep Nikoleta away, simultaneously urging her to sleep while keeping myself as alert as possible. She has her entire life to deal with fear and conflict. I’m not about to let her start early.

Thankfully, Maximus raises his gaze back up with perfect timing. Though the strife in his cobalts continues, there’s strength there too. But not enough to loosen my fists or pull me back to his side. I love him so much. I need him right here. But how can the few feet between us feel like such an uncrossable canyon at the same time?

Harsh air rushes in and out of him. Before he’s done, I already know he’s thinking the same thing.

But he still tries the leap.

“Kara—”

“Don’t.”

And I shoot him down in midair. Without a splinter of guilt.

“Just…please don’t,” I say anyway and reset my shoulders. “Not until you listen, okay?” One of my hands, still clenched, moves across my stomach. “Until you’re really open about it.”

Every furrow that can cut across his forehead does. I don’t surrender a flinch of reaction. If all he sees here is his wife weaponizing our previous soul share and not a woman fighting for the literal survival of her family, so be it. I’ll be the willing bad guy here.