Page 75 of Edge of Stars

“I also don’t think the stars enjoy unprepared pilots on the manifest, wife. And purposely making yourself the target of a witch on a cosmic vendetta—”

There’s a blast in my senses that I can’t identify, let alone control. It’s as ineffable as the presence that moved through me back in Palos Verdes. A power as old as the stars but as new as our baby. Wisdom that’s circled right back around to its core: pure innocence. And energy. And life. And light.

So much light.

Flowing up through me. Deafening in my ears. Thundering in my veins. Reminding me of the surge that took over when I first levitated, only multiplied tenfold. Twenty. Thirty.

Until its intensity isn’t just burning inside me.

It changes the air outside of me.

Erupting. Enflaming. Rolling into the form of a blazing fireball that pings around the room, like a superpowered cat toy pounding parts of walls and half the hanging pottery in the kitchen, before zooming out across the lagoon.

And then into it.

After a couple of seconds, the ball finally strikes down. There’s a noticeable, if muted, boom—followed by a waterspout that erupts with more passionate fervor than the finale of the fountains at the damn Bellagio.

“Ah…well, then,” Zeus utters, losing his urbanity with a shake on the last syllable. But his brother doesn’t bother with any suavity.

“Shiiit.”

“Look, Jack. I’m flying,” Jesse jests in a soft choke.

Kell’s reaction takes a couple of seconds longer but is well worth the wait. “And I smell a sassy little girl who’s already giving her mommy some fun times.”

Maximus adds a commiserating grunt. Or so that’s my interpretation. I resist firing back a disclaimer, because they’d both see through my lie. I truly have no idea if my light show was a mysterious helping hand from Niki or not, but since we’ve got many more months to go before the possibility of a confirmation, I’m going to save us precious minutes now.

It’s easier to keep the commitment than I first expect—from the second my husband swivels his gaze back to me.

And at once scours the breath from my lung with his twin blues.

Should I be terrified? Turned on? Or maybe unnervingly dealing with both, as they take me in with more dark intensity as ever before—without any apparent inkling to stop.

He dares to plumb even deeper, all the way down into me, past all my usual boundaries. As if he’s seeking something specific. As if he’s confident he’s going to find it.

I don’t hesitate about letting him do exactly that.

Letting him discover.

Letting him see.

The brilliance of the life that’s growing inside me. The warrioress who’s already so bold and brave—and willing to bypass her mama to prove it.

Maximus sees it too. Not for long—a second or two at best—but as soon as his grin becomes a wide smile, I’m sure of it. As certain as I am of the words, plentiful and stern, I’ll have for this kid later.

Good freaking heavens.

What kind of discipline is in order when one’s rowdy little rebel is still kicking at the umbilical cord? Worries for another moment. For now, I lean half an inch closer to celebrate how much joy I share with this incredible man of mine. I absorb the warm safety of his form. The dazzling sparks in his stare—and soon, between our laced fingers, as well.

The sun is cresting over the gorge’s far ridge, and the lagoon has a far way to go to calm again, but that’s what makes the view twice as captivating. The waves are like dancers, dashing liquid streamers of aqua, amber, and white through the whole canyon and its lone building.

I snuggle closer to him. There’s a pleasureful rumble from the center of his chest, made better by the soft kiss he presses into my hair. More energy flows between our senses, as perfect and pulsing as starlight.

Almost.

The stars take millennia to modify. We have minutes if not milliseconds here. Moments barely longer than a blink to remember that we’re their celestial equals, and not only because Hecate and the diamonds forced them to make room. We’ve fought hard for this place. Defied demons for it. Survived hell for it. Faced even the ugliest sides of humanity, like bullying frat boys and snide tabloid writers, for it.

And now, we’ll do it again. With every force of our strengths and belief in our souls.