“You’ve met her,” I told him as we walked back toward the Fallen Star Palace, where my own star awaited.
“Wait—” He shook his head, “The girl? From the party?”
“Yes.” I glared and pointed a finger at him. “And don’t you dare bring up seeing her like that again. She’s my mate,” I growled.
“What?! But—” I laughed as he tried to put it together.
It was always fun fucking with him, after all.
Chapter Thirty-five
Asteria
I swungmy sword at his head, and Titan brought his up to block my swing. We’d been at this for a while, but I had yet to land a single hit on him.
I stepped back, panting, as Titan looked me over.
“You need to be ready,” he said sternly.
“I know.” I sighed, “Cyrus?—”
“Forget Cyrus,” he insisted, and my head reared back in shock.
“Forget Cyrus?” I hissed, my blade swinging at him before I’d even had the thought to do it.
He met my blade and leaned toward me as our blades crossed before our faces. “Aelius will be coming after you, Asteria.”
“I know, but?—”
“No buts! You don’t understand the Earendel’s, Asteria. He will do anything to take you out.” He stressed, looking so genuinely concerned that I stepped back and examined him.
“Titan? What is this?” I asked softly, gentling my stance and letting my blade fall.
He grunted, running a hand through his hair. He turned his head to look at me, and I couldn’t read the look on his face. It wasn’t sad or happy. Maybe a bit wistful, a bit resentful. It was complex, to say the least.
“There’s something I haven’t told anyone,” he admitted, turning to me fully. “Not Calix, not even his father. Only his grandfather knew.”
My brows rose as I tried to understand what was happening here.
“I won’t say anything, if you don’t want me to,” I promised, and his eyes softened, a small smile growing on his face.
“It’s not that it’s a secret, necessarily,” he said, as he moved to sit on a bench nearby, waving me over to join him. I took a seat, straddling the bench so I could face him fully. “It doesn’t really need to be anymore. I just haven’t been able to talk about it. The wound felt too raw, still. But you, of all people, should know.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, nodding. “Well, I’m all ears.” I pointed to my pointed ears with a smile, making him shake his head with a small laugh.
“I’m not from Night, not originally,” he said. “I’m from Day Kingdom, actually.”
“You are?” I asked, surprised. He fit so well into Night, I never would have questioned it.
He nodded solemnly. “I had always felt like the odd out around my family. I never fit, not with them, not with anyone. I thought I would live my life that way. But the gods, they other ideas. The day I found my mate, everything changed.”
He smiled warmly, and I could see that wistfulness return to his eyes, only this time it was underlined by devastating sorrow. I had never heard of Titan having a mate, and the thought of what could have happened had my heart clenching in sympathy. Still, I listened eagerly, interested in where this was going. I was so new to this Fae thing; every new aspect was still incredible to me. And the mate bond I shared with Calix was the most beautiful of all. I wanted to know more about mate bonds and other mated pairs.
“My mate was wonderful. Beautiful and bright.” He reminisced, closing his eyes and letting the sun hit his face as he smiled. “He brought a joy to my life that I had never experienced before. The two of us were inseparable, and I felt as if I’d finally found a piece of myself that had always been missing.”
He opened his eyes to look at me. “I imagine you know what I mean.”
I nodded. Calix felt like a piece of my soul that had finally clicked into place. My life now felt more right than ever before. Calix had helped me find myself, and made me realize there was no complete version of me without him.
