She’d only seen him pull rank when someone was abusing their own authority over someone else. Then it was on, and he was quick to slap them down and defend the underdog.
He was wonderful that way.
And the bitter longing in those hazel eyes as he tried not to watch her burned her to the core of her soul. Like Cinder had said, he wasn’t getting married tonight out of choice.
But that didn’t take the sting out of his betrayal.
You’ll get through this, old girl.
She didn’t know how. But she would.
***
Bastien scowled as he saw his uncle leaving the balcony where Alura had gone a few minutes ago for some fresh air. He didn’t know why, but something about that bothered him.
Curious, he went to check on his “wife.”
No sooner had that title gone through his head than his stomach heaved involuntarily, threatening to undignify him. God, would his body ever stop doing that? What kind of marriage were they going to have if every time he thought about her as his spouse he had a spontaneous need to vomit?
Not wanting to think about it, he stepped outside to find Alura in the moonlight. She was beautiful, he’d give her that much. Hell, physically she might even be the most attractive of the Wyldestarrin brood, but she wasn’t the one who made his heart race.
The one who made him feel alive. It wasn’t her smile that hardened him to the point of madness. For all her beauty, she left him strangely numb.
“You okay?”
She smiled up at him as she stepped closer and placed her hand to his chest. “Of course. Why do you ask?”
He gestured over his shoulder toward the direction where his uncle had gone. “Barnabas is an acquired taste. I’m told my sa once left him tied to a tree out in the woods to die when they were kids because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut and kept aggravating him. Bastard unfortunately survived.”
She laughed. “You don’t mean that.”
Bastien rubbed at his jaw as he considered it. “I don’t know. Even my ødara tried to kill him once.”
“No! Did she really?”
He smiled at the memory. “Oh yeah. It was a summer when I was six or seven. My dad had sent me and my siblings and cousin Jullien out to train with him for camp. Poor Julie couldn’t keep up.”
“Julie?”
“The Andarion who was here earlier.”
“Oh. I wondered who’d invited that big fat thing to my wedding.”
Bastien stiffened at her disdain. “He takes enough shit from people over his heritage. He doesn’t need it from family, too.”
“Sorry.”
It took him a minute to calm down from her having insulted his family. Especially one of his favorite members.
Bastien finally cleared his throat and resumed the story. “Anyway, he has a hard time breathing in our atmosphere. It’s a different mixture than what they have on Andaria and his anatomy’s not quite the same either. So there he was, wheezing, green, yacking everywhere, and about to pass out. Barnabas wasn’t taking a bit of mercy on him and neither was Lil or Quin. They were screaming and shoving at him. Telling him to move his fat ass. I’d never heard so many insults screamed at one person in my life. And I’d had enough of it.”
“What did you do?”
“Was my usual charming self. Yanked my helmet off, laid down on the ground, and told them I was done for the day. Thatmyass was too precious for that amount of abuse. And that I was ready for my nap. To call a transport.”
She arched a brow at him. “I imagine that didn’t go over well with your uncle.”
“Like a labor strike with my sa. He set my precious ass on fire, but it got the attention off Jullien and they finally gave him some peace. So, in my opinion, worth it. And when I got home and my øda found out and took a blaster to my uncle… totally worth it. Kept me out of those miserable summer treks in hell until well after I hit puberty. And even then, I got to go with a security detail that threatened the life of anyone who sought to harm me.”
