Fateful Magic (The Star-Crossed Series Book 8) by Rachel Higginson Read Free Book Online Page B

of Eden’s life.
    He stepped through the tent flap and announced, “Yes,
Eden, you are exactly where you should be.”
    My intention had been to watch Eden and Kiran . I wanted to see what Eden would do and how she would
react. But other than her shrieking voice, I didn’t understand a word she said.
    And that would be because as soon as I stepped
outside, I came face-to-face with Talbott.
    I had promised myself I would ignore him, just like I
promised myself I would ignore him every time he came to visit me in prison.
But like all those other times before, I failed. He managed to capture my
attention every time I stood anywhere near him. And most of
my thoughts anytime he wasn’t around.
    Despite all my determined intentions, my gaze zapped
right to him and then those deep, chocolate eyes of his locked onto me and
wouldn’t let go.
    I could feel his tension as it radiated around him.
His Magic left his body in a whoosh of motion. It knocked into mine so
forcefully, I nearly fell over.
    And my stupid, frustrating, selfish Magic opened up
for him.
    This was one of the things I hated about being an
Immortal. I didn’t only have to deal with my traitor-heart reacting to his
every move and longing gaze. I also had to deal with my slutty Magic that
wanted attention and didn’t care who she got it from.
    I tried my best to rein it in, to keep it from
accepting the connection from Talbott’s Magic, but it
was no good. It had already decided to latch on to that frustrating Titan and
it had no plans to let go.
    He seemed to relax some when our Magics finally touched. His intense gaze tempered just a little bit and his shoulders turned
to softer stone. Well, stone was still stone, but they somehow seemed less
rigid.
    Talbott had apparently been paying better attention
than me, because he responded to something that was said. “Eden,
our deal?”
    Eden seemed to hold back a wince and then said,
“Lilly, Talbott will help you to the plane. I'll be there in just a few
minutes.”
    I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing at
her professional diplomacy. I looked up at Kiran ,
hoping he would make a big deal about the exchange. I didn’t want to be alone
with Talbott.
    At all.
    But I should have known better to count on a Kendrick.
He was just as bad as his bodyguard. He nodded at me and raised his eyebrows as
if to say, “Get the heck out of here already.”
    I glared back at him, conveying an “I’m going! I’m
going!” thought.
    Why was it so much easier to forgive the Prince than
it was his Guard? Was it because I didn’t feel so personally betrayed by Kiran ? Or was it because my feelings for Talbott only
continued to grow, despite everything he’d done to me?
    Damn . I
needed to pull myself together.
    I walked across the sand and flew to my best friend.
Despite the boy drama poisoning our happy reunion, I was so grateful to see
Eden again.
    We hugged tightly and I felt hot tears prick at the
corners of my eyes. I sniffled against the ambush of emotion and then allowed
Talbott to drag me away when Kiran cleared his
throat.
    He didn’t speak to me the entire walk across the sands
to the plane staircase. He helped me the entire way though. His strong hands always
found a place on my body to hold up or help me in some way.
    By the time we reached the cabin of the plane, my
Magic had started buzzing frantically in my veins from all the skin-to-skin
contact. I wanted to brush it off as my lack of physical touch for the last
several months, but I had been on my own and without that kind of thing for
years now.
    Talbott finally let go of me when we were in the even
ground of the plane cabin. We stood a few feet apart just looking at each
other.
    I didn’t really know what to say. In fact, I didn’t
really want to say anything.
    As it turned out, neither did he .
    He took slow steps toward me, closing the distance
between us within seconds. His hands reached out to touch me and then his head descended
with the