Star-Crossed

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Oh, little darlin' don't you look charming

AS THE CAR Amara has "borrowed" parks outside of our destination, I can only clutch the note Rania of the Cosmos wanted so desperately for me to find like a lifeline. If I close my eyes, I can still see Rania's elegant handwriting. I can see the letters spelling out the words that would shatter my world forever.

Find Aida, it had said.

There was only one Aida I knew and now I understood that my meeting her had been no coincidence. Her befriending me had been no coincidence. But, what I couldn't understand was why Rania wanted me to find Aida. I don't believe for a second that Aida killed Rania of the Cosmos. If that was true, then she would have killed me-the bearer of Rania's soul-the moment she stumbled upon my twelve-year-old self in the far corner of the library, reading alone by one of the windows as the rain splattered on the on the roof.

So, my only conclusion is that Aida knows something.

As I get out of the car, Xerxion's hand catches my wrist. The heat and the sense of peace his hand sends coursing through me is very welcome. For the first time since I read those two words, I feel calm. My heartbeat slows and when I meet his genetically mutated eyes, they skip a beat.

"Are you sure you wish to go in alone?" He asks, his eyebrows furrowed.

I nod once and breathe in deeply. "I don't think Aida killed Rania of the Cosmos. If she truly wanted Rania of the Cosmos dead and gone forever, she would have killed me the moment she saw me all those years ago. She doesn't want me dead. She's been here with me for so long..." My voice breaks and I shake my head. "I have to give her the benefit of the doubt."

Xerxion's face looks troubled and, unable to help myself, my hand reaches up to touch his cheek. Its soft, smooth save for the stubble that decorates his incredibly handsome face. His eyes soften infinitesimally and his own hand reaches up to touch the hand that is resting gently on his cheek.

"You can wait outside if it makes you feel more comfortable," I offer.

He nods, relief winning although the worry doesn't fully subside.

"You'll want to hurry," Amara warns us and when I look over, her eyes are darting from the busy sidewalk to the busy streets. "The humans are tracking us, it won't be long until they discover we're on their planet again...or you, to be more specific. They'll be kicking down the door soon after that."

"Right," I breathe, moving to open my door. "Hurrying."

When we had been in the desert it had been cool-at the very most I would say it had been fifty degrees. But now, as I stepped out of our "borrowed" car, the muggy night air hit me almost immediately.

In this moment, as I look at the library which is across the street from the Chinese place where Xerxion and I locked eyes and felt the burning of our Marks for the first time, I think of running. Not running away from the situation or running from my problems but running the way that I used to. I think of running to clear my head. I think of running on muggy nights like this and how nice it feels for the muscles in my thighs to burn. I remember how it feels to pass people, busy with their lives and couples as they walk hand in hand down the sidewalk, their eyes saying they would go anywhere together. I recall wondering what that feels like.

It's at this moment that I realize I am not the same girl that I had been. I know now that I am different. Not singularly because of Xerxion or because of everything I had been through in the past week. It was more so because of Rania. The moment she had come to me before my birth, she had unintentionally set the course of my life. Everything in my life had led me to this moment. Despite how screwed up it was to have multiple people trying to kill me or capture me, I was standing beside the love of my existence. I know that, even if for some reason I died tonight, I would make sure my soul would live on for him.