Starcrossed (Starcrossed 1)

?All right, nobody panic!? Helen put her necklace back on and

laughed, but no one was left in the library to witness her mercy but

Lucas and Cassandra. ?I like it best like this, myself.?

?Good,? Lucas said, averting his eyes and trying to pretend he

wasn?t embarrassed.

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?Why aren?t you running?? Helen asked Cassandra playfully, but

when she saw the dark look on her face she knew she had said

something terribly wrong.

?That will never work on me,? Cassandra said in a flat, distant

voice. She brushed past Helen.

?I?m sorry,? Helen said to Lucas, as Cassandra stalked out of the

room. She put her hand on Lucas?s arm and made him look at her.

?I don?t understand, Lucas. What did I say??

?Aphrodite?s power only works on adults?on sexually mature individuals,?

he answered with a raspy voice, like his throat had gone

dry.

?Oh. I didn?t know, but that?s nothing for her to be ashamed of.

She?s only thirteen. She hasn?t bloomed yet . . .?

Lucas cut her off. ?My sister will never bloom. She was taken by

the Fates.?

?What does that mean??

?It means that even if she wants to, even if she feels what other

woman feel, she?ll never fall in love or have children. She won?t

even be able to have the kind of careless physical relationships that

Hector has pretty much once a week,? Lucas said. ?She is sacrosanct

to the Three Fates, and they will not share their daughter.?

?But if she feels

like a woman, why can?t she act like one? Who

cares what three dusty old spinsters say?? Helen asked persuasively,