A warning.
He told no lies.
I ran from him then.
I should have run away, but instead, I ran to you.
I hid with you.
I wrote you a thousand stars and loved you a million times.
In secret.
In the shadows.
In the rain and in the office.
You gave me your mouth in the library, and I gave you mine beneath your desk.
You took me on the counter in the bathroom and against the wall on the side of the house.
Reckless.
Reckless.
We didn’t care.
Not when it was the only thing that mattered.
But it was in our sacred spot when I told you.
“I’m pregnant.” I was terrified saying it would make it true.
But I’d known it was true. I hadn’t bled in three months.
You froze for a moment before you had me pinned against the grass.
You smiled this brilliant smile that shattered the sky and sent the stars soaring higher than where they hung.
Our own constellation.
“Are you sure?” you’d urged.
I gulped and nodded. “I took two tests.”
“Aster.” It was a rasp of awe, and you pulled me into your arms, so tight I didn’t know how either of us could breathe.
“Aren’t you angry?”
“How could I be angry?”
Manic laughter had bubbled from my mouth. “Because this is going to cause more trouble than either of us have the ability to deal with, Logan. Because I’m a Costa princess and you’re an Iron Owl. Because I’m not even supposed to talk to you. Because I am pledged to another man.”
Because my father will kill you.
That was the one I couldn’t speak.
“We’ll find a way,” you’d promised. “We’ll find a way. I’m going to get you out of this place, Aster, if it’s the last thing I do.”