Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Almost instantly, the pain ebbed.
Noelle felt instant relief as the pressure inside her skull dissipated like fog burned off by morning sun. She let out a long sigh and opened her eyes again.
“There. How do you feel now?” Bright asked, coming to sit beside her once more.
“Better.” Noelle sat up cautiously, testing her body. Her limbs still felt a little shaky, but her head was clear. “Dios, Kindred medical technology is amazing.”
“Yes, it is.”
Bright gave her a faint smile, but the expression didn’t reach his eyes.
“How did we get here? I mean, back to the Mother Ship?” she asked, frowning slightly. “And where’s Burn?”
At that, Bright’s expression shuttered completely.
His shoulders slumped and the light in his eyes dimmed.
“He won’t talk to me,” he said quietly.
“He won’t?” Noelle blinked. “But you two are best friends! You have been for years.”
“We used to be. Now, apparently, he never wants to see me again.”
There was no disguising the ache in Bright’s voice. It was raw with sorrow and his whole body seemed to sag, as though the weight of grief and regret was too much to carry upright.
“What? But why not?” Noelle demanded, heart squeezing in sympathy.
Bright looked away, jaw clenched tight. His hazel-green eyes shimmered—just a little—and he blinked rapidly as though trying to chase away tears.
“Because while you were gone upstairs looking for the cleaner bot, Thune made us… do things together,” he said at last, voice strained. “I know you saw some of it. It didn’t bother me too much—I mean, I love Burn and I always have. So what if I had to suck his shaft and swallow his seed?”
“Oh, er…” Noelle cleared her throat delicately, trying not to let her surprise show. “Is that all he made you do?” she asked carefully.
“Not quite.” Bright sighed. “And that’s not the worst part—not from Burn’s point of view. I think he could forgive me for sucking him… but that bastard of a Trollox made him suck me too.”
His voice broke a little on the last word, and he looked away again.
“He did that?” Noelle asked gently, trying to process the information. “But, well… I would have thought that Burn would rather take a shock from the collar rather than do… well, anything he didn’t want to do.”
“I didn’t want to let him do it either. But that fucking pink drink—it got into both of us and, well…” Bright ran a hand through his hair. “I wanted to let him. And in that moment, I think he wanted to do it too. Of course, the minute the aphrodisiac started wearing off, he wasn’t too happy about it.”
Noelle exhaled a slow breath and shook her head.
“Well, he needs to get over it,” she said firmly. “The two of you are supposed to form a Twin-Bond, remember? What about going to see that Seer on Therim Five?”
“We’re not going.”
Bright’s voice was flat, defeated.
“But you should—I’ll still go with you,” she promised quickly.
“No, you don’t understand. I called Therim Five—I was hoping the Seer might give me words of wisdom to know how to deal with Burn,” Bright said. “But, well… she passed.”
“Passed?” Noelle frowned. “Madre de Dios, you mean she died?”
He nodded slowly.
“Just last week, in her sleep. She passed very peacefully, according to her granddaughter. So you see…” He pinched the bridge of his nose, blinking again. “There’s no point in going anymore. And no way that Burn and I can ever form a Twin-Bond together—even if he was talking to me. Which he’s not, and probably never will again. He’s already moved out of our suite,” he added bitterly.
“Oh, Bright…”
Noelle reached for his hand, holding it tightly. She felt helpless…hopeless. She had really thought the three of them belonged together. Despite everything—her age, her trauma, their broken pasts—they’d made her believe in something again. In love…in family…in fate.
But now it was all unraveling.
But she wouldn’t give up. She couldn’t.
“I’ll come with you,” she said again, more firmly. “As soon as I get out of here. We’ll go knock on his door together and demand that he talk to us so we can straighten this thing out. There’s no way a few drunken blow jobs should ruin your life together,” she declared, chin up.
Bright let out a rough laugh that was more than a half-sob.
“I don’t know…” he muttered. “The thing about Burn is that he can forgive others, but he can’t forgive himself. I think he still blames himself for his family’s death—even though we both know it wasn’t his fault.”
Noelle nodded slowly, remembering Burn’s story. The pain in his voice…the hollow in his chest that no amount of kindness could seem to fill.
There was a hard core inside the Dark Twin, she thought. Something bitter and cold and unforgiving—but it was turned inward, not out. He wore his pain like armor, and it had kept him alive… but also alone.