Sunburst

Bu now things were how they probably always should have been.

“You don’t have to worry anymore, Piper,” I admitted on a weighty breath. “We had a talk tonight. We aren’t, um, we have feelings for each other, but we decided to stay friends.”

Her eyes narrowed, “Your idea or his?” God, I loved this girl. Even though she hated Tristan, she would totally kick his ass if he didn’t give me exactly what I wanted.

“It was mutual,” I answered sincerely. When she rolled her eyes I laughed, “Seriously, it was completely mutual. We are both…. headed in different directions. And we don’t want to lose the friendship. Tristan will always be my best friend, but he can’t be anything more.”

Her expression immediately softened and she pulled me into a hug. “Is this because of Seth?”

I nodded into her shoulder. “I love him, Pi.”

“I know, Stel,” she admitted.

“Stella,” Jude’s voice cut through our moment. Piper and I both whipped around, surprised to

see him here.

He offered us a weak smile, but then his charcoal eyes met mine and held my gaze. He was dressed in exactly his style, ski

“You dressed up,” I said dumbly. I didn’t expect to see him here, let alone in something resembling formal attire.

His lips twitched and then quirked into a half smile. “Was that a thinly veiled compliment?”

My eyebrows slammed together and I immediately started sputtering, “Are you kidding?”

“I want to dance,” he interrupted me and his eyes shot to the dance floor.

Piper snorted into her punch glass. I rolled my eyes and looked around for Tristan. He would come rescue me from the pure evil demon trying to dance with me.

The theme for this year’s prom was “Timeless” and the prom committee had actually done a decent job of decorating. It was sort of an ironic theme since time pieces decorated every inch of the room in steam-punkish pocket watches and old clocks. One entire wall was sort of an exploding hour glass with the top corner of the gym wall picturing an hour glass and then the bottom shattering into broken glass looking pieces with glitter- that was supposed to look like sand- covering every inch of the rest of the wall. That’s where the prom pictures were taken when we first walked in the gym.

Tristan was standing over there with Rigley and Lincoln, laughing about something and having a good time. I didn’t want to interrupt his night by causing a scene. He could easily swoop in and rescue me, but I wasn’t exactly the kind of girl that needed rescuing.

Or I wasn’t supposed to be anyway.

“You want to dance with me?” I repeated, meeting Jude’s eyes again.

He faked a gasp, “I’d be honored.” His eyes were twinkling when he took my hands and led me out to the dance floor.

I shot a pleading look at Piper but she just smiled and waved. She thought this was cute, that Jude was pursuing me or something. If only she knew the truth.

“The dress fits,” Jude murmured directly into my ear when we were standing in the middle of the crowd, bodies pressed together, his hands on my hip, mine awkwardly on his shoulders.

I guessed that was his way of complimenting me.

“It does,” I admitted. “But you already knew that because you already saw me in it.”

“I did a very nice job of picking it out,” he chuckled against my skin. His nose skimmed my ear and his hot, minty breath cascaded down my neck.

I pushed him back before he got any ideas and gave him a pointed look. “You are an arrogant asshole, you know that?”

He smirked at me and brought one hand up so that he could pull on my bottom lip with his thumb and forefinger. “So mouthy,” he whispered.

I struggled to swallow. He was making me nervous and mostly because I didn’t understand his plan. I knew he came here for a reason and instinct told me it was more than just to drive me crazy.

“What are you doing here, Jude?” I found my voice and feigned confidence.

“My job,” he growled. Suddenly his mood was as dark and forbidding as any Fallen I’d come in contact with before. This was not the playful mischief of his normal personality; this was a glimpse at the soulless creature he truly was. “Stella, there is something….” He winced as if in pain and then tried again. “Seth will not live through the night unless you do something.”

“What do you mean?” I whispered, the words barely escaping my closed throat.

“There are those that want Seth dead. That see him as a threat to their… political aspirations. He’s being set up.”

“Tonight?”

“Tonight.”

“Where’s Aliah? What about the contract?”

“Aliah’s…. otherwise engaged.” Jude stopped our i

I stared at him curiously. I should already be on my way to Seth, but there was something I needed to figure out first. “You’re bound to keep me alive, not to warn me when one of my friends is in trouble.”

“He’s more than your friend, is he not?” Jude demanded harshly. “And besides, you’d never forgive me if I allowed this to happen and never told you about it.”

I felt myself suck in a sharp breath, but couldn’t hear it over the roaring in my ears. “Forgive you? Since when are you concerned with forgiveness?”

“Starling, I am doing you a favor. I didn’t have to come here and I didn’t have to warn you.” He wrenched out of my grip and I realized for the first time I was clutching at his bicep. He stormed off the dance floor and slammed through the side doors that led to the outside.

I stood staring after him, completely confused by his behavior. From start to finish, he didn’t make sense. And then slowly his words of warning trickled through my confusion and I realized that Seth was in trouble.

I tore off after him. I vaguely heard Tristan call after me, but I was too focused on pushing through the happy crowd and chasing after Jude.

I pushed through the same doors he went through and then stood panting in the extra warm evening. I looked around in every direction, but he was gone- vanished. My shoulders slumped and I realized what an idiot I had been. Who cared if Jude was developing non-evil emotions? Who cared if Jude could actually feel things like remorse and concern? If he wanted things like forgiveness? He was absolutely inconsequential when Seth’s life was at stake.

The long draw of breath drew my attention and I whirled around to find Jude leaning back against the brick wall of the gymnasium, cigarette wedged in between his pressed lips.

“I was being ironic,” he drawled. Another long puff on his cigarette made his words sound like they were being sucked into a vacuum.

“Seth isn’t in trouble?”

“No, your Warrior is most definitely in trouble.” He shook out his head and looked to the dark horizon. “But I don’t really care what you do about him. Although I would like to be apprised of your decision. Since either way I’ll have to stay with you.”

“Either way?” I felt like a puppet just answering questions he was laying out for me.

“If you go, I’ll obviously have to accompany you. Whether Aliah is behind this or not, I would really like to live through the night. And if you stay, well, either way, you’ll be next. If Seth falls, they will come for you next.”

“They might not,” I argued, even while I knew he was right.