The Wind and the Horizon (Book 2 in the Starborn Series)

Chapter Fifty-Seven

May stood frozen in shock as Mila hurried forward and wrapped her long arms around her.

"I can't believe this," Mila whispered, her voice high with genuine surprise. "I never thought I'd see you again."

Neither did I, May thought. She had forgotten how to form words.

Mila stepped back, her hands still gripping May's shoulders, and peered at her as if she needed to double-check that it was indeed her ex-lover standing before her.

"Oh my stars, May. What happened to your face?"

"I was in a car accident." May mumbled, repeating the lie she told the ticketing agent and holding a hand over still-tender scar on her chest.

"Oh no, was it the Rocket?"

May's heartbeat tripped over something so familiar coming out of the mouth of someone who had been a stranger for so long. It had been five years since Kane had blackmailed May into sleeping with him; an unspeakable surrender she had done to protect the girl she loved. Five years since Kane revealed their clandestine relationship to everyone they knew, regardless of how much of herself May relinquished. Five years since Mila had fled from Omea instead of facing the fall-out, leaving May, heartbroken, to suffer alone.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, in the places where May had tried to shove the memories from that time, she knew she was mad at Mila. No, she was furious. But in the here and now, she was hurt and scared. To be standing in front of a familiar face - one she had at one point in her life felt safe and at ease with - helped alleviate her anxiety enough to eclipse her anger.

"No," May answered after a beat. "The Rocket is still with us."

Mila laughed, light and polite. "That's a relief. Kai would be devastated if something happened to that damn van. What are you doing up here?"

I could ask you the same thing. In the early years, when May was still nursing the ache of Mila's abandonment, she imagined her ex on a different island in the Iewa archipelago. The idea that she might have still been on Hoku this whole time made May's head spin.

"I'm actually headed to the mainland. I sail out tomorrow."

"What?" Mila's eyes stretched wide with disbelief. "Are you kidding me?"

"It's a long story," May said with a shake of her head.

A moment of awkward silence passed between them, Mila twisting her hands as she watched May shift on her feet and look anywhere but at her.

"Well, if you don't leave until morning, would you like to grab dinner with me? It would be really nice to catch up - you could tell me this long story of yours."

May chewed on the smooth corner of her lip, opposite the side still healing from one of Melanie's blows.

"I don't know. I kind of need to find a hotel for tonight. My sailing is super early."

"You could stay at my place if you want," Mila blurted, seemingly as much to her own surprise as May's. "I live pretty close to the shipyards, so you wouldn't have far to go in the morning."

Bad idea, May's mind screamed. Nope, nope, nope.

But as a loud-talking group of teenagers pushed past them, May felt her anxiety flare. How long had they been standing out here in the open? The idea that a mystery Loyal might have spotted her made her blood run cold; the idea of being alone right now, even more so.

Mila saw May's hesitation. "I have a pull-out couch. We could make dinner there and catch up. I promise not to make it weird."

Too late.