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And then it was instantly replaced when night birds and bees discussion echoed in my head

"Mom, you’re not here to talk to me about-"

"Your dad and I are sorry!"heavily into , platinum blonde hair into a knot at the base of her neck Her ice blue eyes ith intensity and her flawless skin glowed naturally as her sincerity seeped through her

"Mo her fears were unfounded

She was definitely not coether in an expression I had only ever seen her hen she was preparing for a mission "We didn’t know, Stel We didn’t know you and Tristan would develop feelings for each other… Honestly, we didn’t even know you could develop feelings for anyone other than Seth"

"Mo about?" I breathed in a voice I could barely hear My hands were suddenly shaking and I gripped the quilt Annabelle had htly in ed in rew exponentially larger and then dropped like a boulder into the pit of my stomach "We never enforced boundaries between you two, or discouraged any feelings that webetween you It’s just that, well honestly, we assus that had blossomed between the two of you would dissipate And you weren’t supposed to meet Seth for years yet Honestly, Stella, we didn’t know you’re feelings for Tristan were so deep and Seth is your intended, the Elders themselveswith me to understand I had never heard y lacing words I was having trouble understanding shook me

I wanted to reassurebetween Tristan and I had absolutely nothing to do with deep seeded and forbidden feelings between us But instead of quickly explaining away her fears, my mouth kind of just fell open and I sat in stunned silence, realizing my mom and dad had actually expected me to fall head over heels in love with Seth the moment he walked into my life

A flare of treacherous rebellion flared deep in my belly I didn’t want to fall in love with someone because I was supposed to or told to or stop every e I had because someone else had decided my future

I had been born for a specific purpose and even gifted my life on Earth with expectations for a future But suddenly I wasn’t sure what my love life had to do with any of it

I knew these were awful thoughts And in the back of els That was the way things worked Seth was my counterpart in every way; he would coether

I just wanted our relationship to feel natural and not forced

And I especially wanted to forget about Tristan

No I needed to forget about Tristan

"Mo to alleviate as many of my own fears as hers "Tristan and I have always been just friends You iven us boundaries, but we have the the I at least sounded confident My internal organs had started to rearrange themselves into compactly wound knots, and the nape of my neck prickled sharply with heat

"We trust you both, Stella," y had allowed for "We kno hard you and Tristan have worked to maintain a platonic relationship You both have respected your future aly well, and we applaud you for that" She s "But, up until now Tristan hasn’t had any competition Your father and I are concerned for how Seth’s presence could as are clearly strained between you; we just don’t want to see you lose sight of every other i"

I breathed in slowly, thankful she had at least acknowledged as happening between Tristan and h why I needed her to believe whatever was there was real, while I continued to willfully deny every bit of concrete evidence was beyondher words float aroundup co theht about Seth," I ad into the truth "He has definitely stirred up feelings I don’t think neither Tristan nor I were prepared to face And I think they caught us both off guard But please don’t worry, we both knohat’s at stake and we aren’t willing to jeopardize the entire human race because of jealousy or curiosity or… a mutual past Plus, I value Tristan’s friendship way too much to hurt him or Seth"