I shake my head, still holding her close. "Nothing outside has happened. Everything within has." The words are inadequate, too simple to convey the transformation burning through me, but at the moment, they are all I have.
Chapter Eighteen
LEIRA
His hands remain at my waist, warm against the thin fabric of my tunic, his scales radiating a heat I've never felt from him before. I search his face, trying to decipher this startling transformation. The Varok I've come to know is measured, controlled, his every move calculated. This male before me with eyes glowing like molten gold and a tail that coils protectively around us both seems possessed by something wild and untamed. Yet I'm not afraid.
“You're burning up," I murmur, pressing my palm against his chest where heat throbs beneath my fingers like a second heartbeat seeking mine. "Are you sure you're not ill?”
"Not ill." His voice is deeper than usual, resonant in a way that vibrates through my bones. "Awakening.”
The word strikes a forgotten bell inside me. The prophecy, the Season of Naga, the elemental powers destined to rise with the arrival of the Threadborn. Me. I strain to recall Eira's exact words when she recited the ancient prediction at Varok's coronation. Something about love being the catalyst, though the precise details escape me now.
My fingers hover over the ridge of scales along his collarbone, each one pulsing with amber light beneath my touch.His scales warm further beneath my fingertips, and I wonder if this heat is his body's way of confessing what my own heart has recently been whispering.
Zara giggles, breaking the spell between us. Her small white coils shimmer with delight as she watches us, violet eyes wide and knowing in a way that makes her seem ancient despite her child's form.
"Your threads are turning golden," she says, gesturing to the air between us as if tracing invisible strands. "I can see them melding tighter. Can you feel it?"
Yes. I feel a pull, a connection, a current flowing between Varok and me that seems to strengthen with each passing moment.
I step back slightly, not to escape his touch but to better study the changes in him. His auburn hair catches the ambient light of the garden, copper highlights shimmering like actual flames. His scales, usually a burnished red-gold, now seem to pulse with inner light, as though embers glow beneath each one.
Varok's tail loosens its protective circle around us, but one hand remains at my waist, unwilling to break contact completely. "I realized something I have been fighting too long." His thumb traces a small circle against my side, then leans in close. "We will talk later when we are alone.”
I'm suddenly conscious of our audience, though Varok seems unconcerned by the witnesses to his uncharacteristic behavior. I see Zara in my periphery then glance toward the cascading water that spills from a cleft in the cavern wall, its surface catching light in rainbow hues.
"Zara and I were planning to take our midday meal by the waterfall," I say, nodding toward the far side of the garden where the flow gathers into a deeper pool. "Would you...would you like to join us?" The invitation feels strangely domestic, almost fragile in its simplicity.
Varok follows my gaze, the waterfall’s crystal flow breaking into a thousand liquid prisms before collecting in the pool below. The sound of it fills the space with gentle music, a counterpoint to the otherwise silent garden.
"It’s so peaceful here," I continue, when he doesn't immediately respond.
"I would be honored to join you," Varok says, his formal words at odds with the warmth in his voice. His hand slides from my waist to catch my fingers in his.
When he smiles down at me, the transformation is startling. The severe line of his mouth blooms into something wild and vibrant, his fangs gleaming like polished ivory against the burnished copper of his scales. His entire face changes, harsh angles softening, yellow eyes crinkling at the corners, and my heart flutters helplessly at the sight.
Zara claps her small hands together, her childlike joy radiating like the glowing patterns that dance beneath the waterfall's surface. "I will show you where the light pools most beautifully," she says, her white coils gliding forward with liquid grace, leaving ephemeral silver traces across the dark stone.
"Lead the way, Ashira," he says, using the naga endearment that always sends a flush of warmth across my skin.
We settle on the smooth stone ledges beside the deepest pool, where the waterfall's spray creates a perpetual mist that hangs in the air like suspended diamonds. My bare feet dangle just above the water's surface, and I watch ripples of bioluminescence respond to my movement, as though the pool itself acknowledges my presence.
Varok arranges his serpentine half in a loose coil beside me, close enough that his scales occasionally brush against my leg, each touch igniting a curl of liquid heat that spirals through my veins and pools low in my core, a dangerous, delicious warmth that makes me forget to breathe.
Zara settles across from us, her luminescent coils tucked beneath her like folded silk as she leans forward, violet eyes widening at the sight of Nirik approaching with our meal balanced on a large platter.
I thank Nirik as he sets the platter down, and his scales flush a deeper ocher at the edges. He bows, backing away to resume his post opposite Zaethir. There, they balance plates of food in their palms, eating while maintaining their vigil. Nirik shifting his weight from tail tip to tail tip, stealing glances between bites, while Zaethir consumes his meal with mechanical precision, his serpentine body motionless save for his icy gaze shifting as they sweep the garden's perimeter between careful bites.
"Look what the kitchen made for us!" Zara announces as she removes the lids from the covered dishes.
The scent, sweet and earthy and unlike anything from the human world, hits me first. Purple-fleshed fruits with opalescent skin nestle beside thick slices of bread made from rynth root, its deep blue crumb studded with what look like tiny crystals. A small clay pot holds honey the color of amber, and beside it sits a stone teapot trailing wisps of fragrant steam.
Varok follows my gaze to the teapot. "Elder petal tea," he explains. "The flowers grow only in the deepest caverns, where the light is too faint for most plants." He reaches for the pot, his movements fluid and precise as he pours the deep amber liquid into three hand-blown glass cups, each one decorated with delicate scale patterns around the rim.
"It tastes like starlight," Zara adds helpfully, though I have no idea what starlight might taste like.
I accept the cup Varok offers, our fingers brushing in the exchange. I take a sip and the flavor blooms on my tongue. Delicate, slightly sweet, with an effervescent quality that feels like drinking liquid light. It warms me from within, spreading tendrils of gentle heat through my chest.
