“Yes,” he growls. “Move.”
His claw lands on my ankle, large and strong. He gives me a little shove.
The contact sends a jolt through me that feels embarrassingly good.
We spill out of the crawlspace an eternity later.
The chamber we land in is loud. The sound of water is much louder here, close and heavy. The air is thick with mist and that cloying, sweet-rot smell of the bloom.
I try to stand.
My knees say absolutely not.
I crumple.
Sarven catches me before gravity can do its worst. He hauls me up, then realizes I can’t hold my own weight. He sinks downwith me, pulling me back until we are braced against a relatively cool section of the wall.
“Burning,” he murmurs, his hand pressing to my forehead.
“You’re one to talk,” I mumble, leaning into his touch. He feels like a furnace. “You’re glowing.”
He doesn't understand the words, but he understands the shiver running through me.
“Healing,” he rumbles in Drakavian, the translator whispering the correction in my ear. “Good for… heart.”
He wraps his arms around me, tucking my head under his chin, his legs tangling with mine.
It should be too hot. It should be claustrophobic.
But as soon as his chest hits my back, that vibration starts.
That purr.
It rattles through my ribs, sinking deep into my bones. It grabs the frantic, erratic rhythm of my feverish heart and forces it to slow down. To match him.
Thum-thum. Thum-thum.
“Sleep,” he commands, his voice vibrating against my skull. “Safe now. I watch.”
I cling to his arm, my fingers digging into his skin, inhaling deeply as the scent of him drowns out the rot.
“Don’t let go,” I whisper, my eyes dragging shut.
“Mih-kay-lah…safe,” he vows.
I fall asleep wrapped in heat and that deep, steady purr, and honestly, I don’t even fight it this time.
I’m too tired. Too cold and hot everywhere except where Sarven touches me.
So, I let go.
And immediately, I’m somewhere else.
The dream startsin golden darkness.
Warm. Alive. Like being wrapped in honey-colored silk that breathes.
Like Sarven’s glow.
