“I don’t think you’re an artemian, Aelia. I think you’re from one of the realms in Mithrylaya.”
Aelia blinked up at him, Otis’s last words ringing in her ears. Had he known? Had he known what she was?
“Otis told me to go across the sea and find the Del Awane family. It was the last thing he said to me.”
Keeran shrugged reassuringly, dropping his hands. “Then maybe that’s where we need to go. But for now, we need to find somewhere safe and think everything through.”
“Where?” Aelia looked around at the mountains barricading them from all sides.
“Where Khaled and I used to live.” Keeran smiled down at her. “But first, we need to talk some things through. I’m sick of keeping secrets. I’ll answer any question you have, and I hope you’ll answer some of mine.”
Aelia nodded. “Of course.” She opened her mouth, one of the hundreds of questions she had leaping to the forefront, but he held his hand up to stop her.
“Let me hunt us something to eat first. If I don’t eat something soon, I think I’ll keel over.” He didn’t look like he wasabout to pass out; he actually didn’t look even remotely tired despite his long flight. Aelia, on the other hand, was so hungry her stomach felt like it was eating itself.
“Okay, I’ll get a fire ready.”
A gentle smile creased Keeran’s cheeks, softening his face in a way that made her knees feel weak all over again. The energy shifted in the air between them, and she saw a hint of darkness flicker in him. She bit her lip at the sight of it, and his eyes homed in on the movement, watching it hungrily.
But when he leant in to kiss her, it was gentle, his lips parting hers with a tender reverence, his tongue dancing against hers. His hand gripped the back of her neck and pulled her closer, seeming to breathe her in. Her arms wound around his neck, her fingers sinking into his hair, desperate to get as close to him as was physically possible. She had found her home, and she never wanted to let go.
So when Keeran began to pull away, she felt such an immense disappointment that all sense of pride and propriety evaporated in a puff of longing. Her body followed his, arching into him as he pulled back, not wanting to let the moment end. His lips curved against hers in a smile, but it didn’t stop him from breaking free of her grip.
He huffed a laugh through his nose at her evident frustration, the warmth in his eyes appeasing her somewhat before he pressed his lips against hers once more. Even the gentle brush of his mouth sent sparks skittering through her. He broke off the kiss and pressed his forehead against hers, closing his eyes.
“I know the concept of a pair bond is something you’ve never had to consider, and I swear I will respect whatever decision you make. But before you choose, you need to know that there is nothing I would not do for you, no line I would not cross to keep you safe, irrespective of what kind of monster that makes me. There is no part of me that does not love you. I am yours, whollyand completely.” He pulled away to look at her, the black depths of his eyes darkening further as his voice lowered, her heart skipping in an uneven beat at the heavy suggestion that rumbled in it. “I also know that I have had far too long to think of all the things I want to do to you, of all the ways I’m going to take every delicious part of you. But when I do, Aelia,” he said, her name little more than a growl on his lips, the sound curling in her chest as he leant closer. “It is not going to be on a cold clearing, with you anxious and exhausted. No.” His teeth nipped at her ear. “When I do, you’re going to need your strength, because I plan to make you come until you’re seeing stars long after the sun has risen.”
If her pulse had been uneven before, it was positively racing at the promise in his words.
Stunned into silence, she watched him walk backwards, eyes locked onto hers until he reached the cliff edge. Then he stepped right back off it.
Aelia’s heart stopped beating altogether, leaping into her throat as she took a staggered step towards him.
A thud shook the air, vibrating through the rock she stood on. Another followed shortly, even more powerful than the last, the pressure in the air hitting her ears.
Thud. Thud.Thud.
They seemed to be getting louder, reverberating through her like thunder. Slowly, powerfully, Keeran rose into the sky, soaring over the trees and away into the distance. Aelia puffed out her cheeks and released a ragged breath.
Damn.
She raked her fingers through her hair.
He loved her. All the hurt and anguish and panic that had been threatening to overwhelm her were brushed aside by the warmth ballooning inside her. It bubbled out of her in a disbelieving laugh as she watched him shrink into the skyline.A smile still played on her lips as he disappeared behind a mountain, and she dropped her hands by her side, feeling lighter than she had in weeks.
She started collecting firewood, readying the fire and stacking some in a pile beside it. She didn’t bother lighting it. She wasn’t going to go in search of flint when she had her very own fire god flying back to her.
So, she folded herself onto the grass, sitting cross-legged as she took in the view. She shielded her eyes from the low rays of the sun, peering into the sky. Aelia broke into a smile as she spotted a shape flying high, too large to be a bird. Keeran was on his way back.
Still high above the valley floor, he soared out of the sinking sun towards her. She squinted, taking the opportunity to watch him fly as he came steadily closer. The sun blinded her, but she strained past it to make out the detail in the shape hurtling towards her.
Dread hit her like a wall, fear rolling over her as she shook her head in horrified denial. The Dragon barrelling towards her was too small, too lithe, too long. Its scales glinted, the evening light bouncing off its golden sides.
It wasn’t Keeran.
She lunged to her feet and ran, her legs pounding the ground in a frantic sprint towards the shelter of the trees. Blood rushed in her ears, her arms pumping by her side, her breathing already coming in gasps as she dove between the enormous trunks of the mountainous forest.
Before long, she could feel the vibration of the Dragon’s wings in the air, thudding in her ears like a drum. It was close, but she didn’t dare look up. She willed her legs to move faster, praying the trees gave enough cover to hide her progress down the mountain.
