There’s a lengthy pause where I wonder if he’ll go further after all and take this where I desperately want it to go. His mouth is achingly close to my skin. A twist of his face would have his lips coming in contact with the delicate, sensitive skin of my center. Instead, he skates his hand upmy knee, unhooking my leg from his shoulder and carefully puts it down as he rises.
I sigh, clasp my hands together, and get a hold of myself. “Thank you. I really could have done it myself, though.”
Ozias studies me again, quiet, assessing. “I know,” he repeats, “but that doesn’t mean you have to.” He holds out his hand for me and I take it.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
OZIAS’S WORDS RING in my ears and I don’t sleep. Ican’tsleep. I sit awake outside of Ninon’s enclosure, waiting for her to rouse from her ever deep sleep when morning finally comes.
Sitting up, she rubs her eyes with the heel of her hand, catching sight of me instantly. “I thought you’d be with Ozias or Atlanta by now.”
“I’m not supposed to meet them until the afternoon,” I say, pushing myself off the stone wall I’d been leaning against, the cool dampness lingering on my skin.
“Then you should be resting,” she chastises, getting up slowly. Too slowly.
I frown. “I’m restless.”
“I’m unsurprised.” She comes to my side and fallsinto step with me.
“And you? Going to Issa or have you found some kind of library to busy yourself with.”
A half smile quirks her lips. “Of course I found the library.”
Relief floods me at the same moment excitement courses through my veins. “I should have known. Will you show me?” I say it as casually as I can, but it doesn’t matter. Ninon narrows her gaze at me.
“What use do you have for the library?”
“I like to know where you are at all times.”
“Some people would find that concerning.”
“I consider it being overprotective and overprepared. I might need you. You might need me.”
“So needy.”
I laugh. “It comes naturally.”
Ninon shakes her head, a softness in her eyes telling me she’s amused with my antics. “This way.”
I follow her to the Alcazar, but instead of climbing up, we descend a set of stairs I’d never noticed before. The Alcazar itself is lined with books, but Ninon told me most of those are from the rest of the outside world, divided into sections based on the language the books are written in. Everything in our language is in the underground library.
A shudder wracks my body as the coolness of the cavern seeps into my skin, reminding me of home. A feeling of being split in two overcomes me—one that saysyou do not belong, and another that saysthis is who you are. An unexpected homesickness twists my heart.
“Strange, isn’t it?” she says. Ninon’s perceptiveness means, if I require her assistance, I need to prepare myself to divulge everything if it comes to it. If she feels inclined to pry.
“I miss it and yet…I don’t.”
She nods.
The rock surrounding us is identical to Nevoba’s caverns, except where Nevoba is alive with the echo of life, the library resounds with a silence that muffles the ears.
“So what kind of books have you found here,” I whisper, not wanting to disturb the quiet.
Ninon’s voice is soft, seamlessly fitting into the hush. “Some are accounts of their lives before; some are fictional stories. Others are historical events, or texts about different elahi or unique draconem traits.”
“Anything about bonding?” I inquire. If I’m not direct, even my roundabout questions may be lost on Ninon.
Ninon pauses and regards me. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”
