Mmm. Stone forgotten, I nipped at his bottom lip.
He lowered his grip to the sides of my neck and lifted his head the slightest bit. He was panting, each breath hard yet broken. “Good?”
“So good.” I glided my palms up his muscular chest, toyed with the ends of his hair. “More.”Kiss.
Another icy sting. My frown returned.
As if he noticed my upset—and cared—Taron spun me, putting his back to the stone. “More,” he whispered in agreement. Then he kissed me, slow and lazy, savoring.
The change of tempo cracked my calm, freeing a thought.Something is wrong.
I broke from the kiss and blinked. Shook my head to shoo away a thick mental fog. Our surroundings cleared, but hmm. The wall. Its spikes. In the languid firelight, I could see they pricked Taron from shoulder to heel.
He alternated between kissing my jawline and flinching with pain.
He hurts.
Anger flickered, an ember, then a flame, then a blaze. The cavern caused his pain. The cavern must pay.
I unfurled my wings and snapped them forward and back, once, only once, but I created a wind so powerful, the spikes cracked. Not good enough. I rammed my fist into the stone. Punch, punch, punch. My skin split, and my knuckles splintered, but the wall cracks widened. Whenever a crack breached one of those glowing gold veins, a cluster of crystals grew, translucent on the outside, with that molten gold glittering on the inside.
The Sunsong Crystal.
Little pops of energy flickered around it. I traced my fingertips along the vibrating surface. Zing! The tingling pulse of power wrenched a startled laugh from me. The crystal blazed brighter, but no echo sounded.
Realizations hit like punches.
We were here on a mission.Uppercut!
Taron didn’t want me, didn’t even want me breathing.Body blow!
We’d fallen prey to the cavern’s spell and kissed, anyway.Knockout!
Dismay hit next, reverberating in my bones. Now, there was no undoing what we’d done.
I witnessed the exact moment the light of reality dawned in Taron’s irises. He released me as if I’d startedleaking toxic waste. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and I withered.
“The crystal must have dulled the mesmerizing effect,” he said, harsh and obviously of regret. He focused on a spot behind my head, as if trying to erase what had happened from his mind.
“Glad it worked,” I replied, and I meant it. No telling what I would have done if it hadn’t.
“Time to get what we came for.” He dug inside his pack and removed a hammer and a chisel. With quick efficiency and single-minded concentration, he worked to free our prize. With a brittle crack followed by a whispering scrape, he succeeded.
I withdrew the cashmere scarf I’d brought, ignoring the slight pangs in my hands, and wound the material around the delicate cluster, then stored the cargo in a zippered, cushioned pouch.
“I wondered why you brought that,” he muttered with a touch of admiration. “Let’s find th?—”
Lettssssfinddddth—
The echo returned in a rush, the cavern overcoming whatever had silenced it. We both went still and quiet.
Nein! I pointed to the path we’d trekked, and he nodded. Once again, he took the lead, but not without grabbing my hand. I bit my tongue and forged ahead.
The further we traveled, the darker it got, not even embers of my newest fire able to chase away the shadows. I fixed my attention on another sense: my hearing. Taron’s soft wisp of breath. I stayed close on his heels and tried not to think of our kiss. Ja, I absolutely tried. But he’d tasted so good. Felt so good. So right. Mmm. So decadent. A fine wine I longed to guzzle again and again and again and again.
I needed to learn another awful thing about him pronto.
Oh! A light at the end of the tunnel. Almost teacup time!
