He stirred, his arm tightening, pulling me more securely against him. It wasn’t a possessive gesture, but a comforting one. Safe. My entire life had been a pursuit of knowledge, a fortress of books and theories I’d built around myself. This feeling of being held, of being completely wanted, was terrifying and exhilarating. It felt more real than any scientific principle I’d ever studied.
I lay there for a long time, just breathing with him,memorizing the feeling of his body against mine, until the light turned from gray to gold.
“Morning,” he said with a sleepy smile, giving me a slow, languid kiss that heated me up much too fast. When he pulled back, I clung.
He tapped my ass. “You’re trying to keep me in bed all day, aren’t you?”
“You kissed me.”
“And you kissed me back.” He glanced toward the window, and I was sure he heard people moving around outside, because I did.
“There isn’t anything I’d rather do than lie here with you.” He chuckled. “Well, there are few things I’d like to do more than just lie here with you, but those will have to wait.”
We slipped from the bed and dressed quickly, stepping outside into the bright morning. The air was already warm, but the dust on the ground was undisturbed. I hadn’t expected it to rain last night but wouldn’t that have been wonderful?
If only I could control the storms my emotions generated.
“Morning!” Piper strode over to greet us, a basket of fresh bread and preserved fruits in her arms. “Breakfast.” She lifted the basket and nudged her head toward an empty table. “You two have a big day ahead. Please join us.”
As we ate, the village began to assemble, coming in ones and twos, then in family groups, their faces a stark mixture of desperation and hope. They didn’t crowd us or interrupt, just stood at a respectful distance, watching, waiting. My belly, which had been rumbling with hunger, tightened into a knot. So many lives rested on my calculations being correct.
“They believe in you,” Raoul said quietly, noticing my expression.
“They believe inus,” I said. “Now, I need to collect my supplies. Piper, those volcanic caves Raoul mentioned? The ones with the crystal formations? Can you take us to them?”
She studied me for a long moment before nodding.
We finished and followed her up a long winding trail that took us about halfway up the smallest hill behind the village, where we entered a cave and paused to let our eyes adjust to the darkness.
The cave was different from the hot springs; cooler, darker, with a hum in the air that spoke of ancient magic. Crystalline veins glittered along the walls. Sulfate and silver iodide deposits, exactly as I’d expected from his description.
While Piper and Raoul stood at the entrance, I moved through the big open cave, my boots crunching on the mineral-dusted floor. I worked carefully, collecting samples, scraping fine powders into labeled pouches, placing them in my bag. Each compound had to be pure, the ratios precise. This wasn’t just magic; it was chemistry. A delicate dance between the natural world and my power to manipulate it.
When I finished, we returned to the village square. The crowd had grown.
I took a deep breath and turned to Raoul. “I have what I need. Now comes the hard part. We need to fly a precise grid pattern to the west of the valley, intersecting with the largest cloud formations as they drift eastward. I’ll disperse the minerals along with my magic at specific altitudes to trigger ice crystal formation. But it’s critical thatyour flight path is steady. Any deviation could disrupt the atmospheric pressure I’m trying to create.”
He looked from me to the expectant faces of his people, then back to me. There was no hesitation in his eyes, no doubt. Only complete and total trust.
“Tell me where to fly,” he said simply.
A lump formed in my throat. I nodded.
He stepped into the center of the square, and with a now-familiar blur of heat and power, shifted. His magnificent dragon form towered over the villagers, his scales shimmering like polished stones in the morning sun.
I walked toward him, and he lowered his huge head. I reached up, placing my palm flat against the warm scales of his snout. It was a gesture of affection, a silent acknowledgment of the bond between us.
“Ready?” I asked softly.
A low, deep rumble vibrated through his chest and up my arm. He was more than ready.
Mounting him felt second nature now. I climbed quickly, my hands and feet finding the familiar holds. I settled into my spot at the base of his neck, the powerful muscles beneath me coiled like big springs.
He spread his wings, and a gust of wind sent dust devils dancing across the square. With a powerful beat of his wings and a spring upward, he launched us skyward. Cheers erupted below, a wave of sound that followed us as we climbed higher and higher into the empty blue sky.
The world shrank below us, the parched valley now a brown scar on the green landscape. To our west, a few lonely clouds drifted, wisps of white. A few small clusters waited further west. It wasn’t much, but it was enough.
“Higher, Raoul,” I said, my voice carrying over the rushof the wind. I pointed. “Into the belly of that first cloud. I need the updraft.”
