A new possessiveness flashes in his turquoise eyes. Warmth pools behind my sternum. My tongue darts out, wetting my bottom lip. Heat curls at the base of my spine, his gaze dropping to my mouth.
“That’s what you said after the snake bite. In your sleep. You called me yours.”
“Did I?” he asks, wrapping his legs around me for extra warmth. “Even then, a part of me knew. Wouldn’t admit it, though. Too stubborn.”
“You said us being together like this could draw unwanted attention. What did you mean?”
His grip tightens on me, brows furrowing. “Long story.”
“We have all night,” I whisper, my hands sliding over his broad shoulders.
He nods, throat working as he searches for words. “Legend says something drew the first Sentinels to the Starborn Range for a reason. A hum they couldn’t ignore. Something locked in the mineral veins of the mountain.”
I stare transfixed at the strange lines crisscrossing the cave, still giving off a faint glow.
“And the hum? It’s something all living things do. Isn’t that what you told me?”
He nods once, tugging at his beard as he pauses for a long moment. “The hum is like the resonance. A pitch that calls. That communicates. When two beings find each other and resonate, it amplifies it. Don’t know how. But it’s a part of this place. A part of us now.”
My hand comes up, palming his cheek. “Like the light that surged up afterward?” It still flashes in my mind, too beautiful to forget.
“A beacon.” His voice falls away.
“And beacons call things… people,” I say.
“If it can awaken the mountains, it can awaken the people still on the mountains. The Ancients.”
“The Sentinels?”
“Yes.”
“For a Wildblood with diluted blood, that’s a problem. The volatility of it. The unpredictable nature. It brings too much attention. But for one like me, half Sentinel, half human, it could have larger repercussions. It could call up there.” He nods toward the sky.
Goosebumps rise on my arms. He pulls me closer, pressing a kiss to my temple.
“Have you seen any sign of an awakening?” My voice trembles.
“No.” But he doesn’t sound happy or even relieved.
“What’s wrong, then?”
“It’s too quiet, Eliza. Like they’re waiting.”
“Waiting for what?” I ask, teeth chattering again despite Kael’s heat.
“Dunno.” His face is guarded as if he’s not telling me everything.
“Maybe we’re like Ash and Jo. Maybe everything you were told before was just old wives’ tales.”
He shrugs, brows furrowing. “Maybe.”
I whisper, “When’s the last time you saw one of the beings from the mountain?”
“Too young to know for sure. Couldn’t have been more than two or three. I have an image of my father with my mother. He didn’t look different. Didn’t act different. But later, after the Sentinels ambushed them, my grandmother told me stories. About how hard he fought to suppress the glow. More than marks on flesh. His whole body.”
My eyes drop, fingers coming up to the luminescence. My breath hitches in my throat. “Your marks. They’re on me now. Only softer.”
He nods, seizing my hand and pressing the knuckles to his lips. “Warned you, you’d never be the same.”
