Chapter 10
CAN WE TIP THE SCALES IN OUR FAVOR?
The journey to the ice valley where the nagrata lived was a relatively short one, and C’ael went ahead, promising to meet us at the location marked on the map. We flew in formation, Kalani and me in the center with Dhoona and Yudh flanking us.
The skies were clear, the weather mild enough for me and Kalani to communicate without having to yell.
“How does C’ael do it do you think? Get about? Do you think it’s transference?”
“I have no idea,” Kalani said. “I spoke with him while you slept, and I don’t believe he knows what he is or where he truly came from either.”
“He says that Iblees made him.”
“Yes, that’s what he believes.”
“You don’t think it’s true?”
Kalani was silent for several seconds, and I was beginning to think she hadn’t heard me when she spoke. “I think he was in a mystical prison with a god and an evil entity. I doubt much of anything he remembers is true. But…I feel that he’s good. I thinkhe genuinely cares for you and wants to protect you. If I felt otherwise, then I wouldn’t allow him anywhere near you.”
It was my turn to fall into reflective silence. “You hated me when we first met.”
“I didn’t hate you. I hated what you represented. But you, Leela…I doubt that even your enemies could truly hate you.”
My cheeks warmed. “Wow, thanks.”
Her laughter vibrated through me. “You’re welcome.”
Mist billowed ahead, thick in some places and translucent in others, and beyond lay the icy blue peaks of the mountains where the nagrata made their home. The entrance to the aerie was somewhere among those peeks.
A shimmer bloomed in the periphery of my vision, but when I turned my head, there was nothing there. A trick of the elements, no doubt.
I pressed close to Kalani as the temperature dropped, the change so sudden that it had to be mystical. Thank goodness Jaantor had warned of this. I tugged my wool scarf up over the lower half of my face with a gloved hand, squinting as mist turned to ice.
We dropped altitude. I tucked closer to Kalani as a blizzard swept up around us. We swooped, searching for anything that resembled an entrance large enough for a nagrata to pass through.
“I see it!” Yudh yelled above the storm. He swooped down and to the left, and we followed, dipping beneath the worst of the sleet and ice, into a slightly warmer pocket of air where the world was relatively clear and a shadowy figure was visible beyond a sheen of frost.
C’ael stood on the craggy ledge leading to the nagrata lair, a hand making a visor against his forehead. He wasn’t bundled up warmly like us, but if he felt the cold, he didn’t show it. In fact, aswe circled closer, I was sure I saw mist rising off his skin. The air beside him seemed to shimmer too.
We landed a few meters away, and he strode over and held out his arms to help me dismount. I swung my legs to one side, careful of the holster and twin axes clipped to my waist, and leaned into him, grasping his shoulders for balance as he drew me toward him and into an aura of delicious warmth. Our bodies met for a beat as I slid down, and a flash of heat lanced through me, sudden and wholly unexpected. My eyes snapped wide, pulse spiking. His fingers pinched my hips, and he tugged me tighter against his taut frame. I staunched the impulse to melt against him and stepped back, breathing through the constriction in my chest.
The chill and his heat…The combination was playing havoc with my senses.
C’ael reached for me, brushing his fingers down my cheeks. I couldn’t help but lean into his touch. “You’re freezing. You should stay close to me.”
That was a reasonable excuse to press against him. I’d take it. I stepped under his arm, allowing him to hug me to his side. “How are you so warm?”
“I don’t know, but we can use it to our advantage.”
“We’ll need it up here,” Kalani said, joining us. She caught my eyes for a moment, and our aerial conversation came back to me. Yeah, we had no idea what C’ael truly was.
Dhoona and Yudh led the way into the cavern. Into the mountain where these ancient beasts that sounded like the dragons of mythology from my world were now sleeping.
The tunnel was at least thirty feet high and twenty feet across. The nagrata must be fucking massive. Heat wafted toward us, kissing my skin and melting the frost that lingered on my cheeks. I pulled away from C’ael as we went deeper. A softorange glow painted the walls ahead. An opening came into view a moment later.
“Okay, this is it,” Kalani said.
Dhoona and Yudh fell back, allowing me to take the lead. Zarael’s father had said I’d be welcome here, but the others might aggravate the nagrata with their presence. Best for them to remain in the tunnel.
