I can’t stop my audible gasp at the contact, then try to smother my reaction, my body responding far more intensely than I thought possible.
An intensity that builds and transforms.
Another gasp rises to my throat as a gentle flutterunfurls within my chest.
My Oracle power spreads its wings within my body and mind.
I breathe through the briefest moment of panic that it’s happening again right now while Antony’s hands are on me, but I tell myself, if I’m unable to move for a few moments, he won’t think anything of it while he’s determinedly buttoning me into this coat.
Then a deep sense of calm washes through me, the comfort of my power intensifies, and my panic vanishes.
Even so, I can’t stop my body stiffening, a reaction purely to the force of the power taking hold of me, and then, once again, I’m watching as if from outside myself.
I’m hurrying along a wide hallway lined on both sides with pearly-white stone. Shapes are carved into the walls, but the light is dim, making it difficult to see what the images depict.
I stop halfway along, reaching toward a small indent in the wall beneath an insignia I don’t recognize, an arrow perhaps, with rays of sunlight extending around it…
At my touch, a panel appears, no wider than my forearm, and slides back into the rock, revealing a small, dark chamber, its content obscured.
For some reason, I’m filled with immense relief as I extend my hand into the chamber, feeling around until my fingers brush across a cold object.
Just as I would pull the object from the chamber, dread strikes my heart and dark light flashes around me?—
I come back to myself before I can see what happens next. My mind reels with uncertainty and a sense of displacement. Every oracle vision I’ve had so far has been immediately relevant. Warning of a harm imminently upon me.
But that pearly place… I’m not there. I’ve never seen such a place. I have no way to position this vision to understand what it’s warning me about.
Meanwhile, Antony has dropped to a kneel in front of me, his head nearer to my pelvis, his black armor making it difficult to see his face.
It’s impossible to miss the glitter in his eyes as he looks up at me. Somehow, his ferocity anchors me, his touch demanding that I focus on him instead of some nebulous future I don’t yet understand.
With his face dangerously close to my pelvis, he sweeps his hands down my left inner thigh, slow strokes that banish any lingering anxiety I was feeling. He moves lower, working his way down, as he takes his time buttoning the material around my left leg, and then my right. Paying attention to each one, stroking through the heavy material firmly enough that I feel every second of his attention.
By the time he’s done, my breathing is quietly ragged, and not from fear.
I fight the heat building in my core. A heat I shouldn’t feel. Not now. Not ever. Not with him.
I tell myself it’s because of the dark.
In the dim light, it’s harder to remind myself who he is and why I’m here. All I can feel is the stroke of smooth metal against my body, touches that provoke pleasure instead of pain, and on the heels of my surging grief and my confusing vision, it’s a distraction I’m vulnerable to.
After he finishes buttoning my second leg, he straightens enough to plant his hands around my hips, a determined clamp, but he remains kneeling, his head still near my pelvis.
“There,” he says softly.
He sounds pleased, but I’m not sure why.
All of the extra material now wrapped around me means I won’t be able to take a single step without falling over. That can’t be convenient for him.
I find my voice to ask, “I need your help to roll up the?—”
“No.” A rapid rebuke. “I’ll carry you.”
I blink into the darkness. “Wouldn’t it be easier if I didn’t wear this?”
He finally raises himself to his full height, taking his time moving upward while his hands barely move from my hips. A branded claim on my body.
He lowers his head to my ear. “As much as I would enjoy peeling the coat off you as slowly as I put it on you, do you want to risk touching iron in the forge?”
