Luelle’s voice sounded behind me, “says the man who only won by shouting out to me and causing me to stumble in the last stretch.”
“It’s all strategy.”
Felydrin cleared his throat. “Enough arguing. If Quinn did not physically touch you, then he is indeed the winner. I’ll allow you to choose your prize back at the Consortium. If you wish to return on your own now, you may do so, but I will not be deactivating the traps until every last Mage has returned.”
Quinn wandered off without another word.
“Shall we?” Elle asked, bumping me with her shoulder.
I offered a half smile. “I’d rather wait, if you don’t mind?”
“Of course not! I’d like to get a head start on the studying I need to do for our… thing, so I’ll be going ahead.”
There was no chance I was returning on my own while the traps were still active. Once Elle was on her way, I plopped myself down against a large rock and settled myself in to wait.
Felydrin moved to sit beside me. “I think it’s best if we keep what happened today between us.”
Now that I was not expecting. “I’d prefer that as well…. Could I ask why, though?”
“Ah, it’s nothing really,” he sighed. “But if you ever want to talk about your magic or test some theories, please come see me. Anytime.”
His answer gave me pause, but I responded cordially. “I appreciate it.”
Why was everyone so interested in my magic?
There was a field of flowers at my back, and a star-filled sky above me. It was cold enough to nip at my skin, but nestled against his chest, I felt nothing but warmth. I propped myself up onto my elbows and looked down at him. Eyes like shattered ice, long black hair entangled with the flora below him—drenched in moonlight, he was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen. And I was his. And he was mine.
“Nairu, my love.” My whispered name was like a precious hymn. Captivating. Intoxicating. I could listen to it on repeat for the rest of my life, and the shiver it sent down my spine would never fail to set my blood on fire.
If his voice was a hymn, his hands were my salvation. Every touch eliciting a sinful reaction. A shallow breath. A sharp inhale. Nails digging deep. A knowing pressure between my thighs. Building. Rising higher and higher until my head was airy and light. His hands alone could break me.
“We should get back. They will notice we’re missing.” Lazily murmured words that neither of us cared to acknowledge.
“I could kiss you forever.”
Forever sounded perfect. But that wasn’t right. There was something more that we needed to do. Things that we needed to take care of before forever could become reality. His lips on mine silenced those thoughts, entrancing me until I could taste it. Forever.
I mumbled his name against his lips, “Alandris, my love.”
I woke in the middle of the night with my heart pounding out of my chest, and buried my face in my hands. A dream. It had only been a dream. A dream about Alandris. A slightly… heated dream about Alandris. I had officially lost my mind.
I’d successfully avoided eye contact with Alandris for two days, and I’d successfully distracted Elle from asking too many questions about why I was acting so strange. By the time the two days had passed, and we were ready to head into Val’Naeris, the only thing Elle could think or talk about was the dressmaker. As for myself, the only thing I could think about was something I’d decided I wasn’t going to address quite yet, or possibly ever. Probably ever.
I had questioned Elle’s sanity when she’d said she could get us into the heart of Val’Naeris within a matter of minutes. Teleportation magic was supposed to be incredibly difficult to get right, made even more arduous when attempting to take someone else with you, but Elle said she could manage it, and for some stupid reason I’d decided to place my trust in the fact that she was right.
There were a multitude of things that needed to go right, and any one of them failing could end up deadly. Distance was on our side, at least. The further you tried to teleport, the higher the risk of complications, and Val’Naeris, while the closest city to Nil’Faerith, was several days away by traditional methods. It lessened my fear slightly that we weren’t trying to go somewhere halfway across the realm, like Tempestas. Lessened still meant I was terrified.
“Is there a chance that only half of my body makes it and then the two halves of me end up bleeding out on the ground in two different places?” I asked, only partially joking.
“No, silly.” Elle chuckled. “All Mages are capable of teleportation magic, most simply aren’t confident enough in their skills to take the risk. The Fae can manage it with a snap of their fingers, but us mortals have to use very specific runes to get us where we want to go. I love this sort of magic, so I’ve spent many years researching how it works. Have some faith in me! I’ve spent these past two days brushing up on my studies and drawing the runes we need over and over until I got them just right.”
Before I could regret it, Elle pulled me into the circle of runes drawn on our floor, took my hand in hers, and began to cast.
The sensation of teleporting was like being dragged through a cold, viscous oil. I held my breath for fear I would drown in it. There were no sounds or light, and the absence of the two made my heart race with anxiety, wondering if something hadgone wrong and this feeling I was experiencing was actually death. This void—this world between worlds—was not meant to be touched. If not for the feel of Elle’s fingers curled around my hand, I would have lost my mind.
There was a flash of bright light, and then a blur of colors coupled with a cacophonous wave of noise. We had arrived, alive, in what looked like the alleyway of a market square. The sweet scent of freshly baked goods, herbs, and cut flowers floated through the air. Throngs of people gathered around stalls and filtered in and out of shops, too occupied with their own business to notice two Mages suddenly appearing from nothing. A blessing.
I was certain I was going to vomit. I took a moment to catch my breath, to allow the liquid in my stomach to settle, but the nausea lingered. “Never again will I do that.”
