Morgen waved his concern off with one hand, the other still wrapped around Nya’s waist. She had been fighting to ignore his touch for hours now. She wasn’t sure why he hadn’t just portalled them here, even as much as the idea of doingthatunnerved her. Still, it would be better than the infuriating, shameful heat she had been constantly tamping down during their long flight.
It had been over a year since she had last seen Morgen. She had fled Mise and traveled to Aren within days. She ignored both Varax and Morgen’s voices until they stopped trying altogether. Or so she had thought. Her traitorous body still remembered his touch. She could only hope he was too distracted to notice the insistent pounding of her pulse that had too little to do with fear sheshouldbe feeling.
They landed with a sudden jolt, snapping Nya out of her haze. The entrance to what appeared to be some sort of underground cave system yawned open wide just ahead, like the snapping jaws of some enormous beast. She wished it really was some living creature, ready to swallow her up and make her disappear forever. Maybe she had always wanted that, even before Morgen had come into her life. Perhaps, torn apart in the teeth of a predator, she would at least feel some sort of purpose.
The cliff that the dragons idled atop it jutted out just enough to fit them both, surrounded on all sides by thin chasms filled with red-hot lava bubbling a short way below. Every few seconds, the molten, burning substance rose nearly to the top, though it didn’t ever spill over.
Next to them, Carus’ dragon practically threw him off its back and then flew off, shrieking.
“The impatient bastard couldn’t wait an extra minute,” Carus said, shaking his head at the disappearing form as he got to his feet, dusting off his pants. “I’m hungry too, but that doesn’t mean I go around flinging people off my back and giving them sprained ankles.”
You should tell your idiot friend to be careful—again. Veeron tells me he only let slip the insults because he needed to hunt more than he needed to bite his human.
Nya ignored Varax, heart in her throat as she observed all around her, trying to catalog it quickly. She was quickly beginning to understand what was happening; this was the cold place Morgen had often described, and Carus must be the ‘friend’ he had once briefly spoken of.
Though Varax had just called Carus an idiot, she didn’t make the mistake of assuming he was weak. He was broad and obviously trained physically. He could probably kill her in a dozen different ways if he wanted. According to the books she had studied with her mother as a child, very few in Arcadia werenot trained with a blade or bow. When everyone else could also use magic, it was useful to have other ways to kill, or at least maim, your opponents.
He had the same shade of tawny skin as her, but his mop of light hair was more blonde than silver. She was sure he had some sort of magic, though she couldn’t quite tell which bloodline just from the energy surrounding him. Almost all with magic—mortals and gods alike—gave off a similar vibration. The intensity depended on the breadth of their magic, and the few people Nya had encountered with some distant relation to one of the principals tended to exude a lower, more resonant vibration.
Carus’ magic felt like that.
It was the most powerful resonance she had felt from anyone, aside from her parents or Morgen. Perhaps it meant one of his parents was a demi-god. The power would be slightly diluted but still stronger than most. She had learned from the sisters at the temple that demi-gods weren’t actually all that common, and only a handful of the principalsactuallyhad the large number of children mortals assumed all of them did. The term had evidently become more of an exaggeration than a true indicator of parentage in the past century. Who knew how many demi-gods actually existed anymore, as bloodlines diluted and mixed?
“Like what you see, sweetheart?” Carus quipped, and she cursed herself silently for staring at him for too long as she’d been thinking. “I’ll have to turn you down. You’re very pretty, but you’re not my type, and besides, I know better by now than to touch Morgen’s things…or soon to be things? Not sure on that one yet, but let’s just say, I like my eyes where they are.”
She ground her teeth but ignored him, jumping smoothly off Varax. Carus watched her dust off her hands, head tilted to the side.
“Morgen?” Carus was staring at her as he said it, his brow furrowed.
“What.”
He was right behind her, and she could feel the irritation emanating from him, mingling with his magic and manifesting so strongly, the vibration pitched her ears and shimmered in the air.
“She’s ridden on dragon-back before, hasn’t she?”
Morgen made some noncommittal noise in the back of his throat. “I’m sure she has. Her parents have two of them, evidently.”
Carus looked past her, holding Morgen’s gaze, a brow raised. It was obvious Morgen hadn’t told Carus of their meetings, though she wasn’t sure why.
After a moment, Carus gave up, throwing his hands in the air and sighing dramatically. “Fine, fine. Let’s just get inside before the storm starts.”
Nya glanced at the sky. Though it was gray and cloudy, the atmosphere appeared mostly calm, aside from the cold breeze.
She stiffened when Morgen grabbed her arm. “We’re going inside.”
She held firm where she was, knowing if he was anywhere near the same person she had once thought he was, he wasn’t about to drag her inside, not by force. Tilting her head back so she looked him directly in the eye, she demanded, “Where. Are. We.”
His nostrils flared, and she felt a tiny shock of electricity where his skin met hers. “I told you. It’s called the Gods’ Aisle.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“You’ve never been to Arcadia.”
“I’ve seen maps. This is not on any of them.”
Carus coughed loudly. “Ah, have you considered, sweetheart, that it might not be in our best interest to tell you exactly where you are?”
She tore her arm from Morgen’s grasp, narrowing her eyes at Carus. “What, afraid I’m going to summon Thessilnn and Heles here? They’re very big andveryprotective of me. I also understand they haven’t had a good fight in nearly a century.”
