Eryon sweeps me up and spins me, a delighted smile on his face. Shyly he asks, “Do you like it?”
“Like it? I love it! Eryon, it’s magical. What is this place?” I ask, breathless as he sets me back down on my feet.
“A sacred place. I’ve never brought a human here before. This is the heart of the mountain,” he explains as he leads me to the center where a hot spring bubbles up.
Under the light of the moon, I can make out where rocks have been fit together to form a pool. I realize the heat of the thermal spring is trapped within the cliff walls to create this space. The botanist in me longs to return during the day to study the unique plants that must thrive here. The ethnobotanist in me wants to know how the people of the region have used these plants. Did they have access to them or had this miniature world remained a hidden secret? Did the Migoi use the plants here?
But right now, everything is awash in silver and grey underthe night sky in a beautiful monochromatic painting. As I turn back to face Eryon and see the stars reflected in his eyes, I feel something take root in my chest. My breath catches as I see the same feelings mirrored back to me.
I try to push it down, try not to let it bloom like the lush foliage around me. Because as beautiful as this place is, I know I can’t stay here. No matter how much I want to. Not only can Inotfall in love with a Yeti, but if I don’t somehow find my way back to town and finish out my expedition, I’ll die.
The inborn error of metabolism that claimed my mother’s life will claim mine, too. TheSilene vitaliscarries the precise enzyme my body lacks, the key to breaking down the protein slowly poisoning me. I need the next few years to extract it and perfect the delivery mechanism in order to save myself, and others like me. And I won’t discover it hiding away in a cave with a Yeti.
Tomorrow I’ll ask him to bring me back to town—before these feelings can blossom. Although I think it might already be too late.
I let him lead me into the steaming water, gingerly lowering my body into the inviting heat. The stones are smooth below my feet as I make my way to the built-in stone bench. He pulls me against his chest, and we recline in the gentle current, watching the stars cross the sky above us.
“You’re right. I’ve never seen a better show than this,” I whisper.
His soft laugh rumbles beneath my ear. He reaches over and snags something off a plant, then leathers it up between his hands.
“Oh, a soapberry!” I exclaim, excited to have one of my questions answered. The Migoi do use the plants here.
I groan as he massages my scalp with his strong fingers, thankful to finally be washing away the marking from earlier. It had been hot at the time, but I was tired of the sticky driedpatches. He seemed to suffer no such qualms, happily sporting spiky spots of clumped fur.
I reach for the soapberry and then stand on the bench behind him to return the favor. As I lather the soap and wash him, I marvel at the way his body changes with weather or under threat. How his size and shape can morph as needed, even his body temperature.
In the warmth of the pool, his skin is almost slick. As I run my soapy hands over his neck and shoulders, kneading the tight muscles, I realize this is the closest I have seen his flesh to my own. He could almost pass for human right now. A very, very large human.
Or maybe that is just my secret wish, that he could be a human and we could be together outside this cave system. But his size would never allow him to blend in, and one look at his luminous eyes and slightly too large teeth would give him away. He’s just not quite human enough.
He melts into my touch as I massage down his back. With a groan he snags me with one massive hand and brings me to stand in front of him again. Taking the soapberry back from me he lathers it between his hands, staring into my eyes as he runs them up and down my body.
My skin flushes under his attention, the slippery glide of his fingertips lighting up my nerves as they slide up and over my breasts, then back down along the curve of my belly. With each pass, he brings his hands lower until I spread my legs in anticipation, desperate for him to touch my aching center.
I thrust my breasts into his hands, my breath catching every time he almost gets to where I need his touch the most, only to bring his hands back up to pull at my pebbled nipples again.
Frustrated, I reach out to grab his hands, but he pulls me into him with a chuckle. He brings his mouth to my ear and whispers, “My greedy winter star. Let me show you again. Let me show you are worth saving.”
I nod, willing to agree to anything just to get him to touch me. He tugs me deeper into the pool. The moon has passed over the natural skylight of the basin, dropping us into darkness with only the pinprick of stars visible in the night sky.
“It’s dark here,” I whisper shakily, the memory of the avalanche’s crushing blackness closing in on me.
“It is never dark where you are,” he whispers fiercely, his voice a lifeline. “Youarethe light.”
The earlier feeling in my chest blooms despite my best effort to keep it from flowering. I can’t stop the tendrils of love from growing, even knowing that tomorrow I have to end this. I need to leave. But I deserve one night, I tell myself—just one night.
“Show me,” I say with my lips, but what my heart says is, “You’re my light, too.”
Chapter
Twelve
He leads me to the far side of the pool under a thick canopy of foliage. He sits me on top of a large, flat rock and then pushes me back so that I’m lying down.
I tilt my head back to keep my nose and mouth just above the surface, letting the hot water cascade over my eyes and ears. The current surrounds me, caressingmy arms and legs, while my breasts peek out into the air. Cut off from the world, all I can hear is my own heartbeat and the quiet whoosh of air in and out of my lungs.
My heart rate ticks up as I remember being caught in the cold, dark of the avalanche. I keep reminding myself I am warm, I am safe, and Eryon will protect me, yet again. As he trickles warm water over my peaked nipples, I let out a gasp, repositioning my head to keep my airway clear of the spring.
