Page 56 of Heartflame

“What do you think is going to happen?” he asked quietly, his voice almost lost beneath the sound of the water.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But whatever it is, we’ll handle it.”

He nodded against my chest, and I washed his hair carefully, my fingers working through it with a gentleness that surprised even me. When I was done, he did the same for me, and there was something intimate about it that wasn’t sexual at all. It was just... care. Comfort. The kind of thing mates probably did for each other without thinking about it.

When we finally emerged from the shower, there was an ethereal figure waiting for us in the other room. It was sexless and devoid of facial features, but it turned toward us when we appeared.

“Please tell me if you require anything,” it said, the words transported telepathically directly into my head. “Food, clothing, bandages, anything you like.”

“I think we just need to sleep right now,” I said aloud, not sure if Quill was getting the same message as me. “But if you could clean our clothes, that would be great.”

The servant dipped its featureless head in acknowledgment before gathering our soiled garments and dissolving back into whatever magical existence it inhabited. I watched it go, still trying to wrap my head around the sheer amount of magic this place must have to support magical constructs like that.

“Did you hear that thing’s voice in your head too?” Quill asked, echoing my own confusion.

“Yeah,” I nodded, steering him back toward the bed. “I guess that’s how they communicate.”

We collapsed onto the bed together, and I was grateful to find that the mattress was as comfortable as it looked. Quill curled into my side immediately, his hand splayed across my chest and the other wrapped around my bicep. I wrapped my arms around him and tried to focus on my breathing, tried to slow my racing thoughts enough to sleep.

It didn’t work.

Instead, I lay there in the darkness, listening to Quill’s breathing gradually even out as exhaustion finally claimed him. My mind kept circling back to that woman, to the way Wild had called her Mother with such horror in his voice. I’d never heard Elder Briar Hall sound genuinely afraid of anything before. It was unsettling.

And then there was the question of my grandfather. Was he okay? Did he know about the breach yet? Was he mobilizing the Elder Council to fight back, or was he too busy dealing with the political fallout of having his carefully maintained image of control shattered?

Whatever came next, it wasn’t going to be pretty. The Purity Front hadn’t just attacked, they’d turned the entire world on its head. Nobody thought they could do it. Even I thought the attack on the Elder Council was nothing more than dumb luck. But one thing was absolutely for certain.

All of us had underestimated their power.

Chapter 23

Quill

Ihad no idea what time it was when I woke up or how long I’d been asleep. But the moment I was conscious, thoughts began to flood my mind. Images flashed by of everything that had happened at Widdershins and all the destruction that had befallen that place I once felt so safe in. I thought about the other students, wondering if they made it to safety. And I wondered about my parents too. Did they think I was dead when I didn’t come home? Were they looking for me? Was the whole world devolving into chaos?

There were no answers. Not here, not now, and not until the others came to tell us what they’d found out. We were stuck.

And I needed something to distract me.

Aeron’s body was pressed up against my back, his muscular form slowly rising and falling with each breath. His arm was draped possessively across my waist, and I could feel the steady thump of his heartbeat against my back. It was grounding, that constant rhythm, but it wasn’t enough to quiet the spiraling thoughts in my head.

I needed to feel something other than fear and uncertainty. I needed to feel alive.

Without letting myself overthink it, I carefully extracted myself from Aeron’s embrace and slipped down the bed. The room was dark except for the faint glow of what looked like enchanted sconces on the walls. It was a soft, pale orange light that barely illuminated the space. I could make out the shape of him, still sleeping, his features relaxed in a way they never were when he was awake.

He looked so vulnerable like this. Less like the arrogant dragon who’d tormented me at Widdershins and more like someone who was just as lost as I was.

I moved between his legs, my heart hammering against my ribs as I carefully lowered myself. The mattress dipped under my weight, and I held my breath, waiting to see if he’d wake. But his breathing remained deep and even, his eyes still closed.

What was I doing? This was insane. He was asleep. I should let him rest, should probably get myself some water or try to contact my parents or literally do anything else.

But my hands were already reaching for the waistband of his underwear, and I was already pulling it down with careful fingers.

His cock was soft, nestled against his thigh, and I felt a wave of tenderness wash over me at the sight of it. Even this, even something as simple as his body in repose, made me want him. Made me need him in a way that scared me.

I leaned down and took him into my mouth, tasting warm dragon skin and the faint salt of sweat. He didn’t stir, but I could feel the moment his body registered what was happening. His cock began to harden against my tongue, filling my mouth as it grew.

This wasn’t what I should be doing. It was wrong taking advantage of him while he slept, using his body as a distraction from my own spiraling thoughts. But the wrongness of it only made me want it more. Besides, I had a good feeling that Aeron would be into it just as much as I was. The thought made me suck harder, made me take more of him down my throat as I sought that oblivion that only came when I was focused entirely on the physical sensation of him.