Star spear sun serpent s.., p.25
Star Spear: Sun Serpent Saga, Volume 2, page 25
“Mmm…” She agreed. “Is the world spinning?” Elyria reached a hand back to the wall for support.
A laugh rumbled low in my chest. “Holy hells, look at that.” I pointed at the wall.
Beside her palm was a perfect imprint of her slender hand—carved into the rock. She must have gripped the wall with such strength that she broke apart the stone itself. Or, from the rounded edges, melted it.
“That’s not possible,” she said with a whisper.
“I think now, it is.” I finished the lacing on her halter. “Can you stand?”
She nodded, and I helped to lift her, sliding one pant leg on after the other.
I gave a last look at the carnage we wrought on the grotto. There were cracks and indents from where she had slammed me into the cave wall. Where Elyria had mounted me, the ground was glassy and still glowing from the intense heat.
I cradled her in my arms. She curled into me, nuzzling into the crook of my neck.
“Where are we going?” she said dreamily.
“Shortcut.”
“The fuck happened? Is she alive?” Xoc stood on the balcony of my apartment, eyeing us both. His laughter gave away his true lack of concern. He more than certainly could sense her slow and steady heart rate.
“We.. um.. over-tapped our stores.” I laid Elyria’s limp body on the bed and brushed the hair from her face. “She fell asleep about halfway back.”
“Just watch her for signs of a fever.” He closed the balcony doors and drew the drapes. “I was actually starting to get concerned. I’ve been waiting for over an hour for you to return.”
“Yeah, well, things got a little out of hand. You want to have your mind blown? Go take a stroll down to the grottos.”
Xoc raised an eyebrow. “And what am I going to find, other than evidence of whatever caused you to misplace the lacing to your pants?”
I laughed, shucking them off and pulling on some loungewear.
“A new level of wreckage.” I walked up to him. “Xoc, I carved a damn chasm into the side of the cliff and disintegrated the stone bridge. Elyria burned a handprint four inches deep into the wall.”
Xoc gave me a disbelieving look.
“Once we figured out how to combine our power, it became something entirely new. Each time it cycled through us, it grew more powerful. That’s how she ended up like that.” I pointed to Elyria. “I was able to pull her power from her almost completely. Wielding all of it in a single blow.”
“All of her power and yours in a concentrated blast?”
I nodded. “I was barely even aware of what was happening. The power, it’s intoxicating. It made us stronger and faster. Elyria threw me into the wall one handed, and cracked the stone.” I fisted a hand in my hair. “… and it made my grip on reality slip. Xoc, I can still feel it thrumming in my veins, and I’m already craving more.”
“Well…That was the point, right? Why we left to find her in the first place.” Xoc nodded, “Question is, do you think it will be enough?”
“I guess we’ll find out.” I swallowed hard, resisting the urge to look at her. “In the morning, I’m going to call a War Council. I have some thoughts on how we go about doing this.” Giving in, I glanced back at the angel lying in my bed. The plan was always to bring her to Kraav with me, but now with the shadow of war hanging over us… I sighed.
“She can take care of herself.” Xoc gently placed a hand on my shoulder. “If anything, she’ll probably be the one to save your ass.”
I tried to find the humor in that, but it fell short. I’d made a similar joke back in Laluna when the boys in the troupe told me to watch over her. That felt like a lifetime ago. I let my eyes skim over Elyria’s delicate features, feeling my heart constrict. “Good night, brother.”
He nodded in understanding and sent a wave of sympathetic calm in my direction. It wasn’t enough. My anxiety pressed in from all sides, crushing me. With each passing second, I moved closer to placing Elyria once more in Malvat’s path.
Don’t make the same mistakes I did.
Of course, she could hold her own. Duke had given her exceptional fighting skills, especially considering she was a dancer and not a soldier.
If I wanted to mount her to this wall,
then there’s nothing either of you could do to stop me.
All of that didn’t keep me from wanting to hide her away. I wanted to make a wall of fire so thick and bright that the darkness in this world could never find her.
Promise me you’ll keep her safe. Protect her. She’s more important than you know.
I give you my word.
Joseph’s voice and the vow I’d given him repeated on a loop through my mind. Protect her. Protect her. Protect her.
I slid Elyria out of her leathers, the green suede now charred and smudged with soot. Slipping into bed next to her, I drew the covers over us both. The satin was cool against my skin, in contrast to how very warm she felt.
Concern drifted over me. Should she feel this hot?
Chapter 27
“You can’t be serious?”
“What I’m saying is, use her fire and fuck her, but you can’t marry the girl.”
“I can’t believe we’re discussing this right now. Elyria has been unconscious for five days. She could be dying, Mother!” I slammed my hands down into my desk, feeling the sting of impact radiate back up my arms. “Or have you grown so cold that you’ve forgotten what it feels like to have a part of your soul torn away?”
Because that’s what it felt like when the healer told me she might never wake up. A part of me broke when he said the fever was the first sign of the body giving up as it fought to regain the magic it had lost. Most never survived it.
I did that to her. I’d taken that magic. I’d drained her. Me.
Mother stumbled back a step like I’d slapped her. Served her fucking right.
“I think you’re so blinded by emotion that you can’t see what really matters.” She smoothed the unruffled edges of her gown. It had been a long time since I’d gone toe to toe with my mother. Despite all of my arguments, she still refused to tell me what she knew about Duke, or what their history was. She constantly brought it back to my duties and that Elyria wasn’t one of them.
“Like what? I can’t see the overflowing Shade rooms, or the reports of how this curse has crippled Innesvale’s economy these past six months. I know what’s at stake. I know who is relying on me. I can be both a king and a lover.”
“Can you? If it was Venterra or her, which would you choose?”
I tightened my jaw until it felt like it was going to pop. I refused to answer her, not because she was so obviously baiting me, but because I honestly didn’t know the answer to that. Would I let the world burn to save her?
“Or how about this, after this war is over, what then? Ask yourself, Callen, is she really what’s best for this kingdom?”
“Can I say something?” Xoc leaned forward, tapping on the corner of my desk.
“No,” my mother and I answered in unison.
“With respect,” he continued anyway. This wasn’t the first showdown he’d been in the middle of. Xoc was just about the only person in the palace who could speak so freely to my mother. “I just wanted to point out that we’re meeting right now to discuss the suggested changes to the fleet, not Cal’s marital plans.”
Mother spun on him. “Which changes would those be? The ones where you placed an army that I spent centuries commanding in the hands of a pirate? Those changes?”
Xoc cleared his throat and sat back.
My voice dropped a full octave. I was done with her bullshit. “If you don’t like it, then leave. Morgan is good for Innesvale. Did you ever think that the reason why our ships keep falling to Astralon’s in the North Sea is because we’re using outdated methods? This isn’t the Covenant Wars, Mother. Technologies change, fighting styles change, command changes. Either change with it or leave.”
She opened her mouth to speak, her features going colder than usual. “You think you’re ready to lead, then fine. Give this country to pirates and circus performers. I’ll start practicing the Norterran salute now.”
Mother stormed out of the room. The door slammed shut behind her, making the pictures on the wall crash to the floor.
I exhaled long and slow, letting my body slump down in my chair.
“Well, that could have gone better.”
Fisting my hair in my hands, I said, “I don’t know what to do, Xoc. My mother blames me for the world imploding. My oldest friend is trying to destroy my kingdom and probably worse. The one good thing left in Venterra is dying in my bed, and it’s my fault.”
Xoc loomed over me, his shadow making the entire room feel darker. “Sit up.”
“You don’t command me,” I grumbled into my palms.
Ice water ran down my face in a sudden deluge, making me jump. I pushed the plastered strands of hair out of my eyes, scowling up at Xoc and his now empty pitcher.
“She’s not dead. This war is not lost. So sit the fuck up.”
Xoc rarely used his commander voice on me. “Mal betrayed us all. It hurts me too. Your mother’s screams that night will never stop haunting me, but you know as well as I do that there is something bigger at play here. You can’t blame yourself for everything. If you ever want to be king, then you are going to have to come to terms with the fact that you can’t save everyone.”
“I know that.”
“Do you? Or is this like when Master Rith told you to climb Mt. Carin with the water buckets, and, to spite him, you chose to do it at a sprint, refusing to stop even after you’d twisted your knee falling down a ravine. The only thing you proved that day was how hard-headed and stubborn you are.”
“I was a child then.”
“And yet, you are still sprinting up the mountain, Cal.”
I stared out the window, watching the boats across the harbor. Several construction docks had been erected, and a dozen ships were being fitted to Morgan’s specifications. I still had to work out the details of the naval attack with her. That would probably be another fight. We’d yet to have a meeting that didn’t end in someone throwing something.
“What if she doesn’t wake up?”
“We’ll find a way. That’s tomorrow’s problem. Let future Cal worry about that.”
“I just want one thing to go right. I feel like since the moment my father appeared in the shadows, my entire world has been unraveling. The one good thing that came from this was finding Elyria, and if she dies because I didn’t know how to hold back….” Elyria dying would break me. Splintered bits of my soul had already broken free with each day she didn’t wake. “I just need one thing to work.”
The bell in the corner of the office rang. The small tinkling amid the still chamber sent my heart into my throat.
“There you go. I guess the fates are listening.”
Chapter 28
The vague sounds of hushed voices drifted in and out of my consciousness. My limbs were too heavy to move, and when I did manage to finally open my eyes, I couldn’t get them to focus. Blurry images of Cal caressing my face or the sensation of him rubbing my back would flow over me before I submerged back into the abyss of sleep.
Eventually, I awoke, and the room was in focus. There was a disorienting moment when I couldn’t remember where I was. I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed the palms of my hands against them, the pressure at my temples easing.
I counted to twenty. When I opened them again, I remembered.
Cal.
He was the only thing that I could focus my mind on. Sliding my arm over the bed, I felt for him. My hand ran against something sharp, pricking my finger.
“Ow.” I brought the pad of my index finger to my mouth, sucking away a small bead of blood. The pain focused my senses. Everything in the marble chamber was still, except for the chiffon drapes shifting in the breeze off of the balcony. Beside me, where Cal should have been, there was a single red rose and a note.
I opened the carefully folded paper. His handwriting had a looping script to it. Like everything he did, it was strong and seductive.
You’re beautiful when you sleep.
When you wake up, pull the cord beside the bed.
I love you.
~C
I closed the note and brought it to my lips. The paper smelled like him. Rolling the stem of the rose in my fingers, I looked around. What cord? Beside the bedpost, a thick rope hung against the wall. I pulled on it, but nothing happened. I pulled on it again, thinking that I would hear a bell or something, but the room remained silent. I shrugged. Okay, so that was pointless.
On the bedside table, a pitcher of water and a glass were waiting for me. My throat was drier than the Bone Road. Condensation dripped down the side of the glass, highlighting just how parched I was.
How long was I asleep for? It felt like I hadn’t had anything to drink in days.
I swung my legs over the side. The motion sent my head spinning, and I barely managed to grip the side table before landing face first on the marble. A light knock came from the door that connected my rooms to Cal’s.
“Elyria?” Alessia’s soft voice was barely more than a whisper. She poked her head into the room. “Gods, it’s good to see you awake,” she said, heaving a sigh of relief and helping me into a chair.
I rose my eyebrows at her. “It is?”
“You’ve been asleep for nearly five days now. I don’t think anyone has ever needed that much time to recover from draining their stores.”
“Five days?” I blinked in disbelief. I couldn’t have possibly slept that long. Yes, the energy blast had been intense, and the sex legendary, but five days?
“Cal was beside himself. He refused to leave and damn near killed two of the healers when you didn’t wake up.” I thought of how shaken Cal was that morning on the cliff. I didn’t think there was a line Cal wouldn’t cross if it meant saving someone he loved. “In the end, he only left after we agreed to rewire the bell-pull to his office.”
“So that’s what this rope does.” I gave the cord a few more yanks. The annoyed image of Cal trying to work dutifully to the sound of an annoying bell made me grin.
“The Master Healer insisted that you’d wake when your magic recovered. And look, he was right. How do you feel?” She put the back of her hand to my forehead. “No more fever, that’s good.”
“I had a fever?” I said, mildly concerned now.
She nodded her head gravely, making a discontented hum. “Raging. It was high enough to kill the average person. Lucky you’re not average, huh, fire girl?”
“I feel a little woozy, and still a bit exhausted, but otherwise, I feel like myself.”
“That’s probably the dehydration more than anything. You need to drink as much water as possible over the next day or two.”
The door to the hallway flew open, the sudden clatter of the wood slamming against the marble wall making me jump. Cal pushed through the doorway, walking to me with long, determined strides. He took my face in his hands and kissed me gently before searching my eyes.
“You scared me,” he said, kissing me again.
Alessia snapped at Cal, forcing his attention. “Don’t crowd her. She only just woke up. The woman needs to breathe.” She shooed him back. “I’m going to send for some food. Nothing heavy, just some toast and jam perhaps. Xoc custom made a tea for you. He said that it would help you recover quicker. I’m going to brew it up, too.” Before walking out of the apartment, she turned back to give my prince the most serious glare I’d ever seen from the woman. “I’m not kidding Cal. Ease off.”
The door closed with a soft click, leaving us alone. Cal gently wrapped me in his arms, cradling my head to his chest and taking a long deep inhale. I craned my neck as much as he would allow to look at him.
“So, slept for days? You’d think I’d be less tired.” I tried to smile, but it was lost under the strong current of concern radiating from Cal. I raised my hand to his hair. “Why are you wet?”
“Fuck, Elle.” He kissed me like he was afraid he might never kiss me again. “I thought…” He shook his head. “We’re never doing that again.” He tightened his hold on me and pressed his cheek into the top of my head.
“I don’t even know what ‘that’ was,” I said honestly, remembering flashes of purple fire, golden scales, and bright light.
“You poured all of your power into me. You’d take some of mine back and then pour even more. It felt like I was splitting apart. I released the magic into a single blast, but then the connection between us kept pulling at you, and you just kept giving. It was dangerous, Sunshine.” His eyes bored into mine. “Really fucking dangerous.”
“I don’t remember danger.”
“Elle, you almost died.”
“I just remember feeling really powerful.” Heat bloomed in my chest from the memory. “Like I could devour you whole. Like, I could devour the entire world whole.” I rested my hand against his chest, running my fingers over the ridged scar beneath his shirt.
“I won’t ever pull power from you like that again. It felt too good, and the cost on you was too much.” He pressed his lips to my temple. “I should have been fully drained after the blast, but I barely slept that night with all that energy coursing through my system. At first, I felt this thrill, knowing that it was your power that fed me. The next morning I ran close to twenty-five miles at a full sprint and barely broke a sweat. When I returned, I expected to see you awake, making some kind of alluring joke. But you were still sleeping, and there was the fever. The bed was drenched with sweat. The sheets were slick with it, and you were so hot. It made me sick to know that the rush I felt had cost you everything, and it nearly cost me everything to watch you growing weaker and paler by the day.”
