Chapter 45 - Glory
Glory
XLV
I clutched the amulet to my chest as we shuffled away from the fallen oak to the foyer of the crumbling ruin.
We’d discussed finding somewhere else to set up camp for the night, somewhere closer to the harbour, but after all the digging, all the emotional upheaval around finding the clue and the amulet, neither of us had the energy to go any farther.
Cammon found a small water hole in the back corner of the front room, a place where rainwater had pooled from earlier, and to me it may as well have been a hot bath as I set about scrubbing off the day’s work.
Tomorrow, I’d be on a ship. Tomorrow, I’d be on my way home, where my indoor washing basin and scented soaps waited. Tonight, I settled for clean.
As soon as I was dirt-free, Cammon followed suit, and I sat with my back against the wall and watched him use a small stone to scrub off the layers of dried earth and sweat from his chest and shoulders. When he struggled with his back, I stood and crossed over to him.
He said nothing as he dropped the stone into my open palm, and I scrubbed the muscles between his shoulder blades, noting the subtle ridges that marked the source of his wings.
He shivered when I ran my fingers over them, and desire pulsed through the bond.
I longed to explore that particular erogenous zone, but it pained me to think of doing so tonight.
Maybe it would have made sense to take advantage of the time we had left, but my stomach twisted into tight, uncomfortable knots at the idea of indulging, knowing it would be the last time.
Once we returned home, I would need to revert to my old self to stay safe, following the rules and keeping my head down.
Bland personality, bland routine, bland fashion.
Cavorting with a famous treasure hunter would draw too much attention my way.
If we left what we had under the mountain, then the memories could stay there untouched. Perfect.
And I needed those perfect memories. I would need them every day for the rest of my life as I navigated through a world that offered survival and a challenging academic career and very little else.
Every night, I would come home to my little apartment.
Maybe I’d check in with Ashara, but more likely, I’d be on my own.
With no one to talk to about what I’d learned that day or what new research rabbit hole I’d fallen into.
No one to share meals with or cuddle up next to at night.
I’d been so focused on getting my little office in the library that I hadn’t given any thought to the rest of my life.
Then again, before three weeks ago, the rest of my life hadn’t mattered.
I’d had nothing to compare it to. It had never occurred to me that anything else might be possible.
As far as the world knew, I was a tempest mage who couldn’t use her magic.
Any relationship I attempted, I would have to work harder to hide everything else.
Sneaking blood in my own home, never letting my fangs show, never dropping my guard for an instant even in the privacy of my apartment.
The very idea was exhausting and I’d be much better off with a few plants.
But Cammon knew what I was. He knew it, and he didn’t judge me for it. If anything, he seemed to appreciate it. He’d never hidden the pleasure he derived from my bite, and the bond running between us created an equality of power. He fed from my emotions, but I sensed his as well.
We were total opposites in so many things, but more compatible than I ever would have imagined when I’d walked into his office and found him slouched in his chair. He was the roguish playboy, I was the uptight mage advisor, yet somehow we’d met in the middle over a love of forgotten history.
I wrapped my arms around his middle and bowed my head against his spine.
He curled his hands around my forearms, leaning into me, and for a while we stood like that.
Happy to be in contact, enjoying the easy closeness and everything that came with it, a swirl of charged emotions that neither of us would express aloud because what was the point? We both knew how the other felt.
When the sun dropped below the horizon and a chill worked through the earth, Cammon got dressed and started a fire. He went out to hunt and came back with a pheasant we roasted together, using the skills he’d taught me over the past few weeks—skills I never would have bothered to learn.
We ate and talked about nothing—the weather, the bats, the stars—and after we cleaned up, I reclined in the nook of his arm, unable to tear myself away.
My heart wept, my thoughts were muddled, and all I could do was take things moment by moment.
In this moment, all I wanted was Cammon.
The smart thing would be to talk to him about it, find out if his vision of the future had changed, but in case it hadn’t—and my ego wasn’t big enough to assume I could replace a crown—I swallowed the question.
We’d have three days on the ship to talk.
For tonight, my every wish had been granted.
I curled my fingers around the amulet again after my eyes drifted shut.
We’d succeeded where more than once I would have sworn we’d failed.
I would have failed if I’d come out here alone as I’d wanted.
The Fates had brought Cammon into my life, and a tiny—infinitesimal—part of me hoped they had readied a longer game than it seemed right now.