Chapter 39 #3
Each glowing a different color.
They swept across the sky in a shimmering wave, hiding the stars from view—
Only to create something even more breathtaking.
For a fleeting moment...
It felt like the performance existed for no one but us.
Light rippled across their delicate wings, shifting from one color to another like liquid light.
Then the entire swarm climbed higher, moving together in graceful waves across the night.
By the time they drifted away...
The twelve celestial figures had vanished.
"It really was incredible," I whispered.
I still couldn't bring myself to meet Airis's eyes.
"In a place like this..."
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"This lake has a meaning of its own."
A brief pause.
"I've never brought anyone here."
Except you.
I looked at him.
"And what meaning is that?"
"A mermaid created it."
His silver eyes reflected the dancing lights above the water.
"She spent six hundred years collecting every tear she ever cried out of pure happiness."
I smiled without meaning to.
"You always choose places that carry a story, don't you?"
Tilting my head, I studied him.
Every day he seemed a little more real.
More alive.
And somehow...
Even more impossible not to fall for.
Not just because of the way he looked.
But because of who he was.
"Just like you," Airis said softly.
Anastasia Lang's POV
Watching Miloran attempt to dance to the tune a street musician was playing on his flute, I couldn't stop laughing.
"I'll take that as a compliment," he said, continuing to move with an almost impressive lack of rhythm.
"And as obvious jealousy of my extraordinary talent."
I smiled.
He'd become so much more genuine around me.
He wasn't afraid to make a fool of himself.
Wasn't afraid to seem clueless.
Or overly persistent.
There was something strangely comforting about that kind of honesty.
"So," Miloran said, "judging by that look in your eyes..."
"You've been dying to join me."
Before I could react, he took my hand and gently pulled me toward him.
"Hey," I protested with a grin.
"I was perfectly happy just watching you embarrass yourself."
"Too late."
A rare smile crossed his face.
He drew me into a waltz.
Completely ignoring the lively folk melody the flutist was actually playing.
I burst into laughter again.
The contrast was so ridiculous that I could only imagine how absurd we looked to everyone around us.
"Don't you think this dance is just a little out of place?" I asked between laughs as he spun me around once more.
"They can adjust."
He shrugged as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Tonight, Miloran had become a complete surprise.
Every assumption I'd made about him kept falling apart.
He was fun.
Comfortable to be around.
And...
Safe.
"I'm sorry to interrupt."
The familiar voice cut through the music.
I stopped instantly.
My eyes found Tarven.
His expression was serious.
And beneath that calm...
There was unmistakable irritation.
"I don't know if I can forgive you for that," Miloran replied with a grin, still refusing to let go of my hand.
Tarven ignored him completely.
His attention never left me.
"Stasia."
He rarely used my full name.
Which was exactly how I knew he was angry.
I forced my usual playful smile into place.
"Missed me?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he reached for my hand, quietly freeing it from Miloran's.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Rosalie watching us.
The look on her face made it painfully obvious she wasn't pleased.
As Tarven led me away toward a small square that had been abandoned for the evening while most of the city celebrated in the main plaza, I could feel my heartbeat steadily quickening.
Something was coming.
Tarven stopped.
Then turned to face me.
The anger written across his face left no room for doubt.
He'd brought me here for a reason.
"What the hell were you thinking?"
I blinked at Tarven, completely caught off guard, waiting for him to continue.
"Don't tell me you've actually started falling for Miloran."
My heart smiled.
A warm wave spread quietly through my chest.
He's jealous.
"Do you happen to have a better candidate in mind?" I asked with a faint smirk.
"I don't know."
His jaw tightened.
"But definitely not Miloran."
"If I were you, I'd get closer to someone your own age."
"Someone from your own world."
The warmth inside me vanished.
For several seconds, my mind went completely blank.
"So that's what you're saying?"
I looked him straight in the eyes.
"That I'm not good enough for someone like Miloran..."
"...or someone like you?"
Anger rose slowly inside me.
Not all at once.
It settled with deliberate calm.
"That's not what I meant—"
"Stop."
I raised my hand before he could finish.
"You said exactly what you wanted to say."
"And I heard you perfectly."
I turned sharply.
"Have a wonderful evening."
"Stasia—"
I kept walking.
"Damn it."
His curse reached me just as I heard something rustle behind me.
I turned.
A tiny sprout pushed its way through the earth.
Its petals unfolded one by one, glowing a vivid shade of blue.
Even its roots shimmered with the same luminous color.
A Slizyrius.
The flower of new beginnings.
The one Tarven and his squad used to communicate back in Vuduarus.
Tarven's expression changed instantly.
The warmth disappeared from his face, replaced by the calm authority of a commander.
"Miloran."
His voice became sharp.
"We need to find Airis."
Illariana Arden's POV
"Thank you for tonight," I said, smoothing the perfectly spotless skirt of my dress.
I simply needed something to do with my hands.
I still had no idea how I was supposed to act around Airis anymore.
"That sounded awfully formal, don't you think, Fireling?" A teasing smile tugged at his lips.
"Why?" I shrugged.
"It seems like the perfect thing to say to a mentor..."
"...from his protégé."
"After what happened on the balcony," Airis said quietly, "I think we've moved a little beyond being just a mentor and his protégé."
For a heartbeat, I forgot how to breathe.
The blunt honesty of his words caught me completely off guard.
Butterflies exploded in my stomach.
Along with every other imaginable creature.
"You said you wanted all of me."
I lowered my eyes.
"I'm just... not ready for that yet."
Immediately, Dwayne's disappointed face flashed through my mind.
I'd done it again.
I'd abandoned our Count to Five ritual.
I'd let fear win.
"So you decided to find someone who would settle for less?" Airis asked.
I frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
"The guy who touched you three days ago."
His silver eyes never left mine.
"Or has there been more than one?"
Our gazes locked.
Steady.
Serious.
"You know..." I said slowly.
"That sounds a lot more like jealousy than concern."
"Are you going to answer my question?"
Silence settled between us once again.
Only this time...
It carried heat.
"Or are you just going to pretend I'm wrong?"
Nothing.
The silence stretched.
Growing heavier with every passing second.
Like two volcanoes...
Both moments away from erupting.
"I'm willing to accept your terms."
"What terms?" I asked.
"The ones about physical intimacy."
"For now."
A disbelieving laugh escaped me.
"So you'd rather agree to that than simply admit you're jealous?"
"You're remarkably intelligent, Fireling."
He tilted his head slightly.
"So why aren't you using that intelligence now?"
"Has anyone ever told you how impossible you are?" I asked, arching a brow.
"You've somehow managed to twist this into my fault, even though you were the one who originally claimed you were only interested in this."
I tapped a finger against the bodice of my dress.
"People make mistakes."
His voice softened.
"I made one when I convinced myself that would be enough."
"And what if it is enough?" I asked quietly, doing my best not to notice the steady rise and fall of his broad chest.
Is he actually nervous?
A long silence stretched between us before he finally answered.
"There's one way to find out."
Within the span of a single sharp breath, the distance between us vanished.
As though we were magnets finally allowed to meet.
Airis's hand slipped gently to the back of my neck, drawing me into a kiss.
The moment our lips met, every thought disappeared.
Heat rushed through me—
Sweet.
Aching.
Utterly irresistible.
It felt as though our mouths had been separated for far too long.
Neither of us seemed capable of getting enough.
Not our lips.
Not our hands.
Not the warmth spreading beneath my skin, craving every new touch.
His lips trailed lower, brushing over skin he'd never kissed before.
Slowly.
Reverently.
Leaving fire in their wake.
My fingers disappeared into his dark hair as though they belonged there.
A quiet moan escaped me—
A sound I'd never heard from myself before.
A sound I hadn't even known I was capable of making.
"Airis..."
My breath caught as he crossed an almost invisible line.
For a moment, my mind seemed to drift free of my body, suspended somewhere between longing and surrender.
Higher.
And higher.
Until—
"I hate to interrupt."
A man's voice broke through the silence.
I flinched, reality crashing back around us.
Without hesitation, Airis slipped his jacket over my bare shoulders and gently pulled the bodice of my dress back into place.
"But there's a problem in Vuduarus."
My heart skipped a beat.
"We need to leave."
Tarven.