JAMES
I watch Caspian stare at the iced over body.
I can tell he’s in pain—he’s favoring one of his ankles, and those bear wounds have to hurt something awful.
Seeing him under the bear, thinking he was dead—I don’t ever want to feel that way again.
I touch his arm and he blinks rapidly, coming back to the present and follows behind me out of the library.
“All that history,” he says almost wistfully.
It is pretty incredible, the amount of information contained in that room—part of me wishes we had time to explore it further, but the other part wants to get to the treasure as quickly as possible and leave this tomb behind. I don’t want it to be our tomb as well.
It’s like Grythmoor wanted us to see what happened here before revealing its secrets because not even an hour later, we round a corner and a fully intact door stands before us. What makes us stop and stare apprehensively at it is because it’s not covered in ice.
Harrison walks up to it and puts his palm against the worn grain.
“Why isn’t it iced over?” Van muses as he puts his hand next to Harrison’s. He yanks it back in shock. “It’s warm!”
Harrison grabs the handle but the door doesn’t budge when he tugs on it.
He gestures for the axe. I grab one, he takes the other and we hack at the door.
It splinters easily beneath the assault and warm air rushes through the slowly widening crack we’re making.
I catch a glimmer of something and our efforts escalate, our energy ramping up in excitement.
Harrison yanks at the boards and all at once, we fall back from the opening.
I step through, leading the way into the massive vault. I see a bowl of kindling next to the door and grabbing the torch from Van, I touch the flame to it. Fire quickly fills the bowl and then spreads down a network of channels, filling the room with light.
Van gasps. “Oh my God.”
The ceiling disappears above us in the shadows and all around us are mountains and mountains of gold. It’s more gold than I’ve ever seen in my life. Coins, chests of bricks and more jewels and gold ornaments than I can comprehend fill the space.
“How are we going to get all of this out of here?” Van asks. “There’s no way this can all fit on the ship.”
“What can fit will be enough for ten lifetimes,” Harrison says.
He’s already walking down the small stretch of floor that’s not covered with wealth.
He picks up a handful of coins and lets them trail through his fingers.
The sound seems to pull everyone from their stunned stupor because they all run off to explore.
Caspian comes up beside me, his fingers brushing mine before he winks and saunters off through the towers of gold, looking like a god among his treasure.
I wander around the room, sliding over piles of coins and digging through chests. I pocket a few random pieces that catch my eye before sitting down on a closed chest near the entrance and looking out over the expanse of the space.
Abundance . The scribe hadn’t been wrong. This amount of wealth is certainly blinding. It’s more than any kingdom that exists right now could ever have in their own coffers. This is generations and generations of accumulation here. It’s staggering. Part of me still can’t believe it’s even real.
Caspian appears, wearing a gaudy gold crown encrusted with ridiculously large jewels. Rings adorn every finger, and he’s twirling a gold coin back and forth over the backs of his knuckles.
“Why isn’t this all covered in ice, do you think?” He peers around thoughtfully. “Maybe a geothermal vent of some sort?”
“Could be,” I agree.
“We need to establish a quicker route out of here,” Caspian says.
His eyes alight with that vivid energy of his as he looks around. It’s an aliveness, a passion for life that I get wrapped up in whenever I see it on his face. He catches me staring and the most brilliant smile takes over his features. He sits down next to me and nudges his shoulder against mine.
“All this treasure, and I still feel richest when you look at me like that. ”
Damn his pretty words. But I can’t stop the surge of desire they provoke. I shake my head, barely even attempting to stop the grin that takes over as my attention snags on his dimples. The look on his face when he sees me smile is brighter than all the gold in the room.
“Fuck—especially if you keep smiling at me like that.”
A breath of amusement leaves me.
“You shouldn’t be what I want most in a room full of gold,” I say dryly.
“I don’t know,” he says mischievously. “I think I’m pretty priceless.”
He pockets the coin and comes up with something smaller. A small, dark-blue jewel glitters in his fingers as he messes with it.
“I found something for you,” he says.
He reaches for my ear and threads it through, fastening the back. His knuckles brush my neck and chills rush across my skin.
“Not to get sappy but it reminded me of your eyes,” he says. “So blue they’re almost black—like the deepest parts of the ocean.”
The fondness in his eyes bleeds into a dark yearning the longer I hold his gaze.
I touch my ear and something tugs at my chest, making my throat feel thick.
To avoid saying anything I grab his jaw and pull him in, pressing my lips to his.
My thumb brushes over the stubble on his chin and I deepen the kiss, touching his tongue to mine, hoping I can convey what this means to me without ruining it with inadequate words.
Caspian leans into me further only for his crown to slip down his forehead and hit my nose. I pull back abruptly and look at it in amusement as it settles low on his face. He chuckles and shoves it back into place.
“Are you going to take that with us?”
“You don’t think I can pull it off?”
“I thought you didn’t want a crown?” I tease.
“Definitely not. Too heavy.” And I know he’s not just talking about the actual gold. “I have what I want right here.”
He pulls it off his head and tosses it away, then grabs me by the jacket and hauls me in for another kiss.