Chapter 32 #2
Kellan’s forehead rolled against my own, his lips parting as his hand cupped the back of my neck.
“I love you,” I said again, pulling my head back as he blinked his eyes open and straightened.
A slow smile graced his face, and we stood there in the silence of our breaths for several moments.
His hands clasped together around my waist, wrapping a profound sense of completion over my entire being.
His gaze skipped to my hair, his scar whitening as his lips kicked up on one side. My chest constricted in a euphoric warmth at the sight of that smirk.
“What?” I asked, arching my brow as his eyes brightened in amusement.
“You have spider guts in your hair,” he murmured, his dark eyes darting back to my own.
My nose crinkled in disgust, and I sucked in a sharp inhale, the rancid stench of the creatures’ blood and body fluid impossible to ignore now.
“We reek,” I said, suppressing a gag.
Kellan threw his head back as he let out a loud, deep laugh, the dark, snaking claws of his tattoo moving on the strong column of his neck. The sound rippled across my limbs and through my bones. My grip around him tightened, and my smile widened.
“Still love me?” I asked as he brought his face down.
“Always,” he answered, scanning my face before sliding to my hair. “Every bit of you. Spider guts and all.”
I huffed a laugh, closing my eyes, and as he placed his lips on my forehead, my mind’s eye opened to the dark, dense vegetation of the jungle on the Arx.
Tiberius. The sun must have set recently, the last of the violet light straining to filter through the thick fog hanging above the floating island.
Tiberius clomped toward Isla and Aeriden, and my chest squeezed in relief. The two of them were dirty, but other than a few bruises and scratches, they looked otherwise healthy. A wide grin stretched across Aeriden’s face as he lifted a thick, yellowed scroll.
“Tell Lyvia we found it,” Isla said, her words slurred in exhaustion. She reached her hand out to scratch beneath Tiberius’s furry chin.
We think we found the key, I replied into Tiberius’s mind. We’re okay. Just tired. Still probably a few hours’ hike back to the entrance.
Got it, he murmured back. Get some rest if it’s safe enough.
I blinked, my eyes opening to Kellan’s narrowed gaze and clenched jaw. His face relaxed as I heaved a sigh. The exhaustion of our journey into the Arx crawled over me. He released my waist, sliding one hand into mine as I relayed everything to him.
“What do you want to do?” he asked, scanning the vast chamber.
The crystals growing in from the walls slowly shifted from blue to teal, brightening the winding pools and casting a moonlight glow against the marbled pillars bordering the altar at the top of the stairs.
“Let’s camp here,” I answered, feeling an overwhelming sense of security coming from this strange place. “I feel safe.”
Kellan nodded and followed my gaze to the altar. “It feels strangely like home.”
Home.
The word sounded foreign in my mind. I’d been on the run for so long, staying in different places, seeing more of the Realm of Vael than I’d ever imagined.
Aedrialis had gone from home, to prison, to city under siege, to some distant capital I had little desire to return to.
And since my conversation with Ursa on Kayj, since learning my true identity, I’d yet to come to terms with the notion my original home lay in the Albyrn Mountains of Nivis, alongside the blossoming snowy vines of the nyxteria.
Kellan limped as he took a step forward, and I blanched. When had he injured his leg?
I rushed forward and gripped his arm as he hobbled toward one of the calm pools.
“What are you doing?” I asked, scanning the water as we reached its edge.
“You said we stink,” he murmured, groaning as he reached around to pull his tattered shirt from his back.
“Stop.” I reached for his arm as he winced, noting the fresh blood crawling through the thin threads of his shirt. “Let me help.”
I undid what remained of the buttons on the front of his shirt, peeling the sticky tatters of fabric from his abdomen, gently tugging against the blood that had dried. Kellan hissed a breath as a piece caught on a large gash on his side.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered as I winced. “Hang on.”
I knelt next to the pool and cupped my hand, filling it with water before dribbling it over the stuck fabric and gently pulling it free. My fingers dropped the fabric as I took a step back and scanned the rest of him.
Blood oozed from the long slices of shallow flesh left by the horrid creatures over the roped muscle that lined Kellan’s abdomen. A strange mix of concern and building heat merged in my gut, and my teeth pressed down as I sucked in my lower lip.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” I murmured, forcing my eyes away and scanning the pool. “How deep do you think it is?”
As if the chamber had heard me, little families of submerged crystals lit up below the water, casting a soft glow on the smooth, rocky bottom, just a few feet from the surface.
Kellan kicked off his boots with his feet, and his hands moved to the laces of his leathers before I forced my gaze away.
My heart picked up a quick trot. I tugged my boots off, peeling my own tattered vest and shirt off as a core melting moan reverberated from behind me, and Kellan slid into the softly lit pool with a light splash.
I focused on the pirate lord’s face as he leaned his head against the edge and closed his eyes. The water did little to hide the rest of his muscular body from my peripheral vision. I blew out a breath and quickly took my leathers off before sliding into the shallow pool.