Chapter 15
Asterion
We sit in companionable silence, watching the flames dance as the sun finally disappears. There is a chill to the air that I have not felt before, even for being so high on the mountain, where it is usually cooler than underground in my labyrinth.
I should not have walked off and left Katie all alone.
The Drakons could have stumbled upon her, and I do not know what they might have done.
I was so angry at myself for not having thought to ask her anything.
Anything at all. One simple question would have solved the problem, and we would not have spent three days playing cat and mouse up this Fates-forsaken mountain for no damned reason.
Though I suppose it has not all been terrible.
The vision of Katie reaching climax is not one I will soon forget, and if she had not followed me back, I may have taken my cock in hand once more to relieve some of the tension that rides my spine.
The mate bond is an angry, hungry beast, and already, three days is too long for us not to have sealed our bond.
I wonder if she feels it too. This constant gnawing at the enclosure that keeps my soul contained, knowing the other half of it is right there.
Sitting by the fire. So close, I could reach out and touch her.
I glance over at her. The glow from the fire makes her skin luminescent. I am entranced by the reflection of the flames dancing in her dark brown eyes, eyes I never took enough notice of before, and I think perhaps she lied about not being magic, because for once, I cannot look away.
A fleck of something lands on her cheek, and before I can stop myself, I reach over to brush it off.
I think it could be a piece of ash that might burn her, but it is cold instead, melting under my touch to leave a dewy smear over her cheek.
Frowning, I look at my fingers, rubbing the wetness between them.
“What is it?” She brushes her fingers against the same spot on her cheek.
“Water.”
“Oh, I knew it was going to rain!” She looks at the sky. “Huh. Still no storm clouds. Maybe it’ll just be a sprinkle.” She shivers as a breeze brushes against her skin. The temperature feels as if it has dropped even more so now that night has fallen.
“It does not rain here.”
She jerks her head to stare at me. “What do you mean it doesn’t rain?”
“Exactly that. When the Moirai shut us away on Aeolia, they made it so it was perpetually spring. The temperature is always moderate and sunny. No rain. No storms. No cold,” I explain, longing in my voice.
“I’m sorry, I’m lost. What is the Moirai? What do you mean it’s always spring? It’s cold right now. You said you felt water.” Katie’s voice becomes more high-pitched as she speaks. Her strawberry scent sours, giving away her anxiety as she wrings her hands.
I sigh. “The Moirai are the Fates. They locked all the monsters away, here on Aeolia, as human technology advanced and put us at risk of either extinction or war. It was safer for us, and for humans. But we have paid the price for that safety. A millennium alone here, frozen in time. No aging, no dying, no change. It is the same every day. The seasons do not turn. The sun stays shining. We wake up, and we begin again.”
I long for summer rains, of fall leaves coating the ground, and the chill winter air that has you seeking the warmth beside a hearth fire. I can barely remember what it was like.
“A millennium?” Katie stares at me as if I have grown two heads. “You’ve been here that long?” She shakes her head in disbelief. I would not believe it either if I had not lived it myself.
I hum. “This chill, it is unnatural. I think something may be wrong. With either the Fates or the barrier itself. Perhaps we should not stop for the evening.”
The thought of being exposed out here while something strange is happening on the island has the hairs along my neck standing up. I do not like it one bit. I like it even less with Katie here. So small and fragile. So easily injured.
“The last time I went walking in the dark didn’t turn out so well for me, remember?”
“I remember.” I could not forget it even if I tried.
“Please, no more throwing me over your shoulder,” Katie pleads.
She explains what a piggyback is, and I secure the pack around her back and crouch down so that she can climb atop mine. She slings her arms around my neck, her head resting on one of them so that our faces are side by side for a change, and her thighs straddle my waist from behind.
“Ugh, you have to hold me up.” She squeaks, her legs slipping down my side so that she dangles from my neck.
Tentatively, I grab her behind the thighs and hike her back up, so she is sitting comfortably.
“Phew.” She sighs, flicking her hair out of her eyes.
I kick dirt over the fire to put it out before making our way back down the mountain.
I will walk all night if I must to make sure we cross as much ground as possible.
Thankfully, Katie is light as a feather, and I must admit that if I had a Minotaur for a mate, it is likely I would not be able to do this.
Though I also would not worry so much about their fragility either.
Soon after I begin walking, Katie’s familiar soft snores sound next to my ear.
I chuckle to myself. I am certain she could fall asleep almost anywhere.
There is peace in the quiet darkness, with the stars above.
The chill in the air intensifies as I continue down the mountain, until even I am starting to feel it seep beneath the thin layer of hair that coats my body.
Small white flakes begin to fall from the sky, yet they disappear as soon as they touch my body, melting away into nothingness.
I keep a steady pace until there is enough of the powder falling that it no longer disappears, dusting the path and mountainside in a thin layer of white.
It jogs my memory from long ago, and I know I have seen this before.
Snow. It is snowing on the mountain. My heart kicks up a beat as my mind races through the handful of possibilities of what could be causing this.
Not once has there ever been snow on Aeolia. So, why now?
I hesitate to wake Katie, but I am beginning to worry that she may fall ill to this strange cold if even I am beginning to feel its effects.
There is still a long way to go down this mountain before we make it back to the caves, and we are exposed out here with no shelter—something I have never had to consider before, when the temperature is always moderate, and you never have to worry about being rained on, let alone stuck outside whilst it snows.
“Katie. Wake up.” I jostle her a little on my back to wake her. She lets out a soft moan, and heat flushes my cheeks. I curse softly. Now is not the time for the mate bond to act up.
“Katie.” I jostle her harder, giving her thighs a firm squeeze this time. She responds by grinding against my back with another soft moan. I want to know what she is dreaming about, my cock instantly standing to attention as her strawberry perfume fills the air.
“Fates save me,” I grumble, looking skyward.
Deciding there is nothing else for me to do, I drop her.
“Aargh!” She lands on her behind on the now cold and wet path, the thin layer of snow causing it to soak into the back of her pants.
I quickly adjust myself as discreetly as I can in my loincloth before turning and helping her to her feet.
“I tried to wake you.” I grab her hand, pulling her up.
She scoffs. “Sure, you di—”
Her mouth pops open, trailing off when she finally realizes her surroundings do not look the same as they did when we first started off. She spins, taking it all in.
“Is that—?”
“Snow,” I confirm.
“What the hell?” She bends down, scooping up a handful of the white powder in her hand, letting it melt and drip between her fingers.