Chapter 7
JUST FOR NOW
CADENCE
I guess the skyblossom had cursed me, because I finally got to kiss Summer, and then a dragon attacked us.
I scrabbled and ran through the forest, my blood pounding in my veins as the dragon came crashing after us, some kind of stone dragon the size of a car, and I threw down a barehanded cast at the ground, sparking around my fingers as I ran over where thick, tangling vines broke up from the ground and ensnared the dragon, and I glanced back over my shoulder at it in the wrong instant, because I whacked my head against a branch, stumbling back with a groan until I fell on my butt in the leaves.
Knot lashed out as Summer turned back to me, and he grabbed onto Summer’s hand when she held it out, Summer yanking him back and me with him, up to my feet, where she crouched and swept me off my feet as easily as if I weighed nothing. I gasped, holding onto her.
“Summer—”
“Always wanted to show off this potion effect,” she said. “Might as well show it off for a cute girl.”
“Is this the time to flirt!?”
“Obviously.” She crouched, and in a bolt, she took off, spectral magic flame springing up from her footsteps as she raced so fast I could barely breathe.
A thin spectral barrier shield in front of us stopped us from getting battered by everything in the woods in succession, and I clung to her watching breathlessly as the woods streaked by, the heavy racing footfalls behind us slowly getting further and further behind.
“Summer—”
“It’s fine. I got this. I love to go fast.”
“No, Summer, wait—”
“There’s no stopping me once I get started—”
“Summer, there’s a cliff this way—”
“There’s a what?” she said, and we broke through the brush and clear off a cliff, Summer cutting off a loud curse as the ground opened up below us, a drop down to a rushing river below that was tiny from this height—I reached up and shot off Knot to grab onto a thick tree branch overhead, and his magic flared as he held fast, catching the two of us in a makeshift swing across the ravine, where we stumbled down and hit the top of a soft, grassy hill, and Summer wrapped me up in her arms with the spectral barrier pulled in close to us as we tumbled down the hill, rolling over bumps and ridges together until we came sprawling out at the bottom, breaking apart and lying side-by-side on our backs, staring up at where the canopy was open to the starry night sky above us.
“Okay, Knot, much appreciated,” she said, and I turned to her with an anxious lump.
“Not appreciated—I’m sorry, I tried to warn you earlier—”
“No, not like, not not, but Knot like Knot.”
“Not not… not… not?”
“Knot.”
“Oh, Knot.” I laughed nervously.
“I appreciate you too. Sorry, there’s no stopping me once I get started.”
“I mean, I kind of respect it, just not off a cliff…”
She didn’t get to answer before a crack rang from behind me, a heavy thump of something landing, and Summer and I both stumbled panicking to our feet, taking off again.
I didn’t really have a conscious sense for where I was until we were up at the high end of Jewelstone Hollow, back out of the woods and up where we had a view of Dragon House down below us, tucked away in the tall evergreen formations of the gravewood trees, and Summer collapsed against the railing, breathing hard, laughing wildly.
“I… I told you they were too realistic,” she said.
“I’m so sorry… I had no idea there were draconic creatures that big out there.” I leaned against the railing with her, the wrought-iron cool and damp under the boughs of the trees that carved out a frame with Dragon House below us. Summer shook her head at me, smiling apologetically.
“No, I, uh… I’m the one asking you for rare and difficult things like the shuffling sunflower.
Um…” She folded her hands, turning back to the railing, and she picked at the corner of the ornate points at the top of the railing.
“Sorry about, um… well, you know.” She shrugged. “I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
My heart jumped, a nervous sensation dry in my mouth, as I stepped up to the railing next to her, the wind off the hollow cool in my face as I tried to work out the words to say.
“I… beg to differ,” I settled for, mumbling awkwardly with my face burning hot even in the cool wind.
“I, um… I mean, I really…” I bounced on the balls of my feet, trying to sort out words. “Well, I kind of… like you, you know.”
She gave me one of those smiles that could make a weathered old dragon’s heart melt. “I mean, despite everything, I was hoping you might. I’m really weak for smart girls.”
“Ah…” I put my face in my hands. “You’re just saying that.”
“I’m not,” she laughed, sidling up next to me, and I felt like I’d pass out when she put her hand on my hip. “I’ve had such a good time chasing after these ingredients with you. You’re smart and quick-witted and charming and you’re really cute when you’re flustered and hiding your face.”
“Okay. Good to know. In that case, I’ll stay in here.”
“It’s just…” she said, her voice wistful. “Well, you know. It wouldn’t really be fair to you, given…”
“No, it would!” I said, surprising both of us as I dropped my hands.
“Um… I mean, I think it would. I know it would just be a short-term thing. I’m okay with that.
I mean, it’s like I was saying back in the glen, we can call it…
p-practice. Warmup. You know, shaking out the nerves before your big…
your big encounter with true love.” What was I saying?
It sounded even more ridiculous out of my mouth than it had out of Viv’s, and it had been ridiculous coming out of hers, of all people.
But Summer looked at me with an achingly soft expression.
“I’d feel terrible, though… dating you just to throw you aside.”
“You wouldn’t throw me aside,” I said, hands clasped at my waist, looking up through my lashes at her. “We’d still be friends and you’d still… I don’t know, respect me. Think well of me. You’re a better person than to just discard me.”
“But even so, isn’t it going to… you know, hurt?”
I shrugged, looking past her. “Maybe. But, um… knowing you feel the same way… and not doing anything, I think that would hurt even more.”
She stared at me for a minute, her lips parted, before the smallest, softest smile passed over her features, and she said, “Yeah. Maybe.”
My heart jumped, and then took off racing like a wild wyvern. “Yeah?”
“Lumi would kill me if she found out,” she laughed, and she stepped closer.
The trees glowed softly overhead—luminis nesting there and shining softly against the night.
Just like the whole time, from luminis to magic confluence events to everything else.
Like a gift of true love. Or like a very, very cruel curse.
“Then… I guess she won’t find out?”
“She’s a diviner.”
“She seems a little, um…”
“Clueless. Yeah, okay, point taken.” She slipped her hands into mine, and then ran them up my arms to my back, sending chills down my spine. “So… should we revisit that idea of practice kissing?”
“Oh, saints. I mean, as long as we don’t call it that,” I laughed, and my voice fell off into something impossibly soft as I said, “then I’d, um… I’d love to… to kiss you, Summer.”
She brushed a thumb over my lower lip. “I’d like that too,” she whispered, and my heart about stopped beating altogether when she leaned in and pressed a kiss against my lips, soft and sweet, not rushing anything, not pressuring anything. Seeking permission.
She didn’t need to. I wanted her to do everything. I wrapped my arms around her, and I kissed her for all I could, our lips slipping together as she murmured softly against me. Kissing me. Kissing Summer. Saints and stars. Was I hallucinating?
If so, I was going to enjoy it. I touched my tongue to her lips, emboldened, and she made a noise of pleasant surprise, opening her lips to grant me access, and I took her lip between mine and sucked lightly, feeling my body heat up with the movements, the activity.
She was a little breathless by the time we pulled away. To be fair, so was I.
“Is this okay?” she said, and I laughed, answering her without words—I backed her up against the railing, hands on her hips, kissing her again. She kissed me back, breathless and hungry, and I should have been embarrassed at the way my body was burning for her. I wasn’t.
“I want you,” I murmured, my lips brushing hers. She laughed nervously.
“I didn’t expect you to take charge so much once you made a move…”
I pouted, tugging on the front of her jacket. “Do you want me to stop?”
“I definitely don’t. I mean… I don’t see any reason to take it slow…
and I want you too,” she breathed, voice hitching as she swept her gaze down over me.
I bit my lip. She was right that I’d never really been one to take charge—back when I’d been with Natalie, I’d just smiled and nodded and let her lead the way—but I was bubbling with inspiration of ways I wanted Summer.
I thought I’d be shy. But I, um… wanted her in bed. We were on a time limit. I didn’t see any reason to take it slow, either.
“Do you, er… fancy sneaking a girl into your dorm?” I murmured, kissing her jaw, taking in the shape of her. She bit her lip, smiling into it.
“I’d love to, but Lumi would absolutely find out if I did.”
“Oh… ugh. Mine…” I frowned. “My galeria is so nosy.”
She licked her lips. “I know a place.”
“Do you? I thought you were luckless in love, but apparently you know a place?”
“Oh, god, Cadence, I go there for a little quiet study time where no one will find me. I haven’t gone bringing girls around there.”
Well, if I was the first one. I didn’t even recognize myself, but I bit my lip, and I nodded.