Chapter 7 #2
She needed to control herself, but she couldn’t help but watch in reverent silence as Calla knelt by the edge of the bank, scooping handfuls of the silty mud into a woven pouch. Her brow furrowed in concentration, lips pursed, dirt smudging across her forearm and thigh without a care.
She looked divine.
Not in the way Zera had been taught to revere. Not like Vulcan’s hammer or Ares’s blade. But something real.
If either of her gods asked her to turn away, to forget the girl with the soil-streaked skin and wild laughter, Zera would say no. She’d deny them both, gladly.
She’d found her new goddess. Calla from the Rhea Kingdom.
Calla turned over her shoulder, caught Zera staring, and blinked.
For a moment, something passed between them, and Zera didn’t need the bond to know that the other woman wanted her.
Not in a physical way that … that was evident, but it was something more.
Calle needed her in other ways that she was still trying to pinpoint.
Calla smiled and held up her pouch. “I found enough,” she said, cheeks flushed pink. “Maybe we should go back.”
Zera nodded slowly. She forgot for a moment that she was supposed to learn from the soil while secretly looking for any Harmonian traitors, but with each passing second, it was getting more difficult to do what she was instructed to do …
Calla moved across the riverbank, shaking droplets from her curls as she crouched to set the pouch of silt down. Zera followed, climbing out of the river with quiet steps, her eyes fixed on the way Calla’s back flexed with each movement.
“I wish I could stay longer,” Calla said softly, her voice full of longing.
“Taking a dip in the river has always been one of my favorite things to do. I think I work too hard sometimes.” She laughed before her fingers found her blouse at last. But before she could lift it, Zera plucked it from her hand and tossed it aside.
“Hey!” Calla’s eyes flared, her hand reaching after it.
Too late.
Zera bent, wrapped an arm around Calla’s thighs, and lifted her with ease onto her shoulder.
“Zera! Put me down right now!”
Zera laughed and, with no warning, leapt from the riverbank, carrying Calla with her. They plunged into the water together, and when they surfaced, Calla gasped, spitting water and flinging her curls from her face.
“What are you doing?” Calla shouted, laughing anyway.
Zera’s chest burned with how much she wanted to keep that sound forever.
Calla surged toward Zera, her arms flailing as if she was about to tackle her, but Zera caught her mid-lunge. Her hands slid around Calla’s waist, anchoring her in place.
“Got you,” she murmured, breath warm against Calla’s temple.
Calla squirmed dramatically, half-pouting, half-laughing as she tried to break free. “That’s cheating.”
Zera’s grip tightened, her arms like iron bands as she held her in place. “Warrior’s advantage.”
Calla wriggled harder, giggling and pushing at Zera’s shoulders, but then she stilled.
The realization hit them both at once.
They were pressed together, chest to chest, bodies flushed for the first time. Calla’s breath caught. Her hands slid upward, slowly, hesitantly, until they curled around Zera’s broad shoulders.
Zera’s mind went still, but her hands caressed the smoothness and softness of her wet back, knowing well she might not get to do this again …
Every part of her battle-trained instincts screamed for more, but her heart only wanted to savor this contact. Calla’s skin was warm despite the cool water. Her breath was shallow. Her eyes were locked on Zera’s.
Zera didn’t speak. Didn’t dare break the spell.
And then Calla touched her.
Fingers trailing softly over her shoulder, her collarbone, the curve of her neck.
Zera stayed frozen, barely breathing.
Calla’s eyes drank her in like she was trying to memorize every line of Zera’s face. Then her lashes lowered, her lips parted, and in a whisper she said, “Bésame.”
Zera frowned. The word hung in the air between them.
“Bésame?” she repeated, voice unsure. “What is… bésame?”
She knew Calla was asking her to do something, demanding it, even, but Ares help her, she didn’t want to assume, make the wrong move and ruin the only thing she cared about in this whole world now that she met Calla.
“I… don’t…” Zera shook her head slowly, her voice faltering. “I don’t understand. Sorry.”
Calla scoffed, but it wasn’t cold. I was nervous. Her fingers moved slowly and tentatively before cupping Zera’s jaw. Her hands were small, but they made Zera tremble.
“Bésame means this.”
And then her lips were on Zera’s.
Zera stood frozen, stunned by the feel of her.
Calla was trembling. She pulled back a moment later, eyes fluttering open like petals after rain.
“Kiss?” Zera asked, breathless.
Calla nodded.
Zera’s control shattered. She grabbed the back of Calla’s neck, tilting her mouth up, and kissed her.
There was no tenderness now, only fire. She kissed her like she was starving. Her mouth pressed against Calla’s, harsh and hungry, and when Calla moaned, gods above, Zera parted her lips, ready to taste her, to—
A flash split the sky.
Calla shrieked, arms flying up to grip Zera tightly, burying her face in her shoulder. The thunder followed an instant later, a deafening roar that made Zera’s instincts flare.
She blinked, disoriented, looking at the sky. There were dark clouds all of a sudden, and then lightning forked again, this time closer.
What in Tartarus?
“Rain?” she muttered.
But it wasn’t just rain, it was a storm. It was so sudden it was as if the gods themselves had thrown a tantrum above them.
Calla pulled away, breath ragged. “We need to get out of the water. Now,” she said, panic flashing in her eyes. “It’s too dangerous.”
Zera nodded, already moving, her eyes darting, looking for shelter. Zera was annoyed.
First, the day had been hot as Vulcan’s forge, then came the humidity, thick and suffocating, sticking to her like a second skin. And now? Thunder. Lightning.
The fuck was going on with this weather?
She growled under her breath, casting a glare toward the dark clouds overhead.
“Lead,” she told Calla, already gathering the bundle of their clothes, her hatchet, and the pouch filled with silt. Her arms full, she followed close behind as Calla broke into a jog through the forest.
But something wasn’t right.
Zera slowed down, her steps halting as her eyes caught on another row of freshly cut branches.
The path ahead had already been cleared.
Not by them.
She knelt, brushing a hand over the sliced stalk. Her lips parted, brows drawing low. She stood, but just as she was about to call out, a hand grabbed hers.
“Vente! Avanza!” Calla tugged, urgent. Her fingers were slick with rain as they led Zera off the trail and toward a ridge, where a cave waited behind a curtain of wet leaves.
They tumbled inside just as the skies opened.
The cave was small, barely enough space to stand upright, but deep and dry. Kind of. The air inside was humid, the scent of wet stone and moss thick in her nose. The storm outside raged in full force, lightning flashing behind them, thunder shaking the earth beneath their feet.
Calla cursed beside her, wringing out her hair.
Zera turned toward the back of the cave, instantly alert. There was a fire pit. Not old. As well as thick, dry blankets.
Her eyes narrowed.
“What this?” she muttered in broken Florensi.
Calla glanced over. “People sometimes use the caves as shelter during storms, but … this looks recent.”
Zera didn’t like that. But she said nothing, just nodded. Her mate needed warmth. That was her priority now.
She moved toward the pit, working quickly to gather a small fire. Her flint sparked, catching on the kindling with a hiss. As the flames grew, they cast flickering shadows across the stone walls, dancing across Calla’s damp skin.
Zera turned and froze.
Calla was close now. Closer than before. Her face was turned, brow furrowed, lips parted as if caught in a thought.
Zera’s heart picked up. “What is it?” she asked, voice low.