Chapter 32 #2
We don’t move until they’re gone, until the last sound of footsteps fades.
Then we crash together again, mouths wild, tongues clashing.
His hands tear at his belt, frantic, while I fumble with mine.
He backs me against the nearest tree, lifting me before I can think.
Bark scrapes my back as he thrusts into me with a groan that shreds the silence.
I wrap my legs around him, throat bared.
His mouth finds me there—biting, then soothing with his tongue, drinking me in as he pounds into me.
Brutal. Sinful. Each stroke steals my breath, each sound I make swallowed by his growls.
The pressure builds, unbearable. My thighs clamp around him, my body unraveling.
“Lose control, Metra,” he snarls. “Fucking lose it. Right here. Right now.”
And I do. I cry out as my release rips through me, and I feel his own crash into mine, his face buried in my neck as he pulses deep inside me.
Instead of flaring wild, my fire coils tight within us, searing, consuming.
Internal flames lick along every nerve, every thrust, until we are nothing but heat and release.
We stay locked together, panting, foreheads pressed. He kisses me—slow this time, reverent—before whispering against my lips, “I told you to stay in the cave. But, gods damn, I’m glad you didn’t listen.”
We find the others waiting inside the cave. Arden cradles a nasty slash along his bicep, and Remli’s forehead bleeds down into her hair, but otherwise, everyone looks whole.
Elaris insists we all drink the healing tea. By the time we finish the tea, cuts, scrapes, and the ache in my muscles have faded. Her gaze sweeps over us, sharp and sober, before fixing on me. “You are being hunted. Your red hair is a beacon. It seems you have been discovered.”
Guilt cuts through me. I hadn’t bothered to hide—on the ship to Sirona, in the village when we sought Arden. My recklessness brought this.
But Elaris shakes her head. “Do not carry blame. You bought us time by leaving none alive.”
Remli wipes dried blood from her brow. “What were they? Dressed as Guardians, but their eyes were violet. And when you killed them, they flew apart like smoke.”
The group murmurs, each confirming they saw the same.
Elaris’s expression darkens as she sips her tea. “Pakaraks. Not truly men, though they can kill and obey. They were woven with dark magic that was once believed to be contained in Draelith. That they walk here now is troubling. Very troubling.”
A hush settles. Even the fire seems to crackle more softly. Suddenly, she rises, skirts whispering as she sweeps toward her chamber. At the threshold, she stops, her profile etched in the glow. “Go. Replenish your magic and rest. I have answers to seek—before the wrong ones find us first.”
Lowan claims that a night of rest after one’s magic is depleted is the deepest sleep, the surest way to replenish, and I think he is right. I slept like a stone dropped in water after using so much power. We eat, dress, and gather in the common room.
Elaris sits in her chair, tea steaming in her hands, expression as calm as ever. “Good morning. Now that you are all rested and replenished, it is time.”
We exchange wary glances.
“Time for what?” Arden asks flatly.
Elaris’s eyes sweep the circle of us. “Time for you to meet Nova Donovan—and learn from her. Time is of the essence. You are being hunted, and they will not stop until they have you.” Her gaze drops to me; my pulse stutters.
Lowan inhales a long, furious breath through his nose—an unspoken promise that no one will touch me.
My spine snaps straight. “Wait—what? Nova Donovan? Where do we find her?” I ask quickly, turning toward Selene. “You can find anyone, right?”
Selene nods, already eager. A restless buzz moves through the group—gearing up to leave, to search, to hunt.
But Elaris only lifts a hand and gestures to the stone wall behind her. A seam shimmers and draws open, revealing a doorway none of us has ever seen before.
“Step this way into the Atrium,” she says, rising smoothly. “There, you will find out everything you need to know to find Nova Donovan.”
We fall into line, following her into the dark of the new chamber. The passage from the common room isn’t long—just a shallow vestibule—but the air changes the second we step inside. It presses heavier, thicker, until the stone seals shut behind us and cuts us off from the rest of the cave.
The chamber we enter is nothing like the Atheneum.
No towering shelves, no grand ceiling that disappears into shadow.
This place is plain, spare. The ceiling isn’t high, but the room is wide enough for all of us to stand together comfortably.
Above, a cluster of glowing orbs sheds a steady light on smooth, empty stone. Empty. That’s all there is.
“What is this space?” Selene whispers beside me.
“The Atrium,” Elaris answers. She lifts her hand, and the orbs sink lower, spilling golden light across our faces.
“As you know, this cave is full of ancient magic. Some of it I have woven myself. Some were already here, waiting when I first came. This space is one of its oldest protections. One can safely open portals in this place.”
She gestures toward the wall behind us. My stomach drops—the vestibule is gone, sealed with seamless stone.
“The Atrium closes when entered,” she explains.
“As you know, the cave admits no one without blood to prove worthiness and intent. So if someone tried to portal in with malice, they could not go any further. They would either leave the way they came or waste away in this chamber. Dark magic cannot pass through to the inner halls.”
A shiver runs down my spine. The idea of being trapped in a bare room like this, with nothing but light and stone, makes me swallow hard.
“But… you said someone could track portals,” I blurt. “You weren’t sure about Calidora’s abilities.”
Elaris inclines her head. “I am uncertain of Calidora’s reach.
She is Donovan. I would not underestimate her.
Perhaps she senses when someone opens a portal.
However, tracing this space is impossible.
The ancient protections of this mountain prevent it.
Even if she senses activity, she cannot follow you here.
This is the one place you may practice opening portals and crossing realms without fear of discovery. ”
Relief hums through me, tangled with unease. My hands flex at my sides, restless. “So… are we supposed to go out and find Nova Donovan and bring her back here? Is that how she’s going to teach me?”
Elaris studies me for a long, heavy heartbeat. Then she raises her hand, slow and deliberate, sweeping it up from the floor and across her face, closing her fist at her brow. And she changes.
In that instant, she isn’t Elaris anymore. Her hair is no longer silver but vivid, gleaming red. The lines on her face smooth into the sharp beauty of youth. Her eyes blaze with a fierceness that makes me catch my breath.
All of us gasp. Arden even staggers back. “What the hell was that?”
Her hand lowers, and the vision vanishes. She is silver-haired Elaris again, calm and composed.
“You do not need to go searching for Nova Donovan,” she breathes, her voice steady as stone. “She has been here all along.”
Her gaze sweeps the circle, and when it lands on me, my pulse hammers like a drum.
“I,” she says, “am Nova Donovan.”
Silence stretches long enough to sting. Then voices break like a wave.
“What do you mean?” Selene demands.
“I knew I sensed something strange in you,” Arden blurts.
“Why would you hide—” Zillah begins.
Remli throws her hands up. “So you’ve been deceiving us this whole time?”
The volley of questions crashes over us, but I don’t join in. I’m too furious even to speak. I stare at her—at Nova Donovan—and she stares right back.
Finally, she raises her hands, and the others fall silent.
Lowan’s fingers slide into mine. His touch is steady, but I feel his anger on my behalf.
“Speak,” she says, her eyes never leaving me.
“All this time,” I manage, my voice shaking with rage. “You’ve been here all this time. I could’ve been learning how to open a portal to get back to my mother and save something of my family. And you didn’t tell me.”
“Yes.” Her tone is maddeningly calm.
“Why?”
“Because you weren’t ready.”
“That’s not your choice to make.”
“No,” she agrees. “It wasn’t. Fate, and therefore this cave, made it.
This chamber wouldn’t have opened until it sensed you were ready for magic at this level.
Ready for truth. If it had been my choice, I would’ve told you everything the moment you stepped inside.
But truth doesn’t work that way. Fate doesn’t work that way. ”
Her words cut, but so does her composure. “So what—you were hiding while someone slaughtered the Donovans, and my mother was trapped in the mortal realm?”
Her face hardens, and the orbs overhead dim with her rising ire. “Do not presume to know the sacrifices I have made for this realm.”
For a breath, I almost spin, almost press my blood to the wall and leave. But I remember my mother standing in her kitchen, begging me to listen when I stormed away instead. I won’t make that mistake again.
I draw in a steadying breath. “Fine. If the cave thinks I’m ready, then tell me. All of it. No more secrets. No more one last truths. Everything.”
She inclines her head. “Very well.”
Her voice shifts into a story. “This is not knowledge even all Donovans share. I know it because I once ruled Thrae.”
The words hit me like a blow. “You… ruled Thrae?”
“Yes.”
“But you’re still alive. Why wouldn’t you still be the ruler?”