27. Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Try again,” Rune said from the boulder nearby.
I was flat on the ground, staring at the clouds.
We’d been training together for four hours. I loved and hated every second. He didn’t treat me like a delicate flower, his mate to shelter.
My fingers ached from gripping the hilt of my sword too tight and every muscle burned beneath my skin from using all the powers in my well of absorbed core magic.
None of them, besides his control over earth, were offensive powers. I could create weapons with the gems at my disposal, but it wasn’t something to only rely on. Still to the day, I wasn’t able to hold the other’s gem powers for long.
Sin Verin’s soldiers were after me for some reason. Rune and I decided to add more time for training outside my normal hour here and there.
My breaths were loud and labored. “I can’t.” I probably could, but I didn’t want to.
“One more, Princess.”
My grunt was all the response he’d get.
The ground beneath me shook and slowly, as if the earth herself had hands, guided me to a standing position.
Stupid jerk.
“Rude.”
He smirked and gestured to the small boulders to my right. We’d practiced magically throwing them and catching them midair. I missed and had to dive out of the way more than a few times.
The purpose was control. The more I used the power, controlled it, the easier it’d be to take out an enemy.
Inhaling deep, the apple scent from the orchards nearby weaved into my body. The dirt under my boot crunched as I dug the ball of my toes further in. I closed my eyes and lifted my hand like Rune showed me. Hand gestures weren’t a necessity, but I felt more in control this way.
A heavy weight pulled at my hand, like the rock itself was magnetized to me.
“I am stone, I am a mountain.”
Rune said I needed to be steadier, stronger, more grounded than the earth. I needed to be stone, a mountain to bend it to my will.
Dirt falling to the ground and the weight giving at my behest made me smile. The rock floated in the air as I opened my eyes, and I didn’t hesitate to fling it at my pleased mate.
He caught it, spun it like a ball over his finger, then shot it toward me.
“I am stone.” I breathed and widened my stance. I’ve stopped it before. I could do it again.
The rock wobbled, and slowed as I exhaled, then flopped to the ground with a loud thud.
I pointed to it with a smile. “That counts.” Technically, I stopped it. It wasn’t still floating in the air, and I didn’t get hit or have to jump out of the way.
Rune hopped off his boulder and raced to me. His large hands wrapped around my waist and lifted me into the air to spin me around.
Pride beamed in his eyes, his smile.
This man’s very existence made my heart yearn for him. He could be inches away and it wasn’t enough. I wanted more of his voice, his teasing, his thoughts, his body. I’d crawl inside him if I could.
The end of the month wasn’t moving quickly enough.
“I feel it too.”
“Feel what?” I knew but call me a sucker for his sweet words. I wanted to hear them flow from his lips like sweet honey.
His lips opened, then shut as he set me down, his head tilted to the side.
“Your mother’s looking for you.”
“What were you going to say?”
He caressed my cheek with the back of his hand. His gaze trailing the movement.
This male was so dangerous, so feared, and yet… he looked at me like this. Like I was the moon in the night sky, his world.
Wait…
“Is that why you call me your moon? Because to you, I’m the moon? Your life revolves around me?”
We’re mates, but this… this moved into deep feelings territory. Mates were not synonymous with love. Usually, a perfectly matched pair ended in love, and I secretly hoped, felt that Rune and I were falling.
“Does this scare you?” he asked, his face unreadable.
Did he think I didn’t feel the same?
He’s all I’ve been able to think about since we met. In our short time of knowing each other, even during the moments I tried to move on, and think of Tor, he was there. Imprinted on my heart, my core.
The only reason we weren’t claiming each other was Celestine’s warnings.
I shook my head and smiled. “I don’t have a moon, or a star to call you. So, I shall simply declare you as mine.”
“I like those words, mate.” His husky voice was mixed with a deep growling tone that came from within, from the beast.
“All right. Distance. We need distance before we do something so good and so bad.” Every day this got harder, especially being so far from Crysia. “I’ll see you later for dinner. I’m gonna look for my mom.”
I waved and left before my gaze met his and we lost our composure. The fire between us burned hot at all times. We had to keep the flames low lest we burn everything around us.
As I walked toward the palace, I glanced over the lake to the mountains across the glassy water.
Crystoria was on the opposite side of the continent. Near the Great Smokey Mountain portal.
Every so often lost hikers would stumble through the portals hidden in the national parks. The guards stationed at each would guide them back and talk to the rangers on duty.
It was all part of the deal created decades ago. We keep our monsters from crossing into their realm and they keep the portals a protected secret.
“Princess Sapphira,” a deep male voice called me from the granite stairs at the entrance of the palace.
He looked familiar. I couldn’t explain where, or how I knew him. Maybe he was related to my aunt. The light brown-skinned male with silver eyes, dark hair pulled into a hair tie behind him waved at me.
The shimmering white tattoos on his face, and neck were so much like Desiniri’s. I stepped closer, not sure why. There was something here, a feeling, a knowing I couldn’t put my finger on.
“Who are you?” I asked.
He was somebody, maybe a powerful someone, and that’s what propelled me closer. His core was strong, even stronger than Rune’s. Hell, this man looked more like a warrior than my mate, and that was saying something.
“I’m Desmire.”
Desmire. Desmire. I feel like I’ve heard that name before.