18. Ivy #2
“Good evening, students. Thank you for gathering this evening. Your attendance and support in rejuvenating our land are both honorable and respected. To our newest students, take guidance from your sodality; they will guide you. Once again, thank you for your attendance. It will be a delight in the morning to see our lands restored.”
The students around us disperse the second she stops talking, and my attention is yanked to the edge of the cliff where pupils holler and cheer.
“What’s going on?” I mumble, and Archer peers down at me.
“Come on, Angel. You’ve got two minutes for a tour, but then we have to move.”
He takes off, and I hurry to keep at his side, silently wishing he would drag me along like last time, but I have to quickly remind myself of how much I hate him.
As we near the edge of the cliff, understanding quickly washes over me as I spot students diving off. My heart lurches in my chest as my gaze connects with Teddy a few feet away. He yanks his t-shirt over his head, offers me a wink, and follows suit, disappearing over the side without care.
A yelp lodges in my throat as I eliminate the few steps remaining to peer over the side. Nausea swirls in my gut, the reminder of my fateful fall coming back to me, but I’m too distracted by the splashes dotting the water along the base of the cliff, a student’s head appearing a moment later.
“Water Protectors.” Archer’s voice at my side startles me, and I jolt back from the edge.
“That’s insane,” I blurt, and he smirks, turning away from the side of the cliff as he nods to the open grassland before us.
“Air Protectors will take over this space when we’re all gone,” he explains, and like magic, my gaze snaps to Baron, who stands in the center. His back is to me, but I know it’s him, even without the visual of his man bun; his sheer presence and wide shoulders say it all.
Archer starts to move again, and I put more effort into staying at his side. He stops and points at the trees in the distance a moment later. “The Land Protectors head into the forest.”
“What do they do?” I ask, and he snickers.
“Fuck knows. Maybe Sax shoves his dick in the dirt.”
My nose crinkles in distaste, but my core clenches at the mention of Sax’s…
Stop, Ivy.
“And what about us? What do Fire Protectors do?” My nerves threaten to get the better of me as I wait with bated breath for his answer.
“We take to the heat,” he explains, leading the way once again until we’re standing outside the Fire Protectors’ cave.
At this stage, I’m not sure if it’s an all out volcano with the molten rock and lava thrumming beneath the surface, but I’m too caught up in the moment to ask as he heads inside, leaving me to follow him.
The second we hit the main cavern, we find most of the other Fire Protectors spread across the space, and my pulse quickens with nerves.
Instinctively, I take a step closer to Archer, as if he’s going to protect me from anything, but before I can retrace my steps, Bonnie appears, her eyes set on Archer.
“Hey, Archer. I saved you a spot,” she flirts, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she flutters her eyelashes at him. He doesn’t even bother to glance in the direction she’s pointing.
“I’m good.”
She pouts. “But, Archer, I?—”
“Ivy, this way,” he interjects, ignoring her completely as he ghosts his hand over my back, directing me to the opposite end of the cavern without a backward glance.
Hiding the smile on my face is almost impossible.
As much as I want to be petty with him, being petty with her is even better.
Years of holding my composure at all times and never retaliating is definitely catching up now that I have the freedom to react as I please.
Plus, hearing him say my actual name instead of Angel, does something inside me that I can’t bring myself to admit.
He doesn’t stop until we’re nestled in an unoccupied corner, a large rock obscuring us from the rest of the room as I press my back against the heated wall.
An array of emotions flickers through me, most of which I’m too nervous to acknowledge, but it’s so overwhelming that I’m too scared to voice them. I can’t let him see me weak and vulnerable.
“What happens now, Archer?” I whisper, splaying my fingers along the wall as his hooded eyes find mine.
“You’re scared,” he declares, taking a step closer to me, and I shake my head.
“I’m not.”
The corner of his mouth ticks up, but his lips quickly press together a moment later as he glances around the rock and takes in the rest of the space for a moment.
“Fuck,” he whispers, pinching the bridge of his nose before he settles his eyes on mine. “The Rejuvenating Ceremony can get a little… hot.”
I gulp, but confusion still claims me. “What aren’t you saying?”
He takes a step toward me, but stills when movement darts to my right.
Silas.
He grins at me, mischief thick in his eyes as he peers between Archer and me.
“I’m not interrupting something, am I?” he asks, tilting his head as he plants his hands on his hips.
Archer slams his hand on the wall beside my head, half shielding me from view. “If you were, it would be rude since we’re fated mates,” Archer snarls, and my eyebrows gather in confusion.
“If he’s bothering you, Ivy, I can help you through your first Rejuvenating Ceremony.”
Archer’s jaw tightens, but to my surprise, he doesn’t answer for me. What startles me even more is that I feel safer where I am, even without knowing what the hell is going to happen.
Aware I have two men waiting on an answer, I clear my throat, pulse ringing in my ears as my gaze connects with Archer’s. “Thank you, Silas. I appreciate the offer, but I’m okay where I am.” Tilting my head, I drag my eyes to him, spying disappointment in his gaze as he nods.
“If that changes, all you have to do is holler, and I’ll come immediately. Understood?” His voice is firm as I nod before he disappears, leaving me with a heavy feeling in my gut.
Taking a deep breath, I bring my attention back to Archer, who is staring at me with a weird look in his eyes. “What’s going to happen, Archer?” I can barely hear my own voice, but he hears me clearly enough.
“Rejuvenating Ceremonies take our magic, our heat, our fire, but the connection frazzles sometimes, charging through everyone like a vessel as the power restores, and it can encourage… heat in different ways.”
“Heat in different ways?” I repeat, and he smirks, leaning closer to press his mouth against my ear as he speaks.
“Sex, Angel. It gets everyone cranked up to five thousand, and some people choose to expel it with sex.”
My eyes widen in disbelief as I push myself further into the wall, shaking my head as panic sets in. “But I can choose not to, right?”
He leans back, eyebrows gathered as he takes me in. “That’s why I’m protecting you over here.”
“Protecting me?”
I feel like a parrot.
He nods. “It’s hard to control your own… urges, but I don’t need to handle anyone else’s as well,” he states, and my heart thunders in my chest.
“No one would?—”
“No, but you’re going to feel a little drunk, and your walls might slip, so someone convincing you is also considered easier.”
I don’t think I can do this.
Is that what he’s waiting for me to say? I want to rejuvenate the power, I want to give like everyone else, but I’m scared of how exposed I’ll leave myself. “And I’m supposed to trust you, the guy who despises me almost as much as I hate him, to protect me from the rest of the room?”
He shrugs, parting his lips, but before a single word slips from his mouth, heat consumes me.
I hiss, back arching off the wall as my fingers dig into the rock.
Archer groans, slamming his other hand on the wall beside me, caging me in as his eyes close.
I wait for the wave of heat to dissipate, but if anything, it intensifies, running down my spine and along my nerve endings in every direction.
I sway on my feet, my knees giving out, but arms wrap around my middle before I hit the ground with a t hud .
Blinking up, I see Archer, but he doesn’t haul me back to my feet; he lowers me gently to the ground.
“Get comfortable. It’s easier to lie down anyway,” he rasps, and curls me onto my side as I watch him plant his hands on his knees to try and steady his breathing.
The inferno inside of me intensifies, perspiration clinging to me as I yank at the top button of my shirt, but before I can make my way to the second, Archer grabs my wrist.
“What are you doing?” his face is red, beads of sweat gathering at his temple as he glowers at me.
“I can’t breathe,” I whisper, kicking my shoes off as I desperately tug at my shirt.
He groans, falling to his knees beside me as he shakes his head. “I need you to keep it all on, Angel.”
“I can’t.”
“Ivy,” he warns, and I shake my head, helpless to the magic consuming me.
I’m dizzy, lightheaded, and in some kind of feverish dream.
Am I floating?
My shirt tears beneath my fingers, but the relief I was hoping for doesn’t come.
It’s deeper.
Inside of me.
My eyes ping open, connecting with Archer’s as he remains frozen like a statue to my left.
“Archer, it’s?—”
“I know. Take a few deep breaths, fight against it,” he says through clenched teeth, all while I shake my head.
Tears prick at the corners of my eyes. “Archer, I need something to make it stop.”
“Ivy—”
“Don’t call me that,” I sob, embarrassment no longer a concern as I’m swarmed with something else entirely. “I can’t…”
My gaze travels down the length of my body, sweat glistening across my exposed skin as the sound of moans echo around me.
My tears fall, despair clawing at me as I force myself to sit up, whimpering. I discard my shirt as Archer leans back, releasing my wrist. I can feel the magic blazing in every inch of me, swirling through my limbs with unstoppable force, leaving mayhem in its wake.
Pressing my palm against my chest, I try to quell the sensations threatening to burst from my skin as Archer groans.