Chapter 61
KAELERON
Saphira slipped her hand into mine, her fingers sliding along my palm, her touch warming the reaches of my heart that had grown cold when she had spoken of drinking the Sacred Milk, believing what Vaeleryn had said to her.
We would work out the riddle of the dragons’ visions and what Vaeleryn had seen in time.
I would keep my promise to her about that.
I only hoped she could give me that time.
I was not sure she could.
Or that the Great Mother would.
I felt sure Lucia was guiding her towards something for some purpose known only to her, and that I should trust the goddess with Saphira, but I found I could not. The thought of risking her left me cold.
The thought of her dying.
It did not even bear thinking about.
I drew her to me, not stopping until I could fold her in my arms, holding her close to the heart that beat for only her, that trembled in fear at the thought of her doing something as drastic and dangerous as drinking the Sacred Milk.
I dropped a kiss on her brow as I silently promised her that we would find the answers in time and shadows wrapped around us both, flecked with glittering golden starlight as I carried her to a place I hoped would offer her comfort, as it had comforted me during some of the most trying times of my life.
When those shadows receded, the last tendrils of them floating away like smoke, I forced myself to release her and let her see her gift.
She turned in a slow circle, her blue eyes widening as she took in the huge columned rotunda that surrounded her, the floor of it covered in ornate rugs of various colours and sizes and one side of it hugging the rocky wall of the cave as the other fell away as a cliff that loomed over the churning water that rolled into the narrow but towering entrance of the cave.
I remained where I was as she drifted away from me, eyes darting over everything, fingers brushing the books stacked on the tables, and the lamps that burned with magic beside them.
Candles flickered to life as she passed them, their light combining with the golden motes that danced in the air to warm the enormous space.
She stroked a hand over the wooden frame of a couch as she rounded it, her gaze lifting higher as she walked behind one of the columns made of inky blue marble that glittered like starlight, thousands of colourful flecks in it shifting in the flickering light of the candles.
To the violet crystals that jutted from the walls, some of them reaching twenty feet long.
Her eyes roved between each cluster that glowed faintly, bathing my sanctuary in not only their light but their power. That magic ebbed and flowed around me, dancing across my skin and sinking into my bones, and I was sure she could feel it too as she looked at me.
“It’s beautiful here.” Her smile was too solemn for my liking. “Is this your sanctuary?”
I nodded. “I thought perhaps you might like to make it your sanctuary too now. A place you are free to come to whenever you want to escape for a time. I have changed the wards to allow you to come and go as you please.”
“Thank you. It really is a beautiful… incredible place.” She looked at it again, that sorrowful edge to her expression remaining even when she sounded brighter, more like her usual self. “Are you sure it’s okay for me to be here? I won’t get in the way?”
“You could never be in my way, Saphira. You could only ever be too far from me.” I crossed the rotunda to her and wrapped my arms around her, bending my head to press my cheek to the top of her head, breathing her in as I just held her.
She wrapped her arms around me, her palms pressing into my back, and I held her until whatever doubts clouded her mind passed, until her melancholy air vanished again and her heart was steady once more.
Angling my head, I pressed a kiss to her temple as I stroked my fingers down her braid, to that spot on her nape I had marked when we had mated.
I lingered there, feeling the fading marks, sensing that connection between us that had always been there, and was stronger now, but somehow felt muted still.
Perhaps our rushed mating was responsible for that.
I would keep that promise I had made to her and when the time was right, we would mate again and this time I would make it as beautiful as she deserved it to be. But that time wasn’t now, with her dreams hanging over her, and her coronation looming.
She drifted away from me and stopped near a table laden with lacquered boxes, and our wolf masks.
“You kept them,” she said without looking at me.
“Purely for roleplaying purposes.” I grinned at her when she looked at me.
“Liar.” She brushed her fingers over the white mask, a small smile curling her lips. “You kept them so you could remember that night.”
I swept her into my arms and into a slow waltz around the rotunda. “I do not need a mask to remember that night. How could I ever forget it?”
She tilted her head back, turning that smile on me, soothing that tightness that had been building in my chest, born of frustration as I tried to figure out a way to ease her mind and make her see things were not as dire as she thought them to be.
She sighed as she leaned towards me, resting her cheek against my chest. “I’m glad you kept them.”
“I love you, little wolf,” I said.
“I love you too.” She nuzzled my chest and I sensed the shift in her mood again.
I stroked her hair. “The dreams trouble you. I wish they did not. I wish I had the answers for you. If the goddess is guiding you, she is not guiding you well, or you would know what you needed to do.”
She pulled back to look up at me, a puzzled edge to her beautiful face.
“But what if I do know what I need to do? What if that choice I have to make is choosing to drink the water of that lake? I always see the elkyn there. She always paws at the water. I think I’m meant to go there. I think I’m meant to drink—”
Shadows grew sharp in every corner of the rotunda and her mouth snapped shut.
I released her and stepped back, breaking contact with her as darkness swelled within me, and was unable to keep the bite from my voice as I bit out, “You will die if you attempt it. Do not be so reckless.”
She blew out her breath and loosed a frustrated noise as her face screwed up, and then she sighed.
“Sorry. You’re right. I want this time with you and want to enjoy it, and I’m spoiling it.
I’ll let it go. I don’t want to ruin this moment.
I feel as if I’ve barely seen you since we came home, and whenever I do get time with you, I’m dumping all my worries on you. ”
She reached for me and I reached for her in return, pulling her back into my arms.
“I do not mean to be so brusque with you, my love. It has been a long few days, and I am tired, and I am terrified of losing you. I am afraid of you rushing into this without being certain it is what the Great Mother wants you to do and that you will be taken from me.” I cupped the back of her head and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“But never feel you cannot ‘dump all your worries on me’ as I am always here for you. I would rather you spoke to me about your worries than kept them to yourself. I would rather we tackled your troubles together, as mates should. We shall talk about it tomorrow, and perhaps ask the dragons for another vision, or hope your dreams might provide more information. They seem to be evolving each night. In time, Lucia might grow tired of guiding you and simply show you the path to take.”
I grinned at her and she pouted up at me.
I kissed it away for her, nipping at her lower lip.
“If it is bothering you though, we could talk about it now?” I murmured against her mouth and then drew back to gaze down at her, letting her see I meant my words.
“Tomorrow.” She pressed a finger to my lips. “No more talking about all of that right now. Only a request.”
“Name it.” I feathered my fingers down to her hand and stroked her palm.
“Actually, two requests and a question.” She held her other hand up, flashing two fingers before adding a third.
“You wish to wear the wolf masks while I take you, you want to move into my quarters, and you wish to know how I got to be so very handsome… my mistake… stupidly beautiful. Did I get them right?”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Not at all.”
I regally waved my hand. “Go ahead. Enlighten me then.”
“My question is,” she looked from me to the clusters of crystals clinging to the cave walls. “Is there magic in these crystals?”
I lifted my gaze to them with some effort, finding I did not want to stop looking at her. “There is. You can feel it, can you not?”
She dipped her head. “I can… and it feels familiar.”
“The magic they hold feeds the castle above. This place is the reason I moved my seat of power here. This magic keeps the wards strong—my people strong. It keeps them safe. I felt them when I was a boy, sitting up on Noainfir. I felt through the rock to the magic that reached for me.” I stepped past her, not stopping until I was near one of the crystals, and placed my hand on the faceted face, feeling that power thrumming through me.
“No one knows about this place other than me and my sister, and now you. It is forbidden to speak of it. The truth is a secret to keep it safe. If others knew of the crystals, they would come and fight to take them. Other courts would go to war with mine to seize their power for themselves.”
“Which leads me to part two of my question.” She went to the table with the lacquered wooden boxes and opened one, revealing the sapphire and silver necklace she had worn the night of the ball, and looked at me. “Why did you give me such a precious necklace to wear?”
I walked over to her as she stroked the radiant blue stones that matched the colour of her eyes and halted beside her, close enough that I could feel her power, her warmth.
Keeping my gaze on her rather than the stones, I said, “That necklace was my most precious possession before I met you.”