Chapter Three
Kai peeked into the dark cave and shuddered. There were torches lighting the tunnel, but he had no idea where it led and he would prefer not to have to find out. Unfortunately, this was the deal he’d made.
“Remember,” Dorian said from behind him, “this is what the stone looks like.”
Kai looked down at the parchment with a drawing of the Sunstone, which was bright orange and would apparently be glowing, if the writing on the page was correct.
Then he gave the wizard one last glance before entering the cave and slowly moving down the tunnel.
The path turned and he followed it, creeping quietly so as not to disturb whoever lived here. The torches had to be lit by someone.
At last, he came to a door, set into the side of the tunnel.
He tried the handle, but it was locked. Continuing further, he found another door and this one opened for him.
He slipped inside and closed the door behind him.
Turning around, he saw the room only had a couple of torches and was mostly lit by several streams of light shining down from holes in the ceiling.
A very tall ceiling that he could barely see.
“Probably bats up there,” he mumbled to himself as he walked around the space. “Bats, snakes, rats, spiders, or who knows what else. I don’t know why I agreed to this ridiculousness. I’m not a damn hunter. This is not my job.”
He put his hands on his hips in annoyance. The cavern was empty, or what he could see of it at least, with shadowed corners and the torches too high up on the wall to reach. In any case, there was no glowing stone anywhere to be seen.
Kai was just about to turn to leave when he heard a shuffling sound behind him that made his entire body stiffen. He wasn’t alone in the cavern, after all. And the noise was too heavy to be that of a bat or rat. No, something else was there. Something… larger.
Slowly, he turned and found himself staring straight into a very large pair of bright purple eyes, separated by gold scales that continued down a long nose, ending right where a row of sharp teeth began. He didn’t plan to stay long enough to find out what other menacing body parts this monster had.
He dashed to the side and ran toward the door, but a gold tail swooped down and blocked him. Skidding to a halt, he followed the length of the tail with his eyes and found it attached to a giant body with four thick legs and… wings?
It has wings too? What sort of—no. It couldn’t be. However, when he backed away and the beast moved into the middle of the room, letting the moonlight shine on its entire body, it became clear. The monster in front of him was a large, gold dragon.
“Hell no!” he shouted and ran, dodging swipes from the dragon’s claws as it tried to catch him.
He jumped over the tail that came hurtling at him and heard the dragon growl when he was almost to the door.
His escape was again thwarted, but this time by the creature’s head.
He slid on the ground, kicking dirt up into the dragon’s eyes, which only angered the beast further.
Running across the cavern once more, Kai was starting to get tired, but the dragon was also getting overeager, slamming into the cavern wall when it missed him, making a large hole in the side.
It happened twice more but when he ran past the last hole the monster had created, Kai saw something.
A shining light, no larger than his fist, and it was orange.
The Sunstone.
When the dragon came for him the next time, he dove toward the hole containing the stone and managed to roll inside, discovering the dragon had knocked down the wall between its cavern and whatever room this was supposed to be.
There were crates stacked up all over the small space, but there in the center sat a clear box with the stone inside of it.
Kai grabbed the box and ran back inside the cavern to find the dragon was watching him. Slowly, he crept toward the door, but when the dragon noticed where he was going, the beast opened its mouth and roared. The sound startled him and he dropped the box, the glass shattering on the ground.
As the dragon hurtled toward him, he snatched up the stone and ran for the door. This time, he made it, flinging the door open and rushing down the tunnel. He could hear another loud roar behind him as he ran out of the mountain as fast as his legs could carry him.
~*~
Zaria looked down at her bed and cringed.
Was it normal to be this nervous about seeing one’s mate?
This had been her father’s idea. Dreamwalking.
A way to see Nox without being physically there beside him.
She’d practiced the spell on her father for the past two nights and it had worked, but just because she knew she could get into Nox’s dreams, it didn’t mean he’d want her there.
What would she do if he refused to allow her inside his mind? And what if she entered his dream and he was dreaming about another woman? She snorted. That wasn’t likely. Not after he’d seen her naked. She didn’t doubt their matehood or herself that much.
He might be gone now, wandering somewhere else in Everealm, but there were still traces of him in Carroway. He’d left a black cloak behind that smelled like him. One of his wooden figures was tucked underneath her pillow. Most importantly, he’d left her.
Yes, she’d encouraged him to go, knowing it was for the best. Living in the castle had strangled him and his magic. Caused him to hate the kingdom—and if it had continued for much longer, she feared he would have begun to hate her. His mate. His magical partner, chosen by the realm.
“Was fate wrong?” she whispered to herself in the darkened room.
She remembered the way the magic in her veins had felt every time she and Nox had touched.
Even being in the same room with each other, not touching in any way, had been enough to affect her magic.
That’s the way it was between mates. Or should be.
For her and Nox, their mating had been an inconvenience, for both of them.
The distance between them was the reason she needed to try dreamwalking.
Separation from one’s mate was uncomfortable at best and torture at worst. She had managed to ignore the itch underneath her skin as her magic fought her and tried to sway her to leave this place.
To search for Nox. Her father, wizard that he is, noticed her struggle and thought joining with Nox in their dreams might be enough of a connection to satisfy their magic, even if only temporarily.
It was worth a shot, and she couldn’t delay the inevitable any longer.
It had already been dark outside for a while and her father had told her to try to enter Nox’s dreams as early as she could, if she wanted to make the dreamwalk last. He’d said that time worked differently in dreams and what might feel like moments would in fact be most of the night.
Taking a deep breath, she laid down on her bed and got comfortable beneath the quilt.
She glanced down and realized she still had her robes on.
Her father had told her she would likely appear wearing whatever she wore to bed, so she’d meant to put on her nightgown.
Oh, well. It was too late to worry about it now.
However, when she entered the dreamwalk, reaching out to Nox, finding his subconscious, and connecting with it, she realized it didn’t matter what she was wearing.
It was raining, uncontrollably, inside of his dream.
They were back on the ship they’d taken from Odustis, and heavy waves were crashing against the sides, making it thrash in the sea.
She found Nox standing against the railing in the spot they’d often occupied, shouting something over the side of the ship but when she reached him and looked down into the water, she didn’t see anyone. Suddenly, he turned to her and the thunderous look on his face slipped away when he saw her.
“There you are,” Nox said.
Reaching out, he pulled her into his arms while his mouth crashed down on hers, and he kissed her much like he had on the ship after rescuing her. This time, though, he pulled away and looked down at her with a confused expression.
“What is… you’re not… what the hell is happening?” he stuttered.
“Don’t be angry,” she started and watched his face morph into one of annoyance. There it was. The expression she was used to seeing. There was her mate. “I’m dreamwalking with you.”
“Dreamwalking? You’re in my dream? The real you and not the dream you?”
“Is there a dream me?”
“Yes, you—” He stopped and cleared his throat, backing away. “There is a dream you that visits sometimes.”
“Should I ask what dream me likes to do when she visits?” Zaria raised her brow and smothered a grin, though not well.
“No. You should not.”
“Alright. Keep your secrets. I won’t tell you what dream Nox does when he visits me either.”
The rain slowed and stopped, though they were both wet now. And when Nox’s gaze dropped to her soaked chest, his eyes roving over her in a way that warmed her blood and magic, she smirked.
“Still prefer dream me?” she asked.
“Well, dream you is usually naked,” he replied, immediately.
“I can be, but you have to do something for me, first.”
“What?”
“Practice your air magic some more.”
Nox rolled his eyes and sighed, but she just smiled.
Her mate was stubborn but so was she. Maybe even more than he was.
They’d just have to see who held out the longest. She could tell by the way he eyed her breasts through the wet, clinging fabric, that he wanted what she was offering him.
She just had to get him to bite. Maybe even, literally.
She wasn’t above a little pain with her pleasure.
“What do you want me to do?” he finally asked.
“I want you to use your air magic to take off my clothes and then dry me.”
“Really? That’s it?” Nox eyed her as if he didn’t believe her.
“That’s probably all we have time for. My father said time during dreamwalking moves faster. I would hate to see you wake up before you receive your prize.”
The wizard smirked at her again and her magic began to move quicker through her veins in anticipation.
He was handsome but in a rough and untraditional way.
His face was too sharp to be pretty, yet too perfect to be ugly.
It was almost as if the gods were unsure of how to make him.
She wasn’t complaining. The almost-villainous-but-actually-a-hero thing was working for her.
While he used his hands to push air magic out, the breeze gently lifting her robes up to her chest, she felt her power beginning to burn pleasantly inside her. When the fabric became stuck around her neck, she lifted her hands and jerked it off.
“Now, dry me,” she said, watching his gaze roam over her.
This part had always been easy between them. The attraction was undeniable. It was everything else that didn’t work.
Nox continued to send air over her as she spun around, letting the wind dry her damp skin. It would take several more turns to really get dry and she was growing impatient. So when she turned back to face him this time, she stopped.
“Good enough,” she said then stepped into his arms.
One of his hands cupped her cheek as he bent down to kiss her and the other hand slid down her back to grab a handful of her rear, pulling her body close enough to feel him beneath his robes, unsurprisingly hard and ready for her.
But they wouldn’t go that far tonight. He’d never laid with a woman, human or mage.
She would ease him into it. The last thing she wanted was for him to regret giving himself to her, his body or his heart.
“Touch me,” she whispered between kisses.
She glanced over and saw a barrel, dragging him to it and climbing up to sit.
Then she spread her legs and his eyes nearly popped out of his head as he stared at the spot between her thighs.
“Touch me, with your fingers. Pleasure your mate, Nox. That’s your prize tonight. ”
“Seems a little like it’s your prize, darling,” he replied but licked his lips anyway. “But you’re the tutor, right?”
“That’s right. So be a good student.”
Nox moved forward and slowly ran his fingers up her leg, tickling her as the tips traveled over her skin. When he finally reached her center, he was careful. A little too careful, so she showed him with her own hand, what to do.
After he took over, the student became the master quite quickly.
He caressed her with his fingers while continuing to kiss her.
His touch made her power react in the most delicious of ways.
It was almost as good as his touch was in person.
In no time at all, she was panting into his mouth as he swallowed her moans of pleasure while she exploded on his hand.
Zaria took a few deep breaths and gave him a final kiss.
She looked up at his face, which was flushed from what they’d just done.
She wanted to return the favor, but their time had come to an end.
She could feel the tug of morning calling her out of sleep.
Was it wrong that she wanted to leave him craving more?
“See you tomorrow night, love,” she whispered. Then she disappeared and woke in her bed with satisfied magic and a smile on her face.