Chapter Twenty-One #2
My face breaks into an earsplitting grin.
This is exactly what I needed to hear. This is what I need to do—to let go of my task for a moment and be with her.
To feel what it is to be this beast I once slayed on sight, but now know, beyond any reasonable doubt, is mine.
“Then I’d better find Ozias to practice shifting so I can stretch my wings. ”
Ninon gives my shoulders one final squeeze. “That’s the woman I know.”
After I’ve cleaned up and pulled myself together, Ninon walks me through the halls and up the many stairs that lead to the grand circular chamber at the top of the Alcazar to find Ozias.
As we climb, the loose pants I wear swish pleasantly across my legs.
The deep V-shape at the waist leaves my midriff bare all the way to the simple bandeau top that covers my breasts.
With my freeing haircut, I feel ready to take on the world.
“The short hair really does suit you,” Ninon remarks as we reach the final landing.
I shake my head, the ends of my hair brushing along my shoulders as I give her a full smile. “Does it make me look more approachable?”
A low rumbling reaches my ears, and, with the smile still plastered on my face, Ozias stands waiting, his amber eyes like liquid fire.
“Dangerous,” he says. “That’s how it makes you look.”
My skin pebbles at the deep timbre of his voice, at the way he drinks me in.
Ninon touches the back of her hand against mine, shooting me a gentle, knowing smile before she turns and disappears back the way we came. I know she’s going to rest so we can fly together tonight, but without her presence, my confidence turns to resilience under Ozias’s solitary gaze.
He steps closer, fingers reaching up to dance around the ends of my hair, his fingertips brushing the top of my shoulder, sending chills down my spine. “I like it. I have half a mind not to let anyone else see you like this until I’ve had my fill.”
My breath comes in shallow bursts, dizzying me. The sheer possessiveness in those words is at once alarming and arousing. “That sounds impractical,” I manage.
“It is, considering Atlanta is waiting in my suite for us,” he says, dropping his hand, eyes shuttering ever so slightly.
I flick my hair back and move past him. “Then we best not keep her waiting,” I say as I glance at him over my shoulder. His gaze darkens and he stalks after me all the way into his private suite.
Atlanta straightens from her seat at the central table, her mouth opening. “Kaisa, your hair. You look…you look incredible.” Her gaze flits over to Ozias for a second before landing back on me.
I incline my head. “With so much changing, I felt the need to change with it.” Meeting her at the table, I lean my hands against it, scanning the cluttered workspace before giving her my attention. “I suppose we ought to talk about what happened this morning.”
She tucks her mass of curls behind her shoulders and clears her throat.
“You were able to stay a dragon after sunrise. That’s an astonishing level of progress in such a short time.
” She sounds hopeful, yet tentative. The same feeling buds in me as she casts her gaze to Ozias, almost as if waiting for him to divulge something.
Telling Ninon about mind walking to Zhoric suddenly has me wanting to tell everyone—to hold me accountable, to hold me here.
Ozias leans back against the table between us, his wide hand landing overtop mine. I startle and when I glance at him, I’m rewarded with a winsome smile, casual and confident. “I think it means you’re getting closer to tapping into your elahi.”
My brows inch together. Is Ozias still trying to get me to keep my secret from Atlanta?
Her eyes flit between the two of us, then busies her hands with the parchments, separating them into tidy piles. “That’s one possibility.”
Ozias lifts my hand and turns it in his, his thumb gliding up and down my wrist. “With a sure way to find out.”
“More training?” My efforts with Ozias and Atlanta haven’t yet produced results I’m content with.
Ozias’s smile is rampant.
“I see my torment pleases you.”
He shrugs, raising my hand to ghost his lips across the back of it. “More so I like seeing how far I can push you.”
Atlanta pushes away from the table. “I’ll finish preparing the missives for the farmhands and fisherman to plant out in the Sere.”
“I’ll take them tomorrow,” Ozias says without looking away from me.
Atlanta pauses on her way out. “Why the rush?”
He lowers my hand down to my side and slides his hands into his pockets. “The sooner the Nevobans know to expect something, the better. I have a feeling it won’t be too long before Kaisa finally reveals this hidden elahi of hers.”
“You truly think we’re that close?” Her eyes dart to me, assessing.
“We’re coming to the end. I know it.”
Atlanta opens her mouth, then bites her lower lip, keeping whatever it is she was about to say inside. She nods, then leaves the room, Ozias and I watching her until she’s well out of sight, until the sound of her steps are long gone.
I can’t stop looking at the doorway, wondering what she was going to say.
“Come with me tomorrow,” Ozias says, drawing my attention.
“What?” I ask, my mind running to catch up to his meaning.
“To disseminate the missives. Come with me.”
My mouth opens in understanding. “Out there? Beyond the Realm?” The last time I was over the Realm’s border springs to mind; being forced to the ground, Dyēus’s forces closing in on us.
“Do you trust me?” he asks.
Tilting my head, I give him a long, lingering perusal. The sharp ends of my hair graze my shoulders, reminding me of change. Reminding me I have a choice. Reminding me that I have power.
“Yes,” I say. Even though I’m afraid. Even though things can go horribly, tragically wrong. It doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try.