49. Kiera
FORTY-NINE
KIERA
“ G ood morning, gorgeous.” A strange voice reached me in my sleep, pulling me towards wakefulness.
I slowly blinked my eyes open, reaching for Jaxus to find the bed next to me empty. The voice nagged at me. Had I dreamed it?
“I’m way better than a dream.”
I forced my eyes open, finding Faolan sitting on the edge of my bed. I jumped, clutching my sheets to myself despite having a nightgown on. “How did you know what I was thinking?”
“I guessed.” Faolan laughed, holding up a hand, shielding me from his gaze. “I’m not here to gaze on you, my dear. I like someone who can match me. Be as ruthless as I am in and out of bed. Your mate is much more my type. I am here to escort you to my father.”
“Are there such females?” I let the blanket fall and stretched out, enjoying another few moments in comfort.
“You’d be surprised. I’ve met quite a few.” He shrugged. “I’m wholly attracted to personality. If they aren’t a challenge, I have no interest in bedding them.”
“I’ve always been the same, attracted purely to personality, and I thought that excluded dragons, but I was wrong. You may be surprised one day, too.”
He met my eyes with a grin. “I hope to be when we get out of here.”
“I think you will find a much better place for you out there.” I groaned, rubbing my face before forcing myself out of bed. “I thought your father didn’t go down to the village clinic until later? Why are we going so early?”
“No, he’s in the main wards today.” He turned away as I went to the wardrobe to get clothes. “As a healer I’m surprised you’re still abed.”
“I’ve grown lazy while having lax hours here.” I washed my face in the basin and stepped behind the screen to change. “Why is your father there? I thought he preferred the other clinic?”
“It’s all about perspective.” Faolan winked. “Before we meet him, I’m going to walk you through the heart of the city. This is your home now. You need to get to know it.”
I understood what he intended instantly. We were scouting in plain sight. Since our boating trip, he, Emrys, and Drystan had taken me all over the city in the guise of learning and getting to know Kerani and its way of life.
We walked through throngs of people, seemingly against the flow of the city. Like a tide, it poured one way, and we walked against the current. Or maybe it was how we stood out, fae turning to look at us. No matter where we went.
“Do you always draw such attention?” I asked, glancing over and sizing up what he wore. While the city felt like the mist and the mountains. He felt like the storms breaking over the peaks. Lighting breaking through a dreary day.
“I do, but I suspect it’s you they stare at, gorgeous,” he said smoothly. “We’ve never had an outsider in our midst before.”
“What about Nyx and Zaria?”
“They kept to the fishing village as my father was healing Nyx and since their intention was not to stay, the elders kept them away from the rest of what we have here for security. They stayed at our family home by the lake. Word of outsiders got around, but few actually laid eyes on them. You are one of a kind to them.”
“Wonderful,” I grumbled, hating being the center of all the attention.
“No, it’s perfect. All eyes are on you. You can’t get away with anything. See, above reproach.”
“So, what are you showing me today?” He had a gleam in his eye that spoke of mischief.
“Being the academic you are, I thought you’d like to see the great library.”
I caught my gasp but eyed him with panic because I knew that the Amber Vessel was housed there. Was this his way of springing a surprise heist on me?
“Just a look. Nothing more,” he assured.
I relaxed slightly but was still nervous about walking right into where the very thing we planned to steal was kept.
The Great Library was all it proclaimed to be. Vast columns held up a proud facade, which presided over the whole city. I’d seen it from various viewpoints on our tours and expected it to be the main temple. But it seemed, in this place, knowledge was worshiped with equal reverence to the Goddess. I was rather envious of this aspect of the culture here.
We climbed the steps, and I marveled at how the building had the ability to make you feel truly small. Even the dragons that came and went were insignificant in the show of this temple of books.
The great doors were open to all during the day, and we walked right in. I almost fell to my knees at the sight beyond them. Staircases ascended from all around a vast entrance hall, up into floor after floor of books and scrolls.
Down on the main floor were fae at tables and milling around. There was a central area where robed fae worked. They were the archivists, and dressed not unlike healers, and were easy to spot.
“It’s all organized by subject.” Faolan led me across the space, past statues dotted between staircases. “Over here is the archival index,” he said pointedly. “This is where you can search through the catalogue yourself and find the floor and aisle number for what you seek.”
He acted like I didn’t know how a library worked, and I was bemused until I saw his head tilt towards a glass display case.
Then I saw what was inside—the Amber Vessel.
“And what’s this?” I asked, moving over to get a closer look. I took it in from as close as I dared get, but it was near enough to see without doubt that it was the other half of the container I took from the forest.
“Oh, that?” he said with casual disinterest. “That’s the Amber Vessel.” He shrugged. “It’s some kind of sacred artifact. They call it ‘the Key to the Kingdoms’ or something, I dunno. It looks like an ugly pot to me. Anyway, over there is the wing you’ll be most interested in.” He pointed across the main hall, turning his back on the vessel. “Healing and whatnot. If you’re going to be helping Dad, I’m sure you’ll become a regular there. Let me show you.”
And just like that, he walked away, leaving me scrambling to catch up and fascinated by his ability to seem so disinterested while chasing his target. I was not cut out for theft, but Faolan looked like he could do it in his sleep .
We took stairs up to the healing section and had a look around. It was a considerable collection, much like our own archive. I itched to search the shelves for texts I’d never seen before, but that was not our purpose. Faolan kept his tour light and let me linger where I was most interested.
Then he suggested lunch.
“Thank you for bringing me here today,” I said genuinely. I knew the visit had a purpose, but it was still my idea of a good day out.
“My pleasure,” he said doing one of his silly bows. “Did you see anything of interest?”
“I did. I can see myself being content to spend a great deal of my time there.”
“So you might say it was exactly what you were looking for?”
I caught his meaning. “Yes, it’s exactly what I was looking for, thank you.”
“Excellent. You must tell Jaxus that you have found your spiritual home. He will be so pleased to know you are settling in.”
He raised a brow expectantly, and I nodded.
“Good. Now about this lunch…”
We strolled through the streets in quiet companionship so that I could reach out to Jaxus through our bond. It was the first time we had attempted it over any kind of distance, so I was unsure if it would work.
“Jaxus?”
“Yes, Firefly. Is everything okay?” He sounded concerned.
“Everything is fine. Can you speak?”
“I can. What’s happened?”
“Nothing. Faolan and I just took a tour around the Great Library, and he thought I should let you know that the Amber Vessel is definitely what we are looking for.”
“Thank the Goddess,” he breathed. “How many guards? ”
I turned to Faolan. “I was surprised it’s just open to the public like that. Is the archive not protected?”
“You didn’t see the guards?” he chuckled.
“No. Honestly, I was too mesmerized by the books to notice.”
“Two on the doors, four in the main hall, two on each floor, and—” He turned around to face me and made a show of trying to decide where to have lunch. “Two on the roof,” he muttered, confirming it was a ruse to scope out the guard situation.
I got goosebumps from all the cloak-and-dagger excitement.
“Jaxus?” I called again.
“I heard. That seems like a lot.”
“Is that normal?” I asked Faolan.
“It’s more than it used to be. Ever since our two guests crash-landed here six months ago, and then one of our best dragons left with them and decided not to return, things have been—tighter, shall we say?”
“Got that?” I sent to Jaxus.
“Got it, Firefly. Stay safe.”
“You too.”
Faolan pointed at my face. “You get this look when you’re speaking to him. It’s the cutest thing I think I’ve ever seen.”
“Oh hush, you!” I swatted his hand away. “Now, where are we eating? I’m hungry.”
The time spent apart while Jaxus worked on the council made me miss him. I hadn’t realized how dependent I’d become on his company. It was far too late when he found our bed. Half asleep, I reached for him. He happily gathered me in his arms and stroked his fingers over my bare skin .
I breathed him in and spoke the words that had weighed on my mind all day. “Is this all too dangerous?”
He didn’t answer for a long time, and I worried he’d fallen asleep, but he finally spoke. “I don’t think so. I wouldn’t do anything to put your life at risk.”
“It’s not just my life.”
He kissed my forehead. “I know, and they know. They wouldn’t have agreed if they didn’t know the risks, but I wouldn’t put them at any more risk than you.”
I frowned under his lips. “And you?”
“I don’t think I’d be able to forgive myself if we didn’t try. How much hinges on us, Firefly?” There was sorrow in his voice. Pain I hadn’t detected before.
“If it weren’t for Nyx, would you want to stay here?”
He hesitated.
“Jaxus.” My heart broke a little as I cupped his face. “I don’t want to burn bridges here if you will mourn your home for the rest of our lives. We will have to find another way.”
He put his hand over mine, shaking his head. “This is not the reality we live in. I can’t stay here and be happy knowing what the elders are ignoring. Maybe in a perfect life, I’d have no reason to leave, but then I wouldn’t have you, and I would not trade what we have for peace, or my home or family or anything if it meant losing us. I will live through a thousand wars and defy every living soul to spend another day with you.”
I melted at his words, lifting my face to find his lips, pressing into his mouth. Our tongues tangled, and we met like the merging of magic.
I needed him.
Needed to ground myself in us.
But even as we came together, it weighed on me that he’d never said he wouldn’t put himself at risk. He wouldn’t let me come to harm, or anyone else if he could help it, but I had a nagging fear he would put himself in jeopardy.