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“I completely agree,” she cut in.

“You… do?” Kai asked, unsure and confused as hell.

I was right there with him on that.

“Why would you bring us here then?” I pushed.

Nyx eased from me and looked at her in wonder. “She doesn’t intend this to be a place of retreat and solitude anymore. I can feel her hope and her conviction. She brought us here for some peace and bonding. Just a brief reprieve from the complications abounding.” He smiled out at her. “It’s different now, isn’t it? You’re not balking under the pressure. You want to use it to learn and grow.” He sucked in a startled breath. “More.To conquer them all and take back control. Not repression… this is about revolution. Damn… that’s a lot.”

Relief flooded through me. More than that… I was majorly impressed. “That’s the mark of a true warrior.”

Kai smiled down at her, stroking her arm. “Well, then.”

“Come,” she said, pulling away and heading for the house.

As we followed her, I took in the place.

It was a converted watchtower-like structure, tall and narrow and built into the hillside of the forest valley. The foundation was weathered stone and reclaimed word, while the upper levels were made from dark wood and reflective black glass.

Surprisingly, she didn’t lead us toward the front door, veering off around to the rear of the property instead.

We trudged through the dirt path, our boots crunching on fallen twigs and leaves along the way.

She stopped before a concealed archway that was carved into the hillside.

Cool, damp stone gave way to a delightful warmth from rising steam.

As we moved closer, we walked upon an ancient stone floor and found ourselves in a cavernous space illuminated with the muted glow of a couple of candles positioned by a wide arched window.

The window was streaked with condensation and framed in dark wood.

Set deep into the stone floor was a sunken pool—a hot spring steaming, the water bubbling and glowing with a muted teal hue and glinting against the carved edges of its pool. Rough stone walls enveloped the space on one side with their uneven curves. An aromatherapeutic scent of lavender and sage filled the air.

Despite the soothing nature of it all, the sight of water itself had me tensing.

A shower was about all I could normally do where that was concerned.

“It’s more than merely water,” Ariana spoke, and I snapped out of my trance-like state to see her stripping just a few feet away and tossing off her tank and bra on the stone floor around the edges of the pool.

Nyx couldn’t hold all the intensity plaguing him at bay anymore, and he was stalking over to her in the next second, hisgaze all over her, taking in her stunning full breasts completely bared to us.

Kai’s eyes were hooded and darkening with erotic need over on the other side of the pool to them as he shrugged off his leather trench coat, then used his magic to strip the rest of his clothes off.

I swallowed hard and dragged my gaze away to focus back on the water just a few feet in front of me.

“More than water, how?” I asked Ariana.

“It’s a natural hot spring. It possesses both healing and soothing properties.Andit’s infused with my magic as well. With your primal connection to me after us coming together in Meforian Forest, you’ll be able to feel it very powerfully as soon as you sink into the water. Nyx, too. And Kai from a primarily magical standpoint.” She smiled out at me. “I normally hate water, too. Even when it rains, actually. But this hot spring is nothing like any of that. I promise, my dragon.”

My dragon.

Her calling me that was almost enough to undo me right there and then.

And it was definitely enough to get me to move forward and crouch down at the water’s edge, then dip my fingers into it—albeit, tensely.

But that tension melted away almost instantly as the warmth of the spring infused me. And she’d been right, I could feelherthrough it as well. Calling to me.

Deeply emotionally.