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Thea nodded. Those moments would be forever etched into her mind.

‘Do you remember what you said to me?’ he asked softly. ‘You said, I need to do something that makes me feel alive. I need you.’

Thea threaded her fingers through his hair once more and hauled his mouth to hers. ‘You have me,’ she murmured against his lips. ‘All of me. Mind, body and heart.’

Wilder groaned, his mouth parting beneath hers as she claimed him. This kiss was more frantic, more determined than the ones that had come before, as though it could anchor them to one another. Thea straddled Wilder on the chair and ground herself against the hard length of him. He was like granite, and the pressure of him made her heart stutter. She guided his hands beneath her shirt, his calloused palms grazing her bare skin.

‘This is real,’ she told him firmly as she worked herself over him, feeling her undergarments dampen with need, revelling in how his body responded to hers instantly. ‘It’s real.’

He pinched her nipples through the band around her breasts and she moaned, aching to feel him bare against her. Wilder’s hands shot to her hips, where he gripped her hard, rocking her back and forth over his cock. Pressure was already building from the base of her spine, and she braced herself over him.

‘Thea…’ He said her name like a prayer, his voice thick. ‘I —’

Three obnoxiously loud knocks sounded at the door.

They sprang apart. Wilder adjusted the bulge in his pants just in time as Talemir and Dratos the Dawnless strode into the Dancing Badger.

With a regretful glance at Wilder’s glorious form, Thea cursed the shadow-touched and their terrible timing, but Dratos simply grinned, his shadows dancing around them, wings tucked neatly behind his back. ‘Time to go, lovebirds,’ he drawled.

‘Where?’ Wilder asked, taking another swig of fire extract, as though he needed it to deal with Dratos.

But it was Talemir who answered, his own shadows rippling. ‘To the University of Naarva.’

CHAPTER NINE

WILDER

As they travelled with shadow magic for the second time in as many hours, Wilder realised he liked it less each time. He’d take a month-long journey by horse any day. Cloaked in darkness with the wind rushing around him, he felt nauseous, his eyes streaming and his stomach plummeting. Nor did he enjoy such close proximity to Dratos, not when he’d been just about to slide into Thea.

‘Prick,’ he muttered.

He heard Dratos’ chuckle echo in the wind.

Wilder didn’t know how long they flew, but he soon felt his ears pop, as though he’d dived too far below water. They’d passed through some sort of magical shield – Tal’s magic, he realised, not for the first time. How powerful had his former mentor become over the years? How deep did that well of shadow magic run?

At last, his boots hit solid ground and the shadows dissipated. Wilder shielded his eyes against the unexpected light, golden like the sun, a foreign entity in these parts. When his vision adjusted, he stared.

They had landed in a majestic quadrangle, its sandstone pillars illuminating the structure in all its glory. With its rib vaults, painted walkways and flying buttresses, it was reminiscent of the citadel in Ciraun, Naarva’s capital – or at least, what it had been like before it fell.

‘Welcome to the University of Naarva,’ Talemir said with a sweep of his hand, his own shadows ebbing away.

‘This didn’t fall with the capital?’ Thea asked, eyes wide as she took in the rectangular building and the towering spires, adorned with intricate carvings and arched windows.

‘It did,’ Talemir told her. ‘We’ve worked hard to restore it over the years. It’s obviously not a working university, but it has all the foundations. There’s a library, residential halls, lecture halls, a theatre, a dining hall and a scholar’s lounge, and further out are the greenhouses.’

Thea beamed. ‘My sister would love those. My younger sister, Wren, I mean,’ she corrected herself.

‘You said she’s an alchemist?’ Talemir asked thoughtfully.

‘One of the best.’

‘Then she’ll have an even deeper appreciation for this place. Not far from here used to be the midrealms’ most prestigious academy for alchemy. Farissa herself trained there, if I’m not mistaken.’

Thea’s brows shot up. ‘Truly?’

Any recollection Wilder had of an alchemy academy in Naarva was vague, but he knew the art hadn’t always been taught at Thezmarr.

A flurry of movement unfolded on the other side of the courtyard, with a procession of shadow-touched folk carrying armfuls upon armfuls of vibrant yellow flowers across the way.