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He stilled for a heartbeat, but then his mouth moved over hers, kissing her back softly at first and then deeper, his arm at her back keeping her close while his other hand tangled in her hair. She was just as tightly wrapped around him, his heat seeping into her, his strength enveloping her as they continued kissing under the moonlit sky in the glittering land of colour.

It was perfect.

It was magical.

It was beyond anything she could have dreamed.

Until—

“They say three’s a crowd, but this is ridiculous.”

Jerking back at Xira’s interruption, Alex could do nothing but stare at Kaiden with wide eyes—until she burst into startled, mortified laughter.

Kaiden’s lips quirked as he sent a pointed look towards the draekon and offered a dry, “Help me out here, Xira.”

With a rumbly sound of amusement, Xira leaned back on his haunches and launched his bulky hide into the air. His mirth continued echoing down to them even as he flew away, mentally telling Alex to call him when she and Kaiden were ready to return to Vardaesia.

“Well, that was embarrassing,” Alex said when Kaiden turned back to her. But with her lips still tingling and the rest of her feeling delightfully warm from being wrapped in his embrace, she couldn’t summon any regret for their semi-public display.

Just as she couldn’t think of any reason to stop him when he leaned towards her once again.

And as his mouth touched hers and he kissed her tenderly beneath the star-strewn sky filled with nature’s fairy lights, Alex knew that she would never again experience anything as incredible as what she was now sharing with Kaiden. It simply wouldn’t be possible, because nothing—nothing—could top the memory of such a perfect moment in time.

But when he finally pulled back only to look deep into her eyes, letting his joy shine brightly across his beautiful face, Alex also knew that he was going to do everything in his power to prove her wrong.

And, smiling widely back at him, she was more than happy to let him try.

Eighteen

If Alex had been concerned that thingswould change once she and Kaiden became official, she quickly discovered she had nothing to worry about. It soon became apparent that other than the obvious shift in physical intimacy, he didn’t treat her any differently to before. He was caring, he was supportive; he was just, simply, Kaiden.

This was proved true the very next morning at breakfast, when none of their friends even noticed the change in their relationship. Or at least, none except D.C., who eyed Alex shrewdly and raised her brows in question, to which Alex responded with a quick, smiling nod—andtheneveryone knew, because D.C.’s squeal could have woken the entire city. But once the obligatory ribbing that Alex and Kaiden received from the others was over with, it was business as usual for all of them.

Which led them to where they were now, hours later, surrounded by a forest of crystalline trees and sitting on an island of clouds while twiddling their thumbs, just as they had been since stepping through the Gate of Wisdom earlier that morning.

“Read the riddle again?” Jordan asked for what felt like the thousandth time.

With a weary sigh, Alex picked up the only thing they’d discovered as unusual upon entering the Gate—a collection of bound golden parchment, each of the hundred or so pagesidentical and containing only five short lines written in Tia Auran:

Through death, I am birthed

When I am hurt, I am most loved

Stained for a purpose, or none at all

I have neither start nor finish

Yet always begin and end.

As Alex was the only one completely fluent in Tia Auran, the task had fallen to her to re-read the words again and again as she and her friends tried to brainstorm different options for answers.

They’d come up with several possibilities already, none of which fit every line. And while they would have preferred to give each a shot just in case they were right, the moment Alex had first touched the impressive golden tome, Saefii’s voice had echoed around them to warn that they were allowed only one guess. She’d also given them a time limit—they had until sundown, at which point they would be forced to give an answer. Furthermore, Saefii had been careful to stipulate that Alex couldn’t consult Xira; that if she so much as tried to mentally communicate with her draekon while the test was in process, it would mean instant failure.

How Saefii would know if Alex called to Xira, she wasn’t sure. But she wasn’t willing to risk finding out.

So instead, for the last five hours, she and her friends had beenumm-ing andahh-ing to the point where they were now all scratching their heads and no closer to agreeing on an answer than when they had started. And as she followed Jordan’s request to read it again—something she hardly needed to do since she was sure they all knew it off by heart after hearing it so many times—they were still no closer to figuring it out.

After another unsuccessful hour passed, they decided to pause for lunch and eat the food they’d been provided, hoping to come back fresh after giving their minds a short break.