Page 17

Juniper

T he sconces that lined the walls of the tunnels became scarcer, appearing further apart the longer we travelled. I wasn’t afraid of the darkness, but I was definitely afraid of what lurked inside it, so when we found ourselves almost completely blind I uttered a quick spell that lit up my fingertip like a torch.

‘ Lumen .’

Phenex startled at the sudden illumination, throwing his hands over his eyes to stop the bright barrage of light against his unadjusted eyes.

‘Oops. Sorry. I should have warned you beforehand,’ I apologised. Since it was my own spell my eyes automatically adjusted and I forgot for a second there that it wouldn’t be the case for anyone else around.

‘ Adapto,’ I muttered under my breath, enjoying his look of surprise when he was suddenly able to see.

He shuddered, looking at me from beneath heavy-lidded eyes. ‘Your magic feels like a sexual caress,’ he informed me and I blushed.

‘No one’s ever said that before…’

He chuckled, the sound low and full of heat. ‘Next time, I’ll be the one caressing you, Beautiful. I know we were interrupted, but I fully intended to finish what we started.’

I inhaled shakingly and accidentally choked on my saliva in the process. His eyes widened in alarm as I coughed and spluttered and he moved to help but I held up a hand to ward him away. Because that wasn’t embarrassing. At all. So attractive.

‘Right,’ I cleared my throat another time when my voice came out scratchy. ‘Okay. Maybe we should wait until we’re out of here before… that,’ I finished lamely, wondering where the powerfully confident woman from before had gone. I wasn’t a shy person, but I also wasn’t the most experienced when it came to dating. Not that we were dating. It was just sex.

But even as I had the thought I knew that wasn’t true. This was more than just sex. The idea of letting him go, of him being with another woman made my blood boil and my rage sing.

‘What is happening?’ he asked, voice full of concern as he watched me attempt to rein in my overload of emotions. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘What is this?’ I blurted out, motioning between us with my finger.

His expression softened immediately and he wrapped his arms around me, tugging me close and nuzzling his nose in my hair. He inhaled deeply, a low, purr-like groan emanating from his chest. ‘This is everything.’

I melted into him, a piece of my heart dislodging from my chest and embedding itself inside his. I couldn’t have stopped it even if I’d wanted to, and I most definitely did not want to. Nothing had ever felt so right before, even if it was insane to think so of a man I had only just met.

It should have terrified me, and maybe a part of me would finally feel that fear when I fully processed what was going on between us, but the larger part of me knew that we were exactly where we were meant to be. Was it fast? Lightning speed, but I was oddly okay with that.

‘You feel like mine,’ I whispered into his chest.

I could feel his heart skip a beat beneath my cheek as his breath hitched in his lungs, and his arms tightened their hold around me. ‘I am yours. And you are mine.’

I couldn’t decide if I wanted to cry, laugh, or do a little happy dance, so I somehow managed all three while still in his hold. He was stunned for a moment, unsure what was happening, but then he relaxed and joined in, wiggling against me. The silliness broke through the any lingering tension and made me laugh even harder, my tears drying up as I enjoyed the moment.

When I pulled away, he held my eyes with his own, a seriousness taking over once more. ‘You are… okay with this? I know it’s a lot…’

The sudden shift within him to this display of vulnerability was absolutely adorable, and I appreciated his concern for my feelings more than he could understand. It chipped away at my walls a little more until they were practically crumbling. The only thing holding them up now was the damn curse, but if that piece of paper was anything to go by then Oz and I were on the right track to breaking it and it would finally stop interfering with our lives.

I saw the way he shut down earlier when the curse had glued my mouth shut, suspicion clouding his eyes. I’d wanted to answer him, was screaming the truth inside my own head, but no matter how hard I fought against it nothing came out. My frustration grew as I couldn’t even let that out in case it was another indication that something wasn’t right and I felt like I wanted to burst out of my skin.

But maybe…

It wasn’t the first time I’d had the thought, but no one had taken the initiative to work it out yet. However, if Phenex figured it out on his own, perhaps that would bypass the curse and he could help us.

If anyone could or would, I had a feeling it would be him.

With renewed hope I prayed wouldn’t bite me in the ass, I grinned up at him. ‘I’m not going to deny that this is beyond normal, but I also don’t really care. I kinda like that we’re bypassing all the usual steps and getting right to the good stuff. Whatever happens, I’m not going anywhere.’

He relaxed at my words, his hand rising to cup my cheek and I leaned into his touch. ‘You have made me the happiest man in the world. In all the worlds, because apparently there’s a lot…’

A laugh burst out of me. He wasn’t wrong.

‘All right, Romeo. As much as I’d love to stay here with you, we need to find the others.’

He blinked at me in confusion before his features scrunched into a fierce scowl. ‘My name is Phenex, not Romeo.’

I barked out laugh and slapped his arm. ‘I know your name. Romeo is a fictional character from a play. He’s famous for being a romantic.’

The indignation seeped from him and he gave me a sheepish smile that drew my attention back to his lips. I had to the urge to taste them again and realised that I could, so I did. He moaned softly into my mouth as our tongues brushed lightly against each other, the kiss softer than before yet no less passionate. In fact, as impossible as it seemed, it was the most intimate kiss I had experienced.

It didn’t last long, and when we pulled away Phenex had a dreamy smile on his face that I knew matched mine.

‘I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,’ he admitted softly.

My response was to press my lips against his again, lingering a little longer than planned.

‘Okay,’ I said, enjoying the breathiness in my voice. This shit didn’t happen to people like me and I was fighting to wrap my head around it, but at the same time I was enjoying every moment and trying not to overthink it. ‘We really should keep moving now.’

He sighed but nodded. ‘You’re right. Let’s go.’

Neither one of us let go as we continued down the tunnel.

∞∞∞

I didn’t know how long we’d been walking but both of us had begun to feel the effects of the long day. We were hungry, thirsty, and with my energy depleting so was my ability to maintain my spells. My finger light kept flickering, so I’d dimmed it and only sent out spurts of my magic to search for the correct route.

We were going to need to stop soon to rest at the very least, but we would need food and water before long. Only there was nothing around but rock. There wasn’t even a single trickle of water seeping through a crack. It was all so dry and dusty and my throat was starting to hurt from the lack of moisture in the air.

‘Let’s just stop for the night,’ Phenex urged when he cast yet another side-long look of concern my way at my wheezing. I usually had at least some form of drink within reach, so I wasn’t handling the situation as well as I would have liked. I tried not to let it get me down, but it was hard to maintain a positive attitude when all I wanted was a tall, cool glass of water. I was close to drinking my pee, it was that bad.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked when I coughed, his hand tightening on mine like I was about to turn to dust and float away on the wind. I felt like my throat was already halfway there.

‘Yeah,’ I croaked. ‘Just thirsty. We need to find water soon.’

‘Okay. In the morning. For now, rest.’

We settled down beside one another, Phenex’s back propped against the rocky wall while I crawled half onto his lap and rested my head on his bicep and I let the light spell go, plunging us into darkness. I would have been on his shoulder but he was so tall that I couldn’t reach, even though we were sitting down. With anyone else that might have made me self-conscious, but with Phenex I loved the way his larger frame covered mine. It made me feel safe and protected from whatever monsters lurked in the dark.

It was kind of like a fort, and I enjoyed every second of it.

I was just starting to snooze, snuggling into his oversized chest when I heard something that stopped me from fully nodding off. At first I thought it was coming from Phenex, but then I realised it was echoing from further down the tunnel. A shuffling noise that I struggled to pinpoint until it got louder. No, not louder. Closer. The closer it got, the more defined the sound became until I was able to pick out the individual footfalls of stampeding feet, and they were heading right for us.

Phenex and I sat up at the same time and if it weren’t for his arm wrapped around my waist I would have been thrown right off his lap. He didn’t even give me the chance to get my feet beneath me before he was hauling me upright, my littler legs dangling helplessly while I clutched at the singular arm holding me up, afraid he was going to drop me. That fear fled me quickly when I realised he was literally so strong that he was holding my weight as if it were nothing with only one arm.

I ignored the tingles of desire his display sent through my system (I mean, who doesn’t like a man that’s strong enough to throw them around?) and focused my attention on the approaching crowd.

‘What do we do?’ I ask in a low whisper.

‘We stay hidden in the shadows. Wait for them to pass. We don’t know who it is or what they want.’

‘But what if they’re running from something?’ I asked, the possibilities and the unknown ratcheting up my anxiety levels.

‘Then we run, too.’

My body already ached in protest, but I prepared myself just the same.

Shouts suddenly reached us from what sounded like right around the corner, and then the first person barrelled through. I couldn’t see, but I could hear the rapid footsteps and a man’s laboured breaths. More followed in quick succession until one shout caught my attention. The voice was familiar even if the tone warped it, but it reminded me of Evander, lyrical and smooth. Had we just come across the group of Fae?

More voices shouted, though the inflection ranged from panicked to commanding. Low and behold, the commanding voice belonged to Evander. I was sure of it now. He came tearing through the tunnel, taking up the rear as a plume of smoke chased his tail, illuminated by the giant fireball heading right for him.

The fireball didn’t just illuminate him, however. Our eyes met, his widening with shock to see me and Phenex hiding in the shadows, but there was no time to dwell on our surprise appearance. He yelped as the fire bit at his heels, and I acted before I could think through my actions.

I raised my hand and with the last bit of energy I possessed I performed another spell.

‘ Integumentum!’

My eyes drooped low as the last ounce of energy shot from my palms to envelope us all in a protective, impenetrable layer of magic. It was an advanced shielding spell that was typically reserved for an individual during hand-to-hand combat. Pushing out that much magic to cover an entire group of people was draining, and my head pounded with the effort. I felt blood drip from my nose and tickle down the side of my neck where it streamed from my ears, my body working overtime as I forced myself to stay awake long enough to maintain the spell until they could get rid of the threat.

Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to grasp what I’d just done, so I gestured wildly for Evander to turn back around, weakly acting out a stabbing motion like I held a sword. When he glanced between me and his not-so-singed body, understanding dawned and, with a battle cry that spoke of experience, he lunged back down the tunnel. More Fae followed his lead, leaping in after him with their own blades raised.

It was only after I heard an agonised screech that quickly died down, the sounds of flesh rendering as blade after blade tore whatever it was apart did I finally allow myself to release my hold on the spell. The last thing I heard was Phenex’s panicked voice in my ear as I slumped fully in his arms, unconsciousness dragging me under with a small, satisfied smile on my face.