Chapter 30

CHAPTER THIRTY

" W hy would they have a different version hidden away down here?" Everest frowned, stepping closer to the epitaph. "And why would our own nations declare their victory in the prophecies we've been told? Is it our leaders who decided that, or was it fed to them by the Reapers?"

"You ask a lot of questions for a girl who has no answers," I said coolly, taking in the words before me, unsure what to make of this.

"Don't you care?" she rounded on me. "This changes everything."

"It changes nothing. It's just another riddle without a solution."

"There's always a solution," she hissed. "Either our leaders lied to us or the Reapers did and judging by what I've seen of our oh so pious prophets lately, my bet is on them. But why?"

"Are you asking me or the stars? Because neither have much to say on the matter," I said stonily, tucking this information away for myself and letting her mind run rife with clueless guesses. Debating this wasn't going to offer us the truth.

The sound of something clattering to the ground made the two of us straighten, a tunnel which led further into the darkness echoing guiltily.

I exchanged a look with my co-conspirator before leading the way towards the noise.

"So you hear a scary noise and just walk straight towards it?" she asked, following close to my heels.

"I don't see you running away," I pointed out.

"It wasn't a criticism, just an observation," she replied.

We fell silent as we moved into the tunnel, the walls arching overhead, shifting from the rough rock to the perfectly hewn brick which made it clear this part of the caverns had been created by Fae.

I took my dagger from my belt as the dark consumed us, calling on my magic and igniting a pale Faelight to lead the way into the shadows. If someone was lurking ahead of us, I'd take the chance of alerting them to our presence over the risk of them leaping out unseen.

The tunnel climbed slowly, sconces hanging from the walls, unlit and without any sign that they recently had been. The cold whistled through this place but surprisingly, the outfit Everest had created for me fought it off. It fit me perfectly too which was something of a novelty considering my height – most items I purchased either had to be altered or made with me in mind. Clearly she had a good eye. Or perhaps she'd just spent that long studying my ass to know it by heart.

A room opened up ahead of us, the floor sloping into it to create a huge basin, though what it was designed to hold was unclear.

Something was slowly rotating on the ground several paces into the chamber, my Faelight casting flickering reflections across its metallic edges.

"Is that what fell?" Everest murmured as we looked at the goblet.

"I'm more concerned with what dropped it," I replied, my eyes moving up to the roof of the cave which was domed similarly to the floor. So more of a ball than a basin.

I pushed more magic into my Faelight, frowning as I took in the dull, grey colour of the walls. There were items strewn across the sloping floor, many of them collecting dust at the base of the bowl and each of them similarly lacking in colour almost as though the vibrancy had leaked out of them. The walls were marked with ragged fissures and cracks. There were lines like broken veins of black and grey creeping across the stone as if it had once been a living thing but now held nothing at all in its grasp.

Everest took a step forward as if meaning to move into the room, but I held a hand out to halt her, my eyes glued to my Faelight which had begun to sputter and crackle sporadically.

"You have to maintain a connection to the magic in it," Everest said as if the problem was with my cast.

"It's not my control that's causing that," I replied in a low voice. "There's something wrong with-" my words cut off in a gasp as the line of power which tethered me to the Faelight thrashed violently, a sharp jerk on it almost making me stumble into the room as if it truly were a rope lashing me to the magic.

I grabbed the wall to steady myself, cursing as I failed to cut my connection to it. Whatever was tugging on my power was getting a firmer grasp on it now, my breath stalling in my lungs as I fought to sever it.

Everest shouted at me, slapping me when I failed to react before finally blasting me with a rush of water which sent me crashing to the ground further back in the tunnel.

"What the fuck was that?" she demanded, advancing on me and I shook my head as I got to my feet.

"It was like something was…feeding on me, or draining me," I said, backing away from that room and whatever foul magic it held.

"You looked like you were about to leap in there."

"More like I was about to be dragged in," I said darkly, looking at this little kitty cat who might just have saved my life.

She seemed to realise it too, her eyebrows arching as she took it in, but I wasn't going to be thanking her. I was only here because she'd asked me to come.

I turned away, leading again as we made it back to the chamber with the unfamiliar prophecy and turning into the lone remaining tunnel.

This one, it turned out, was lit by everflames and we followed it as we climbed a set of tightly twisting stairs.

Everest muttered about me taking the lead but seemed to realise I wouldn't allow for any alternative and didn't force the issue.

Silence continued to press in on us and I couldn't help but wonder who had dropped that goblet. Or had it fallen of its own accord? Perhaps it was drawn into that chamber just as I had almost been?

"What was that back there?" Everest asked like I had any idea. "It was kind of like a stone amplification chamber. You know, like the ones in the Astral Sanctuaries which the Reapers use to talk to the stars."

"Those are underwater and have glass roofs," I pointed out. "To better allow the Reapers to attain prophecies from the stars. That thing was beneath the dirt and rock of Never Keep with a stone roof to match. I don't think it was seeking approval from the heavens."

Everest fell silent and I wasn't inclined to convince her into conversation again – I'd just felt a breath of fresh air upon my skin which tasted all too heavily of home.

"Do you hear the ocean?" Everest asked slowly. "Not the crashing of those violent waves we left back in that sea cave but the roll and pull of the ocean back…"

"I feel a cool wind on my face," I said, turning to her.

I looked at her and she looked at me, both of us acknowledging the fact that she no more felt the wind on her cheeks than I could hear the call of her precious ocean.

I wetted my lips, pausing for a moment as I considered the passage ahead.

"How much do you want to follow this path?" I asked, spinning my dagger between my fingers.

"I don't want to – I need to," she growled.

"Good. Then you won't mind bleeding for it." I held my hand out for hers and she predictably withdrew.

"What is it with you and blood magic? You know that shit isn't sanctioned by the stars, don't you?"

"What I know is that only those Fae most willing to sacrifice in the name of power can wield it," I replied. "And I know what it is to need power more than even you can imagine, kitten. Oh, I'm sure you had it rough as the least favoured child of Commander Rake but I crawled my way up from the waifhouse and I have sacrificed more than you could understand to have earned my reputation and the prospect of a true rank in the sky forged army. So yes, I offered up my soul to learn the arts of Ether and blood magic and no doubt I have done many things that would see your toes curl, but I'm standing here before you because of it. Now, if you want to know whether or not the path ahead holds a legion of Reapers just waiting to ambush us, give me your hand."

"I don't see why you can't use your own blood," Everest grumbled, offering up her left hand with clear reluctance.

"Because yours is so much sweeter, kitten. Besides, why waste mine when I have an alternative?" I took a moment to inspect the scars which marred her palm, causing her to growl irritably. Then I sliced into her finger with a shrug which didn't exactly declare my innocence but admitted to my curiosity.

"Want to trade war stories?" I asked, smearing her blood across my palm and drawing the rune Mannaz onto it for awareness before snatching a lock of her hair between my fingers and sheering a few stands off.

"Hey," she snapped, batting me away but I'd already dropped the hair onto my palm with the blood and was pulling a sprig of dill from the pouch at my belt for energy, tossing it into the mix.

I took a matchbook from the pouch last, glad to find it was as watertight as the Fae who had sold me it had claimed. I struck a match against the wall to light it before dropping it into my hand and setting the concoction ablaze with a low growl of command.

"Enlighten me."

I threw the burning mixture towards the tunnel before us, a jolt of Ether rocking through me as I connected to the power of the world and my awareness spun out ahead of us.

I couldn't actually see what awaited but I could feel the imprint of any souls who might be lingering out of sight, my senses expanding to comprehend the beating hearts of anyone who might be waiting in the dark, but I found nothing there.

"Looks like we chose the right night to come creeping about down here," I said in satisfaction, ignoring the slightly disturbed look Everest was giving me.

"Your eyes went blank when you did that," she said. "Like you weren't even in there anymore."

"Maybe I wasn't," I agreed. "Maybe our bodies are simply shells for the impossible nature of our souls to hide within and true freedom comes when we're released from the confines of them."

Everest considered me for a long moment then shook her head. "Or maybe your mind has cracked from using too much of that dark magic."

"Spoken like a true Raincarver," I mocked. "So are you going to tell me what happened to your hand?"

Everest pursed her lips as we started walking onwards but she seemed to decide it wasn't such a secret that it had to remain hidden from me.

"A little over a year ago, Skyforgers attacked the town where I lived. You should remember it," she said, her voice cold, causing me to tighten my grip on my dagger as I cast a look back over my shoulder at her, but she didn't seem inclined to attack me just yet. "There was an explosion and my hand was burned with Basilisk Venom."

"Ah," I said.

"That's it?"

"I didn't set the explosion," I said plainly. "Though I doubt you'd believe me if I told you who did."

"I know precisely who it was," she growled. "And the Flamebringers' involvement in that day doesn't negate yours."

"We were only there because Cascada had kidnapped one of ours – or were you unaware that the Basilisk your people were milking for venom had been kidnapped and tortured, his venom drawn from him relentlessly for use as a biological weapon against his own people?"

Everest was silent for several minutes as we headed further into the tunnels beneath the Keep, the temperature growing and a scent of sulphur on the air.

"Sometimes this war is such bullshit," she snarled and I glanced at her, a single brow raised.

"Would you yield then?" I asked. "Concede defeat and see it done?"

"Never," she hissed.

"Then bullshit or not, we fight on."

This time, our discussion was cut short not because of our clear differences or the rivalry between our people, but because we had come to the end of the tunnel.

A wooden door stood ajar before us, the scent of sulphur rising from beyond it, that cool wind once again caressing my cheeks.

I stepped closer to the door, my fingers skidding across the rough wood as I slowly pushed it wide.

I wasn't certain what I had been expecting but the wide carven filled with at least twenty stone archways in a wide circle hadn't been it.

The flagstones lining the floor were so pale they were almost white, each of them carved with elemental symbols and likenesses of the various zodiac signs.

There was a stillness to the air which denied the possibility of that breeze I'd kept feeling from existence, but as I took a step into the chamber, I felt it again.

"Surely you hear the waves now?" Everest pushed but I shook my head in denial.

There were more wooden doors on the outer walls of the chamber suggesting that there were in fact six different routes to this place despite the difficult path we had followed to find it.

I crossed the chamber to the closest archway, tilting my head back to look up at the pale stones which were carved with runes and symbols alike. This one had been marked with the upside down triangle for water, a rivulet carved all the way through the stone beneath it which led from the ground, around the entire archway and back to the ground again.

I crouched low, my fingers brushing against the flagstone where the rivulet on the archway met with it and inspecting the low depression there marked with the rune Radio which appeared like a jagged R. Its meaning, as with all runes, could change somewhat depending on its use, but the one which came to mind was travel.

"Look at this," Everest called, drawing my attention to a bronze urn which sat in the centre of the room. It was almost as tall as me and marked with various carvings of Dragons and stars which seemed to be engaging in a dance. "The stuff inside is like black glitter."

I moved to stand at Everest's side, reaching into the urn and pulling out a handful of what looked like glittering grit but felt like something so much more, power whispering to me from it.

"Do you have tales of the lost Dragon shifters where you come from?" I asked in a low voice, my fingers closing around a handful of the mysterious substance.

"Some say the sea devoured them to punish them for their love of flames. Or I once heard a legend that they chose a life of unity on some hidden island, deciding to abandon the war to the rest of the Fae not unlike the Vampires," Everest said.

"I heard they had a way to travel through starlight," I breathed. "That they could disappear in the blink of an eye and reappear somewhere miles away instantly. The stars grew jealous of their power and the way they toyed with the magic of the heavens, so one day the starlight swallowed them and they were never seen again."

I took a step away from the urn, that cool wind brushing against my cheeks and lifting tendrils of my hair as I looked to an archway marked for air, the other symbols on it written in some ancient language I neither knew nor recognised, but I did recognise that rune.

Everest slipped into my shadow as I approached the archway, watching as I dropped to one knee and held my fist out over the depression at the base of it.

"This might go horribly wrong," I warned.

"Only one way to find out."

I nodded, releasing the fistful of grit and sucking in a sharp breath as the second it fell into the depression in the stone, the rune lit with magic and it was drawn into that rivulet, speeding through it until the archway was surrounded and a burst of light exploded from its centre.

The two of us lurched back, raising our weapons but as the light settled, we found a pool of glimmering white and silver rippling in the space within the archway.

"What is that?" Everest gasped.

"I think it's how the Dragons used to slip between the stars," I said, my pulse thundering in my chest as I took a step closer to it, reaching out with the tip of my blade and brushing it against the glimmering starlight.

I cursed as the blade was tugged forward, releasing my hold on it and staring in wonder as it was sucked into that pool of light, disappearing within it and leaving us behind.

"I'm going in there," I announced.

"You're insane," Everest replied.

"Are you staying behind?"

"Obviously not. I'm going first."

"Doubtful."

She tried to shove past me and I shoved her back in turn, the two of us scowling at each other before diving into the blazing pool of light together.

I swore loudly as something seemed to wrap its way around my entire being, my feet leaving the ground, the world spinning away from me and a thousand whispers starting up in my ears as the weight of untold eyes all whipped towards me. A swirl of stars and galaxies raced around me in twisting vortex and a scream lodged itself in my throat, that feeling of watchful eyes growing heavier, more interested. Just as suddenly as it had begun, I fell away from all of it, crashing to my knees on a sandstone floor.

I scrambled upright, staring first at Everest who looked even more wild than usual, her long brown hair having fallen into her face before she shoved it back again, then taking in the utterly new chamber we found ourselves in.

There was a torch burning in a distant sconce, its flickering light illuminating a passageway which was at once entirely familiar and totally foreign to me.

I looked at the pale walls, taking in the tapestries and decorations, knowing the style all too well. These were the markings of Stormfell. I had travelled all across the waning continent while playing spy and assassin and I knew the feel of each nation well. There was no doubt in me as I took in the impossibility of our new location – I was home.

I drew in a breath of fresh, skyborn air, my weight feeling more settled on this well-known ground and a wild terror dripped into me. This path was dangerous – catastrophic even if the other nations found out about it. We were somehow, impossibly, right in the heart of Stormfell without any fanfare or notice of our arrival. What if the other nations found out about this? What if they used this path to send their invading armies after us?

Panic welled in me and I lurched for my dagger as I spotted it on the ground, snatching it into my grasp and whirling to face Everest. If she knew where we were, if she figured it out then I needed to end her before she could tell a soul.

"What are you doing?" I barked, finding her on the other side of the low lit passageway, slipping between a set of massive iron bars which blocked the entrance to an even darker chamber – though they were so widely spaced that the only thing they would block from entrance was a cart or wagon, which seemed unlikely down here.

"I heard something," Everest replied because we were the head towards it types.

I stalked after her, my grip tightening on my dagger, magic prickling against my fingertips. Her end would equal my own thanks to the blood bond between us but if she knew where we were, if she had figured it out and could relay that information back to her father or any of the other Raincarvers then my death was a small price to pay to stop that.

She moved deeper into the shadows and I prowled after her, utterly silent, wondering if I was counting down my final heartbeats with this hunt.

"Do you see that?" Everest murmured, turning to look back at me and flinching as she found me in her shadow.

Our eyes met, the promise of death slinking closer, my predatory nature rising to strike but I didn't do it.

There was nothing victorious or cunning in her expression, nothing cruel or eager to suggest that she knew where we were or what nation we were in. And why would she? By the stars, I couldn't even be truly certain myself – we were in a series of underground passages, not standing beneath the open air. We could be anywhere. Only my gut told me I was in my homeland. For all I knew, she might believe we were in hers.

A deep rumbling rolled through the surrounding space and I stilled as that sound set my instincts alight, whirling towards the green glow which Everest had pointed out.

Crystals jutted from the walls ahead of us, some deep power emanating from them which made my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth and two lines of unease score down my spine.

We crept towards the light, shadows seeming to shift around us as if they were stalking us into the chamber.

A warm breeze washed through the cavern, that rumbling sounding again, closer this time, except now I wasn't imagining a movement in the ground; now all I could picture were sharp claws and razor teeth.

I grasped Everest's arm, my heart pounding wildly and I threw a Faelight up above our heads, illuminating the enormous chamber and sending terror crashing through my soul.

A beast of myth and legend towered over us, its body larger than a fucking building, each taloned foot bigger than either of us and its beastly, silver eyes glaring down at us from a height of at least fifty feet over a row of deadly fangs.

Its scales were dull and cracked, great scars rent through them and four of those glowing green crystals puncturing them in a mimicry of a collar surrounding its neck.

"That's a…Dragon," Everest breathed in awe as the beast growled again, its talons cutting into the stone, chains rattling over the ground as it moved towards us.

My lips parted on nothing at all, no words coming for me as I stared up at this miraculous, terrifying beast and found my death shining in its cruel and haunted gaze.

I shoved Everest back, magic exploding from me as the Dragon lunged, its teeth crashing against my air shield as I threw myself to the ground to escape it.

The Dragon roared in fury, no sign of the Fae who lived within it shining in its animalistic gaze as it slammed into my shield and shattered it as it came for us again.

Everest dragged me to my feet, the two of us breaking into a sprint as we raced back the way we'd come, the Dragon's furious roars echoing off of every surface, alerting the entire world to its presence.

Heat seared across my spine and I called on my magic again, but Everest got there first, hurling an enormous wave of water up at our backs just as the beast blasted hellfire at us from its gaping jaws.

The water hissed and bubbled, turning to steam as we threw ourselves aside to avoid its burn, my air shield surrounding us to save us from it.

We raced on, the bars looming ahead, the Dragon's claws ripping at the stone as it chased us, the chain which held it rattling ominously across the ground and we weren't moving fast enough to escape it.

I only had to beat Everest to the door. It couldn't eat two of us at once. It could burn us both but I could shield myself from that. I glanced at her, the two of us keeping pace, but I could push myself faster, I could get ahead, I could…except for some unknown reason I just couldn't make myself do it.

With a curse, I shoved my dagger back into my belt, raised both hands and prayed to the stars that I hadn't just signed my own death warrant. Come on, Libra, don't abandon me now.

A rush of magic hurtled from me, whipping around the two of us and yanking us off of our feet as I threw us through the air towards the bars so fast that the world blurred around us.

The Dragon bellowed even louder as we skidded between the iron bars and hit the stone floor beyond, my eyes widening as an explosion of fire erupted from its mouth, far more than the last time, far more than either of us could hope to stop.

"Move!" Everest yelled and I twisted to find her grabbing a handful of that shimmering grit from an urn beside the empty archway and hurling it at the rune which would activate it.

Fire rushed for us and I could only throw myself at the open space within the stone archway, heat enveloping me as I slammed into Everest and knocked her through too.

Silver light erupted around us and we were snatched into the embrace of the stars once again, their whispers louder now, more engaged, so many eyes focused on us that I felt entirely naked beneath them.

We skidded out into the darkness of the gate chamber beneath Never Keep and I rolled onto my back, my hands raised with magic crackling against my palms as I stared at the archway which had fallen silent and empty once more.

I glanced at Everest, the two of us panting heavily, the scent of smoke clinging to our skin and a wildness to our expressions which didn't come close to enveloping the insanity of what we had just seen.

"What the fuck was that place?" Everest asked. "I mean, it wasn't in the Keep. And that Dragon was being held-"

I hushed her as the sound of voices pricked at my ears and her eyes widened in alarm as she heard them too.

We shoved to our feet, the low chanting of the Reapers coming from a doorway adjacent to the one we had used to get here all the way across the chamber.

Everest made to run that way but I'd been in enough of these types of situations to know that we didn't have time for that.

"Plan B," I hissed, jerking my chin and racing for the door closest to us instead. We might not have known where it led to but we did know that those voices were coming from the other direction.

Everest cursed as she whirled around and followed me, the two of us slipping through the door just as the Reapers entered the chamber from the other direction.

I hesitated, peering through the crack in the door and watching as around twenty of them filed into the space, chanting to the stars, their faces hidden within their golden cowls.

I was tempted to stay and watch more of what they were doing but the risk was too high and we needed to take our chance at escape.

We remained in silence as we hurried along the new passageway, finding a narrow, tightly curving staircase several paces into it and taking it upwards.

On and on it climbed, my thighs burning as we kept up a fast pace, the sounds of the Reapers fading below us until only our laboured breaths kept company with the darkness.

When we finally reached the peak of the stairs, we found ourselves in a narrow passageway similar to the one I had accessed through the shrine of Leo.

"I think the Reapers use these to traverse the Keep," I murmured, leading the way through the dark and pausing as I found a hole to peer through. "That's the refectory," I said, moving aside so that Everest could look too.

"I could eat," she said and I almost laughed.

"Seriously?"

"We just saw a fucking Dragon and were nearly burned alive. I have no words for what that was but I do know that we still have about twenty archways to investigate if we're going to find Harlon. I'll need my energy for that."

"You think they're keeping the acolytes through one of those doors?"

"Didn't you notice the carvings on them? Most were marked for the individual elements, but there were some which were different, carved with symbols for all four; water, air, earth and fire. Stands to reason that those are the ones which lead to more Reapers."

"I don't know what a cage for Dragons has to do with air," I said carefully, wondering if she was about to figure out what I was almost certain of about the location we had travelled to.

"Well, they can fly, right? I mean, that one looked like its wings were all fucked up so I doubt it could anymore but-"

"What are they doing with a Dragon anyway?" I growled, my throat thickening as I thought of the beast trapped and alone down there, the mention of its mutilated wings opening a searing burn within me.

"Those crystals in its neck must have been for something," Everest mused, the two of us moving on through the passage, hunting for a way out. "Maybe they control it – stop it from shifting back into Fae form?"

I frowned at that suggestion, wondering why anyone would want to cage a Dragon shifter. What purpose could it serve? Was it a prisoner down there or was there more to it? It couldn't be a coincidence that there were no Dragons left in the world and yet one was being chained below ground.

My fingers brushed against a raised edge and I felt around until I located a handle, twisting it sharply and opening a door in the back corner of the kitchens.

We stepped out into the pale moonlight which was filtering into the space through the windows and I shoved the door closed behind us with a sense of relief. A dull thud sounded within the wall as it sealed itself and Everest cursed as she tried and failed to find a way to open it again.

"We can't get back through there," she groaned and I gave her a few moments of assistance in trying to open it again before giving it up.

"They must have set it up that way to stop murderous neophytes from finding the secret ways between the Vaults." I shrugged.

"Which means we're stuck using the sea cave to get back there again," Everest sighed.

I said nothing because I was starting to wonder what the hell we'd been thinking by going down there. Whatever the Reapers were up to was none of our business. They were the few chosen to serve the stars. Wasn't working to discover their secrets something akin to sacrilege? Though I had to admit that I was more than a little curious to figure it out regardless.

We forced a window open and crept back across the blustering snowscape outside the Keep until we reached the spot where we had hidden our clothes and we changed into them quickly.

"Well, that was all kinds of fucked up," I announced. "Shall we get back to our beds before the Reapers come hunting for whoever pissed off their Dragon?"

Everest nodded, though I could tell she wanted to head back down there already. But the night was waning, the moon high above us and sleep beckoning.

Together we headed back to the Keep, my air magic erasing all signs of our passage across the snow and as we crept back inside, we exchanged a dark look.

"We need to continue investigating this," Everest said firmly.

That ‘we' hung between us, a Skyforger and Raincarver. There should never be any sort of union between our kinds and yet here we stood. I inspected her desires, picking through them and finding only that desperate ache to find her friend and the prickling need for the answers which were driving at me too. There was nothing there about glory or ambition which I could link to her plotting to sell the secret of that passage to Stormfell to her superiors. But if we kept investigating those archways, wouldn't it soon become clear where at least some of them led?

Though on that thought, I might be able to discover a route into the other nations for my own kingdom. Perhaps finding out more about them would enable me to bring that information to Dragor, to prove my worth in all things military and barter for my freedom from his other desires. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was better than I'd had so far.

"We'll see," I said without committing to anything. I needed to sleep on this and figure out the best course before I would be making any more promises to a Fae outside of my kin.

Everest made to protest but I turned and walked away, letting the shadows have me as I sank into the darkness and headed back into the Vault of Sky.

I slipped into my room, the cold kiss of a blade finding my throat and a smile teasing over my lips as I recognised the shape of the man who had come to play with me.

Cayde's wings were flared wide at his back, blotting the light of the moon from the windows, casting the shape of them in silvery highlights.

"You shouldn't be here," I breathed.

"Why have you keyed your magical locks to let me in then?" he rumbled in reply, chest pressed to mine, breath laced with mint.

"Because I've been hoping you'd pluck up the nerve to come find me in the dark again," I replied, my fingers brushing against the door as I double checked the locks were in place, seeking out any sign of interference.

"Cassandra was asking me about you," he said, his knife pressing to my throat almost as firmly as his cock was driving against my waist.

"I didn't know she had a thing for me," I teased. "Tell her stuck-up little cunts with the sexual range of an overworked mule aren't my bag, but thanks for the offer."

"You laugh in the face of spies? You know she wasn't asking out of curiosity. She isn't the first I've heard speculating on who you take to your bed and the questions are too pointed for me to believe they're simple jealousy."

My gut lurched, pale blue eyes flashing within my mind. I'm a jealous creature.

What would Dragor do to me if he discovered what I'd done with Cayde back in Wrathbane? What would he do if he found out that I'd keyed my locks to let him come for me again? What about when this tension between us cracked and I stopped holding back? It had been weeks of near-casual touches, lingering looks, whispered insinuations and I was sick of feeling my own fingers between my thighs while relishing the memory of his cock.

It had been reckless and stupid and liberating in a way which I was desperate to re-capture. I knew it was madness, that it was treason, that there were a thousand reasons to deny myself of this petty rebellion and just give in to the fate Dragor had picked out for me but that didn't stop me wanting it.

"Are you afraid?" I taunted.

"Have you heard from the prince?" Cayde shot back.

My silence spoke for me and he withdrew.

"Not about you. He doesn't know."

Cayde moved to my desk and poured himself a measure of whiskey, knocking it back in a brutal hit.

"What did he say?" he asked as I made use of his distraction and tossed the bathing suit Everest had made for me behind my armoire.

"Nothing of importance."

"Show me the letter."

"No." I folded my arms and his expression softened, his eyes finding me in the darkened room.

"I'm afraid for you, Vesper. If we keep going in this direction then the prince will find out. I don't care what he might do to me but I need you. I can't lose you."

"Nothing to lose if you don't claim me in the first place," I countered.

Cayde looked at me and I could taste his lust in the air between us. This was ending one way and we both knew it. He hadn't come looking for me in the dead of night just to tell me we couldn't do this again. He'd come because he couldn't resist any longer.

"Where were you tonight?" he asked.

"Jealous?" I deflected. "I'm not yours to feel that over."

"Aren't you? Perhaps I haven't been clear enough then," he growled.

"Certainly not while you're standing on the other side of the room," I agreed.

Cayde looked at me, his desire rioting in the space between us and I bit down on my bottom lip as I waited for him to crack. He'd come this far. Weeks of this secret hanging between us, knowing it was still ours, that it could be ours again if only we dared risk it.

His attention moved to the mess of notes and letters on my desk and I straightened as he reached out and grabbed one, lifting it to read.

"What are you doing?" I demanded, my voice like ice.

"Is this a love letter to me?" he asked curiously before starting to read it. "Your cock is the biggest that I've ever seen, when I think of your body it feels like a dream-"

A surprised laugh spilled from my lips and he lifted his head from the letter which definitely said nothing of the sort, surprise marring his honeyed eyes.

"Are you…happy?"

"Oh fuck off. I don't do happy," I grumbled, making it to him and reaching for the letter. He deftly lifted it out of my reach but I lunged for it all the same, knocking him back into the desk and scattering everything which had been on it all over the floor.

"You're cleaning that up," I snarled but his mouth was on mine before I could make more of a complaint.

My ass hit the desk, his fingers biting into my flesh as he pushed me onto it, any pretence about what he was here for falling away as I moved myself back and made room for him to step between my thighs.

The letter he'd been holding tumbled to the floor with the rest of them as my lips parted for his tongue, our hands roaming in a frantic race to tear the clothes from each other with the most haste.

I yanked his jacket open, releasing the buckles on his shoulders where the material had joins to allow for his wings. It fell from him and I shoved his head back so that I could drop my mouth to his chest, licking and kissing my way across his sculpted muscles.

Cayde groaned, his head tipping back as he knotted his fingers in my hair and guided me lower. "Fuck, I want you on your knees for me," he panted, his words punctuated by a mental image of me beneath him, my lips wrapped around his cock as I brought him to ruin. I could sense how much he desired that power over me and I breathed a laugh against his skin.

"Still trying to conquer me, Cayde?" I taunted, pushing him back and shoving to my feet.

He conceded, backing up towards my bed, the two of us throwing a look towards the windows as we drew closer to them as if we imagined there might be someone out there to see us. It was supremely unlikely in this frozen tundra at the top of a tower but never impossible so I flicked my fingers at the shutters, slamming them firmly to negate the threat.

"This is going to get me killed," he muttered, not stalling for a second, dragging me with him towards the bed, and unbuckling his pants as he went.

"Backing out?" I asked, finishing the work of unfastening my jacket and shrugging out of it, my shirt following swiftly behind so that I was left topless before him.

"Never," he replied, eyes on my body.

I reached for his hand, lifting it to my mouth before biting down on the pad of his thumb. Cayde hissed, jerking his hand free and then fisting it in my hair, his eyes darkening with lust.

"On your knees, sweetheart," he commanded and I gave him a petulant smile before obeying, letting him have what he was desperate to claim from me and sinking to my knees before him.

Cayde shoved his pants down far enough to free his rigid cock and I leaned forward to run my tongue up the length of his shaft.

He cursed, both hands now knotting in my hair as he pulled me closer.

I wrapped my lips around his cock, making him groan with deep satisfaction as I took the full length of him into my mouth.

He drove his hips forward into the motion and I gripped his ass, my fingernails marking crescents into the firm flesh as he fucked my mouth and I moaned around the length of him.

His muscles tightened as I took control of him, my tongue flicking and working him, bringing him to the edge. My gifts thickened the air around us, the desire between us only growing more potent with it,

My flesh burned with need, the ache between my thighs desperate for relief and I moaned around his shaft, taking him closer to oblivion.

With a feral groan Cayde jerked back, hauling me into his arms and kissing me hard before turning me around and shoving me up against the wall.

The rough stone grazed my aching nipples and I hissed at him to hurry up as he wound his arms around me and he fought with the buckle on my belt. I leaned back against the solid plane of his chest, the heat of his flesh a heady contrast to the cold stone. Cayde kissed my neck, his fingers fumbling my belt buckle and I shoved his hands aside, jerking it off for him. My concealed dagger thumped to the floor as he dropped to his knees to drag my trousers off of me and a throaty moan spilled from my lips while I obligingly stepped free of them along with my boots.

I made a move to turn around but his hand pressed to the base of my spine, forcing me against the stone.

"Open your legs," he growled, his free hand roaming up the inside of my ankle then passing my knee and trailing up to my soaked entrance where he groaned with approval as he began to toy with me.

"I should have done this sooner," he lamented, teasing me with his fingers, his other hand still pressed to my spine, holding me against the wall. "I should have seen that this was so much better than fighting you. So fucking sweet it hurts." He pushed two fingers into me and I moaned roughly, my palms pressing to the icy stone of the wall as I braced myself against it. "I love having you like this, bending you to my will, watching you fall for me with every touch, every word. Tell me, Vesper, are you mine?"

"I'm yours in the shadows," I panted, his fingers driving in and out of me, his thumb sweeping over my clit. "The only place that counts."

"Our secret reality," he agreed, his mouth brushing against my ass, laying kisses across my flesh before his teeth bit down hard enough to mark me.

I almost came as he drove his fingers into me with the motion, a noise of pure need escaping me which urged him to his feet.

"I can't go that long without this again," he growled in my ear and I could feel the desperation in those words, how much he had hungered for me since we had last crossed this line and how much he had fought against it, no doubt in an attempt to protect me from Dragor's wrath if he found out.

"So don't," I challenged because I didn't care if this was foolish and dangerous, possibly even lethal. Cayde had made me claim something entirely for myself for the first time in far too long. I didn't do anything for the pure pleasure of it. Every choice had a purpose until him, but this was pure, carnal, want and I hungered for more of it.

I turned around, pushing him back towards the bed and shoving him down onto it, his wings splaying beneath him, before climbing on top of him. Cayde's hands grasped my thighs, pushing them further apart as I settled over his hips and guided his cock into me, a heady groan slipping from him as he sank into my wet heat.

Cayde's fingers tangled with my own and he pressed my hands to the sheets either side of us, driving his hips up as I rolled mine, the two of us working up into a rhythm which struck to release this roiling tension.

He picked up speed quickly, losing control as he slammed into me from below and I met his every thrust with a roll of my hips and a gasp of pleasure.

"More," I panted, not wanting to hold back on any part of this and he smiled darkly as he complied.

I cried out as he took hold of my hips and started fucking me furiously, like every thrust was a point to prove, his cock aiming deeper, striking harder. My hands fell to his chest, tensing against his skin as I moved to meet his rhythm, sweat rolling down my spine while I chased that ungodly release.

Cayde thrust into me harder again and suddenly we were both coming undone with groans of release, my orgasm skittering through my skin while he tensed beneath me, his grip tight as he held me in place.

I met his eyes with a satisfied grin as I took in his ruin at my design.

Cayde released his hold on my hips, his fingers skimming along my thigh before taking possession of my hand, the gentle touch at odds with our rough claiming of one another.

"I'm losing myself when it comes to you," he said, his chest rising and falling heavily. "Since the moment we met I thought you were standing between me and what I wanted but I've started to see that you're the key to it, not a barrier in my way."

"Why?"

"Because there is no bypassing you, Vesper. I stalled the moment I laid eyes on you and have been struggling to recover ever since. But this…" he lifted our entwined hands to his mouth and kissed the back of mine. "This is perfection."

Something in his expression made my skin prickle with his words, my cheeks scoring with heat as I rolled off of him and fell down on my back at his side. No one had ever looked at me the way Cayde did.

There was more to it than simple lust and the thought of that terrified me because everything about this was insane. Twice now we'd defied the rules placed around me. Twice we'd gotten away with it. What we were doing was so much more than simply fucking, and the consequences for it coming to light could be catastrophic.

But as I watched Cayde dressing himself, each item of clothing hiding that beautiful body away piece by piece I only found myself wanting more. I bit my lip against asking him to stay. We both knew he couldn't. This had been dangerous enough and risking someone noticing him leaving in the morning wasn't an option.

He hesitated by the door, his eyes roaming over my naked body where I remained in the bed and I gave him a dark smile before he left me in silence.

I drew the comforter up over me, rolling onto my side and wrapping a lock of pink hair around my finger before watching as it sprung free again. We were playing with fire, but I couldn't help relishing the burn.