Chapter 6

6

The sun hung low in the sky, the temperature high for this time of the year. The chilled, spring-fed water of Lake Mons passed over Bridger's hips as he walked backwards, taking small steps, his bare feet shuffling over the rocky bottom.

Bridger's gaze raked across Vega's bare skin while she pulled her tight midnight-blue dress off of her body, the light blue jewels around her neck settling between the valley of her breasts.

It had been his idea to skip the dinner their parents planned with the other Curia members and their children, sneaking into Vega's room before she had the chance to come downstairs and doom them to yet another boring night they didn't want to be a part of.

Vega looked up from her pool of clothing on the soft grass beneath her, eyes connecting with his. Her laugh was light and airy, filling Bridger's ears with the last sound he wanted to hear before he died.

She wasn't shy and didn't shatter under his gaze like most women did in his presence. She stood as tall as her short frame would allow, her dark brown hair flowing past her shoulder blades. The setting sun illuminated her skin in purples and pinks, making her look every bit of the goddess Bridger believed her to be.

He licked his lips, hungry to get a taste—ready to relieve himself of the ache he'd been feeling since he'd laid eyes on Vega almost a full year ago. The muscles in his face twitched as a crooked smile spread across his lips. "What are you waiting for?" he bellowed, splashing water around him with open palms.

"It's cold!" she cried, shuddering when she stepped into water up to her ankles.

"C'mon, scaredy cat! Don't let me have all the fun!" Bridger fell backwards, plummeting beneath the water. When he surfaced, he shook his head and ran his hand down his face to clear it of excess water to find Vega had only taken a few steps further. "My little kitten afraid of some water?"

Her brows furrowed. "Oh, I'll show you scared!" The water splashed around her as Vega plunged herself into the chilled, crystal-clear water.

Vega stopped ahead of him, barely able to touch the bottom as Bridger swam further out with a lazy backstroke, keeping his eyes locked on her. "Give me your best."

The calm breeze turned into roaring winds, stirring up the lake's once calm surface. Dark clouds loomed in the distance, rolling in with cracks of thunder until they were directly overhead. Fat raindrops started to fall from the sky, stinging Bridger's face. The water churned, but the waves avoided Vega. The wind she controlled pushed them away, redirecting them to the shore with a crash.

Bridger blinked, astonishment lighting up his eyes from the middle of the lake while he continued treading water. He threw his invisible shield up, his power allowing the water in his circle to calm and protecting him from the wild waves of Vega's storm.

He'd never seen anyone like her—no one had.

She put on a show for him, lightning spidering across the sky with booms of thunder echoing off the mountains in the distance. If their parents didn't already know where they'd run off to, they did now.

Vega's smile lit up, her voice traveling through the wind. "Who's scared now?" When she winked at him, her storm started to die down, nothing left but a bit of rain and waves crashing across the lake's shore.

Bridger let his shield fall and swam until his feet touched the bottom, moving to close the distance between them. His chest was exposed, compared to Vega, where only the tops of her shoulders were flirting with the waterline.

Vega's chest swelled with an intake of air as he stepped against her. Bridger's fingers danced up her arms, skimming her skin and turning the tips of his fingers into individual infernos from the pulse of the electricity flowing underneath Vega's skin.

Her piercing eyes followed his hands like an artist admiring their greatest masterpiece.

Gently, Bridger placed his fingers under her chin and tilted it up to meet his gaze. "The only thing I'm scared of is returning to a life without you in it." How had he ever felt whole before meeting Vega? Why had they kept their relationship purely platonic since meeting when their chemistry burned hotter than the embers of a fire?

"Then make a move," Vega said with a breath, her voice a light caress.

His hands slid behind her head, tangling in her wet hair as the rain she created dulled to a steady drip. Bridger wasted no time pressing his lips to hers, starting off slow until they found their rhythm.

Vega's arms snaked around his neck, and she hiked herself up, wrapping her legs around his waist.

Bridger moved his hands to hold her tightly, squeezing roughly at the handfuls of her ass he now had a grip on. He moved his mouth from her lips, trailing kisses down the delicate skin of her neck to her chest, where he licked water droplets off.

He devoured every inch he could, getting the taste he'd been so desperately craving.

Vega drove her hips forward, grinding against Bridger's growing arousal. He groaned a primal sound from deep inside his chest.

Bridger inhaled the scent of her skin. Hydrangeas—honey and sweet vanilla. "You're going to be my undoing, Vega Caelum." His breath was hot on her neck as he licked from her collarbone to the edge of her jaw. He put his lips to her ear. "I have to have you. Let me show you what I've been wanting to do to you since the day we met."

Vega gave him permission with one single nod, followed by a whimpered, "Bridger, please."

But Bridger barely heard her words before he carried her out of the water with fervent speed.

Their lips met again as he laid her back against the warm, damp grass. He balanced his weight above her with one arm, the other pulling her out of what little clothing she had on.

He took a moment to take in the view—and it wasn't the far off snow-capped mountains wrapping around the capital city of Stella. "Gods, you're so fucking beautiful," Bridger panted.

Vega curled her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling his mouth to hers in a wild kiss that set every nerve ending in Bridger's body ablaze. She let him take control, turning to putty in his hands.

"Bridger," she moaned against his lips. "Bridger," she said again. "Bridger." A third time. "Bridger," a voice said, but this time it wasn't hers, and he was no longer lying on the bank in Aeris, making love to Vega Caelum.

Bridger shot out of bed, coming face to face with Meyer Ignis, his best friend and the general of his army.

The blanket draped over his waist tripped him, tangling between his legs until he fell to the floor. He landed with a crash—not a graceful maneuver expected from a powerful war commander, let alone the most powerful warrior in all of Tolevarre. He groaned, pulling himself up to his elbows while his eyes adjusted to the darkness of his room.

The screeching of his alarm registered just as Meyer's hand slammed down on the button to silence it. "Your alarm has been going off for twenty fucking minutes." His baritone voice was even deeper with the grogginess of sleep. "I could hear it down the hall. You trying to wake the whole gods-damned wing up?"

Their rooms shared a wall, but the bathrooms separated their living spaces from being side-by-side.

Meyer approached, holding out his hand to help Bridger up.

He shooed him away, getting himself off the cold floor without assistance. "I must've been sleeping pretty good." Bridger ran a hand through his dark hair, sitting himself down on the corner of his ruffled bed. His elbows rested on the tops of his knees, head in his hands while he groaned.

"Ya think? Since when do you sleep past your alarm? It's been years since I've heard that—incredibly annoying, might I add—buzzing." Meyer scooped Bridger's charcoal comforter off the floor and tossed it to him before collapsing in a plush chair across the room. He lit a lamp with a simple snap of his fingers, fire dancing across the tips before disappearing.

The electricity in Tolevarre was powered by the natural elements around them. The running streams of Aeris, the solar power of Ardor. The intelligence of the people from Littera ensured their world had technological advances and machinery that assisted in making everyday life easier for its people, but Vincere didn't have the electricity the rest of the realm had—the ones who were powerful enough to have the luxury of well-lit homes, that is. The barracks and training facility saved whatever they could for their equipment and popular common areas.

"Since I started having dreams of Vega," Bridger admitted, lifting his head from his hands and wiping the look of longing from his face. His feelings for Vega over the years had swelled from lust, to love, to longing, to hatred for the shell of a person she'd become—of what the curse had stripped her of.

"Ah." Meyer huffed.

The two didn't talk about her. They didn't talk about anything from before. Let bygones be bygones or whatever—that was how Bridger felt. Why bother when harping on the past wouldn't change anything?

"How many years has it been this time?" Meyer tipped his head, the flickering light illuminating the scar under his chin—a reminder of what Bridger had given up to save his best friend's life.

"Fifteen years," Bridger answered. "The longest time she's been gone so far."

"You think this means it's coming to an end? It's getting longer and longer every time she resets."

I hope not. "I hope so," Bridger said instead. "These dreams I'm having, they're not just dreams… They're memories. I'm dreaming of events in the order they happened before Marlena cursed Vega."

Meyer cocked his head. "Weird."

"Really weird," Bridger agreed, hoping he wouldn't push for more information.

"That's never happened before?" Meyer asked.

Bridger answered with a shake of his head. "I had dreams of her before I learned I could shield the memories and block the bond, but never of anything real." He'd never admitted that to anyone.

The shielding power of warriors typically only blocked outside forces. Bridger, over the years, had realized his powers were no longer just what he'd known them to be—nor were they only what he'd been born with. Already stronger than anyone their world had ever seen, Bridger somehow got stronger . The powers he'd gotten from his direct lineage to Mars had a long list: enhanced strength, hearing, the ability to bond with a weapon—allowing his powers to manifest within the object and become stronger when using it.

Mars's powers had given the people of his lineage everything they needed in order to be a skilled warrior—the soldiers of this realm meant to protect the people who called Tolevarre home.

Remus made Bridger different, giving him powers he'd never imagined being able to hone. He could play with the wind, manipulating it for his own use. He could heal small wounds—nothing like the real healers of this realm could do, but enough to assist in aiding his soldiers when they'd been hurt in battle.

It took years to realize all the things he could do after the summoning.

There was also the bond he shared with the other three, the way he could feel them even when he didn't want to.

And if Bridger was strong before Remus linked him to them, then he could be damn near unstoppable now. It was why Marlena wanted him so badly—the two of them could take over this world and the next if he allowed it.

And then there was Vega, and their bond was…

"What did you dream about tonight?" Meyer interrupted Bridger's reverie.

Bridger's lips betrayed him, sliding into a slow smile at the memory of his hands on Vega's body. "You don't want to know."

Meyer almost laughed but shook his head instead. "It's got to be the curse breaking down. It'll be over soon."

Bridger didn't know what to respond with, so he didn't say anything, only nodded.

"Let's get a training session in before leaving for Aeris. Gods know you'll need it before whatever bomb Marlena's going to drop on us," Meyer said, pushing himself up from the chair by the armrests.

Marlena didn't personally invite Bridger to meetings—she didn't personally invite anyone to anything unless it was their execution.

Commanders of the army had an important job to do, having little time to lead a territory of their own, but they were still seen as part of the elite and included in every setting where a Curia member had been. And just because Marlena burned the Curia from the inside out almost fifty-five years ago didn't mean she threw out all of their traditions.

Bridger hated it.

He stayed out of the whole running of the realm business. That was what Marlena had fought so ruthlessly for. Bridger had never wanted to rule.

Let him punish.

Let him fight.

Let him kill.

Do not ask him what tax should be placed on the territories with less power.

"Bring your A-game. I've got some shields to put back into place, and I'm not going easy on you like I did last week." Bridger winked.

Meyer rolled his eyes and left Bridger alone to wonder if the shields he'd built inside his head had ever really been strong enough to keep Vega out forever.