Chapter 12

N ariel stares at me for a moment.

And then he just starts laughing. Doubled over, having hysterics.

"Of course you do," he manages to gasp. "See how many ideas you have when you actually sleep?"

"Wow, I don't think that really called for a personal attack."

Nariel laughs again, with such open delight, standing bathed in the light here in a place that used to be all darkness for him, and it is the best sound in the world. I feel warm all over—touched he is comfortable enough with me to let his guard down, to share so much of himself with me. Proud that I did something right.

I have it so bad.

When he gets himself under control, Nariel holds out a hand, laughter—and something like awe—dancing in his eyes.

My heart pounding, I take his hand. As ever .

I expect him to pull me into his arms and fly me somewhere.

And he does pull me into his arms.

But only so he can lower his head to mine and kiss the living daylights out of me.

I gasp, not expecting it, and wrap my arms around him reflexively.

Then my feet leave the ground.

Oh my god, he is literally sweeping me off my feet.

I am flying in the red-tinged sky, and I don't even care because the sensation of soaring is all-consuming, my body and my heart.

When my feet finally touch the ground, the air around us is warmer. I open my eyes, gazing into Nariel's black ones like they're what anchor me to this world.

"So you can fly while distracted," I say, my voice breathier than I'd prefer.

But Nariel hasn't let me go. He hasn't even tried.

"You know I can multitask, if I'm prepared," he says in a voice that has a lot more rumble in it than usual.

It takes me a second to realize he's talking about the game we played on our first flight together, testing each other with magic.

Because my brain goes straight to the gutter.

"We decided we shouldn't count on you multitasking when prepared," I say, "so I think I'd like to see further evidence before making a judgment."

Nariel grins.

And kisses me again.

Briefly this time though, because too soon he spins me in his arms so my butt is pressed back against him and he is definitely not unaffected.

I manage to restrain the urge to rub back against him, because I'm not sure I'm ready for where that can lead.

Taking a deep breath, now that Nariel is not in my line of sight even if his arms still wrap around me, I take in what we're looking at.

We're somewhere else in the obsidian mountains. I can't see the spires from here—just snowy mountains.

Snow everywhere, actually, as far as I can see, against the dark red sky.

I look up, and it is in fact falling down on me, but before it gets close it dissolves.

I look down, and we're standing at the edge of a clear pool with steam rising into the air.

"How hot is that, exactly?" I ask.

"Hotter than Low Earth hot springs." Nariel rests his chin on my shoulder, and my whole body tingles. "You might need a spell to alter the temperature slightly."

If it's hot enough to evaporate the snow out of the sky, yeah, that's probably a safe assumption. Jesus.

I pull out my wand to cast, muttering, "I do not understand the physics of this world. High Earth and Low Earth basically work the same in terms of things like weather and dirt. Your sky isn't even the same color. But you still have gravity and water—"

"It's magic, Sierra."

I turn to stick my tongue out at him, very nearly licking his face.

Hmm, should have thought that one through.

Nariel smirks, as if realizing I'm thinking it through both directions, and finally releases me.

I ache for him, but only for a second, because then Nariel pulls his shirt over his head, exposing his perfect sculpted torso, and looks at me with eyebrows raised. "Are you going to join me?"

My heart pounds at the challenge he offers.

As ever.

And not breaking eye contact, I also pull off my shirt.

Nariel's gaze heats.

I toe off my shoes and socks, grateful I manage to do this gracefully under his watch while he does the same.

"Is Bright Earth more like Dark Earth, then?" I ask conversationally as we strip in front of each other, watching each other.

It's not the first time I've stripped in front of him, but this time feels different.

It's different when we're both doing it. The awareness of our attraction to each other open and visible, no attempt to hide any part of ourselves .

"A reflection," Nariel says. "Where our earth is black, theirs is white. I have wondered if, before my time, that was in fact the first split Bright Earth forced on the universe, splitting the worlds from two into four."

Well that's an interesting idea.

And it's one I'll have to consider at a later time, because right now we've both got our pants off.

I pull my sports bra over my head, Nariel's heated gaze never leaving my body. My nipples tighten just from the way he's looking at me.

At the same moment, by some unspoken sign, we both pull down our underwear and step out of it.

I'm naked in front of him.

Nudity isn't a thing I care about, in general. Once again, my weird upbringing in intensive High Earth combat situations didn't leave any room for whatever modesty I'd absorbed from US culture as a child.

But it's still very different to be naked when an otherworldly gorgeous man you're extremely attracted to is also naked and watching you with the hottest expression you've ever seen.

Even not wearing clothes, though, I'm not fully without armor.

I wave my wand. "I'm going to keep this on me, just in case of any magical shenanigans."

Nariel nods and says lowly, "I would never ask you to set your wand aside for me. "

Oh, this man. He knows what magic is to me.

And he doesn't want me defenseless before him.

He wants me empowered.

And that —that's everything.

I take a step toward the pool, and that finally breaks his stillness. He moves so quickly he blurs into shadow, reappearing solidly apparently sitting inside the pool.

Okay, so there's a bottom in there. Or at least a ledge. Good to know.

"Wow, way to ruin the show," I complain, making my way over to him so I can get in where he's shown me I won't just drop down forever.

Nariel raises an eyebrow. "Did I?"

My breath still quickened at his casual display of power, but I would have taken watching his beautiful body move, too.

When it takes me a beat too long to answer, he grins and holds a hand up to me. "Join me?"

I look down at him, my pulse loud in my ears.

Yes.

Yes, I think I will.

I take his hand one more time, and with only one arm he lowers me onto the rocky bench beside him as if I weigh nothing, as I sink into the liquid heat.

One wing wraps around behind me, brushing against my skin, and despite how hot the water is, I shiver.

My bare thigh is flush against his, clear in the water, but as the water deepens it darkens—I can't see our feet.

"Anything I should worry about down there?" I ask him.

He tenses, barely, but since I'm touching him I can feel it. "Not that will bother you with me here."

Aha. Glad I asked.

I relax against him, leaning my head on his shoulder. And after a moment, he relaxes too.

It's just us—and maybe some monsters in the depths—naked together in a hot spring. The world is quiet under the snow, serene in the isolated water, as if the only thing that moves is Nariel's wing against my back.

And believe you me, I am very aware of that wing.

Nariel, not being human, can probably smell how aware.

But he's waiting for me to make the next move, and I'm not sure what that is.

Because I do know what to do about Casimir, but I don't think he's going to like it. He promised to follow my lead in spirit world, but when push comes to shove, if I start meddling in his territory, will he?

He tested me, back in my grove, before he was sure.

It's my turn to test him, in his world.

But I am seriously considering it, so I think it's only fair that if he gets to pet me, I get to pet him too.

I trace my finger languidly along the edge of Nariel's wing, and his breath catches almost inaudibly, his ab muscles going taut.

It's not the only part of him that stiffens.

I smile .

Him telling me he wants me is one thing, and don't get me wrong, every time he unashamedly, openly declares his intent is like the biggest dopamine hit in the world.

But feeling him want me—that's magical in a different way.

"Did you think I needed to take a break before changing the world order one more time today?" I ask idly, my voice remarkably unaffected considering the rest of me.

No, I'm not going to jump him now.

Not yet.

Nariel matches my tone, though the press of his wing is a little firmer.

"I thought you've had a lot of sudden revelations today," Nariel says, "and that yes, you should rest before facing your next one."

"Nothing like a demon boyfriend who can fly me to a secluded hot spring on a mountain and kiss me while I tell him my plans." Most of my plans. "What an inspired way to reenergize."

"If I'm kissing you," Nariel informs me, "you won't be speaking coherently about your plans."

I glance sidelong at him.

His lips curve. "Yes, take that as a challenge if you like."

I laugh against him. He does know me. "How did you find this place, anyway? Like, were you just wandering around the mountains, and then oops, an amazing hot spring?"

Nariel purses his lips as if trying not to laugh.

"Oh my god, tell me that's really it. "

His smile breaks free, and I squeeze my legs together. "More or less. It's a habit I developed in childhood. I've always been connected to shadows, which isn't a common ability in Bright Earth. I got in the habit of wandering."

Because he was already an outsider as a child.

So was I.

"And you got in the habit of finding places you shouldn't have had access to unsupervised?" I surmise, keeping my voice light.

Nariel drops a kiss on my forehead. Quickly, casually, like it's a thing he could do any time, that I could get used to.

I want that so much .

"Yes," Nariel agrees. "As I know you're aware, it tends to give a person a different perspective than those who fit more easily."

I think he's trying to tell me that the gap between us isn't so wide, that we both are alike in this. And he's not wrong, it's just not what I need to hear anymore; it's not the reason I'm not moving.

"Have you stumbled over any inaccessible hot springs in Low Earth?" I ask. "Because I feel like wherever I settle should have one of these."

"Why, when you can portal here whenever you like? No one else comes here, Sierra."

Oh. He's taken me to another of his private places. And he wasn't even going to tell me.

"Except for whatever's at the bottom of the pool. "

"You can address that."

"Fair point, but portalling here does take magic, and if I have a hot spring in my backyard I don't have to worry about security or privacy." Then I frown. "Ugh. Do I need a fortress? That seems so conspicuous."

Nariel says dryly, "An inconspicuous fortress out in the middle of nature by an inaccessible hot spring?"

"Fine, fine, it'll have to be a glamor." I tilt my head, actually thinking about it. "Or, better yet, my base of operations should be somewhere else, so my hot spring can stay private and the base can be more like an actual fortress, for impressing delegations from High Earth, someplace more accessible, so Low Earth wizards can find me."

"Would you really want to be far from your grove?" Nariel asks.

I sigh. "Damn it. I thought I was taking a break from revelations?"

"So did I," Nariel says dryly, "which in retrospect, both of us having met you, was silly."

I huff.

"If you actually want to consider what you want in a home," Nariel says, "think less about what you should do and instead of what you want . You have a unique opportunity. The rest will follow."

"I notice you're not gloating that I am actually considering your suggestion. "

Nariel smiles. "I'm not, am I? I think I should get a reward for my restraint."

I shift, turning so my body is facing his side, my chest pressed against his arm.

Nariel's wing tightens around me, drawing me closer, until I'm really pressed against him.

It would be much less awkward if I just sat in his lap, but I am very sure that would get out of hand fast.

Very unlike what I'm about to do.

Which is press up on my knees so I can ask in his ear, "Do you mean a kiss? Or a bed in my new house?"

Nariel stills.

Then his face turns to mine, so close that we are sharing breath.

"I certainly don't need my own bed," Nariel drawls.

Well then.

I kiss him.

Then he moves me, picking me up by the waist and settling me in his lap, our naked bodies pressed together and I want him so badly.

I pull back with a shuddering breath.

Not yet.

Not until I'm sure I get to keep him.

And Nariel doesn't force me, even as his own eyes blaze black.

But I also don't move, wrapping my arms around his neck. "What did you sleep on in Bright Earth?" I ask. "I barely know anything about it."

"Magic clouds," Nariel says dryly.

"You're shitting me."

"I am not."

"God damn," I marvel. "So, left to your own devices, do you prefer—"

"I'm not interested in recreating my childhood, Sierra."

I wonder, abruptly, if that's really true, for either of us. Not reproducing what we experienced, obviously, that was clearly shitty in both cases. But if we could be children again, what would we want?

What kind of world, or home, could I build that I would have wanted to live in?

"I was going to say, like, a pile of pillows and blankets to nest in. Or I could get a giant beanbag bed for you like your pouf. Or if it's magic we could probably make you another one of those."

Nariel leans a little bit back from me. "You're still thinking about what other people want, Sierra."

I blink. "I mean, yes. I could have had a house any time. I tried, actually, years ago, and it just makes me... feel more alone, I guess. I don't want a house for just myself. If you're asking me to think about a home , that defeats the purpose for me. "

Nariel blinks back at me. "Are you asking me to move in with you?"

"...Maybe? Or, I don't know, getting a house with me?" I release my arms, leaning further back on his extremely muscled legs. "This is new territory for me."

Nariel's eyes narrow. "You're not comfortable with a bond, but you want—"

"Okay, a bond is a lot more personal—"

"Sharing a home is personal, Sierra."

"Are you saying you wouldn't do one without the other?"

Nariel blows out a frustrated breath. "No. I'm not imposing conditions. I want you to be sure what you want, and I want to know why you're comfortable with one but not another."

Because the only place that ever felt like home to me was High Earth, and that was taken from me. I don't really believe, in a fundamental way, that homes are permanent.

Magic, though—they tried to take that away from me, and I held on with everything I am.

I do know what I'm like, and I know what I want.

If I bond with Nariel, I am never, ever letting go.

I crawl off his lap, dropping back on the bench next to him. "Can we talk about this later? Let's try the break from revelations thing again."

"As you wish." This time Nariel turns to face me, his bare chest against my side. "But I'm not going to pretend you didn't ask me."

I smile despite myself. "How very annoying of you. "

His eyes crinkle in amusement, and he kisses me again, but lightly.

So I take that as an invitation to try to tell him my plans.