Page 47 of Of Steel and Scale

“Proximity being code for madly passionate sex?”

“More day-to-day living, but I can certainly live with a relationship being based on nothing more than madly passionate sex.”

“At least for a few years,” I agreed.

His warm laugh teased my senses again and had my hormones dancing. “Sounds like I’m going to need to keep my strength up. Want to try scribing again?”

I did, and this time, the pen lit up to indicate there was a viable connection present. I quickly detailed what had happened, then emphasized the urgent need for medical assistance. At the end, I told them Damon and I were continuing on to the Beak.

Stay warycame the response a few minutes later.Keep in contact.

Once I’d signed off and had tucked everything back into the pack, we walked on. This section of the tube hadn’t suffered as badly in the tremors, so we were able to move at a fairly good clip.

We were almost at the quarter mile point when Kaia said,Stop, her warning so loud my brain just about rattled.

I immediately did so and said,What is it?even as Damon asked, “Something wrong?”

His gaze scanned the tube ahead, and his hand was on his sword, but there was nothing to see—nothing beyond the blue veins and the wickedly pointed rocks jutting out between the two strips of pale light.

Magic, she said.Ahead.

Surprise flitted through me.You can feel it?

See through you.

How?

She did the mental equivalent of a shrug.Why matter?

I guess it didn’t. I glanced at Damon. “Kaia says the barrier the recon team mentioned lies just ahead.”

He tugged the light tube from his pack, then raised the light and shone it directly ahead. “There’s absolutely nothing to indicate that.”

“Should there be?”

He grimaced. “Depends on the practitioner, but generally, when it comes to barriers it’s best to pin the magic onto something solid. It prevents a strong wind from causing the spell to wander about randomly.”

My eyebrows shot upward. “And has that ever happened?”

“All the time.” His serious expression was undone by the twinkle in his eyes, and I nudged him lightly. He laughed. “Unpinned magic is harder to raise. It can be done, but it’s easier if there’s a foundation.”

“I wouldn’t call blood a solid foundation.”

“Then you’d be wrong. How far ahead is she talking?”

I relayed the question.

She hesitated.Half one wing.

I did the mental gymnastics—math was never my strong point. “A little over thirty-five feet.”

“Let’s move closer, then, and see what happens.”

“If I hit that barrier and get flung into razor rocks, I’m not going to be a happy soldier.”

“I suspect my bigger worry will be your unhappy drakkon.”

“She’s not mine?—”

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