Page 38 of Terragnata and the Heir of the Earth

My chest flared, his comment burning yet… emboldening. “So, what is it, then? Are you disgusted by me? By your interest in me?”

“I had to create some space between us. There are reasons, good ones, that we can never be together in that way. It’s not my place to say, but Icannotallow myself to feel that way for you.”

My breathing grew deep and labored, my throat tight at the idea that my feelings were reciprocated.

“But do you?” I murmured, searching his eyes. “… feel that way about me?”

He stayed silent for a moment. “Of course I do,” he rasped guiltily.

His simple answer was all it took to break the wall I’d built. I didn’t care about whatever reason held him back. I prowled to him, holding his stare. We both held our breath.

“I’ve hadeverythingtaken from me. And the only thing I’ve learned is thatthis,” I gestured to us and everything around us, “is fleeting.”

And then I drank in his scent, letting it fill me up. The itching was so intense it turned into a heated buzz that settled on my skin and blurred my vision. His gaze sharpened as I lifted my hand to his unmoving chest.

“You have no idea what you’re doing,” Ezren ground out through his teeth, fighting the instinct to breathe. “Your Fae senses are returning to you as we near the realm, and you don’t know how to control them.”

I dragged my eyes up and down his body, letting my fingers travel down his abdomen. “Does it burn for you, too?” I whispered, not needing a response. That primal part of me knew the answer. He didn’t move or say a word, remaining as still as stone. “Just breathe, Ezren,” I said in a voice that sounded distant to my ears. I was all instinct now, guided by my growing Fae senses.

My fingers reached the top of his trousers, catching on the lip where they were fastened. At this, he sucked in a short breath, an unintended reaction. But it was enough. He inhaled fully then, drinking the air as if it was the first time he’d breathed in an hour.

His pupils dilated into Dragon slits, his hand flying to my throat and clamping down firmly, but not dangerously. I let out a small noise, and the corners of his mouth turned up. “I’ve never been very good at control either,” he murmured, cocking his head. “Always so damned flushed.”

The sack dropped from his other hand, and his arm wrapped around my hips, pulling me into him. My body was one rhythm then, a drum that beat for one thing. His fist tightened into the tunic fabric on my low back and he brushed my bottom lip with his thumb. But he did nothing more, frozen as if waiting for my consent. So I pulled his face to mine, and his lips parted, meeting in a release of pent-up desperation.

We were two waves crashing into each other, swells that could not be stopped. He let out a small moan and placed one hand under my backside, pulling me up and into him, leading my legs to hug his waist. His other hand tangled in my hair, guiding my head in our kiss. My heart exploded. I needed him more than I’d ever neededanything.

Without meaning to, I let my power flow into him. He reciprocated. It felt right, unlike what I’d experienced with Fayzien or Jana. I let my hands run everywhere, grazing over the ripples of his muscled arms and back. His body responded to my touch in more ways than just the male. And while we explored each other, our magics did as well. If mine was life and vibrance, his was the wind and light, wild and heated one moment, and a cool summer breeze the next. He moved us, pressing my back into a nearby boulder. I could feel the swell of him now, the hardness that told me irrevocably he wanted me. He ran his tongue up my neck, and a shudder went through me at the recollection of the last time. I unbuttoned my shirt, not breaking my kiss, eager to remove any barrier between us. But he stilled.

“Terra,” he breathed into me. “Look.”

All around us, rubble floated in small, soft, individual green glows. It looked like thousands of emeralds hung in the air, as if our magic had come together upon instinct, forming a life-size kaleidoscope right there on the side of that mountain.

He set me down and cupped my cheek in his hands, his pupils circles once more. “Not like this,” he breathed. He pressed his lips to my forehead and stepped away from me, taking my hand in his and pulling me to follow him back to camp, our soaring emeralds falling gently down around us.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

THE TRANSMUTATION

“Alright,” Jana said, after we all re-mounted our horses. “We should cross over the peak in the next hour and be back in the Fae and Witch realms. Once we pass the tree line on the other side, we’ll make camp for the night. Tomorrow, we send scouts to the valley. Should everything look undisturbed, we will descend at dusk, hopefully crossing the valley during the dark of the late evening. Understood?”

We all nodded and urged our horses to walk on.

As we made our way to the pass, an overwhelming sense that something was off clung to my every nerve. Not only did the bizarre and wild itching hit me time and again, but my head tightened, and my breath shortened.

I breathed through the itching spells and pillaged my canteen, determined not to let my sickness slow the group down. Blackjack whinnied and pranced as if he, too, felt the wrongness, or at least my unease. I dug my heels into his sides and swallowed my nausea, my eyes trained on the horizon.

At some point, Ezren may have asked me if I was okay, but I only jerked my head, focusing on getting through the discomfort. I survived the better part of an hour like this, relieved that we were about to cross the peak and make our waydown the other side. If it was altitude sickness, descent would be the only cure.

And then it came into focus—the shimmering, faint glow of whatever magical barrier had been erected to keep humans in their realm, and away from the Fae. I could still see the valley through the blur—it looked the same as it had from the previous hundred vantage points I’d seen it. Close to the barrier, however, the vista was obscured by a slight sparkling haze.

I expected a sensation of tingling, or maybe nothing, as Blackjack set his hooves over the line. Instead, when my mount made his way through the webbed film, the pressure in my head becamesearingpain. My vision blurred, and I tumbled from the horse, screaming in agony. Everything hurt; it felt like the cleansing all over again, but without Jana’s magic attempting to block some of the pain from registering.

Ezren leaped off his mount, crouching before me in an instant. “Terra, can you tell me where it hurts?”

I couldn’t form words, couldn’t do anything but cry out. I pressed my palms to my temples, signaling at the pressure in my head. Voices were all around me now, and Ezren yelled at the Witches todo something, to fix it. Dane tried to take my hand, but he yelped upon touching me, jumping back.

Although the pounding in my head was ruthless and unending, I heard Dane exclaim. “The bitch’s power bit me!”

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