Page 40 of Terragnata and the Heir of the Earth

A breeze blew stray strands of hair into my face and I cleared them with a pff. “Jana thinks that’s why Fayzien chose Argention—the town suppressed my magic. Even so, I don’t think I could remove my necklace. It’s all I have left of my mother.”

“I would never let you,firebreather. In any event, it’s likely too small to make a real difference in your power.”

A minute passed, and we rode in silence, me leaning back into his warmth. “You have another question, Dragon shifter.”

His chuckle wrapped around my ears. “I suppose I do…” He hesitated. “What do you desire most in this world?”

I considered. “If you’d asked me a month ago, I would have said to be free. Free of a life of boredom in Argention, an arranged marriage, and tedious labor. But now… I don’t know. It seems silly to want safety, but after my family, after everything…” I trailed off.

Ezren’s hold on me tightened more, his hand a protective grip on my abdomen. “It is not stupid at all to want to feel safe, Terra.”

I pressed my eyes together, desperate to shift the topic to something lighter, something that didn’t weigh on my heart as heavy as thoughts of my mother’s hair slipping through floorboards.

“My turn. What’s ‘a coupling’?” The word still floated in my mind from my painful, exhilarating change.

I felt him still behind me, silent for a few beats of his horse’s hooves. He cleared his throat. “It is like a joining, but ehm, more personal, shall I say.”

“That does notat allexplain what it is.”

He shifted in the saddle, exhaling. “It would be a joining where one would, um, enter the other.”

I cocked my head, confused. “But you did enter me.”

“I did not enter you!” Ezren whispered. “With my magic, yes, but not in that way. I meant—I meant in themaleway.”

“Oh,” I said, heat blooming on my neck. “Have you ever done it?”

“Once,” he said, his voice low. “And I will never again.”

“Why?”

“Not your turn, Terra,” he said, forcing lightness into his tone.

His words sent a pang to my chest, a small wound. He didn’t trust me enough to share the experience. I sensed pressing him would be futile.

“I haven’t seen you use your magic yet,” I said, changing the subject. “Which I guess isn’t unusual, as Leuffen told me Fae usually save it for battle. Will you show me?”

His mood relaxed. “Mine is a light of sorts. Not sunlight. There can be a heat to it similar to my Dragon Fire, I’ve been told. It has a precision and breadth; it does not need to be one thing nor the other.” He opened his tanned broad hand in front of me. “Like your power,” he whispered into my hair, “it can be used for destruction or creation.” A small glow omitted from his palm, a ball of moving light, more beautiful than any magic I’d seen before. It seemed to dance on his skin, not flickering like a flame but ebbing and flowing—pulsing. And then he closed his hand, the light vanishing. “Better not let Jana see,” he said, his voice low. “She’s rabid about us conserving our power.”

“Mine does not feel like it needs conserving, though she keeps saying so. When I use it, I feel stronger. I know it sounds unusual…” I shrugged.

Ezren chuckled. “That doesn’t surprise me. Can I run my power and strength dry, calling on my strange magical light? Yes—it’s limited by what’s inside me. But you? An Earth Witch has no worry of running out of Earth.”

We reachedthe tree line and made camp. Tomorrow we would cross the valley. We arranged the bedrolls in the usual way, six around both fires. Parson volunteered for first watch, and I lay on my mat, eyes wide open and listening for the breathing around me to become routine.

It did finally, and I rolled to my side. “What are you doing?” he breathed as I crawled in his direction.

“You know exactly what I’m doing,” I replied hotly. He pulled me on top of him, and I let my hips rock slowly back and forth.

“Terra,” he whispered, his hands skimming my waist. I felt a slight twitch from underneath me, and my insides stumbled. “Not like this.”

My body tightened in anticipation, and I exhaled in frustration. “Why not?”

He smirked and something mischievous glinted in his expression, which had the unfortunate effect of making him more attractive. “Once you’ve lived more than a hundred and fifty years, you learn some things are meant to wait.”

I gaped at him, seeing his face clearly under the night sky, given my newly enhanced eyes. Leiya had mentioned his age was above that of a Witch, but hearing the number cross his lips had me in awe again. “One hundred and fifty! But you don’t look a day over twenty-eight… in human years, of course.”

Ezren brushed the strands of hair from my face, and brought his lips close to my ear. “While I may have the looks and stamina of a young male, there are certain things in which I amfarsuperior to a twenty-something.” Strong hands pressed into my hip bones, pinning me in place, his tone turning lethal. “And when I show you them, you will scarcely be able to hold in your power, let alone your voice. So no, not tonight, nor any night until we get to Valfalla. No matter how much you beg.” And then he stood easily, taking me with him—laying me on my bedroll.

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