Page 122 of The Demon Tide

Rubbing my weary eyes, I move to stir the floral tea as a sharp sting slashes over my hands. My fingers flinch open, the wooden spoon dropping from my hand as a dart of alarm shocks through me. I splay my palms out, silver sparks igniting against my vision, the sting burning through my glamoured fastlines with an impaling sizzle. Panicked, I flex my hands, the sensation abruptly diminishing then vanishing.What magic is this?

“Hello, Fee,” Mora says, and I freeze, heart racing.

A familiar, deep male voice says something to Mora in what sounds like a Smaragdalfar dialect that my glamoured koi’lon rune doesn’t translate completely. I can only parse out “evening” and “tea.”

Anxiety spiking, I peer through the port side door’s open slit and my stomach drops through the floor. Fyon Hawkyyn, my metallurgie professor from Verpax University, stands beside Mora, tall and straight and dressed in traditional green Subland Elf clothing.

With no way to flee, I remain frozen in place as Mora hands Professor Hawkkyn a cup of tea with an expression of great import, and he accepts it with a deep level of gravitas, his silver eyes intent on hers. Seeming frozen in anticipation, she watches as he takes a sip, the sharp lines of his face illuminated by the glowing violet steam. He sets down the cup, their gazes locked.

“That would be thirty cups of tea, Fyon,” Mora says, sounding breathless as she raises the green book in her hand.

Professor Hawkkyn’s eyes seem to ignite as he steps toward her, his voice suddenly thick with passion. “Mora’lee Starr’lyrion, I want to court you. I can’t stop thinking about you. You consume my nights.”

Mora’lee’s eyes widen along with mine. “Heavens, Fee.”

Great Ancient One on High, I marvel, surprise cutting through my urgency.Severe, intensely private, and stridently reserved Professor Hawkkyn...is a blazing romantic.

“I adore you, Mora.” His voice is ragged, like a man tortured by fierce love for one-too-many sleepless nights. “I’d give anything to kiss you...to hold you in my arms.”

Mora pulls in a long, shaky breath, a rueful tension in her voice when it comes. “Fyon, be clear on this before you say more. You live for the sublands. I live for the skies.”

“I don’t wish to take you away from any of the things you love,” Professor Hawkkyn declares, maintaining a respectful distance, even though it seems as if he’d scoop her into his arms and carry her off if she’d allow it.

They regard each other for a charged moment as Mora leans into the deck’s metal railing, her back to the sheer drop down the mountain’s side.

“Have you no feelings for me, then, Mora?” Professor Hawkkyn asks softly, as if forcefully holding back his vast tide of emotion.

Mora goes very still. “You are the bravest man I have ever met, Fyon.”

He waits, but is met with stoic silence, the air seeming to grow even more heated between them.

“Mora,” Professor Hawkkyn breathes, “I know who you are. I want to court you.”

Mora huffs out an emotional sound and a trembling smile takes hold. “Well, that’s a relief, Fee. Because I can’t stop thinking about what it would be like to kiss you.”

Fyon Hawkkyn’s silver eyes widen, his lips parting in evident astonishment. Then a wide smile forms on his mouth and he laughs.

He’s quite handsome when he smiles, I realize. In the whole time he was my professor, I rarely saw him smile, and never like this. Mora hops onto the banister, her legs dangling as she levels her own broad, dazzling smile at him, her expression turning playful.

“So, may I take you to the gardens this eve?” Professor Hawkkyn asks, as if both dazed and overcome with elated emotion.

“No, Fee,” she says, a sultry edge entering her voice. “Not tonight. I need to watch over the children. But you may take me there tomorrow night on Xishlon, when a first kiss is a special Xish’nir blessing.”

Professor Hawkkyn swallows. “You’ll kiss me then?”

“Oh, Fee,” Mora says, lowering her voice to a more intimate register. “I will kiss you many, many times.”

Another low laugh bursts from Professor Hawkkyn as he stands blinking at Mora’lee, his expression full of almost disbelieving awe.

“Iwouldkiss you now, Mora,” he offers, a tad breathlessly.

“That would be nice, Fee,” she says. “But delayed pleasure can be so gratifying. And we’re just in time for Vo’s Xish’nir blessing. So, kiss me in the Voling Garden Wisteria grove tomorrow eve. We’ve been friends for so long.” She shrugs, biting her lip as if in delicious anticipation. “Tomorrow night, we’ll see if we have a taste for each other.”

Professor Hawkkyn holds out his hand, and Mora’lee grows serious, almost shy, as she takes it. She slides off her perch, an intensity flaring in her eyes that matches his as Professor Hawkkyn gently lifts her hand, keeping his eyes on hers, and presses his lips to the back of it.

I draw back, abashed to be witnessing this private moment between them, even as I grapple with the possibility of Professor Hawkkyn finding me.

He won’t come in here,I reassure myself.Why would he? He didn’t enter this way.

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