Page 257 of The Dryad Storm

Tierney rounds a thick copse of trees and catches sight of Or’myr, waist-deep in the water, a rush of yearning eddying through her power.

Or’myr’s eyes zero in on hers, so much violet lightning crackling in them that she can feel it sizzling through her water magic, her skin prickling from the sensation as she holds up her IV-marked hand to him. Or’myr moves toward her like a purple storm, and she notes the change in him. His purple skin... its hue is deepened and covered with a glowing violet sheen, his Strafeling aura intensified.

And his power... she can sense through their bond how two new sets of Magelines have awakened to Level Five power in him now, joining with his earth and fire magic.

She draws in a quick, shocked breath.

Water. And air.

“Or’myr,” she greets him as he closes the remaining distance between them and brings his IV-marked palm to hers. “You’realtered,” she marvels. “Am I sensing... water- and airlines?”

“You are,” he responds, voice fraught with passion, his body tense, as if it’s taking everything in him not to sweep her into his arms. So much electricity is crackling off him and forking to her that Tierney feels lit up by it.

“I want to kiss you, Tierney,” he declares, voice pained, eyes flashing. “I have control over my power now.Completecontrol. Say yes, Tierney. Just say yes and I’myours.”

Tierney’s eyes widen.

She has a sense of it through their bond—that his control over his power truly and fundamentally changed when he bonded to this very Forest as both its kindred and the kindred of the entire riverbed, a new focus to the magic coursing through his lines.

Her heart swelling with so much love for him she fears she might burst, Tierney nods. “Yes, Or’myr,” she affirms, tears misting her eyes. “I want you, and I love you.”

A wide smile overtaking Or’myr’s mouth, he sweeps her into an embrace, an emotional sound escaping Tierney as she thrills to the sizzle of lightning pulsing over his skin.

And then he’s drawing them both down below the water’s surface, and Tierney gives a start as the surrounding Waters shiver to crystalline violet, a besotted delight coursing through her.

As Or’myr draws her close and brings his lips to hers.

Lightning shocks through Tierney’s water magic the moment their lips meet, and a moan escapes her, not of pain but of intense, cracklingpleasure, her water power enhancing their electrified draw, her body eagerly arching against his. Or’myr’s new control over his lightning steals her breath, small threads of it tingling over her skin while swirls of his fire power suffuse her magic with a delicious warmth.

Or’myr’s lips and body are hungry against hers, and Tierney responds to him fully, opening her mouth to his deepening kiss—the kiss she always wanted from him—so much love and desire in it, her heart open wide to his, Or’myr’s full purple garden there for the taking.

The Vo’s Waters swirl around them with joyful encouragement, the River’s energy shot through with the Natural World’s relentless, glorious pull towardLife.

A sliver of rational thought cuts through Tierney’s haze of desire, and she breaks the kiss, gaping at Or’myr before drawing them both back above the water’s surface. Water streaming off his face and body, Or’myr gives her a wolfish, ebullient grin, bright anticipation in his eyes. The sizzle of his desire still tingles on her lips and sparks over every place they touched as he waits for her to voice the realization overtaking her.

“Sweet holy gods...” Tierney manages breathlessly, barely able to fight off the urge to spring at him. “You can breathe underwater.”

Or’myr’s grin widens. “When I bonded to this Forest along with the Vo’s bed,” he affirms, “my waterline was awakened. The trees pulled my airline out of dormancy as well and granted me some of their water linkage. So, yes, Tierney, I can breathe underwater now.” A rakish gleam enters his gaze as he slides it over her damp form. “I could pull you down to the very bottom of your River and—”

“Do it, then, Or’myr,” Tierney enthusiastically cuts in. “Give meeverything.”

A more serious light overtakes Or’myr’s expression before his mouth claims hers once more, a stronger pulse of his lightning shooting through Tierney, the press of his body under the water’s surface hard with want.

Emotion crackles through Or’myr’s power, and he draws back a fraction to look closely at her, his breathing uneven, his heart thudding against hers. “My beautiful Xishlon Rose,” he enthuses in Asrai, his tone rife with feeling. “My one and only garden.”

Surprise courses through Tierney to hear her Water Fae tongue so fluidly sliding from Or’myr’s purple lips. “Have you been practicing that?” she asks, deeply touched.

“Fordays,” he answers, some of that wry amusement she missed so much breaking through. “I had to enlist Asrai help with the pronunciation.Gardenis dauntingly hard to pronounce. I kept saying ‘my one and only hipbone’ until quite recently.”

Tierney laughs, swamped by so much happiness, she fears her heart might burst from it. “Or’myr,” she says, her smile wavering as a knot of emotion forms in her throat. “As you know, I’m to have two lifetimes. And in this Asrai life, I want only one garden. I wantyou.” Her lips tick up, tears full of deep love for him misting her eyes. So much love. “Besides,” she ventures, daring a glance toward the lower half of his form, his obvious show of desire obscured by the rippling violet of the water. “You’re garden enough.”

A laugh escapes Or’myr as he shoots her another smile, love to rival her River’s in it, a wicked glint entering his gaze. “Oh... you haven’t even begun to explore my garden.” His eyes rake playfully over her. “Shall I shift to bizarrely oblique terms regarding the pleasure I’m about to rain down on you if you simply say the word?”

Tierney can’t suppress her besotted smile. “And what word would that be?”

“Oak tree?” he offers.

Tierney laughs and gives him a brazenly suggestive smile, her cheeks heating. “That’s two words. And I don’t want the oak tree. I want the Purple Birch.”

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