Page 21 of Elemental Affections

Sometimes, the gods laughed, and one couldn’t guess at their intentions. Ezzyn wouldn’t be one to question. He followed Anadae in companionable silence, her hand gripping his as she led him down the stairs and out the door.

Ezzyn paused next to the university’s student-run mercantile.

“I’ll just be a moment,” he murmured before hurrying inside. The necessary items were easy to find. First, a small, simple bottle of lubricant. There were several varieties on offer, but he went with one he knew, no fancy scents or colors but reliable. The next shelf took extra thought. He reached past the freely available, medicinal-in-taste contraceptive potions, the ones made by Adept One menders. Instead, he grabbed one of the elegant, thin vials from an upper shelf. Forced his hand to settle on the smallest size. Single use. He picked one in the flavor of honey.

He rushed back outside, tossing more coins than necessary onto the counter as he went.

Anadae observed him, a bemused smile on her face. Her eyebrows went up when she saw the vial and his easy shrug as he tucked it into his pocket.

“Aren’t you a prince,” she said.

Ezzyn stiffened, a weak laugh caught in his throat.

Anadae slipped her fingers around his arm. “It was a joke. I appreciate the thought.”

She pulled lightly on his arm to get him moving. They left the main building behind as she led him to her room in Vanas House.

One night to satisfy the infatuation of their youth. One night, and he’d be gone before she woke. Just tonight to cure himself of this old familiarity, this obsession, and he wouldn’t be plagued by the mystery of it ever again.

Chapter 8

Daehadscarcelyshownhim into her room before his mouth was on her again. A surprised squeak was muffled by his lips, then gave way to a laugh when the beads on her mask interfered.

“May I?” he asked, fingers tugging on a strand. “I’ll leave the mask.”

She hesitated, her uncertainty plain. Would he recognize her? Perhaps not tonight, seeing as she knew so few people after only one week of class and she was certain they hadn’t met, but later?

“I won’t hurt you,” he promised.

Dae nibbled at one of his fingers, her unease replaced by a smile. “I didn’t think you would.” She lifted her chin. “Go ahead.”

It was a glib response. In hindsight, she hadn’t been entirely sure what he would do to be rid of the beads. Cut them or something. She wasnotexpecting the flare of light in his fingertips, or how quickly he slid his index finger along the underside of her mask, or the breath of heat that followed the line he drew. He caught the fringe in his other hand as it broke free, depositing the strings on her desk.

It took mere seconds, over before Dae’s gasp faded from the air. She ran her fingers along the mask, felt the smooth, soldered line he had so efficiently melted into place.

A fire mage. One of considerable skill, Magister level, at least, to have worked that bit of magic on a whim, fueled entirely by his own energy for she hadn’t so much as turned up a single candle that he could’ve drawn on for aid. The control on display, for him to manage such a precise line and present no threat of harm to herface.Her face, which had been right there.

A shiver stole over her. Dae stared with a sense of wonder as her masked stranger, the gentlemanly fire mage, came back to stand before her. She wanted to ask his name. She wouldn’t have known it—the only Magister levels and above she’d met so far had been professors. It made her want his name all the more. To have the word in her head, the shape of it on her tongue as she affixed it to memory. A name to go with such blue eyes behind a silver and black mask. One she could fall back on, recall and have it conjure up this strange, beautiful night.

Dae was certain she wouldn’t have another like it. Nothing to compete or compare.

He held the slender vial he’d acquired from the student exchange. Didn’t thrust it at her. Rather, he offered it part way. An unspoken question in the space left between their hands.

It had been a while. Even longer since she’d been free to seek anyone out without the specter of Brint hanging over her. The self-conscious part of her hesitated, put a tremble in her fingers as she reached up. Almost had an apology, excuse, or nervous babble of warning passing her lips.

Almost.

Dae took the vial. Whoever he was, the fire mage desired her. Had already kissed her as if he was a dying man and her lips were life itself. What did it matter if she had no recent experience, or really any when it came to casual sex? The beauty of one night would be no reservations. No embarrassment. Only shared explorations in the moonlight of her room.

And if it was awful, eh, what need did Dae have to visit the Fire Tower anyway?

She drank the contraceptive down and cast the vial aside and tilted her head back, offering her mouth to him again.

His kiss consumed. Seared away the last of her lingering doubts. Replaced the pinprick of nervousness, of worry that she would disappoint, with his undeniable ardor, a mutual feeling that Dae was quick to match.

The kiss lost any veneer of politeness, of elegance. He let his hunger through. Pressed wet lips to her mouth, then the side of her neck. Licked a warm stripe along the column of her throat. Hummed softly, even a bit smugly, when Dae shivered in response.

Her hands went to his belt, feeling in the dark as he kept her head tipped back, lips feathering over her neck. Every touch and, gods,suckof his mouth sent a zing straight to her clit, made her shift against him as she tried to drag his trousers down, the laces loosened but not fully undone.

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