Page 52 of Tales of Fire and Embers

“No, I’m going to buy it from that man over there,” Rhylan replied with a raised eyebrow, as though the answer was obvious, and pointed at a stall on the beach.

I nodded at the ridiculousness of the situation and took a seat on the sand, quietly waiting for him to bring me the promised drink. He gave me a final scan to make sure I would be alright on my own, then nodded to himself and headed towards the man. My eyes followed him all the way, not having anything else to do. Or at least that's what I told myself.

I enjoyed watching him move, following the imperial stance of his body, the way his muscles stretched any kind of clothing he wore, not enough to make him look too muscular, but enough to make him a gods damned sexy man. The way he shifted, the way he walked and talked when he threw those grins and his snarky remarks, all of it made me like Rhylan. I had gotten used to him, to his presence around me, to his mood swings and mockery, the teasing and the protection I had not expected on his end.

I cared about Rhylan.

“Coke, kitkat, some kind of sugar cookies and a coconut,” he displayed his purchases in front of me with pride.

“Do you want me to become diabetic?” I giggled but grabbed both the coke and the chocolate with a quick thank you smile and started chipping away at the dark cubes.

“I want you to be healthy and keep you from fainting when you see lover boy. That would be too dramatic, even for me,” he grinned theatrically and took a seat on the sand by my side. Which went against all his struggles to clean himself when we first arrived, but he did not seem to mind.

Bumping my shoulder to his affectionately, I extended a line of kitkat that was already broken in the wrapper, inviting him to have a taste. Just like all those weeks back in Evigt.

“Are you excited to go back home?” I don’t know why I asked but he seemed content to take the lead and chat while I ate.

“It’s like every other trip, it starts to chip away at you and after years of being away from home, you start to discover that you don't know where you belong anymore. The beings left behind remain the same while you change and evolve, but the moment you come back, it’s to realise they are the ones who evolved and continued without you.”

“I`m sorry,” I murmured and opened the bag of sugar cookies, offering him the first pick.

“Don’t be,” he said, grabbing the smallest cookie he could find in that huge bag and shoving it into his mouth. “Immortality sucks,” Rhylan said bitterly.

I felt sorry for him and kept away the need to hug him, so I grabbed a few more cookies and shoved them in my mouth, keeping myself busy with the sugar and cleaning my fingers by sucking and licking the remaining icing, just like a small child would.

Rhylan studied my movements and silently approved every piece that went into my mouth and only when he seemed satisfied with how much I’d consumed did he ask if I felt better and strong enough to continue our journey.

The appearing magical power they possessed was called ‘matter jumping,’ he explained and all those who had a direct line to the gods and the matter composing the earth could do it. It consisted of splitting atoms and forcing them to reappear in quick succession to a specific place, but they needed to have walked in that particular spot at least once throughout their life, so the connection could be established.

I thought of it as one of those PlayStation games my brother loved to play when he was younger, where he had to discover a map and moved his character from one place to another with the press of a button, once he conquered the territory. One of the many magnificent things the fae could do. Though it consumed a lot of their energy very rapidly, so they avoided taking advantage of the ability.

After I finished the last drop of coke, and Rhylan took it from my hand to place it in the nearest recycling bin, he stepped dangerously close to me and grabbed me in his arms, tightly and assuringly. Words did not seem necessary, we both knew the purpose of the embrace, but my heart started racing and pounding out of my chest, accelerating my breathing and forcing me to put my hands on Rhylan and grab tightly onto him, relishing in the touch. My hands splayed themselves onto his back, feeling those tight muscles and the arch of his shoulders, the way the tension burst at the touch and emanated heat onto my palm.

“Sprout, you are no longer home,” I heard Rhylan’s voice announcing our arrival and as I unplugged myself from him — even though I had to force my hands to let him go — I scanned the surroundings to find ourselves inside a cave.

Only it did not look like a cave, there was no water carving it and my breath drew dust. It looked like an underground tunnel.

“Are we there?” I asked incredulously, scanning the fae with weariness, afraid that this would turn into one of those tricks where he is nice one moment and a cunning liar the next.

“Yes,” he said with a small smirk, regaining his general composure, “and no,” he added with a wicked grin, which I knew came into place only to piss me off.

“What does that mean?” I questioned, unsure and unwilling to play this game right now, not when we found ourselves somewhere underground. He might as well disappear and leave me there to turn into a dried mummified body.

“It means that this is as far as we can appear. The rest we’ll have to walk.” Announcing the itinerary, Rhylan proceeded to remove his designer black jacket and fold it carefully to rest on his left forearm. His right hand shifted to me, an offering to grab it.

“I’ll manage on my own,” I replied curtly and crossed my arms to point out that I would not be willingly touching him any longer. Not that my body didn't crave it.

Just like with Ansgar, I felt a connection every time he was next to me or when our bodies touched. But when I was with Ansgar, I felt warm and eager to touch his body, to reduce the space between us and situate myself as close to him as I could, with Rhylan I felt need and urgency. To connect to him, to forge his skin and mine together and craved that closeness.

“Very well,” he said with a perverted grin. “I would follow closely if I were you. Soldiers lurk about these corridors and may stab you before I even have a chance to speak.”

Saying this, he turned and started walking towards a very dark corridor, without waiting for me to follow or even caring if I started trailing him or not. I didn’t know if he was joking so I chose the safe option and followed Rhylan so closely that if he stopped for a mere second, I would have bumped into his large muscled back.

I did however admire how his deltoids stretched the black shirt he wore, forcing it to fall perfectly moulded to his sculpted back and I did not mind that view one bit.

“These tunnels are millennia old, they won't fall on you so stop fidgeting,” he finally spoke after a long silent journey, through which I kept crouching and placing a hand over the top of my head to keep anything from falling on me.

“Why are we here?” I asked, more to keep him talking, because at that moment, his voice was the only familiar thing I had and I needed to hold onto it.

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