Page 17 of Beneath Scales and Shadows
CHAPTERSEVEN
IGNIS
The luminescent pool cast rippling patterns across the dark walls, transforming the bathing chamber into a kaleidoscope of blue and violet light. Ignis watched the play of colors across Sora’s face, memorizing every subtle shift of emotion that crossed her features—wariness giving way to wonder, tension slowly unspooling from her shoulders as she trailed her fingers through the steaming water.
Her scent had intensified in the heated chamber, notes of ember and moonflower unfurling in the air between them. His dragon urges stirred, hunger prowling beneath his scales. Even in his dragoon half-form, maintaining control required a century of discipline.
“I’ll turn away,” he said, voice rough as volcanic stone. “Nudity means little among my kind, but I understand humans have different customs.”
A flush spread across her cheeks. “Thank you.”
Ignis positioned himself at the edge of the pool, wings folded tightly against his back, gaze fixed deliberately on the crystal formations jutting from the ceiling—even though they by far weren’t the very thing he was interested in.
Behind him came the whisper of fabric, the soft thud of shoes against stone.
Every instinct screamed for him to turn, to witness the revelation of what was rightfully his. Instead, he tracked her movements through the gleaming faceted reflections scattered across the chamber walls—fragmented glimpses of pale skin and golden hair that pieced together into a mosaic of his greatest treasure.
Her silhouette wavered in a large amethyst formation—slender limbs, the graceful curve of her spine, hair tumbling past her shoulders. His talons dug into the stone beneath him, carving furrows as deep as his restraint.
The splash of water followed by a startled gasp broke his concentration.
“Are you alright?” he called, turning instinctively toward the sound.
Sora stood waist-deep in the pool, her wide eyes meeting his. For a heartbeat, time suspended—her body partially revealed in the clear water, faint white scales shimmering along her collarbone and shoulders where moonlight from a high, discrete window touched her skin.
“You’re watching me!” She dropped lower, arms crossing over her chest as she sank until the water reached her chin.
Heat surged through him—not merely desire but something deeper, more primal. The need to possess, to claim, to mark. To make her undeniably his.
“I apologize,” he managed, the words scraping past the growl building in his throat. “The reflections—”
Her expression changed suddenly, eyes rolling back as she slipped beneath the surface without warning. Panic overrode every other instinct. Ignis launched himself into the pool, water exploding around him as he dove after her sinking form.
His arms encircled her waist, talons carefully spread to avoid her fragile skin as he pulled her upward. They broke the surface together, Sora gasping and coughing against his chest.
“What happened?” he demanded, cradling her against him, her naked body pressed to his scales.
“The heat—I got dizzy,” she panted, fingers clutching at his shoulders. “The water feels strange—overwhelming.”
“The mineral properties affect those with dragon blood differently,” he explained, treading water effortlessly despite her weight. “Your transformation accelerates in its presence.”
Water streamed from her hair, tracing paths across skin now visibly threaded with silver scales along her shoulders and spine. The dragon in him roared with satisfaction at this evidence of her true nature emerging.
She blinked up at him, confusion warring with something darker, more heated in her gaze. Her hands didn’t retreat from his shoulders; instead, they explored tentatively, fingers tracing the ridges of scales where they transitioned from ruby to obsidian and gold near his collarbone.
“You’re warm,” she whispered. “Like holding fire beneath stone.”
The innocent touch threatened to shatter his control. Her body—soft, yielding, human yet increasingly not—pressed against the hardness of his scaled form. Need coiled tight within him, a serpent preparing to strike.
He could take her now. Claim her in these sacred waters, bind her to him forever. His instincts demanded it.
But his soul refused.
“Let me care for you,” he said instead, voice rough with restraint. Shifting her weight to one arm, he reached out with his mind, calling to his clan’s healer and artificer.“Zalaya, I require cleansing items at my chambers. And appropriate garments for my Luna.”
Sora’s arms tightened around his neck as he carried her to the shallows, settling her on a smooth stone ledge where the water lapped at her waist. Distance helped clear his mind, though not by much.
“Who did you just call?” she asked, perception sharper than he’d anticipated. “I felt something—like a vibration in the air.”
