Page 126 of Of Serpents and Ruins
The vision was a weighty one. There were so many things that that image might be. So many possibilities.
Fear gripped me tight, choking the breath from me.
There was no escape.
Brandt and I were going to die.
Why couldn't he be here?
Maybe this meant he wouldn’t go mad? Not that the sketch actually revealed Brandt’s state of mind. It hadn’t even shown our faces. We were only charcoal, burning together in the molten flow. I couldn’t even say for certain who was who. I just knew it had to be us.
Because this ended in death.
That was the only thing that would satisfy the Gola Resh.
I leaned my head back against the heated stone, staring into the night sky filled with stars.
The water’s heat seeped into my bones, the steam into my lungs. There had to be another way. Auntie Runa had not wanted me to know that vision, and that meant it wasn’t guaranteed. She didn’t want me locked into it, but what other answer could there be?
Biting the inside of my lip, I closed my eyes and tried to see something. Anything. All we had was faith and hope that we could find a way.
If only Brandt could be here.
How pathetic was I? I longed to feel his arms around me. I could practically smell him even now.
A low growl echoed over the water.
My core tightened.
Brandt?
STELLA
My eyes sprang open as my breath hitched in my throat.
It was him. He stood at the edge of the hot spring, his gaze fixed on me, his body like granite. All of his years of training, all his discipline, all his strength. All of it honed in on me. His deep-ruby eyes blazed bright, pupils wide with lust.
I sat up in the hot waters. They swirled about me, whorls of white and silver in the dark blue amid the bubbles. My mouth went dry despite the steam surrounding me.
The charm around his neck was a rich orange, like the sun setting in autumn.
He stepped forward, his cut muscles taut.
My head spun, and my heart pounded in my ears. The steam continued to rise, framing his massive muscular body. How had he gotten here?
His throat bobbed, his gaze fixed on me, unblinking.
This was bad.
Dangerous.
Little warnings scrabbled at the back of my mind, begging me to listen.
The thrum between us intensified, pinning me in place. Maybe I could move if I wanted to.
But I didn’t want to.
The drums beat in the camp below, relentless and steady. It filled my ears like the pounding of my blood.
