Page 93 of Sealed By Fire (The Nature Hunters Academy 2)

“Let’s meet in twenty-four hours,” Terrick said. “All of the heads and those professors working with the students who are training together need to be in attendance as well.”

Everyone nodded, and then the two queens opened portals and walked through them.

Ra began to lead Shelly out of the office, but Tara placed a hand on her best friend's arm. “Shelly—” she started, but her friend interrupted her.

Shelly patted her hand. “You know I love you.”

Tara nodded.

“Can you trust me when I say that I will tell you everything, but I can’t right now?”

Tara had no doubt that Shelly would tell her everything. And if she couldn’t do immediately, she had a very good reason. “You’re okay, right?”

“I’m better than okay,” Shelly said as she glanced up at Ra, who stared at her intensly.

“All right, as long as you’re okay, I can wait my turn.” Tara looked at Ra. “I am forever grateful to you for bringing me back my best friend. I don’t know what the hell is going on between you two, but if you hurt her, I’ll drag you back to hell myself.”

“Understood,” Ra said without taking his eyes off of Shelly.

Tara watched as they followed Aviur from the room. It wasn’t easy for her because she’d just gotten Shelly back.

“Elias. Tara,” Josie’s soft voice said. “Terrick and Iterra have given us their office to speak with you two.”

Tara glanced up at Elias, who was grinning down at her. “I want to kick you right now.”

He kissed her nose and pulled her back to the couch. “You’re beautiful all the time, but especially when you blush.”

“Piss off, you tosser,” Tara muttered as she sat down and smiled at Josie and Miles. Elias was still laughing when she said, “On a scale of one to ten, how embarrassing is this going to get?”

18

Shelly tried very hard to force her hands not to sweat. Holding a sweaty hand couldn’t be sexy, right? She and Ra watched as Aviur opened a portal.

“Can you lead us to your dorm room at Crimson Academy?” the fire king asked. “That will be private, I believe.”

“Yes,” Ra said.

He held Shelly’s hand snuggly as he led her through the portal. A second later, they stood in a room that looked similar to a college dorm, only much larger. It was more like a suite. She wasn’t surprised to find that it neat, orderly, and very clean. Ra didn’t seem like the type of person who would be messy. There were two chairs in a corner with a small table between them. Ra led her to one and motioned for her to sit. He took the other while Aviur rolled over a desk chair.

“Fill me in on the essentials, please,” Avuir said.

Shelly was very glad that Ra was a control freak at that moment because all she had to do was sit there and attempt to calm the anxiety she felt over what was going to be happening very, very soon.

After about fifteen minutes of Ra breaking down what had happened in the underworld in a concise, but informative way, Aviur stared at them in silence for several minutes.

The fire king finally spoke. “Shelly, you are incredibly brave and selfless. To offer your soul for someone is the same as offering your life.”

Shelly glanced at Ra and then looked back at Aviur. “He went through hell to save me. If that doesn’t speak to the kind of character he has, then I don’t know what would.” She wanted to reach up and rub his shoulder or run her fingers through his hair. Ra was so tense. Though his face looked calm, she knew he wasn’t. Every now and then she would feel frustration that wasn’t her own, and she knew it had to be his soul inside of her. She hoped to ease his frustration.

“Ra is a man worthy of your affection and respect. It seems you both are well paired.” He looked at Ra. “I cannot undo this or change the way Osiris bonded you two. It’s not the same as our soul bonded.”

“We are aware,” Ra said.

“But, our soul bonded must be joined in every way for their bond to be complete, so in that way, you are alike.”

“Shelly’s body will reject my soul if we do not consummate the bonding,” Ra told him.

Aviur’s eyes widened. “That, however, is not the same.”

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