Lukas has risked his life for me again and again and thrown his lot in with me completely. And that look on his face last night...
I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my entire life.
Casting off the last of my heart’s hesitation, I release my fire to him in a shuddering rush, and Lukas inhales sharply, his gaze growing even more impassioned.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him ardently, my voice breaking even as a tighter desire for him takes hold. “I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to care for you like you care for—”
“Shh,” he says with real tenderness as his fingers thread through my hair.
And then he pulls me closer, his fire blazing through me as our lips meet and he kisses me, long and deep.
“Give me your fire, Elloren,” Lukas whispers as my power streams into his. “Give me all of it.”
Flames rearing, I press him against the wall and kiss him passionately, my soft curves fitting against the hard lines of his body as Lukas embraces me, our lines fuse, and we give each other everything.
CHAPTER TWO
SHADOW FIRE
ELLOREN GREY
Sixth Month
Northwestern Agolith Desert
I wake to a shock of painful, wet cold.
My panicked heart races as I spring up to a sitting position, my gaze darting wildly around as I shake my wet head. The fog of sleep rapidly clears as I struggle to adjust to what’s before me.
I blink up at Valasca, my whole body shivering. She’s dressed in Vu Trin fighting gear, her expression blade-hard, a wooden bucket in her hands that I realize she’s just used to douse me with water. I clasp my wet blanket around my gray naked self as embarrassment and blistering outrage surge through me.
Lukas stands just behind Valasca, dressed in a dark Noi tunic and pants as well, weapons strapped all over his body. His gaze on me is devoid of any of the affection and passion from last night, his fire held completely back.
“What are you doing?” I cry at them, stunned.
“Get up,” Valasca orders.
“What? N-n-no!” My teeth chatter as I protest. “I—I’m un-c-clothed!”
“Learn not to care,” Valasca says, her voice hard.
“Well, I do care!”
Valasca darts toward me and roughly grabs my arm, wrenching me up as I futilely hold the blanket to myself. Valasca tears the blanket away as I pointlessly try to cover my chest with my arm.
“What are you doing?” I cry at her.
Valasca leans in, her mouth a snarl. “Your training starts now, as we agreed.”
“Not this way!”
“Yes, this way!” Valasca vehemently snarls back. “Completely our way, Elloren! This is exactly how it works in Amazakaraan.”
I want to scream at her. I want to lash out at them both. I glare at Lukas, stunned by his change in demeanor from last night, but he simply looks back at me with an expression of immovable resolve.
“Fine!” I cry, furious and humiliated as Valasca tugs me along beside her, Lukas following, as I shiver and hurl epithets at them in my mind.
Valasca yanks me down a tunneling passage that descends into the Vonor mountain’s base. Sparsely placed lanterns emit faint blue light to cut through the darkness, the rhythmic plink of water on stone becoming audible as the narrow passage eventually opens to reveal a vaulted cavern. A dark river of water courses through it, the space lit by several huge Noi runes marked on the deep-gray rocky walls.
Water-drawing runes.
I fleetingly wonder if Chi Nam built this entire river.
Either Valasca or Lukas—or both—has already been here this morning, I can tell. There are a variety of weapons lined up on the surface of a huge, broad stone, and Vu Trin clothing and gear, including a folded towel, is neatly set out on another rocky table near the stream’s edge.
“Get in,” Valasca orders as we halt just before the streaming water.
Shivering, I dip my toe in the water and find it painfully cold. I whip my head around toward her. “It’s too cold...”
“Learn not to care,” Valasca says as she shoves me forward.
I fall face-first into the icy water and gasp, a blast of frigid pain knifing through me as I fall under its rune-lit surface, lines of black and blue rippling before my eyes, the stream deep with no solid purchase. My arms and legs flail against the freezing current as I fight back to the surface, coughing and sputtering as I break through and grab hold of some slick, irregular rock along the stone bank, my skin almost burning from the cold.
My feet make