with us this entire time. For a distraction, it was actually pretty effective. I swallow back a laugh, not wanting to encourage him, and stare back out at our bleak surroundings.
“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted… About the wood—once it stops raining, I can dry it out for us,” the goblin assures me as he makes a small spark in the shelter between his hands that glows with warmth.
“You can make fire?” I squeal happily, ignoring Eliph’s grumbling under his breath about it not being all that impressive.
I’m soaked through and freezing already, so I’m prepared to be all kinds of impressed.
“Yep,” Grimsal says with a smug smirk. “This here is a hot-spark. Not really fire, more of an illusion spell designed to keep the holder warm. Lighting stuff on fire is far more fun, but this is pretty handy for times like this. Now hold out your hands so I can transfer it.”
I do a happy wiggle in place as I reach for it, and gasp at the sparks that shoot through me when I brush against Eliph a little too intimately. His husky moan at the contact makes me shiver and I’m almost tempted to do it again just to see if we can make sparks fly again.
Except for the fact that I shouldn’t be encouraging sparks with my soon to be ex in a fucking downpour.
“Sorry!” I whisper as I rein in my curiously uppity libido in and back under my control.
I only get a grunt in reply, but I assume that it means he accepts my apology.
There is a temptation to sulk a little over my self-imposed denial, regardless of how sound the reasoning, but in the next moment I’m completely distracted when the tiny red ball is settled in my cupped hands. It glows brightly, and heat washes over me without burning my hands. The downside is that I can feel humidity settling in around us, but I can live with that so long as I’m not cold.
“This is incredible!”
Eliph raises an eyebrow as he looks down at me, but hey, I’m human. It’s not like I see magic up close and personal like this. I heard that witches got quite the experience once the portals opened and can now do feats like this, but I’ve never seen it myself since I don’t know any witches personally. The most I’ve experienced is seeing how my sister’s predictions have become more accurate, even if they’re still a bit vague while she hones her ability to interpret what she sees. I can admit that even then I’ve remained pretty skeptical, just like I doubted a lot of this magic-y stuff, but now… Wow!
I hold the ball closer to me as I watch the tiny sparks in its center dance.
“Now what?” I ask eagerly.
“Now… don’t drop it,” Grimsal chuckles. “When you get tired of holding it, switch it over to your mate. You can keep it going back and forth between the two of you easily enough.”
That’s all? That’s kind of disappointing. My first real brush with magic and all I can really do is hold it. I frown down at it and sigh.
“Would you like me to take it?” Eliph offers.
I immediately jerk my hands closer to my chest, and then blush as I realize just how that had to look—like a child afraid that her treat was about to be taken away.
“No, I’ve got it, but thank you,” I tell him.
Rather than be irritated, he smiles down at me with understanding, his horn glowing in the gloom. He flicks the wet hair off his brow with one hand and draws me closer to the enormous root system of the tree.
“I think this will last a little while yet. Sit with your hot-spark,” he directs as he settles on a particularly massive root and draws me down with him.
He remains hunched over me, but now I’m nestled against him, practically sitting between his legs. The heat of his thighs surrounds me, tempting me to wiggle back against him once more so that he folds himself completely around me. I can’t deny that I’m beginning to crave his touch and wouldn’t mind having it right about now.
Eliph drags his knuckle down the side of my cheek, drawing another shiver from me. It certainly isn’t because of the damp root that I am certain is under my ass. I can barely feel it through my wet clothes, but I know it is there and right