Still feeling a little rattled, I cleared my throat and wrapped my arms around myself. “It’s okay. Can you guide me, though?”
“Of course, give me your good hand.”
I offered it, and the second his fingers wrapped around it, my nerves settled and the knot in my chest loosened.
“I should have gotten you gloves as well,” he breathed out with a hint of frustration biting at his words. “I’m sorry. I keep managing to fuck up. We will get you warmed up in the hot springs within the mountain. The ley line runs through it, bringing warmth to the mountain for the water undine to exist comfortably despite the cold the ice undine require.”
The thought had me practically on top of him as he guided me through the tunnel, an eagerness to submerge myself within the hot water overwhelming me.
Soon enough, the tunnel opened up in a large cave that had a massive fire roaring within it in the corner. The fire itself was nothing more than a heap of uneven logs and odd kindling, but it did the trick, chasing away the worst of the chill in the air.
As soon as my eyes adjusted, I dropped Theo’s hand and helped take a pack from his shoulder. We made quick work of setting up an area to sleep with the blankets we’d brought and the brush that the dragon who’d been communicating with Theo had left for us. It wouldn’t be wildly comfortable, sleeping atop tree branches, but if it meant we were safe for now, it would have to do.
When he finally seemed satisfied with our bed, I was practically prancing around in excitement. Giddiness poured through me as I asked, “Can we go to the springs now?”
While it was warmer here than in our initial landing spot, I felt like my bones themselves had been frozen during our journey, and I was thawing as fast as a glacier.
The fire reflected from the scales on his cheeks as they pulled up with his smile. “Yes, wench, we can go. I need to lay some ground rules for the duration of our stay here first, though.”
He held a finger up. “First, you don’t leave this cave without me. There’s a massive tunnel system here that the dragons frequent. Any other time of the year it would be dangerous, but right now, it would be lethal if you ran into any of the nesting mates. This is when their young will start to hatch, and their territorial instincts are immense.”
I nodded, completely understanding the rule. However, my mind wandered, trying to picture a dragon egg and a baby hatching from it. How big were they? Did they come out with scales?
His voice snapped me from the thoughts as he ambled on, holding up a second finger. “Second, keep your mental barrier up at all times. You haven’t yet trained in mindspeak and don’tknow how to keep the connection open to only me. Lucius heard you yelling for me last night with your projection."
So that was why he showed up when he did. I grimaced. I really owed him an apology with how often I seemed to put him in danger.
“It’s okay,” Theo stated, “no human is ever trained until they have a mate bond established. It makes it far easier to feel the connection between their dragon and them and to use it as a base to work with.”
A third finger popped up. “Rule three. If you break rules number one and two, don’t blame me for your death.”
My jaw dropped and I spluttered, “Theo! That is not funny.”
He shrugged. “I beg to differ. With your track record, I felt it pertinent. Let’s get going. I doubt the fire has warmed you up too much yet.”
He held out his hand and I quickly took it, following him down a large tunnel connected to our temporary new home. It was definitely big enough for Theo’s dragon to fit in, so I had no doubt this was the path that the elder dragon had come to bring us the few supplies he’d left.
“How many dragons live here?” I asked, shocked at the way my voice echoed in this area. I lowered my voice instantly. “And do they ever come down to mingle with the drackya?”
Our footsteps were the only sound for a bit as I awaited his response.
Finally, he said, “It continues to shock me, how little we know of each other’s world, when before I was born, our people coexisted. The curse truly had its intended impact, separating us.”
When he worded it that way, a tinge of sadness crept up within me, which was odd. I’d always struggled to picture how the cohesion of our worlds had ever occurred, but after spending some time with Theo, I was beginning to see glimpses of it.
“Let’s wait to continue this conversation until we’re in the springs. I don’t want our voices to startle any unsuspecting dragons, despite Alstrid alerting them to my visit,” he explained, leading me down a new direction as the tunnel curved.
The scent of salt and ash hit me as a draft of wind swept down toward us.
We walked in comfortable silence for a bit, and as the sound of rushing water grew, so did my excitement alongside it. I felt the ground beneath us slowly slope down, and the air grew thicker and warmer as we descended.
“All of the water undine have been barred from using the springs until we are done, and the ice undine would never come down here,” he announced, dropping my hand as we drew closer to the pools of water. They were illuminated from the smallest crack above them that let a stream of light into the cavern.
I came to a stop, suddenly feeling horrible that the dragons had been prohibited from using their own territory because of me. “Maybe we should go back to our cave. I don’t need to be here. This is their home and I’m intruding.”
His head whipped around quickly, eyes narrowing on me. He took slow, calculated steps toward me as he clasped his hand behind his back. “Careful, wench, that almost sounds like your heart is softening toward our kind.”
I opened my mouth to say I still saw the dragons as separate from the drackya, considering they weren’t the ones who had kidnapped our citizens and killed them, but he took me by surprise as his hand lifted to run his fingers along my cheek.
