Page 123 of Revealing Fate

“My sanity,” she replied tartly. She cleared her throat. “Did you find anything useful last night?” she asked, changing the subject as much to distract Kal as her relentless, thoroughly inappropriate imagination. He’d insisted upon spending another night perusing texts.

Kal soured. “Much of the same. I fell asleep reading something about reviving a lost soul by sacrificing a blood bond. Or maybe binding souls with a blood offering?” He shook his head, grimacing. “I don’t know. I can’t remember half of what I attempted to translate. None of it seemed useful.”

“Does that have anything to do with the obscene amount of liquor you consumed?” Felíne had found the discarded bottle lying next to him after she’d woken from her fever dream and gently shoved him awake. Kal had lurched forward in a panic, gaze glassy and disoriented, the spicy smell of whiskey lingering in the air like a stubborn halo of intoxication.

Kal scratched at the stubble on the underside of his chin. “I overindulged a bit,” he admitted.

“A bit?” she scolded. “A horse would have been comatose after drinking as much as you did.”

His lips twitched. “You underestimate my stamina, dear Kitty.”

“Not after last night, I don’t,” she grumbled.

A wicked gleam lit the black of Kal’s irises with a spark of gold. “Oh?”

Alarm shot through her.

“My memory’s a bit fuzzy,” he said, stepping closer to her. “What feats of stamina did I display last night?”

Felíne stumbled. Alcohol. They were talking about alcohol. “Your tendency toward alcoholism,” she snapped, recovering. “And how unhealthy, and decidedly unhelpful, it is.”

“I don’t have a problem with drinking, Kitty,” he said, amused.

“Right.”

“Alcoholism is a dependency. I could easily go the rest of my life without consuming another drop.”

“Then prove it,” Felíne challenged.

Kal grinned. “I don’t think you want me to.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Kal’s hand shot out, snaking around Felíne’s waist and tugging her body against his. The air left her lungs on a startled exhale. Kal dipped his head close to hers, his mouth hovering mere inches from her lips.

“Because,” he whispered, breath mingling with hers. “You like the way I smell after drinking whiskey. You like the way I taste.”

“Dragon,” she reminded him. “Hot and foul.”

He chuckled, brushing the tip of his nose over hers.

“I don’t like you,” Felíne said with positively zero conviction.

He smiled wider. “Haven’t we established you’re a poor liar?”

She huffed. Kal laughed, planting a playful kiss on her lips. The sound was rich and wonderful, coaxing Felíne’s face to light without her permission.

“Who’s distracted now?” she teased. “You’re supposed to be teaching me how to shoot a crossbow.”

Kal released her but stayed close, as though his body was loath to relinquish her proximity. Felíne wanted this. She wished she could spend the rest of her days in this glen with Kal, training skills she need never use. Wished she could occupy her nights enticing her recent dreams into the waking world.

A wicked sliver of sadness struck her, burrowing deep. They hadn’t found anything in the texts Kal had collected. Felíne hadn’t thought they would, but she couldn’t deny the pang of disappointment that reverberated with the acknowledgment. Her time here was coming to a close. She felt it in her spirit.

Kal watched her with knowing eyes, tracking the melancholy that stole over her. “Let’s take a break,” he said gently, attempting to pull her out of her internal spiral. “There’s something I’d like to show you.”

Kal led Felíne deep into Stillwater Wood. So deep, she wasn’t even sure they were still in Stillwater Wood. The towering, verdant trees and varied plant life that sheltered Meress had given this section of forest over to their ancestors. The flora here was ancient. The bilobas, redwoods, and puzzle trees were so gnarled with age that they no longer resembled their original forms. Roots tangled to build foundations for entirely new species. Trunks hosted complete ecosystems. Limbs spread wildly, ensnaring unsuspecting neighbors. This forest appeared wholly untouched by shurii. The animals that made their homes here were strange and skittish, offering only glimpses of oddly patterned hides and wide, mysterious eyes.

“Kal,” Felíne whispered, following him closely. “Where are we going?”