Page 31 of Gate of Chaos


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One, two, three…

I managed to hand-over-hand my way to the little island. I dropped, almost fell backwards off the edge. Auryn snagged me as my arms went momentarily numb.

He pulled me up onto the barrier. So he’d brought me out here to see this? The panel was a bunch of bright gibberish, but did look like flow rates and assorted other super-sciencey parameters.

“Ready?”

“For what?” I asked.

He pointed to the otherotherside of the triangle island. Without waiting, he swung across to the other side.

I slipped again on the stones and Auryn caught me with one arm while holding the cable with his other hand. After a moment of dipping me over the rushing water, he drew me back with a wicked smile and pushed open a narrow metal access door I hadn’t seen before.

The door creaked and groaned, then opened up onto a set of narrow, wet, algae-covered and entirely hazardous stairs.

“Definitelynot up to code.” The thick coating of scum and algae squished under my toes.

Auryn gave my ass a gentle swat. I didn’t budge. He delivered a more stinging swat and a soft, “Move.”

“Or what?” I whispered back.

To that I got a palm on my ass, with his fingers—damp from our surroundings—teasing the crease where my ass met my thigh. The aching, cold, raw feeling of our diseased tethers mingled with the warmth that came with his touch.

Fooling around with him on these slippery steps while being plastered face-first against this damp, scum-covered wall only for one of us to lose our balance if the tethers scorched either of us with pain and then we fell down the steps and eventually someone found us was not how I wanted to get my next hashtag.

The stairs opened up into an equally gross, algae-riddled alcove with some more panels. The blend of complete urban neglect with sophisticated space dragon tech was a mood.

“You sure know how to show a girl a good time,” I said. “You know sewers were myprofession, right? Not my hobby? I feel there may have been a critical misunderstanding here…”

He nudged me forward.

The caress of his distant light made me shiver from soul to toes.

The access tunnel twisted around, then opened up onto a small ledge that overlooked West.

“Whoa,” I whispered. We were at the top of the cavern ceiling, except tucked off to the side, and not immediately visible from anyone on the harbor or in the bay itself. It was a great scenic outlook. And from all the algae, not often travelled.

Auryn drew me from the edge to the back of the narrow tunnel, where he settled down against the damp rocks, out of sight of the ground.

I settled next to him. The rocks were damp but not very cold, and soaked me instantly.

He kissed my hair. “Brings back memories.”

“Well, we usually were snuggled up on the couch with the TV on and not paying attention to it.”

“I used to come up here when I was younger and wanted to hide.” Auryn watched the happenings.

“Hide from what?”

“From beingAuryn. From that feeling like I could not breathe or move or eventhinkwithout being a hazard.”

I laid my cheek against his shoulder. “Do you think they’ll ever tell us anything?”

He brushed his cheek against my hair, fingers entangled with mine. Tendrils of magic moved as invisible energy against our palms. “I’d tell you you get used to it, but you don’t. You make peace with it.”

“I can live with that if Lemuria and humanity get out of this intact. But I’m still afraid they’ll hold it against our kids. Because the kids don’t get a choice.”

“I worry about that too. But they’ll be safe until they molt. There’s very little magic until then.”

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