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Brinna’s beauty made him feel that, as if he should both hide and step out in order to be seen. Her round cheeks were currently tinged pink, her mouth pursed. He knew that when she smiled she had a tiny divot in her right cheek near the corner of her mouth. When she smiled—which she often did except with him—he felt as if perhaps he’d been cast in the fiery depths of Lexa’s Underworld, because all of him burned. His eyes dipped to her lips now, and noted the bottom one was fuller than the top. Kissable.
Kissing her invaded his thoughts. He’d kissed her before.
Fuck. He wanted to do it again.
Kissing was ridiculous to ponder, so he cleared his throat. “We’re back,” he said and reminded himself that she disliked him—he’d made sure of it. Maybe he was the blight.
“Yes.” She turned and looked around, then wrapped her arms around her body as if holding herself together, still in the gown she’d worn to her sister’s wedding. With a shiver, she picked up the discarded cloak.
“Would you like something to change into? I might have something more comfortable.”
Her eyes darted back to him. She offered a partial smile—one that didn’t create that divot—and nodded. “Thank you.”
He started toward the hallway and glanced over his shoulder to make sure she was following as he led her to one of the sky bridges that connected each wing of Sol to the central atrium of the villa. The corridor arched above them. Made of metal and glass, the bridge between wings always made him feel as if he were walking in the sky. Though technically that was true, since Sol hovered in the heavens, suspended above Elcadia. The sun’s light was waning, drifting toward sunset, and cast a golden glow through the corridor.
Brinna gasped, then squeaked behind him.
He turned to find her still at the opposite end of the corridor staring down at the transparent floor, the expansive landscape of Elcadia far below with intermittent clouds drifting between them.
“What is it?”
Her eyes jumped from the floor to him then back again. “That… I… we’re…”
“In Sol,” he said and walked back to her. “This is my…” He stalled on the word.
Her eyes jumped back to him.
“It’s my home,” he finished, realizing that though he hadn’t made it much of one, it was still the truth. “It’s perfectly safe.” He grinned and offered his hand. “I promise.”
She took a tentative step onto the glass floor toward him. “Earlier, I thought maybe it was on a mountain. Attached to the land.”
He chuckled.
When she was close enough, she reached out and grasped his hand. The contact sent a current zipping through him.
Ignoring that sudden heat, he led her over the bridge toward the atrium. When they stepped from the glass hallway, he had to stop and wait for her. She hesitated, looking over her shoulder at the floor once more.
“It isn’t going anywhere,” he said. “You’ll cross them so much, you’ll get used to it.”
“How is this possible?”
“Godlight,” he said and dropped her hand. He had no reason to keep hold of her. And he didn’t appreciate the way his body was betraying him by wanting to keep touching her; he regretted the loss of the connection. Rather than acknowledge the initial pang, he ignored it.
“And that is what exactly?”
He hummed, trying to figure out how to explain it. “Every god is born with godlight. It’s like–”
“Magic?”
He led her into the central hub of Sol. “Power, yes, but it’s also asleep, sort of, until ascension.”
“Oh my stars,” she breathed.
He looked over his shoulder. Her head was tilted up, taking in the expanse of the atrium, which arched so high it was difficult to make out the details of the ceiling. He stopped and looked up with her, examining Sol through her eyes, and realized he’d stopped looking at it with awe a long time ago.
But seeing her reaction, he realized it was rather amazing. The domed ceiling arched high above them, but this far down, it resembled the open sky through the glass. Add to that the verdant foliage of the greenhouse, the creek running through the wooded grove and gardens at the center, the flowers, the trees, the pathways, the doors. It really was stunning.
“How many people live here?” she asked and turned in place.
