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I glared at him as he pushed open the window. A draft of warm air wafted into the room.
Unable to help my curiosity, I slid over to the edge of the bed and lowered my feet to the floor. The first touch of my bare feet on the cool solid marble left me dizzy. I stood in place for a moment until the lightheadedness had mostly passed, then took one excruciating step at a time. All of the strength seemed to have left my body and I had none in reserve.
Draven stood gazing out the window, waiting patiently as I made my way to his side. He didn’t even glance over at me, though I knew he was aware of my painstaking progress.
Only when my foot slipped on the marble and I stumbled did his arm shoot out.
Before I could stop him, his hand was on my waist, steadying me. I could feel the warmth of his skin through the fabric of my shift. I glanced down at myself and was chagrined to realize just how thin the material was. The outline of my breasts was easily discernible. Crossing my arms, I lifted my head quickly and hoped he hadn’t noticed.
“What is this?” I took one last step to bring myself up beside him.
His hand stayed steady on my hip, holding me upright. Part of me wanted to demand he remove it. But the truth was, I felt as if I might keel over at any moment and was doing my best not to clutch at his sleeve for extra support.
How humiliating.
I followed Draven's gaze, out through the glass doors and as I did, I sucked in my breath. A balcony jutted out in front of us, carved from shining black rock. Obsidian perhaps. The rock's surface sparkled with carved glyphs and sigils that reminded me of the markings along each of my arms. It was easy to see why the balcony had been literally covered in such protective magic. A palpable heat radiated through the air and beyond...
I took a step forward, then another. Draven moved with me, his hand still vaguely protective on my hip.
A whiff of sulfur. A whisper of smoke.
And below the balcony's edge, a jaw-dropping vista unfurled.
Lava cascaded down a mountain's rugged slopes, painting the landscape with liquid fire in a molten ballet of destruction and creation. Streams of melted rock glistened and glowed, casting brilliant hues of red, orange, and yellow as they flowed over the ground. A rumbling sound cracked through the air, filling my ears with the sound of the earth's very heartbeat.
I took another step forward. The heat was scorching and yet I could sense that this was the limit of the volcano's power. It could not reach beyond the edge of the balcony. We were safe where we stood. The entire palace was enveloped in protective magic.
I looked higher up to where the air was filled with sparks and embers bursting forth from the mountainous rock, filling the sky with a mesmerizing display.
And then my eyes widened and a shiver ran down my spine.
The sky? There was no sky at all.
I had raised my eyes expecting to see clear blue or cloudy gray, only to be met with a dark vastness. But a darkness unlike any night sky I had ever seen.
We were deep within the embrace of Aercanum itself.
We were below ground. The palace was subterranean.
