Page 15 of Skyblossom
“Your puns are cute.”
“Everything about me is cute.”
A glimmer of magic light pulled my attention up, up to where the thick, bushy green canopy that closed in just over our heads sparked with thin swirls of colorful magic light. Cadence’seyes sparkled as she looked up, taking it in. “Oh… magic confluence,” she said.
“Must be the ley lines reacting to something close by. I guess there’s an outcropping not far away.”
“I never get to catch these,” she said softly, shuffling closer to my side, close enough I could feel her warmth against me, as the lights swirled brighter, more and more of them swimming through the brush around us, casting us in a kaleidoscope of magic light, a soft resonance sound like a distant violin swell humming from the magic around us. “It’s so pretty…”
I looked down at her—away from the magic lights, and instead at the way they glinted in her eyes, that look of wonderment as she took it in all around us. “It is,” I said, and she softened, looking at me with that tender look in her eyes—this close up, just the two of us, under the glow of the magic lights, the urge to kiss her was almost unbearable.
“You’re going to fly,” she said softly. “I look forward to seeing it happen.”
“Won’t just see it happen,” I laughed. “Going to take you with me once I pull it off. Ever had someone take you flying before?”
She blushed brighter, but she smiled wider, eyes sparkling. “Maybe not on your very first time trying.”
“Okay, touché. On the second time.”
“You wouldn’t need to do that.”
“I keep telling you I’m going to do something to thank you for all your help. Taking you on a flight tour is the least I can do.”
She laughed, looking down at the ground between us. “It’s a plan. You know—get that practice in with sweeping a girl off her feet before the last day of the semester.”
I gave her a nervous laugh, shifting awkwardly. “I guess I need all I can get if I’m not going to embarrass myself in front of her.”
“You’re going to do amazing.” She twirled her finger in her hair, looking down. “I mean, you clearly know how to… but, I mean, I could use the practice too.”
I blinked. “Are we going for the, like,practice kissingangle right now?”
“No!” She flinched, blushing vividly, hands up. “I mean…” She shook her head, a wild look in her eyes. “No! No. Just practicing how to do these kinds of things, flying people places, long walks by the water, dancing… I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m just insecure I could never keep up.”
I smiled achingly at her, and I rose slowly to my feet, offering her a hand. “Do you want to dance, Cadence?”
“Oh…” She looked breathlessly at my hand and back up at me, but someone else made the choice for her—Knot rose up and held onto my wrist and hers, pulling her up until her hand met mine, and she clasped firmly as I guided her hand to my lower back and let the other one hold onto hers. “I… don’t know how to dance.”
“I know a bit of ballroom dance. I’ll show you.”
“Wow. Okay. Please do.”
The magic in the glade responded to ours, sparking up brighter in swirls around us as I led Cadence, clumsily at first, to the slow, steady steps of a dance, and I felt my heart beating faster with the closeness, Cadence’s rich hazelnut-brown eyes looked into mine like I’d cast the sun to life. I explained the steps, showed her through the motions, as our shoes bumped against each other, nervous giggles turning into slow, building confidence as we found each other’s rhythm, and all I could think was that I hoped Lumi was making good on her promise not to scry on me.
When the magic confluence grew stronger above us, shimmering magic dust falling down over us in a twinkling rain of light, Cadence settled to a stop in front of me, leaning slightlyoff balance on her tiptoes towards me, and she said, “I didn’t know you could dance.”
I winked. “I’ve got lots of surprises.”
“Do I get to find out what the others are?”
“If fortune favors me.”
Knot knew what he wanted—he snaked out from Cadence’s back and looped around us both, and when he tugged us closer together, I didn’t overthink it—the snagweed and I were on the same page. I leaned in, and I kissed her, my lips finding the soft touch of hers with the little startled sound that softened into a blissful noise of contentment, her hands slipping to my back and holding me against her.
Something rustled in the brush before I could rethink why this was a bad idea, and I cracked my eyelids to look at where—I stiffened at the sight of a shape poking through the brush. One of the stone dragon heads, eyes narrowed to slits, moving slowly as it breathed, eyes locked on mine.
It growled. Cadence jumped back from the kiss, whirling back as I grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her away. “I knew it—Itoldyou one of them had to be real—”
“Run—”
