Page 45 of The First Trial
I chuckled. He wasn’t wrong.
‘All right, Romeo. As much as I’d love to stay here with you, we need to find the others.’
He blinked at me in confusion before his features scrunched into a fierce scowl. ‘My name is Phenex, not Romeo.’
I barked out a laugh and slapped at his arm, and he glared at where I hit him like his arm was in the wrong. ‘I know your name. Romeo is a fictional character from a play. He’s famous for being a romantic.’
The indignation seeped from him, and he gave me a satisfied smile that drew my attention back to his lips. I had the urge to taste them again and realised that I could, so I did. He moaned softly into my mouth as our tongues brushed lightly against each other, this kiss softer than before, yet no less passionate. In fact, as impossible as it seemed, it was the most intimate kiss I had ever experienced.
It didn’t last long, and when we pulled away, Phenex had a dreamy smile on his face that I knew matched mine.
‘I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,’ he admitted softly.
My response was to press my lips against his again, lingering a little longer than planned.
‘Okay,’ I said, enjoying the breathiness in my voice. This shit didn’t happen to people like me, and I was fighting to wrap my head around it, but at the same time, I was enjoying every moment and trying not to overthink it. ‘We really should keep moving now.’
He sighed but nodded. ‘You’re right. Let’s go.’
Neither one of us let go as we continued down the tunnel.
* * * * *
I didn’t know how long we’d been walking, but both of us had begun to feel the effects of the long day. We were hungry, thirsty, and with my energy depleting, so was my ability to maintain my spells. My light spell kept flickering, so I dimmed it and only sent out spurts of my magic to search for the correct route.
We were going to need to stop soon to rest, but we would also need to find food and water before we starved to death. Only there was nothing around but rock. There wasn’t even a single trickle of water seeping through a crack. Everything was so dry and dusty, and my throat was starting to hurt from the lack of moisture in the air.
‘Let’s just stop for a while. Get some rest,’ Phenex urged when he cast yet another side-long look of concern my way at my wheezing. I usually had a water bottle within reach at all times, so I wasn’t handling the situation as well as I would have liked. I tried not to let it get me down, but it was hard to maintain a positive attitude when all I wanted was a tall, cool glass of water. I was close to drinking my pee, it was that bad.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked when I coughed, his hand tightening on mine like I was about to turn to dust and float away on the slightest breeze. I felt like my throat was already halfway there.
‘Yeah,’ I croaked. ‘Just thirsty. We need to find water soon.’
‘Okay. We can search for some as soon as you’ve rested.’
We settled down, Phenex’s back propped against the rocky wall while I crawled half onto his lap and rested my head on his bicep, and I let the light spell go, plunging us into darkness. I would have been on his shoulder, but he was so tall that I couldn’t reach him, even though we were sitting down. With anyone else that might have made me self-conscious, but with Phenex, I loved the way his larger frame encompassed mine. It made me feel safe and protected from any monsters that could be lurking in the dark.
It was kind of like a fort – a warm, muscular fort – and I enjoyed every second of it.
I was just starting to snooze, snuggling into his oversized chest, when I heard something that prevented me from fully nodding off. At first, I thought it was coming from Phenex, but then I realised it was echoing from further down the tunnel. A shuffling noise that I struggled to pinpoint until it got louder. No, not louder. Closer. The closer it got, the more defined the sound became until I was able to pick out the individual footfalls of stampeding feet, and they were heading right for us.
Phenex and I sat up at the same time, and if it weren’t for his arm wrapped around my waist, I would have been thrown right off his lap. He didn’t even give me the chance to get my feet beneath me before he was hauling me upright, my littler legs dangling helplessly while I clutched at the singular arm holding me up, afraid he was going to drop me. That fear fled quickly, however, when I realised he was literally so strong that he was holding my weight as if it were nothingwith only one arm.
I ignored the tingles of desire his display of impressive strength sent through my system (I mean, who doesn’t like a man that’s strong enough to throw them around?) and focused my attention on the approaching crowd.
‘What do we do?’ I ask in a low whisper.
‘We stay hidden in the shadows. Wait for them to pass. We don’t know who it is or what they want.’
‘But what if they’re runningfromsomething?’ I asked, the possibilities and the unknown ratcheting up my anxiety levels.
‘Then we run, too.’
My body already ached in protest, but I prepared myself just the same.
Shouts suddenly reached us from what sounded like right around the corner, and then the first person barrelled through. I couldn’t see, but I could hear the rapid footsteps and a man’s laboured breaths. More followed in quick succession until one shout caught my attention. The voice struck me as familiar, even if the urgent tone warped it. It reminded me of Evander, lyrical and smooth. Had we just come across the group of Fae?
More voices shouted, though the inflections ranged from panicked to commanding. Lo and behold, the commanding voice did, indeed, belong to Evander.. He came tearing through the tunnel, taking up the rear as a plume of smoke chased his tail, illuminated by the giant fireball heading right for him.
