Shadowstorm (Sorcery and Science Book 6) (13 page)

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527AX January 10, Resonance Canyon

The stone house sat at the mouth of an alcove, partially enclosed by the sparkling walls of Resonance Canyon. From the front orchid garden—which bloomed with flowers purple and pink—there was a pretty spectacular view of the turquoise ocean below. Waves rolled over golden sand and crashed against silver cliffs glimmering with the pink-orange light of the descending sun. It was late. The trip had taken longer than Ariella had planned. She rushed into the house, wondering how long her parents had been kept waiting.

But they weren’t there. They hadn’t arrived yet, she realized as she opened the west-facing shutters, letting in the lingering remains of the day’s dying light. Warm and orange, it flooded the tiny living room.

“There’s a message on the sand slate here,” Davin called out from behind her.

Ariella turned, her cheek going cold the moment the warm light left it. She joined Davin in front of the table beside the door. She picked up the sand slate, which had been propped up against the wall so no one could miss it.

“Prince Halo, we hope your journey was swift and pleasant,” she read. “It is a great honor to have you as our guest here in Zephyr…blah, blah…”

“Blah, blah?”

“I’m summarizing.” Ariella had skimmed past a few paragraphs of flowery prose and carefully-crafted compliments. This was Mother’s handiwork. “Or did you want to hear all about how swimming nude in the waters around Resonance Canyon is the most powerful aphrodisiac on this side of the Emerald Sea?”

“Oh, yes. Let’s hear more about that.”

Ariella blushed behind the sand slate as she handed it to him.

Davin read aloud, the amusement in his voice growing with each passing paragraph. An eternity later, he finally got to the only part that really mattered. “Regrettably, we have been delayed and will be unable to make it to Resonance Canyon before tomorrow morning. Please accept our most sincere apologies for this inconvenience. In the meantime, we hope you will enjoy all the beauty the Zephyr coast has to offer. The sunsets at Resonance Canyon, in particular, are simply riveting. Later, Ariella…” He looked up at her through long eyelashes. “Oh, my.”

“What is it?”

He pressed the sand slate to his chest and smiled. That didn’t bode well. Exactly what had Mother written?

“I want to see,” she said.

“No, you really don’t.”

“Show me.”

He set the sand slate face-down on the table behind him. “No.” He mirrored her movements, blocking her attempts to get to it.

“Davin.”

“Your parents are late. They’re coming tomorrow. Zephyr is beautiful. That’s the gist of it.”

“I don’t want the gist of it. I want to see what it actually says.”

His smile was pure sin, as sweet as it was wicked. “Why?”

“I want to see the part about me.”

As her hand darted forward to grab the sand slate, Davin hopped up onto the tabletop and sat on it. The sand slate, not her hand. That would have been awkward. His hop had knocked her hand against his thigh, which was nearly as awkward. She hastily dropped it to her side.

“I’m just doing this for you,” he said, his voice as smooth as chocolate mousse.

A hiccup of laughter burst from her lips. “For me? How does being annoying count as doing something for me?”

He gave his shoulders a casual lift.

“Hand it over,” she said. This had progressed beyond ridiculous.

“Ok.” He sighed. “But don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”

“The sunsets at Resonance Canyon, in particular, are simply riveting. Later, Ariella would be happy to escort you to her bedroom.” She looked at him. “And?”

“And?”

“And what’s bad about that? Ok, so I realize the long-winded descriptions of Zephyr’s landscapes are tedious, and my mother overdoes it a tad on the ‘good hostess’ part, but it’s really just a pretty standard formal letter.”

Davin stared at her as though her hair had caught on fire. “What have you done with Ariella?”

Huh?

“You turn red as a cherry at the slightest shadow of innuendo, and yet you don’t even miss a beat when your mother suggests that we hop into bed together.”

Ariella looked down at the sand slate. “When did she…” Her eyes paused on the word ‘bedroom’. Oh. He’d taken it
that
way. “It’s a Zephyr thing.”

“Promising sex to your guests?”

“No.” Her cheeks burned with the fire of a thousand suns. “Offering your own room to your guest. Then sleeping somewhere else, like on the sofa. It’s part of the etiquette rule book.”

His lip twitched, and he cleared his throat. “There’s an etiquette rule book?”

“Of course there is. Every kingdom has one. I thought you would know about it.”

“Not intimately.” The twitch had spread down to his chin. He was laughing at her. “I’m glad to hear the people of Zephyr are more amicable toward their guests than the people of Everlast. I’d much rather sleep with my hostess than be challenged to a bloody duel by her.”

Ariella folded her arms against her chest. “You’re making fun of me.”

“No.”

He reached out to touch her shoulder, but she sidestepped him and walked outside. She crossed the garden, Davin hurrying after her. She just kept going, her throat choking up. She reached the vista point that overlooked the ocean and stopped, the warmth of the setting sun soaking through her. It kissed the horizon, setting the rock walls all around her alight with a million glittering shades of sunset.

Davin’s hand closed around hers. After a few seconds had passed and he still hadn’t dropped it, she snuck a sidelong peek. He was staring out at the setting sun, mesmerized by the symphony of light and color. Through their linked hands, his pulse thumped against her skin. It pounded up her arm and spilled into her chest, and from there it shot to every corner of her body, flooding her with warmth.

“You’re doing it again,” she muttered.

“No.” His whisper cracked. “I’m not. The enchantment is not coming from me. It’s coming from this place. What is that?”

“I told you there’s magic here.”

“There really is.” Davin stroked his hand down her arm. “You are so beautiful.”

Ariella looked into his eyes, which were wide and dilated. “And you are drunk on sunset magic.”

He laughed, low and deep. “So are you.”

“I’m immune.”

“Are you?” He drew her in closer, his hand sliding past her hip. “I can see it in your eyes.” His breath caressed her cheek like a bed of rose petals. “You want me.”

“Davin—”

“And I want you, Ariella.” He kissed across her jaw, up to her ear, and whispered, “There’s something between us. I know you feel it.”

Her breath stuttered. “Enchanted rocks.”

He shook his head with a smile, his teal eyes so bright that they almost glowed. “No, it’s been there for so much longer than that. I should have told you, Ariella. But…no, there is no ‘but’. There’s no excuse for my behavior.”

This wasn’t happening. The enchanted rays were scrambling her brain, making her hallucinate.

“I want to remedy that.” The soft brush of his hand against her cheek sure didn’t feel like a hallucination. It felt real. “If you’ll let me.”

“You have only ever seen me as a friend,” she said, a reminder to herself as much as to him.

“If you only knew half of the salacious thoughts about you that have passed through my head, Ariella, you wouldn’t call me a friend.”

Her heart thumped, longing to drown in his words.
It’s the magic in the air
, she reminded herself yet again. Her certainty was dissolving with every word that he spoke.

“You knew how I feel about you,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

He dipped his chin. “Yes.”

Sometimes squeezing lemon juice into an open cut was a nasty necessity. It hurt, but it kept her head on straight.

“Then, if you really felt as strongly as you claim, why did you never say anything?”

He mulled that over for a second, then said, “I didn’t fathom the true depth of my feelings for you.”

“Nice. My mother has nothing on you when it comes to ornate speeches.” Ariella stepped back. “But I just don’t buy it, Davin.”
Much as I want to.
“You kissed me—multiple times. Granted, they weren’t much more than a teasing preview to what never followed. But surely after kissing me, you should have recognized these so-called feelings. You know what I think? I think this is all just a game to you. ‘Oh, I’ll kiss Ariella just to see what kind of stupid response I can get out of her. Hey, it will be fun to see her fumble for coherent sentences.’ You don’t care about me. And you’re right. You aren’t a good friend. Friends don’t torment friends.”

Ariella spun away from him. She hadn’t made it two steps when Davin’s voice froze her in her tracks.

“I love you.”

She pivoted back around. “What?”

“I’m in love with you.” He took a step toward her. “And that’s the truth.”

Ariella didn’t back up, even as he took another step forward. The warm light glowed at his back, casting a halo around him. His bronze hair shimmered. His teal eyes burned. And though he wasn’t much of a fighter, you sure couldn’t tell it by looking at him, especially when he wore that skin-tight shirt. Ariella looked up. Up was almost always safer than down.

“And how do I know this isn’t just another game, Davin?”

“Kissing you was never just a game to me. I enjoyed it very much.”

“So did I.” The words just burst out of her lips, before she could think better of it. No, she hadn’t thought at all. Maybe she wasn’t immune to the enchanted rocks after all.

A smile—sweet and sexy and dangerous times a million—spread across his lips, daring her to kiss him.

“But that’s beside the point,” she said. “I’m tired of being strung along. I have loved you for years.
Years
. And all that time, you acted as though you weren’t interested. Or at least only intermittently interested. Do you know how humiliating it was for me to be reminded of your indifference again and again and—”

Davin’s kiss swallowed her words. It made her forget—everything. Everything but Davin. He was all that mattered. His hand slid down her back, pulling her close, and the world dissolved around them. He’d kissed her before, but not like this. Not even close. Those friendly pecks couldn’t compare to the caress of his lips against hers, the rhythm building faster and rougher. She could hardly breathe, and when she did, he slid his tongue past her lips, plunging it inside her.

“I…I think…I’d like to see…that bedroom now,” he muttered between kisses.

His hands kneaded her bare back with an urgency that threatened to explode. Somewhere in the midst of all that, she’d lost her shirt. And she didn’t care. Davin had lost his too. His skin shone with a warm radiance. A string of diamond droplets slid slowly down his neck. His sweat, potent with desire. And enchantment. Ariella didn’t care anymore—about the rocks’ enchantment or Davin’s.

She took his hand, leading him back to the house. “I’ll show you.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

~
Bonds of Magic ~

527AX January 11, Resonance Canyon

THE MORNING LIGHT nipped at Ariella’s closed eyes, daring her to open them. She had no intention of taking that dare. Not yet. She rolled over and buried her head beneath the pillow.

Davin’s soft chuckle penetrated the bundle of downy feathers. He was there. And in a good mood from the sound of it. She tugged on the edge of the pillow, freeing her face as she opened her eyes.

He lay propped up on his side, facing her. His blanket had slid down to his waist. Or maybe he’d done that on purpose, just to distract her. She didn’t stare at his chest, which was every bit as naked as she was, and she certainly didn’t stare anywhere else either.

“Good morning,” Davin said with a smile.

He leaned in and kissed her. While not as urgent as his kisses last night, it wasn’t without passion. As he leaned back, the imprint of his kiss burned on her lips. They weren’t the only thing burning. Her cheeks hot, her eyes watery, she hugged the blanket to her chest and scooted back.

“Oh no you don’t.” Davin grabbed her wrist, freezing her backward scoot. “I waited too long for you to let you run off now.”

“You…” She swallowed. “You don’t have any regrets?”

“About last night? Absolutely not.” He flashed her a grin. “It was even better than the last time we slept together.”

“The…last time?” she croaked.

“You know, last year in the Red Woods. That time we went looking for Keys and spent the night in his cabin.”

“I don’t recall sleeping with you then. In fact, I distinctly remember I was wearing lots of clothes—and had my sword nearby.”

“As I said, this time was better.” His finger traced up her arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake. “Fewer clothes. No sword. Just you.” He kissed her wrist. “And me.” He set her hand on his chest, right over his heart. It purred beneath her fingers, buzzing against her skin.

“The only regret I have is that I didn’t tell you sooner how I feel about you. Funny how easily a few rocks can wash all my denial away, just like that.“

“They’re magic rocks, fully capable of dealing with obstinate princes.”

“Sure. But not nearly as capable of dealing with me as you are.”

He gave her a long, lingering look, and she had the strangest notion that her blanket had gone invisible. She hugged the invisible blanket to her chest.

“There’s no point in that now, sweetheart. I’ve already seen everything.” His hand slid over her shoulder and down her back. “Up close.”

Ariella shivered, the touch of his hand reviving memories from the previous night. She lay in silence, her breath a whispered sigh as he massaged circles into her back. And then, without warning, he peeled his hand off her skin. He withdrew it to his side, a smirk on his lips.

“About those magic rocks,” he said. “What’s the story behind Resonance Canyon?”

She resisted the urge to reach out to him, even though she really, really wanted to. “There’s not much of a story. The rocks of Resonance Canyon are magical. Zephyr Dust is made from them, and you know what
that
is used for.”