Soul of Smoke (6 page)

Chapter Six

Deserted with Dragons

Ashem sensed the moment Kai woke, her mind lazily turning from inactivity to wakefulness. She’d slept through the others leaving. She’d slept through breakfast. He was beginning to think she’d stay asleep if he picked her up and tossed her into the half-frozen river that snaked around the base of the mountain.

Not that he would. Well, not without reason.

Because of her
sensitivities
, Ashem stayed out of her mind, only aware that she was awake and in the other room. She stayed there for a long time. He scowled. When she finally got out of bed and made her way to the kitchen, his scowl deepened, and he mentally prepared himself for what he was about to attempt.

Ancients
,
please do not let this
girl
be my heartsworn.

She rounded the wall into the kitchen area, starting when she saw him.

“Oh! Hi.” She watched him warily.

He folded his arms across his chest and jerked his head toward the cauldron in the fire pit. “There’s food.”

“Thanks.” Kai reached for the waistband of her pants. Apparently not finding what she was looking for, she closed her hand into a fist. Ffion had found some of Deryn’s old clothes in the hoard for Kai to sleep in. The loose fit only emphasized her boy-like figure.

Kai half-turned away from him. “So...everyone is gone?”

“Yes.”

Silence.

“So...I’m guessing you’re not Welsh like the others. Where are you from?”

Stars, he hated small talk. He shook his head and went to the sink to clean his bowl.

Kai folded her arms across her own chest and scowled back at him. “This is going to be a
super
fun couple of days. Can you hand me a bowl?”

Ashem grunted and pulled a stone bowl down from the high shelf. He held onto it for a moment, looking from it to her.

Blood of the Ancients
,
just get it over with.

He held up the bowl. Kai watched him expectantly, as if she thought he would move forward to hand it to her. He didn’t. Instead, he shook it slightly.

Kai made a disgusted noise and walked over to retrieve the bowl. At the last second, he reached up and skimmed his fingers across the smooth, freckled skin of her cheek.

Nothing happened. He let out a long, low exhale of relief.
Thank the Ancients.

“Um. What are you doing?”
Because it’s super awkward.
The thought was strong and directed straight at him, so he heard it. The shields she’d put up before were gone, though he sensed them. If she needed, she could snap them back up in an instant.

He dropped his hand. “None of your concern.”

“Well, it is my face.”

Ashem scowled. His purpose accomplished, he crossed the kitchen and pulled aside the curtain that hung across the tunnel to the lower levels, Kai’s bemusement radiating behind him.

He decided he would spend the day watching gemstone records of old battles and working out new drills for the vee. Rhys wouldn’t need him for a few hours, and he’d already strengthened the barriers around the cave. If anyone other than the members of his own vee happened upon it, they would suddenly remember they needed to be somewhere else. It took an incredibly strong personality to break through a barrier unaided. No one had ever managed before, except Kavar. But that was more because he was Azhdahā, and Ashem’s twin brother, than because of any particular personal strength.

“Whoa. What’s down there?” Kai peered past him into the darkness.

Ashem didn’t bother looking back. “Don’t follow me.”

He heard her snort as he walked down the passage. Though it was low, her voice echoed after him.

“I’d rather eat rocks.”

“Ass,” Kai muttered, glaring after Ashem. With the bowl, she scooped rice and beans from the giant pot in the embers. She swiped her cheek with her other hand, as if she could wipe away his touch. “Weirdo.”

A weirdo with secrets. Cadoc had said the lower caverns were just storage. So what was Ashem doing?

She shoved her food into her face with angry efficiency and stuck her bowl in the sink. The tunnel begged to be explored, but it was dark, and Kai didn’t like the idea of Ashem swooping out at her like a giant, angry bat.

A spigot overhung the basin, and she twisted the knob near its opening. Water trickled out. She rinsed her bowl, stalked back into the sleeping room, and fell face-first into her pile of blankets.

Deserted with dragons.
Alone with Ashem.
Confined in a cave.
She could already feel her muscles itching with the desire to
go
and
move
. And she missed Cadoc. At least he talked.

She pushed herself onto her elbows and considered climbing the wall of the cavern again. But she had no bouldering mats, and the thought of Ashem catching her scrambling around on his walls made her cheeks burn. He’d probably be an ass about that, too.

The small archway caught her eye. For the first time that morning, she remembered that Ashem wasn’t her only option for company. Curious, she sat the rest of the way up.

Deryn’s brother, Rhys. Even unconscious, he’d be better company than Ashem.

She pushed herself out of bed, kicking the blankets and pillows into a not-very-neat pile and flopping the mattress half-over it. Juli would be ashamed, but Kai didn’t care. She hoped Ashem found it. She hoped it annoyed him.

Kai stood and padded toward the doorway in bare feet, fighting down an unexpected surge of butterflies. She hadn’t seen much of Rhys—it had been dark, after all, and he’d been more worried about Deryn and survival than introductions. But she remembered that heavy feeling in the air, and eyes that had flashed like blue fire in the moonlight.

She edged up to the archway. It opened to a short tunnel, the far end covered with a heavy curtain like the tunnel in the kitchen had been. Firelight flickered around its edges.

Kai slid forward quietly, uncertain. She pulled the curtain aside a couple of inches and peeked through the gap.

Apparently, she wasn’t as sneaky as she thought.

Rhys reclined, fully awake and staring from a mattress on the floor. A small, ancient-looking book was open in his hands, but he closed it and dropped it into the blankets bunched at his side.

His deep red hair was disheveled, the blue of his eyes bright, if a little hazy with sleep. She could see him better than she had before; his face, masculine and strong, his gaze intense. The way he looked at her was in equal parts terrifying and compelling.

“Kai?” Mild surprise in his voice, as if she’d had an appointment and showed up a few minutes early. He winced as he pushed himself upright, his gray blanket falling. Bandages covered his right shoulder, spots of red staining its white surface. His torso was bare, every muscle defined in the light of fires flickering along the walls. The scale tattoo swirled like flame over the right side of his body and down his arm. A long, fresh-looking scar rippled over the taut skin of his stomach; the largest and newest of a handful of marks that crisscrossed what skin Kai could see.

Dear sweet mother of holy hotness.
Her stomach clenched and she had a moment of panic. She didn’t remember him being hot. She didn’t know how to deal with guys who looked like
that
. She would rather face Ashem. “Um, sorry. I was looking for...uh...the bathroom.”
Kill me.

Something that might have been a smile twitched the corner of his mouth. “It’s off the main cavern. Before the kitchen.”

She knew that. Ffion had shown it to her last night. Kai had even showered. Thank goodness. “Um. Thanks.” She turned to go.

“Wait. Come here.”

It wasn’t a command, but it wasn’t a request. Again, there was that kind of
pressure
to his presence, the heaviness of air before a storm.

Curious, Kai pulled the curtain aside and stepped fully into the stone room. The floor was dusty, though there were plenty of scuffed footprints and several large, clear spots, as if things had been hastily removed to make room for Rhys. The walls were bare, natural stone. The white fires arranged in a straight line about two-thirds of the way to the curved ceiling glinted off of something in the rocks, making them glimmer softly. There was a stone bench, a chair, and a few beanbag-sized cushions in bright blue and purple. The room smelled like earth, blood and sweat. Beneath that: wind, the barest hint of wood smoke, and something nameless and masculine that made her want to bite her lip.

He cleared his throat. “Thank you.”

She shook herself.
Was I staring?
Oh
,
hell.
“For what?”

One side of his mouth curved in a crooked, wry smile. His meaning dawned on her. ”Oh! Stabbing that dragon.” She reached for her carabiners, but they weren’t there. “No problem. I mean, I couldn’t just stand there.”

His smile faded. “You could have. Or you could have run.”

Kai shook her head, fixing her gaze on the floor to one side of his bed. “No. I mean, you guys were in trouble, and I had a sword, and it’s not like I’m a heartless monster...”
Yes
,
genius
,
keep babbling.
Attractive dragon-men love it when you babble at them.
“Anyway, we’re all alive, so it’s fine.” She shrugged, hoping the unsteady firelight hid the blush heating her cheeks.

“I guess this makes you my knight in shining armor,” Rhys said drily.

A laugh escaped her, and she looked back at him. Before she could stop herself, she said, “Yeah. Just call me Saint George.”

To Kai’s pleased surprise, he laughed. She found herself asking the question she hadn’t asked Cadoc. “You guys aren’t planning on another battle anytime soon, are you? I’m all out of swords.”

He regarded her with those unnerving neon eyes, the almost-smile of his laugh pressed into something grimmer. “We’re not planning on it.”

Kai licked her lips and nodded, still standing awkwardly in the doorway. “Why did they attack you?”

Rhys shifted his right arm, blanched, then ran his left hand through his hair, mussing it before smoothing it down, making the scaled design twisting over the right side of his chest glimmer crimson in the firelight. When he spoke, his voice was weary. “We’re at war.”

“Oh.” She digested that for a moment. Dragons flying around and trying to kill each other a few hours outside of Denver. It didn’t compute. “War over what?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Power.”

She frowned, and his wry half-smile came back. Their eyes locked. The impending-storm feeling intensified. For a moment, she expected to be struck by lightning. Her pulse quickened, part hormones, part panic.

Talking to Rhys was nothing like talking to Cadoc. With Cadoc, everything was a game. He smoldered because he meant to smolder. There was nothing calculated or put on about Rhys, and that made him more mesmerizing than Cadoc could ever hope be.

Kai forced a laugh, and the tension shattered. “Yeah, well, let’s not do battle again. I’m glad you’re alive. I mean, at least if I have to be here it’s because I did something right, you know?”

Rhys smiled. Not wickedly, like Cadoc might have. A heavier, more tired smile. She wondered how a guy who looked as young as he did—only a year or two older than her—could have such a heavy smile. Of course, he could be any age. Maybe dragons lived forever.

Unwilling to leave quite yet, Kai reached for a carabiner, only to remember—again—that she wasn’t wearing her own clothes. “I’m pretty sure Ashem doesn’t like me.”

Rhys smiled again, and this one wasn’t quite as heavy. “Ashem doesn’t like anyone. He loves and he hates.”

“That’s terrifying.” Kai smiled, too, but she meant the words. She backed toward the curtain, suddenly out of things to say. She’d wanted to talk to Rhys, yes, but she hadn’t expected to be so drawn to him, or so intrigued. It might be fun to explore those feelings if she weren’t leaving. And if he wasn’t a freaking dragon. “It was good to meet you again. I guess I’ll see you around.”

Something flickered across his blue eyes. Was it disappointment? “I guess you will, George. Thank you again. Truly.”

She nodded. “You’re welcome.” With a pang of mixed relief and regret, Kai escaped.

Standing in the near-darkness of the short tunnel, she rubbed her face. Her conversation with Rhys had spiked her adrenaline. That feeling was great when it came from ending a longtime climbing project or rappelling down a cliff, but with Rhys it was petrifying.

* * *

The following morning, Rhys woke to a scent that made him groan. Someone was cooking meat.
Thank the Ancients
,
real food.

Rhys threw off the covers. He’d spent enough time in bed. Using the wall for support, he managed to get on his feet.

Cadoc ripped open the curtain. “What in the name of the sundering Stars do you think you’re doing, wind-for-brains?”

Rhys nearly fell back into bed. Apparently, the others were back early. “What does it look like,
twp
?” He leaned against the wall, breathing hard and smiling. “Good to see you.”

Cadoc grinned and offered a hand. “Ashem is going to pop a vein when he sees
you
.”

Rhys took it and pulled himself upright. “Ashem can eat his wings.”

Cadoc shifted his grip, and they moved toward the curtain. He peered into the short hall beyond. “It’s clear.”

They made their way out into the sleeping room, which was also abandoned. “What are you doing home?” Rhys focused on not falling. “I thought you were going to be out for another day.”

Cadoc shook his head. They got as far as the short tunnel into the cavern before they heard footsteps. Rhys let go of Cadoc. It took more effort to stand alone than he expected, but he gritted his teeth and refused to look weak.

Griffith appeared with a bowl in his hands. His eyes widened. “Ashem is going to throw you off the ledge.”

“Sunder Ashem,” Rhys said through gritted teeth. “If I stay in bed another second I’m going to shrivel into a husk.”

Griffith shrugged congenially and led the way back toward the kitchen. Rhys and Cadoc followed more slowly. So much more slowly that Rhys almost forgot about his pride and let Cadoc prop him up. But he was almost to the kitchen. He
would
make it the rest of the way.