I head in the direction I last saw him, where he entered the woods. There I pick up his tracks in the darkness and follow them as quickly as I can until I reach a grove surrounded by trees and a clear pool of water fed by a waterfall off the mountain.
The horse whinnies, and I slide off him and tie him to a tree, then make my way on foot.
And there he is. A giant black tiger. Bigger than anything nature would make, prowling through the grove. He looks restless. Angry. Black smokes twirls around him and lightning sparks in the darkness.
I move slowly, cautiously, with my hand out, like I’d do to calm a horse who was spooked. "Tavian? It's me, Kayla. It's over. The fighting is over. You need to come back to me now, okay?"
The tiger watches me with eyes I know so well, but I can't tell if he understands what I'm saying. I inch closer, holding my breath as I do.
And then he leaps into the air and lands on my chest. He growls, saliva dripping off his sharp teeth. His claws dig into my skin. I ignore the pain and try to remain calm. The fire magic in me is welling up, pushing out, but I can't let it. "I don't want to hurt you," I say through the pain. "I don't want to fight."
His nails dig deeper and I can't hold in the scream. Then his teeth are on me and I feel a bite in my shoulder. "Tavian!"
I don't know if it's my scream, or the taste of my blood, but something happens, and it's instant. He falls back, off of me, his eyes growing wide. And I can tell that he finally sees me. Really sees me.
It takes a moment, but the tiger shifts back into Tavian Gray.
I pull out my crystal and hold it over my shoulder, muttering a spell as I do. It's doesn't heal me completely, but it was a surprisingly shallow wound, and by the time Tavian has stood and walked over to me, I'm mostly recovered.
"Tavian… " my voice gives out as he takes me in his arms.
"I thought I'd done something awful," he says into my hair as he holds me too tightly.
"You saved them. And I'm not hurt. Not really. But you are. Let me see your wounds."
I run a hand over a cut, but he stops my hand with his. "They're scratches. Nothing more."
The air around us feels charged with something new. Something heady and thick and delicious.
When his lips land on mine, I'm already lost in the feeling of his touch, of his body pressed against me. Of his need. Of my need.
There are no thoughts. No considerations for the future, for what this means, for anything beyond our bodies coming together as one. And then we are lost, floating in a place where time doesn’t exist.
Being with Tavian is like nothing I've ever experienced. It's more than physical. More than emotional. It's a coming together of two souls into one. Even my newly awakened magic latches onto his, joining into a swirl of power pulling our bodies closer. When we finally pull apart, satiated and exhausted, I'm filled with a loss unlike anything I've ever felt, and we cling to each other on a bed of grass, unwilling to break the moment with words.
I don't know how long we lay here like this, naked and wrapped up in each other, but it is the horse's neighing that pulls us out of our reverie.
Tavian kisses my head before speaking. "You saved me today, Princess."
"I'm not a princess," I mumble into his chest, my eyes still half closed.
"You are to me," he whispers, and another part of me melts into him.
"What do we do now?" I ask.
"I don't know," he says. "This—you—have thrown my plans in disarray. I can't very well bargain and barter a woman I'm falling in love with, can I?"
"Love. That's a powerful word." I choose my own words carefully, as my heart beats too hard in my chest.
He shifts so that we are looking each other in the eyes. "Am I wrong? Did you not feel what I feel?"
I sigh, because no, he's not wrong, and it scares the hell out of me.
He grins. "I thought so."
"That still doesn't answer my question. What now?"
"Now," he says as he brings my fingers to his lips to kiss. "Now, we go back to Stonehill and find out what happened to the Midnight Star and your brother."
Chapter 13
REFORGED
"I've got a sword and a very angry wolf. That will have to be enough. Now I just need a plan."
—Arianna Spero
In the great hall of the Pleasure Palace, seated on a lounge by a fire, Es sips a mug of hot cocoa as Pete sits next to her reading something he found in the library. I tuck my feet under me and curl into the corner of the lounge, thinking. Yami sleeps around my neck, exhausted from the recent events. He has been moodier of late, and I think he remembers the destruction he caused. Soldiers managed to save some of the grove. Three trees, they told me. The rest burned and died.
I haven’t trained since then. I haven’t done much of anything.
A servant girl draped in silk comes by and hands me a hot drink and a plate of candied fruits and breaded meats. I thank her and set the food on the table next me, but I hold onto the drink. The warmth helps dispel the chill in my body, so I sip at it without tasting anything.
"You should eat, darlin'," Es says. "You look pale as a ghost."