Of course, the soul-pack bond threw in a whole new complication. The intense compulsion to take care of his soul-packmate was probably unbearable some days. I supposed I was thankful I didn't have that to deal with, but the slow integration into the castle was incredibly difficult for me as well.
Fire elementals weren’t known for our patience; the old saying “putting the imp in impulsiveness” was all too true. There were several times I caught myself walking toward Danio without even thinking about it. TS usually had to steer me in another direction. I felt like my self-control was a tiny flame next to a puddle of gas and every day I was moving it just a little closer… I was pretty sure the only thing that gave me a tenuous hold on my self-control was knowing that if I screwed up, we'd all be dead.
After we had been there for almost two weeks, we tried to play a game of cards to start establishing that our personas were hanging out. Not even five minutes into the game I passed a card to Danio and his fingers brushed mine, sending a chill from more than just the temperature through me. For a moment I felt too choked up to speak. After six long, agonizing months, it just wasn't fair that this was all we could do. Other than a couple of quick conversations in the room when we first arrived, we barely spent any time together.
The very first day we were here, not long after TS identified Reave’s personal witch as Alaria, we left the room at the same time and found a couple of witches cleaning the hallway. We all quickly realized that if Alaria was here and Danio and Thomas were right that some of them had wands, then it was a good bet some, if not all, were blood casters. We knew we couldn’t risk being caught together again so soon, not with witches and wizards scattered around.
I had been forced to excuse myself from the game, unable to stand it, and knowing I didn’t have the self-control to resist.
We, thankfully, were able to catch a few moments – all four of us and sometimes just Danio and I – over the next couple of weeks.
Worse, I discovered, than dreading having to fight, was being forced to watch Danio.
My heart was in my throat the entire fight. TS kept a firm hand locked around my arm, barely enough to keep me seated. I knew I must have been burning him, but he never loosened his grip.
There were a few times the air elemental got a little too close to Danio for comfort; I gasped and TS would clench his hand in alarm. I was thankful that the arena was so loud with everyone cheering and screaming that nobody could hear me when I cried out every time the air elemental struck.
Walking back to our room with TS, leaving Danio… somewhere… was torture. I knew that TS was having trouble not checking in on a packmate after the fight, but it didn’t help much.
I paced the room, trying not to set the carpet on fire.
“They’re coming,” TS announced in relief, after what seemed like hours.
The minutes before they arrived seemed to take even longer until, at last, the door opened. I couldn’t have said if Thomas was there if my life depended on it, the only thing I saw was Danio. I threw myself into his arms and reveled in the chill from his much lower body temperature. The sensation was almost uncomfortable after so long apart, but I refused to let myself pull away. Slowly, his temperature crept up to match mine as we stood there, obviously equally content to just hug.
“This is fecking mad,” TS snarled. I heard what sounded like him sitting on the bed.
“Yeah,” Thomas agreed softly. “It gets… well, it doesn’t get better… but it becomes sort of… normal. In an unsettling way.”
“Brilliant,” TS muttered sarcastically.
Danio sighed and adjusted his weight against me. I remembered that he had just been in a fight and pulled back to get a better look at him. Even though he had changed his clothes, I spotted a fresh-looking blood stain on one sleeve.
“You’re still bleeding,” I said in alarm.
“I was just in a fight,” he said casually. “I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not,” I protested.
“It was just a scratch.” I narrowed my eyes at him and he flashed me that darn cheeky smile of his. “Okay, a deep scratch.”
“You should put water on it.”
“I’m fine, C,” he repeated, pulling me back against him. “I’ll take care of it later.”
I rested my head against his shoulder and decided it wasn’t worth arguing, not during this small window of time.
“How long do we have?” I asked as it occurred to me that this was risky.
“Pretty much everyone is either going to bed early or at the afterparty,” Thomas said. “This is probably the most time we’ll get for another week.”
“Will we be okay all together?” TS asked.
I felt Danio shrug. “It’s been a few weeks now… I think we’re good. We still have to take things slowly… maybe do breakfast or something this week. But it’s always empty around the rooms after a fight.”
We were all quiet for a moment.
“Is this… it?” TS asked. “I mean, what the hell do you do here?”
“Pretty much this,” Danio said dryly. His arms tightened around me. “Well, usually less enjoyable than this. But this.”
Thomas nodded. “We try to blend in when we can. Then, if we get the chance, we look for a way to escape. But we’ve checked out every inch of the castle… there’s no way out. The only way to contact anyone outside, that we’ve found, is that phone.”
“The phone that’s too risky to use when Victor is around,” said TS.
“I still can’t believe we weren’t caught,” Danio said. Then he sighed. “I’m afraid we probably have to explore the entire damn castle again. TS and Char might see something we missed. Not to mention we weren’t looking for anything related to blood casters.”
“If all else fails, we’ll have to try to call Jon again… he has to know Alaria is here,” said Thomas.
“When? In another six months?” asked Danio.
We all sighed.
“Must be after New Year’s now, yeah?” asked TS.
“So much for my birthday and my name day,” Danio snorted.
“And Christmas,” added Thomas.
I felt a flare of despair at the thought of Ember alone for Christmas. I hoped she had gone to spend it with my sister at least, although I wasn’t sure what she would have told Callie. We had been very careful to keep Danio’s family under the impression he was doing an undercover mission and acting like it hadn’t gone horribly wrong. Although I had a feeling Pike was getting suspicious at least and, as usual, Danio’s mother was as wild as a wisp, so I couldn’t tell how she was feeling; she was always full of surprises.
I could only hope that Ember had managed to find some spark of joy in Christmas, without letting her aunt know Danio and I were both missing.
“Jen was supposed to go to Maryland,” TS said softly.
A brief flash of sorrow crossed Thomas’ face. “I wonder if she went,” he murmured. “How… how is she?”
“Alright, I suppose,” said TS. “I mean… healthy.”
“Good,” Thomas offered. He heaved a sigh. “I wish… well, no,” he said. “I don’t wish she was here. Just…”
We all nodded solemnly as he sighed again. Danio pulled me against him and rested his chin on my head.
“Your chin is boney,” I told him with a weak chuckle.
He laughed at the old pseudo-complaint and hugged me harder. Instead of his usual retort he said softly, “I wish you weren’t here. Don’t take that the wrong way.”
“I know what you mean, Dan,” I told him.
“Hey,” said Thomas. “It seems like we agree that it’s too soon to risk getting caught all together, so why don’t Teth and I head back to my room and you two can catch up for a bit? Maybe… twenty minutes? Then we need to switch back, I think. Granted, we haven’t had any unexpected visitors but…”
“But with our luck tonight would be the night,” Danio finished. “We know the witches and wizards can get in and out of rooms. We�
��ll be quick. Thanks, Tom,” he added softly.
Thomas nodded and he and TS left, taking just a moment to make sure the hallway was empty.
I let out a sigh as the door closed and buried my face in Danio’s chest. Alone together for the first time in over half a year. It was the longest we had been apart since we started dating. In fact…
“You missed our thirtieth anniversary,” I said the moment I thought it.
I felt him wince, but he quickly covered it with a laugh. “We’re engaged, isn’t that supposed to set the clock back?”
“Oh, shut up,” I muttered into his shirt with a chuckle.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“It’s hardly your fault.” I mock-glared up at him. “Although I’m pretty sure going to the meeting at Cavaliers was your idea…”
“I uh… can’t remember?” He flashed me the smirk I had missed so much and I stretched up onto my tip-toes to kiss him.
Danio eagerly kissed me back. His lips felt as cold as ice; the chilly castle air didn’t help. Nevertheless, I resisted the urge to pull away; I didn’t want him to know I had lost my tolerance for his temperature and, stupid though it was, I felt like it was just one more thing I had to endure about this awful situation and it seemed like pulling away would be losing some unspoken battle.
Instead, I kissed him harder and tried to forget about everything but us – not very hard for a fire elemental, luckily.
One of us started pushing or pulling toward the bed and we both tumbled onto it, kissing and tugging at each other’s clothes like there was no tomorrow. Maybe there wouldn’t be.
Danio sucked in a sharp breath as he freed his injured shoulder from his sweatshirt and I gasped at the much larger bloodstain on the t-shirt below.
“Oh, Dan,” I said, reaching to pull up the sleeve for a better look.
He gently swatted my hand away, but not before I caught sight of the bottom inch of what looked like a nasty slash from a knife. “It’s nothing.” The brief ripple of gray I spotted in his eyes said otherwise.
“Go shower,” I urged.
He stood and stepped back. I rose as well, concerned that he was actually listening. I should have known better. My only warning was a grin, then he tackled me back onto the bed.
We play wrestled for a minute, until he let me pin him down.
“Do try not to hit me in the shoulder though, please,” he chuckled.
“Sorry!”
“It’s fine.” This time, he was being honest about it. His eyes were nothing but swirls of deep, dark blues.
“We can, you know, take it easy. I don’t want to hurt you.”
He arched an eyebrow at me. “I don’t mind a bit of pain.”
I playfully punched him in the other shoulder as he laughed, then he pulled me down to kiss him and I quickly gave in.
~~~***~~~
It probably would have been smart to keep control of myself and not erupt, but it was always a struggle, not to mention a distraction. If there was even the slightest chance this would be our only time together, I was determined to enjoy it. So, I gave in to fire elemental nature and let myself black out, spending the next few minutes in a blissful haze.
I gradually came back to my senses and found myself resting against Danio’s chest. He was breathing slowly, deeply, like he was asleep, so I stayed still and basked in the moment. I wasn’t sure if we had blown by the twenty minute mark or not – erupting was a surefire way to lose track of time. Proximity to me had raised his temperature to match mine and I couldn’t have been more comfortable. Well, we could have been somewhere else, instead of here.
He sighed and tightened his arm around me. Ah, he was awake after all.
“How’s your shoulder?” I asked.
“Feeling better, actually,” he chuckled.
I narrowed my eyes at his fake accent, then winced as I realized he had been in this damn place for so long that the accent had likely become his default one.
“How long do you think we…” I started.
“Dunno. We should probably…”
I sat up and looked down at him. He gazed up at me with a small smile, eyes slowly swirling with brighter shades of blue and few lingering darker ripples from typhooning.
Someone knocked on the door and we both froze and looked toward it.
“Is that—” I just barely stopped myself from saying Thomas. “Joe?”
Danio narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “I don't know why he would knock.”
“You can’t think of a reason?” I asked, shooting him a meaningful look.
He snorted in amusement. “I mean without saying anything.” His eyes darkened as he frowned toward the door, trying to sense the circulation from the person on the other side. “Vampire,” he said, shoulders stiffening.
The person knocked again. Danio was right, Thomas would have said something. He probably would have come in instead of knocking again. Danio and I exchanged a look of alarm.
“Are you in?” called a voice.
“Reave!” Danio mouthed to me.
I considered not saying anything, but Reave could no doubt smell I was here. Ashes! “Just a minute!” I called.
I jumped up and rolled off the bed, searching quickly for my clothes; one of the disadvantages of erupting. Of course, it was better than the inferno I would have caused by erupting from anger, but still inconvenient.
I found Danio’s pants first and tossed them his way, just as he chucked my underwear across the bed to me. He was probably slowed a bit by his injured shoulder, but still finished dressing before me; he had a knack for frantically putting on clothes quickly.
With a deep breath, I headed for the door. Danio followed me, drawing a small throwing knife. I wondered where he had gotten it and reminded myself to ask later.
I carefully opened the door and came face to face with Reave.
“Good evening. Scorch, right?” Reave said with a pleasant smile.
“Yes, hello,” I said nervously.
“And Delta,” he said, turning his smile to Danio. “How wonderful!” Reave sounded genuinely pleased to see him. “I’m glad you’re here; it makes me happy when our brothers and sisters take the time to make new members feel welcome.”
Danio shrugged awkwardly. “Well, I remember what it was like to be the new guy.”
Reave nodded, then his nostrils flared and he sniffed audibly. “Oh! I see you’re making him very welcome.”
Danio’s eyes widened in alarm and I felt my heart skip a beat. We glanced at each other quickly and he rolled the shoulder, just slightly, of the hand holding the knife. He reached up his other hand and unconsciously slipped a couple of fingers under the collar of his shirt. I longed to grab his hand to stop him from scratching. Instead, I clenched my fists and made myself look away.
“I hadn’t realized fire elementals and water elementals could…” Reave gestured vaguely in the air.
“Neither did I,” I lied, forcing out a nervous laugh.
Danio let out a weak chuckle. “I’ll try anything once,” he said.
“Well, I am sorry for interrupting,” Reave said. “I like to take the time to greet all of our new residents personally. I’ve been busy, I’m sorry it has taken me so long to get to you.”
“Oh… that’s fine,” I said.
Reave’s smile faded and he sniffed again, then turned to Danio. “You’re injured.”
Danio cleared his throat. “Yeah. There was a fight earlier.”
“Ah yes, I never watch those. Although I believe I have heard your name come up as quite a contender,” Reave said. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. Guess I should pick my battles better.”
Reave shrugged. “I suppose, if you enjoy that sort of thing, that it isn’t much fun if it isn’t a challenge.”
“I guess not,” Danio said. “Better than a berserker though, right?” He laughed as it if was a joke, but Reave just smiled mildly.
“I think if you were to f
ind a berserker the outcome would be quite different for you.”
Danio’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You don’t think I could beat a berserker?” In spite of the accent, I could hear something strange in his tone.
Reave laughed. “I confess, that would be a fight I might even watch. If I thought a water elemental stood a chance against a berserker. Luckily, I doubt we have to worry about that.”
“Yeah… lucky…” Danio said, staring hard at Reave. “Hey um, you know everyone here, right?”
“Of course,” Reave said instantly. “I consider all of you my family.”
“I haven’t seen Cleaver in a couple of weeks. Know where he’s hiding?”
Reve frowned. “Who?”
“Cleaver,” Danio said.
“I…” Reave paused and rubbed at one of his temples, brows furrowed like he had a headache. “The name is… familiar… but I don’t…” He shook his head and blinked several times.
“Must just be a nickname,” Danio said quickly.
“Yes… it must be…” Reave looked disturbed. “Well, I should give you two some privacy. I’m glad you’re making, er, friends, Scorch.”
I smiled weakly. “Thanks.”
“If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to find me. I would like a chance to sit down sometime and get to know each other better.” He turned and smiled at Danio. “Good to see you as well, Delta. Oh! I’m sorry, I just realized I never stopped to talk to you, have I?”
“We spoke briefly one night, with Joe.”
Another frown creased Reave’s face and he shook his head a couple of times in short, quick jerks. “I don’t…” He sighed. “Well, goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” I offered.
Reave stepped back and started off down the hall. I closed the door.
“What exactly was that about?” I asked Danio, once I was sure Reave was well out of earshot.
Danio was still frowning at the door. “He doesn’t remember…”
“Remember what?”
“Cleaver.”
“Who is Cleaver?” I asked.
“He was a berserker,” Danio said, eyes narrowed and churning wildly. “Reave spoke me with, and Tom, a while after we fought… he doesn’t remember any of it.”
Rise of the Arcanist Series: Books 1 - 6 Page 65