Page 37 of Hearts on Fire
I tried to move my gaze away, but I just couldn’t. Fully dressed or not, this man commanded all my attention whenever he was in the room with me.
“But inside the caves?” I asked, clearing my throat. “Aren’t there always people in the pools and waterfalls?”
“I’ll take you to an outdoor waterfall. It’s outside the caves, higher up the mountain. People don’t usually go there.”
That sounded tempting.
“All right.” I shrugged off my fur throw, standing up. “Let’s go then.”
Opening his wings, he lifted me up, one arm under my back, the other one under my knees. I gasped a little as he leaped off the windowsill and into the open sky beyond, but I no longer felt the need to cling to him with all my limbs. I trusted him not to drop me.
Wrapping one arm around his neck, I leaned against his shoulder. I was wearing nothing but a thin cotton shirt of Elex’s. However, pressed to him, I felt warm as we soared through the air in a wide spiral toward a mountain peak behind the castle.
Elex flew over the crest, then descended to a small pool hidden between the rocks.
“The water here is a part of the stream system in the caves,” he explained. “It’s hot, too, but flows outside of the mountain.”
Steam rose from the surface of the pool, shrouding the water and the surrounding rocks in a milky mist.
Elex set me gently on the ground. “No one will see us here.”
He toed off his shoes, then swiftly shoved his pants down his hips. Wrapping my arms around me, I admired the picture he presented. In the wisps of the mist that curled around him, he looked every bit the mythical creature he was—a true vision.
With his head down, he peeked through the dark curls falling over his eyes and caught me staring. A corner of his mouth lifted in a cocky grin.
“I like the look in your eyes, Amber. Are you enjoying the view?”
I glanced aside quickly, but it was hard, so hard to look away. My gaze drifted back to his tall figure that looked like it was carved from the finest gemstone.
“Come here.” His voice softened as he came closer. “You must be getting cold, standing there. You need to get in the water.”
Lifting my shirt, he took it off me, then took me into his arms and waded into the pool with me. The warm water enveloped my naked body, ripping a shiver of pleasure from me.
“Ahhh, this is so good.” I stretched my limbs, floating out of Elex’s arms.
He smiled, standing next to me.
“The hot springs are definitely the best part of Dakath I’ve seen so far,” I gushed in delight.
“There are many wonderful places in the Dakath Mountains,” he argued. “Only you won’t see them from the window next to the palace kitchen.”
“But that’s the only place I’m allowed to be.”
“Not for long.” He sounded resolute.
I snapped my gaze to him. “What do you mean?”
“You’re not going back to thesalamandras, Amber. I can’t let you live like that—”
“Oh, but it’s okay forthemto live in total poverty?” Floating suddenly didn’t feel that fun anymore. I lowered my feet to the rocky bottom and stood up, facing Elex. “Do you know that the women go hungry all the time? There is never enough food at the Sanctuary. The villagers put curses on their well. So, even getting enough drinking water often is a problem. You see them wearing fine clothes in the king’s hall, but they constantly mend their everyday shirts and stockings because they have no means to get anything new.”
His features shifted into a grim frown. “The Sanctuary is under the protection of the king. It’s the crown’s responsibility to provide for the women.”
“Sure it is.” I scoffed. “Only the king’s ‘protection’ is limited to pimping the women out to his buddies. He doesn’t care about them in any other way.”
“It’s not right,” he agreed with a somber expression. “But their wellbeing is not your responsibility.”
“Whose responsibility is it then? Tell me, who is going to make it right? Thesalamandrastook me in. They clothed me and fed me. Many of them are my friends.”