Page 98 of Under Restless Skies

“Water, Mayara. It will help you flush the star nectar.”

My nose is numb again, and I have to taste the liquid to confirm it’s indeed water, then I drink it greedily. When I finish, I say, “Thanks.”

Beside the bed, my dress and brassiere lie on the floor, and suddenly I feel deeply aware of my partial nudity, and oddly bothered by it.

“How are you feeling?” Alayel’s eyes flash with concern.

“Horrible. Sorry. I…” I get up and grab my clothes. “I need to go.”

“Come back tomorrow. After dinner.”

“Sure.” I get dressed quickly, then turn to him. “Are you upset?”

“I’m worried. Let me walk you to your room.”

He puts on a shirt, then leads me to a set of stairs, but then I decide there’s another place I need to go.

“Actually, I want to see the hatchlings.”

“I’m starting to get jealous, Mayara.” At least his tone is playful, so I know he’s not serious. Not completely, at least.

“Insecure people get jealous. You’re arrogance personified, so I have a hard time believing that.”

He chuckles.

At the bottom of the stairs, he kisses me, his mouth hard and hungry against mine, biting my lower lip until I gasp, his hands grabbing me tight, one of them finding my ass and pulling me into him.

It’s a wild, desperate, hungry kiss. I almost want to ask him to take me back to his room and finish what we started, but I’m still too puzzled, my mind too addled.

When we part, the look he gives me is sweet and loving, not at all upset that I walked out of his bed when we were in the midst of… something. The worst part is not remembering, and it’s why I can’t bring myself to continue anything tonight.

“I’ll come back tomorrow,” I say. “No star nectar. I’ll be normal.” Just because I’m feeling bad for leaving him like that, I add, “If you’re nice, I might even scream Your Highness.”

He smirks. “What if I decide not to be nice?”

“We’ll see.”

“You know it’s torture, right? I’ll spend the entire day thinking of you.”

I raise an eyebrow. “You got two hands. Use them.”

He smiles but shakes his head. “I want to save it all for you.”

We kiss again, this time a slow, gentle kiss, leaving me breathless when we part.

“See you tomorrow,” I say, then I open the door and leave the staircase, otherwise I might stay with Alayel the entire night.

The guards let me go through to the room with the hatchlings, and soon I find little Ava and Vos, who climb on my lap.

“Listen up,” I say. “I have something very, very important to tell you both. Never drink star nectar. It feels good, until it feels awful. I know you don’t understand, but I need to vent. I wish I could vent more and tell you all about my weird night, but you’re too young and it’s inappropriate. And it’s very, very weird. I’ll never tell anyone about it. The lesson remains. Star nectar is bad.”

I lie down on the pile of straw, and they rest their little bodies against mine.

My eyes close, and yet I can’t wipe the image of that rider, his long dark hair caressing my body, his staff caressing my core, awakening something, igniting a strange and yet powerful heat. Before the memory becomes too pleasant, I tell myself that the tip of the staff would feel cold and weird, and that it was a bizarre thing to imagine. And yet I can’t forget his hair touching my nipples.

Bizarre, Mayara! I remind myself. Weird, weird images. Evil Star Nectar. Evil staff.

I don’t even know where they put that artifact, and what kind of magical powers it has. It’s something I need to investigate. One more thing, among so many. For now, I just want to sleep and forget the odd night.