The Crescent Hour ✓

Chapter 35. Shiver

Clara’s body came alive as Tamer’s lips brushed hers. She twined her arm around his neck, bringing him closer, closer still until her chest was pressed against his. He kissed her again and again, gentle and languorous, sweet torture. She didn’t expect her first kiss would be like this—full of passion and hunger, she could feel them rising deep in her stomach, leaving her craving and needing and wanting.

“Stay with me,” Tamer said in a whisper, his mouth moving to her jaw, down her throat, along the line of her collarbone, sending wild shivers across her skin.

Clara arched into him, the yearning inside her becoming deep and primal. She slid her hand along his spine, down to his lower back, under his shirt and up his bare chest…

And then the patter of footsteps one floor down. She couldn’t bring herself to stop. Clara wanted to stay like that forever. There, in his arms, where she didn’t need to worry about her past or her future. She only had to live in the present. In that moment.

It was Tamer who pulled away first. His breathing was harsh and loud as he stared down at her. Clara took a step back, surprised by what she had done—how easy it had been to lose control, how swiftly she’d broken the bounds of propriety. If anyone had seen them, if they’d been caught—

“Clara,” Tamer said, reaching for her hand.

She widened the space between them. One more touch and she would lose herself in him. One more kiss and she would never want to be found. She couldn’t let that happen…yet. They had to find the seal.

“Oi, when did you two wake up?”

It was Rai. He walked in, his helmet snuggled in the crook of his arm and his rifle settled across his shoulder. Eryx went to the ragars, picked one and tied his bags on its back.

Clara’s cheeks burned. She didn’t want Rai to see whatever expression she had on her face. She didn’t even want to think about what Eryx might detect in her aura. She turned away from the two men and kept her gaze on the roofs of the buildings.

“Over an hour ago,” Tamer said.

“My, aren’t we eager to leave?” Eryx said, a playful tone in his voice.

Tamer sighed. “No.”

“Come on, man,” Rai said. “When we find the last seal, there will be a party in Amarant. Think of all the food, the siha, the women, hmm?”

“Right.”

“You’re no fun.”

As they prepared to leave, Clara looked at Nazim one last time. She savoured it all. The Nerium stone giant, grand and magnificent, the tiled domes gleaming in the sunlight, the minarets and spires tall and steadfast, the date trees rustling in the breeze, and the floating lanterns drifting away to their hiding spots.

Then the ragars took flight and The Desert Crown became as small as a speck of dust.

___

Clara finished sketching the Symbol of Revealing. It had felt odd at first, drawing on an invisible wall, until she’d found out what Eryx had meant when he’d said they needed to use a special type of chalk. Each stroke she’d made had lit up in a green glow. Now the symbol was complete, a green sun within a circle tinted red by the visor on her helmet.

“Channel your power into it,” Eryx instructed before he did the same to his own drawing.

She felt her magic ripple along her left arm, flowing down to her fingertips. She pressed her hand over the symbol, felt the invisible barrier, and poured out little bursts of her power. The drawing glowed brighter. As it emitted a tinking sound, the dome barrier regained a faint outline then became fully visible.

Rai whistled.

It was huge, covering thousands of acres of land and rising high above the treeline. The dome felt like glass against her palm though she was certain it was made of a non-brittle material. She peered through the dome, trying to spot a sign of life, anything other than the black desert.

“Can you see it?” Rai yelled, lifting his head to look at Tamer who was up on a ragar, scouting the dome for a forest. He had not yet worn his suit.  “Answer me!”

Tamer flew the ragar closer to them. He stared at the desert, his eyes locked on something. His face pulled into a frown. “There’s a sandstorm at the eastern side. Over sixty kilometres away.”

What was it with Naaji choosing the worst places? Clara could understand why he had gone to great lengths to protect the seals but he’d really overdone it with Ashura Deadlands. Maybe the seal was better off wherever it was.

No, we need to find it. I’ll be stuck here forever if we don’t.

Forever didn’t seem such a bad idea. She would be free here, free to do as she wished, to become whatever she wanted. She could join Amarant, train as a mage and learn to fight with a sword. She’d have Tamer. When he’d kissed her—she trembled at the memory of her fingers tangled in his hair, her mouth hot against his—something had blossomed between them, something more powerful than friendship. Whatever it was, they could never go back to being just friends.

But staying in Findora meant she’d never see her father again. She’d never read newspapers for him in Mrs. Stanley’s shrilly voice and hear him laugh. She’d never sing with Josephine while helping in the kitchen and steal bonbons when no one was looking. She’d never ride her horse alongside Timothy and race him to the old oak tree. Clara’s heart ached at the thought. How could she choose one world over another when she desired both?

“Draw the next symbol, Clara,” Eryx said.

She shook herself. “Which one?”

“The Symbol of Bonds.”

Clutching the glow-chalk tightly, Clara drew a ring and crossed it with two lines. When she had finished drawing the hexagon outside the ring, she eyed Eryx’s symbol. He had already activated it. Once again, she directed her power at the Symbol of Bonds and waited. This one did not produce any sound but it glowed just as bright as the Symbol of Revealing.

The dome barrier rippled like the surface of water. The bonds within the material had weakened. Clara pressed her gloved hand against it and felt the difference in texture. It had become soft and viscous. She tried to push her hand deeper when Eryx pulled her back.

“We’ll go together,” he said.

“Anything yet?” Rai asked Tamer.

“Looks the same,” Tamer said, he steered the ragar towards the ground. “I’m coming down.”

When he landed, Tamer quickly wore his protective suit. He tethered the two ragars to a tree. Clara swept her eyes over the foliage and the blue soil. Helima’s cottage wasn’t so far from where they were. She wondered if Helima had sensed their presence. Anyone within a close vicinity would spot the dome. The magic from the symbols would last for fifteen minutes before fading. If she did, well, Clara hoped the old witch wouldn’t come hunting them down with her knives.

“Aren’t we going to take the ragars?” Rai asked, adjusting his helmet.

“What use would they be when they get poisoned and die?” Tamer said. “We’ll look for the forest by foot. If we don’t find it, we’ll leave the seal as it is.”

Clara wished she could read his expression. He didn’t seem eager to find the seal. She remembered when he’d asked her to stay, how his voice had sounded desperate. She fisted her hands and breathed out a sigh.

“Let’s hope the forest isn’t on the eastern side,” Eryx said, rolling his shoulders.

They crossed the dome barrier together. Clara felt the strangest sensation ever. It was like walking through jelly, all sticky and syrupy. At first, she couldn’t see anything but black fog. Slowly, the fog parted like smoke vanishing in the wind and Ashura Deadlands unfolded before her eyes.

“Yumah’s mercy,” Rai muttered.

Clara didn’t say anything.

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Siha is an alcoholic beverage.