Iloved cradling Dustin on my lap, but it was intensely awkward because while he was slightly shorter than I, he was so much broader with densely packed muscle. His long legs stretched out onto the forest floor while I cradled his body to my chest as we basked in Mother’s glory. It was serene, and I never wanted it to end.
But then Dustin looked over my shoulder and stiffened. “Cass? What’s that back there?”
My heart raced. Dustin could see the veil? If so, he was advancing faster than I thought possible. Faster than I had hoped. I cocked my head and stared at him with both brows raised. “What does it look like?”
“Like a shimmery piece of transparent green fabric,” Dustin explained. “It spans about fifty feet on either side of that tree directly behind us.”
“Oh, dear…” I chuckled to myself and buried my face into his neck. “And here I thought the forest would only supply one surprise for the day.”
I gathered my wits and shook myself. Dustin would have this chance to see his home, and I would see it for the first time in millennia. We could not go far, but I could let him see a glimpse. “That is the veil between Earth and Adradis, my homeworld. The continent that coincides with this on my world is called Kal’brath.” I grinned and glanced back, but at my angle, I could not see the veil, but I could feel its presence. “I had thought it would be closed by now.”
“Well, it looks like it’s open,” Dustin said as he stared behind me. “How long do you think it’ll stay open?”
“You were only unconscious for a few moments, truly,” I murmured. “Judging by the sun, we should have a few hours yet before it closes until next month.”
“Why does it close at all,” Dustin asked. “Why not just leave it open?”
Truth be told, talking about my home with Dustin felt strange after being on Earth for so long. It also hurt, but in some ways, it felt like closure. I shifted and urged Dustin to stand. When I got to my own feet, I joined Dustin in looking at the veil, but unlike him, I looked at it with such longing and loathing that I felt dizzy. “That would be a long, drawn-out history lesson.”
“CliffsNotes version?”
He gave me a cheeky grin that made me sigh, and I smirked. “The short version would be that there are natural ones, though we destroyed the ones leading to Morka. There are elf-made ones, but Kal’brath learned the hard way that races of the three interconnected worlds do not mix well. I mentioned Morka, the third plane. Its race of Bashkai is barbaric. Humans and elves were once friends, though that ended shortly before the Dividing Wars that brought about the Twilight realm. Since then, the elven-made veils were constructed so that elves could continue to learn while keeping the Bashkai from ever returning, and leaving the humans oblivious to almost everything.”
“And since the elf-made ones are constructed…” Dustin let that hang, and I took the hint.
It took me a moment to gather my thoughts. With a sigh, I turned to Dustin and placed my hand over his solar plexus. “This area stores the soul. It houses your magic once you are able to access it. As such, our magic is directly related to our souls. Our souls fuel our magic. And the more magic one uses—”
“The more taxing it is on the soul,” Dustin finished.
I smiled proudly at him. “Exactly so. When our souls are depleted, we must enter a power coma with or without the aid of a power stone, though the stones assist in restoring our souls—and therefore our magic—more quickly.”
“And I can just imagine keeping one of these veils open for any length of time would be taxing,” Dustin guessed. “How many mages—”
“Magi,” I corrected. I loved teaching Dustin such things. His mind was so open, so welcoming to new information that I couldn’t help but fill it. “The plural for mage is magi.”
“Right.” Dustin rubbed the back of his neck and tried again. “How many magi does it take to keep these veils open? How many veils are there in the world? How long do they stay open?”
“So many questions!” I cried. I tugged him closer to the veil, keeping him close to my side so I could feel his delicious warmth. “Five per veil. I do not have any clue. And for seven days each month. Though, only a select few are opened and closed by magi. Most veils are natural occurrences. Though, they also abide by the seven days per month cycle.”
Dustin stopped abruptly as we made it to the veil, digging his heels in. “Wait. Are we going through it now? What if we get trapped over there?”
“Oh, we have hours yet, beauty!” I gave Dustin a gentle push, my heart racing. “I want to see if you can step through the veil on your own.”
“What?” Dustin gasped and gave me a worried frown. “Why?”
I reached up and combed my fingers through Dustin’s hair, trailing my hand down to his waist. “It is simply a test to see how your magic is progressing. Trust that if you make it, I will be right behind you. If you do not, you have failed at nothing, and I will take you through as my guest.”
“B—but, I thought you were exiled!” He turned wide eyes up at me. “Will they kill you if they find you?”
I loved his worry, cherished it as I cherished him. I crushed him against my chest and breathed in the warmth and scent of his hair. “Oh, Gods. Dustin. No. Gods, no. I would never risk such a thing if that were even a remote chance.” I squeezed Dustin once and pulled back so I could see into his beautiful silver eyes. “Euthanization is rarely ever used on an elf for any reason. One must commit unspeakable crimes to get such sentencing, and it usually takes many to agree to such a punishment. My son would never euthanize me for a visit,” I said quietly, though I worried about it in darker hours when the weight of depression drew me down. “I refused to welcome his chosen into our family. I committed no crime, as that was my right as his father. However, as my son has taken the throne, it is his right to exile me from my home. I am, of course, allowed to visit on the rare occasion. I never have, but it is permitted.”
Dustin seemed to swallow down what he was going to say and sighed. “So it’s okay to go?”
“Perfectly so, yes,” I said, my tone gentle and calming. “Now, go test the veil.”
“I just walk through it?”
I laughed, which startled Dustin into looking back at me. “Yes. Just walk through it. If your elven nature is in ascendance, you will pass through to Kal’brath. If not, you will still see me when you turn around.”
Still, Dustin hesitated, rubbed his sweaty palms on his thighs. “Will it feel strange?”
The amusement in my tone betrayed me as I cooed, “Did the glamor I placed on you and removed from you feel strange?”
Dustin gasped and started walking. “Oh! Not really, no.”
As he made it to the veil, I followed close behind him. Dustin put his hands out, wiggled his fingers in the shimmer of magic. He must have contented himself with the slight static feeling as he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and took the two steps forward. My heart clenched as he did not disappear but ended up just on the other side of the veil.
When he turned around and saw me instead of another world, he sighed, his disappointed frown tugging at my heart. I held out my hand to him. “All is well, beauty. It will come. Just as the scars on your fingers are not permanent, this will right itself in time, as well.”
Dustin stared down at his scars and cursed under his breath. Unable to stand it, I reached for his hands and brought them to my lips, kissed the scarred fingers one by one. “It will happen. Trust in that.”
For the first time, Dustin seemed to want the change to happen. He had been excited about his ears. Was he progressing? Did he want to be an elf now? What had changed his mind? I had so many questions brimming up in me, but I didn’t want him to second guess his change of mind.
Instead, I wrapped him against me and said, “Close your eyes, beauty. I want this to be a complete surprise.”
My heart thrilled as he tucked closer to my side, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. As he exhaled, I drew him those last two steps forward and kept walking through the dense trees and out into the meadow beyond. The temperature rose so fast that my coat became uncomfortable in the summer-like warmth. Dustin tugged at his collar and coughed as the warm air flooded our noses and throats.
“Welcome to Kal’brath,” I whispered against his ear. “Open your eyes.”
I knew the moment Dustin opened his eyes as he gasped and said, “My dream! Cass!”
I laughed and glanced around the meadow filled with soft grass and softer flowers as I stripped us of our coats. “Yes. Somehow your mind went here when the amulet dislodged you from your body.”
Once free of his jacket, Dustin turned in a circle and pointed off across the meadow. “The towers! Where are we?”
“This is the Summerlands,” I replied. “Those towers are the highest points of Lor’lecha where my—my son now rules. We are a mere few miles from its splendor.”
I tried to keep my emotions in check, but it became harder, even in the direct rays of Dustin’s joy. He laughed. “It smells the same. It smells like you! The pine behind us and the flowers.”
The blush that assaulted my cheeks made me hot all over. I shivered with the gooseflesh that rushed along my skin and whispered, “I was born in this meadow. I suppose it has left an imprint on me if this is as you say. Mother always finds a way to leave her mark on her children.”
With a snort, Dustin smacked his hand over his mouth and laughed. When he could breathe again, he tugged me close. “Okay, seeing you blush like that was worth everything we’ve been through these last days. But,” he pulled back to look up at me, “what do we do now? Just stare at the pretty flowers? Or can we go visit?”
I wasn’t ready for the abject sorrow that punched me in the chest and stomach. I swallowed hard and tried to will my voice to remain steady, but it betrayed me. “We… we have not the time. The veil would close before we could return. Kevin would have heart failure.”
The last came out as a whisper so quiet that Dustin walked toward me and strained to hear. The grief that crashed over me nearly sent me to my knees, and Dustin caught me around the waist, pressed me against his strong, sturdy body. I tucked my face into the curve of his throat, clung to him as if my very life depended on it. I had never needed someone so badly as I did then, and I needed Dustin to make everything better again.
Coming home had been my worst idea.
I was not even certain when the tears began. All I knew was Dustin’s gentle touch as he released the ribbon from my hair and combed his fingers through my strands, sending warm shivers down my spine. His husky voice echoed in my ear, “It’s okay, Cass. It’s okay.”
It would never be okay. Never.
“You have so many bad memories of this place, don’t you?” Dustin asked, his breath puffing against my ear with every word. “So many bad memories that you can’t even enjoy a few stolen minutes here. Can’t even visit your home without collapsing under the weight of your grief.”
Dustin kissed the skin just below and behind my ear, making me shiver and press closer to him. I squeezed my eyes tighter, unable to stop the tears, unable to speak.
I heard him rumble in amusement, “You’re getting snot and tears all over my brand new sweater, Cass. I’m getting mussed.”
The gentle tease and the way his fingers in my hair tickled drew a soft chuckle from me, and I loved the note of praise when he said, “There’s my kitten.”
Without another word, Dustin reached into my pocket, where he somehow knew I kept a handkerchief for emergencies and pulled back. With the tenderest of touches, he wiped up my tears, blotted my nose. Upon each pass, he kissed the spot where he wiped until I felt bolstered by his strength—until I needed his touch to stay sane.
I found myself whispering, “Make me feel again…” I pressed against him, rubbed myself against him until he gasped against my neck, leaving a string of kisses from my shoulder until he nipped my earlobe. “You sure, baby? We could go home first.”
“Anything,” I whispered. “Anything, please.”
Before I knew what was happening, I laid on the grass with Dustin atop me. Soft blades tickled my cheeks. The scent of the vibrant flowers surrounded us, and it couldn’t have been more perfect. And Dustin’s stormy eyes bored into mine with such intensity that I almost forgot how to breathe.
He kissed my trembling lips, whispered against them, “I’ll take care of you, Cass. Relax. Let me take care of you.”
And as if he controlled my body, I relaxed, and he rewarded me with a kiss that surrounded my heart with such warmth that it rivaled the sun above us. It lingered, his tongue licking its way into my mouth until my entire focus was Dustin, my entire world narrowed down to his talented tongue and his hand between us, rubbing me to hardness before deftly unfastening my pants and pulling my erection free.
I had never had sex outdoors, but somehow, having his hand around me, having him kiss me senseless in the middle of a field of wildflowers felt right and good. I had met many natural-born protectors in my life, but none who moved me so much as Dustin could with just a single touch.
Without taking his lips from mine, Dustin removed his hand from me, and I whimpered at the loss of his touch, but the sound of his zipper gave me a little thrill. Not soon enough, I felt the heat and softness of his cock joining mine. He wrapped his hand about both of us, and I lost all coherent thought as slick flooded my ass and made me squirm. The only things that mattered were Dustin’s mouth on mine, and the firm, fast strokes as Dustin worked our cocks in a furious rhythm.
He rolled us onto our sides and reached around with his free hand to toy with my leaking ass, coating his fingers with my slick, bringing them to his face to sniff and suck off his fingers like the finest honey before sharing my intimate flavor with me in a kiss that had me moaning into his mouth.
Somehow, he knew exactly what I needed. Somehow, he knew just how to take care of me once again. I barely had the presence of mind to hike up my sweater in hopes we wouldn’t ruin it with our fluids, but I could hardly care. When Dustin touched me, when he kissed me, I didn’t mind being dirty.
My body moved without my bidding. I clung to Dustin’s broad shoulders, lifted my hips to fuck his fist in a mad, jerky rush. I couldn’t get enough of him. I didn’t want to ever get enough of him.
My orgasm started to build faster than I thought possible. It built and built into a volcano within me. I tried to hold it back, never wanting this to end, never wanting Dustin to stop touching me. But as if he knew, Dustin bit my lower lip just enough to get my attention and bring me out of the fog of want and lust and murmured against my panting mouth, “Come for me, Cass. Let go.”
I erupted so hard that my shouts rang throughout the meadow, echoing back to us until my hearing shorted out, and I lay breathless in the grass, watching Dustin unravel beside me. I had never seen anything so lovely as Dustin completely out of control. It made me feel powerful and humbled at once to know I played a part in the destruction of his control.
We lay there for some indeterminate amount of time, breathing in each other’s pants through open mouths before Dustin took the handkerchief and cleaned my stomach as thoroughly as the thin square of fabric would allow. And when I looked into his eyes, I found the most tender expression there. Such love and warmth that I couldn’t believe it was real, not after such a short time. I didn’t deserve such a look.
Dustin must have read my mind, for he kissed my forehead and murmured against the skin there, “Stop thinking so hard, kitten. I got you.”
I shivered. Yes. He did have me. All of me. And part of that frightened me, shook me to my core, even as he pulled my sweater down, wiped the excess slick out of the crack of my ass, and sucked it off his fingers with a growly moan. Then he tucked me back into my pants and fastened them. As he righted himself and rolled into the grass next to me, he plucked a nearby flower and teased its petals along my cheek, its fragrance heady.
I chanced to open my eyes, and my heart rocketed into my throat. “The veil!”
Dustin’s head snapped back to it, and he was suddenly on his feet. He hauled me up out of the grass, grabbed our jackets, and shoved me toward the rapidly shrinking veil. “Run!”
We ran, our feet flying across the ground. We both dove through the veil, and when I looked back, it was gone. We had just barely made it. My heart raced, my throat tightened. Part of me hadn’t wanted to leave, but I knew it was necessary.
Dustin groaned beside me. I glanced over, and he rolled onto his back, his hand reaching for his left knee, pain contorting his features. My heart stuttered in my chest as I scrambled closer and rested my hand on the affected knee, hissing as I felt his kneecap in the wrong position. He must have dislocated it when we landed, and I felt sick for him.
“Oh, my beauty… Hold on. I’ll fix it.”
He shook his head and used my shoulder to help himself sit up. And with a stomach-wrenching snap, he popped his own kneecap back in place before dropping onto his back again with his teeth clenched so hard, I heard them grind together. “Now. …Now you can fix it.”
I whimpered. “Why wouldn’t you let me—”
He huffed a pained laugh and croaked, “If you’d have done it, I’d have punched you.”
“On… on accident?”
Dustin gave me a confused look. “I’d never punch you on purpose.”
I let out a relieved breath and covered his knee with both hands. Once I had his injuries repaired, stretching my magic like a muscle, I sat back. “Can you test your knee out now?”
Groaning, Dustin rolled over, got his hands under his chest, and pushed up until he stood, awkwardly favoring his left leg. My ribs felt too tight to let my lungs expand. “Dustin?”
He panted and dusted himself off. “I’m… I’m okay. Give me a moment.”
I stood up with him and pulled him against me, loving the solid feel of his body in my arms. Gods, I would never get enough of him. I didn’t want to let him go, but he pushed me away and started to test his knee out.
“It’s stiff, but there’s no pain,” he said as he limped around the clearing. “It should go away soon if you did as good a job as I think you did.”
I couldn’t help myself. I followed Dustin around like a lost puppy. Every time he stumbled, I whimpered and caught him. My worry must have annoyed him as the last time, he shoved me away with a grumbled, “Go hug a tree or something for a moment. You’re crowding me. I have to work this stiffness out.”
My entire soul shriveled as I stumbled away from his forceful shove. I didn’t even know why. No. Wait. I did know why. He had rejected me. He had shoved me away when I tried to help him, when I worried for him. He didn’t need me, didn’t want me. How could I have been so stupid?
I watched with growing sorrow as Dustin slowly walked around the trees, his knee giving him less and less trouble until he wasn’t limping at all. I didn’t even know I cried until Dustin turned toward me and paled. He rushed over and cupped my face with both hands. “Cass?”
“You rejected me,” I whispered hoarsely, looking away from his soulful eyes.
“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you away, but you were mother-henning me. I just needed to work out the stiffness. It’s better now.”
I felt him press a warm kiss to my cheek and rest his forehead there. “What can I do to make you feel better? I didn’t mean it like that. I swear, I didn’t.”
I held my entire body rigid. If I moved, I would lose the fight. If I moved, I would shatter. Dustin didn’t understand. He couldn’t.
He tipped my face up to look at him, his face so close our noses brushed. “I won’t shove you away again,” he whispered. “Please don’t shut me out for being an idiot. I’m sorry.”
Why did he care? Why was he being so kind? Why was he so worried? Had the sex between us changed his mind? Or did he really want me? But how could he want me when I held him captive? My mind kept going in circles until Dustin drew me into a tight hug and squeezed until my ribs creaked under the strain.
“You turned me away.” I sobbed into his neck. “You turned me away…”
“Not like that, kitten,” he murmured into my hair. “Never like that. I’ll never, ever turn you away so crassly. Not without talking to you about it first. Okay?”
I shuddered. Was that okay? What more could I ask of him?
Dustin pulled back and wiped my tears away with his thumbs. When more fell, he kissed them away and nuzzled against my cheek. The love he showed, the tenderness, I couldn’t stop shaking from it. I whispered, “You shame me…”
“I shamed myself,” he said, his voice deep and calm. “No more tears. I want your last memory of that place to be happy, not cause another breakdown. I want you to share that place with me, Cass, and I want you to be happy to do it.”
I shuddered and changed the subject, needing to distance myself from the pain. “How is your knee?”
Dustin shook his head and smiled sadly. “Changing the subject doesn’t make it go away. My knee’s fine. You aren’t.”
I let out a heavy sigh and leaned our foreheads together. “You limped to me.”
“It’s stiff,” Dustin murmured. “You’re being a fussy kitten.”
His tease was so sweet that I couldn’t help the ghost of a smile that tipped up the corners of my mouth. “Kittens are supposed to be fussy.”
Laughing, Dustin rewarded my tease with a peck on the lips. “I think a cuddle and some of Beth’s treats will calm my kitten down in no time.”
A cuddle. Dustin would never stop surprising me. And I couldn’t wait for that cuddle.
