Chapter 44

I fade in and out of consciousness as we make it through the tunnel.

I'm a shaky clammy mess by the time we break out of the tunnel and warm sunshine splashes over my face. The world around me is a blur of deep green.

"We're almost there," Damion whispers into my ear in a low silky voice, his breath warm on the pointed edge of my ear, "Just hold on a little longer. Just focus on me. We're almost there."

I do as he says, turning my hazy eyes up to look up into the beautiful lines of his face.

A small smile just for me breaks across his full lips as my eyes meet his dark ones, "There she is," he says, "good girl. Focus on me. Just stay awake a little longer."

The next thing I'm aware of is being set on my feet on soft tufts of grass and a flurry of soft unfamiliar female hands stripping the dress off my body until my body is left bare. I barely notice, my gaze stuck on Damion's. Warm air brushes against my naked skin as the still-clothed bodies of female elves flurry around me, trying to keep me standing on my unsteady feet.

"Eyes on me, Princess," Damion smirks at me, the light reflecting alluringly off the curve of his matte black horns, the arch of his cheek bones, the sharp points of his glistening teeth. I distantly notice that Damion is unbuttoning his own shirt, stripping off his riding leathers.

Still, he doesn't take his eyes off mine as he slides them off his muscular body. It's steadying, but also overwhelming, having the full force of his focus centered solely on me.

The elves' hands that had tugged my clothes off a moment ago now push me down a slight slope supporting me until I'm surrounded by warmth. What feels like between one blink and the next, I'm being lowered into a warm shimmering pool of water until I'm completely submerged.

What happens next takes my breath away.

It feels like the earth, the surrounding water, has been infused with a magical electric surge that flows beneath my skin and prickles its way through my veins and slowly following the current throughout my body. The feeling tingles through my body, heating my skin and my blood to what feels like a boiling point. It's a rush unlike anything I've ever known and I drink in the sensation of it like a drowning man drinks down oxygen.

When my head breaks back through the water, I feel like I'm taking a full breath of air for the first time in my life. A warm water-slick body slides behind my back supporting me so my head doesn't fall back beneath the surface. A strong pair of hands grip onto my waist, staying firmly in place. I don't know how I know the person behind me is Damion without glancing back over my shoulder, but I do somehow. Like I can just sense it's him, his presence a familiar one.

I lean into the body behind me, eyes closed, just revealing in the feeling of unfettered, unadulterated *wholeness* that's sparking to life under my skin. Happy, relieved tears pool in my closed eyes, dripping down my cheeks, a smile tugging at my lips.

When I finally open my eyes, the first thing I notice is that I'm staring up into the blue depths of a morning sky only cut off from view by the overcrowded forests leaning over me. Surrounded on all sides by emerald trees.

I blink water and tears out of my eyes, peering around me. I'm laying in a pool of warm crystal clear water, embraced in its depths. The water glows like there's a sun hidden beneath it. It's a clearer crystalline blue than anything I've ever seen. A shimmering aquamarine dreamscape that buzzes with an electricity that sparks my skin all the way down to my bones.

Not far from where I've been laid in the pool, a waterfall pours down the side of a moss covered craggy cliffside. As it glances off the hot spring's surface, it brings with it a hazy mist that prickles my hairline, dampening my hair that isn't submerged in the water. The falling water froths the water so it's nearly impossible to see beneath the immediate surface.

As if sensing my eyes opening, a warm finger quickly and gently drags under my eyes, wiping away the tears dripping there,"You alright, darling?" Damion asks quietly.

I nod, another relieved tear escaping my eyes, "More than alright," I say. And it's true. There's not really any way to describe how I feel. Like sunshine is being trapped beneath my skin and my heart is pumping easily for the first time in my life. I feel incredible. Strong.

"You're glowing," he says, his lips a muffled murmur where they're pressed against my hair,"Your skin."

I glance down at myself and see that he's right, my skin is glimmering like that of a gem. I hold my hand above the frothing water so I can get a better view of it. The overly pale shade shimmers, a hint of warmth sparking there now. It reminds me of the opal gems the fae occasionally had embedded in their jewelry.

"Beautiful," Damion says, a hint of awe in his voice.

That simple remark sends a blush heating up my neck into my cheeks. I bite my bottom lip, fighting a smile. Against my back, I feel Damion take a deep steadying breath that shakes a little where it presses and brushes into my back.

I know he can't really see much of me under the water the way that I am, but I can feel something steely and hard pressing into my lower back that sends a flash of heat through me. The feel of him there, pressing into my back, I'm suddenly *very* aware of the fact that I'm laying in this pool naked with him. With not even a shred of fabric separating us.

I know it probably doesn't mean anythingjust his body reacting to the strange situation we've managed to find ourselves in. But that doesn't stop my own body from responding to the way that his is reacting.

My stomach is in a pile of fluttering knots and a flash of heat spears through me, the apex of my thighs clenching and throbbing.

With the rush of energy flowing through me, I don't think about what I do next. I flip over in his arms so my the front of my body is pressed into his and then fuse my lips to his in a scorching kiss.