Hog, Zoren, and my magic dragon had finished off the other hunters. Now that there was no more need for that dragon, I transformed it back into the sphere and let it fly at the nearest tree. Midnight had been struggling out of the net while we’d been fighting, and managed to get halfway under it because of the reduced weight. The three of us hurried over, cutting off the rest of the anchors so the dragon could go free. The moment it was out of the net it spun in a joyful circle, stretched its long tail, and shook its head in a tremble that traveled down its body and to the tip of its tail.
“Hungry?” Zoren asked it, motioning to the dead men around us.
“Feast up,” I said, striding forward to pet the dragon’s nose one last time. “And try to avoid food that looks too easy in the future.” It made a soft chittering noise, a rapid clicking through its nose, and somehow I knew that to be agreement.
Zoren, Hog, and I traveled back in the direction of our village, but we didn’t go home right away. We joined other men and women at what our small village had designated as training grounds. Here, we practiced our magic and our fighting skills. Developed everything we could as deeply as we could. We stayed at the training grounds until nightfall, as we often did when we went, and then I traveled home, more beat up from training than from any fight I ever had with a hunter.
By the time I arrived at my cottage, all the blood from the wounds in my face had dried. They were small to begin with, and all it would take was a washing. I strode through my front door, set my stone dagger on the small table just inside it, and then walked left to the kitchen table. There was food already laid out, meat and vegetables, and I was too hungry to want to wash up before eating. I took a stealthy glance around, checking to make sure I wouldn’t be scolded for not waiting, and then I reached for a piece of roast potato.
As I stuck the piece into my mouth, a pair of hands set on the back of my hips, slipping under my tunic and around to my stomach. The hands were small and a little rough, but they ran low across my abdomen as though well acquainted with this masculine body.
My lips twitched with a smirk. “That better be my wife,” I said. “I pity the fool who has to meet Ceri’s wrath.”
The woman’s body pressed against my back, and one of her hands slipped down the front of my trousers, her palm making a teasing stroke along the length of me. That unfamiliar part of me flooded at the touch, while the rest of me went slack.
“That’s my wife,” I chuckled. I pulled her hand away so I could turn around and look at her.
She was smiling mischievously, but at seeing the blood on my face, that smile turned stern. “Luc, you’ve not washed for supper.”
“Couldn’t wait to see you,” I teased. I grabbed her by the hips and turned us around, lifting her easily to sit her at the edge of the table.
She rolled her eyes, extending a hand sideways and using her magic to draw a small amount of fresh water from the drinking bucket in the corner. “Hold your breath,” she instructed.
I took in a deliberately deep breath and held it, and she used her magic to guide that water over every inch of my face, until she’d removed all the blood. Once I was clean, she flicked her wrist, sending the dirty water flying out an open window of our home.
“That’s better,” she said. “Now I can see your handsome face.”
I leaned forward, catching her lips in a proper kiss, enjoying the way her hands came up to run over my flat chest. Her fingers traced the deep neckline of my tunic and then slid under to my stomach, and she froze trails of the lingering sweat along my abdomen as she caressed me, sending a delighted shiver down my spine. Even better was that, as I pulled away from the kiss for a breath, she used her other magic, her sparks, to send a jolt along my tongue.
A deep hum of approval left my throat as I set my forehead against hers. “I love when you do that.”
“I know,” she said with a smile, and she pecked me on the lips before slipping her arms around my neck. “I have news.” My eyebrows rose in question. “Guess.”
This time my hum was thoughtful. “Your mother made us one of her delicious bread loaves?” My wife shook her head. “Let’s see… your father’s decided to stop badgering us about grandchildren?”
She straightened up. “That was very good!”
“I was right?” I asked in shock, grinning triumphantly when she nodded. “About time,” I teased. “What’s convinced him?”
Her lips pursed like she was trying to hold back her smile, but it didn’t work, and she said through a joyous laugh, “I’m pregnant.”
I could feel my entire face light up instantly, and I was so happy and excited that I grabbed her by the waist, pulled her off the table and lifted her into the air, spinning her around. And I didn’t know how to voice my delight, so all I could do was laugh and let out an incoherent and gleeful shout. After a couple of twirls, I set her back on her feet, pulling her into a tight hug.
“Pregnant,” I said in disbelief. “My wife.”
“Aye,” she giggled. She reached up to run her fingers back through my neck-length hair, pushing it away from my forehead. “We’ll be the first to mix gifted bloodlines.” Her eyes dropped to the dragon pendant around my neck. “I wonder whose abilities our children will have.”
“Maybe a little bit of both,” I suggested with a shrug, and added optimistically, “maybe they’ll have double the magic.” Then I laughed to myself. “Just so long as they can’t control fire like your niece. If I have to wake up in the middle of the night one more time to put their cottage out…” Ceri simply giggled, and I shook my head again in awe. “Pregnant.”
The next time I blinked, I opened my eyes and was back in the caves. Back on the cot and in my own, female body. It felt like it had been less than a minute that I was in the memory, but the masters were no longer standing over me. I pushed myself up, feeling weak, as though I’d just woken from a deep and unsatisfying sleep.
“You’re back,” Rhien said in surprise. She grabbed the mug of water on the floor next to her, carrying it over to me. “How are you feeling?”
I took the drink from her, kicking my legs over the side of the cot and scooting over to make room for her, so she could sit down next to me. “Fine,” I answered. I was a little disoriented. Though it had only felt like less than a minute, I’d grown accustomed to the body in the memory. I knew it would fade, but right now I felt strange, foreign to myself. “How long was I gone?”
Rhien watched me lift the mug to my lips, taking it back after I’d drank so I could sink forward and rest my elbows on my knees. “Supper’s about to be served,” she answered, and I picked my head up to look at her in shock. All day, that’s how long I’d been gone. I’d been gone for hours. “Did you get what you needed?”
“Possibly,” I answered.
The water magic wasn’t something I could do, I knew that because I’d tried. I’d tried to govern each of the elements during the last six months, and had never been able to manipulate anything but the sparks I could create. The corruptions, however, that was something I’d never considered. Something I never would’ve been able to come up with on my own, and might have never discovered. If I’d been drawn to that memory for a specific reason, that control of darkness and corruption had to be it. Part of me was eager to try it out, but the rest of me was too exhausted to do it right now.