A Valkyrie's Apprentice: Book Two

It Will Burn

– T A Y A H –

I woke with a sharp gasp, dragging in my breaths. I could feel the sweat slick over my forehead despite the cold outside the tent. Kàra tensed beside me and I could feel the electric power suddenly in the small, dark space.

"What's wrong?" She asked in a low voice.

I evened my breathing and turned to her beneath the furs and cloth. Her eyes were a dull silver but could quickly change under threat. I pushed a hand into her hair and pressed my forehead to hers, letting my heart slow more. She tightened an arm around me in response and waited.

"I keep dreaming–seeing the same thing in the last few spans. I'm not sure if I am just paranoid since we came across another original..." I murmured, leaning back so I could sink my head into the fur.

"What do you see?" She probed, frowning while her hand drew calming circles against my skin.

"Fire."

"That is all?"

"Just constant, unstoppable amounts of fire." I murmured, practically feeling the small tent heat. "It can't be controlled it just consumes everything. It feels like it consumes me."

Her features softened before me and she moved her fingers to trace my jaw. "You saw an immortal lose control. It is natural for you to think the same will come of your own power."

I let a long breath go and avoided those immortal eyes that had seen all forms of power in the centuries. "Maybe."

She set her head down again so her eyes came level to my own. 

"I told you that I will not let it consume you. Training you with a relic will help you master your fear over these powers. I promise you that."

A small smile tugged at my lip. I moved my hand so I could trace the lines of her face slowly. She held still while I drew lines over her cheekbones and forehead. Down to her jaw and across the bridge of her nose. She let her eyes close and a breath left her calmly.

"I like mapping you out." I murmured. "You seem more real."

Her eyes flashed open and she smirked shamelessly. "Yet I was the one who considered you unreal in my dream when you entered. I felt so foolish that you had been so close–yet I dismissed you as my imagination." 

"I am not offended. Just disappointed." I drawled.

She chuckled and shut her eyes again as I continued my exploration of her face with my fingertips. I crossed over her closed eyes when I spoke again.

"I think about how we met a lot." She hummed under me in question. "It is not how I imagined meeting the love of my life."

"Tayah, I did not even believe in a love of life, so I agree with you on that one." She retorted with another smile.

I giggled and flicked her nose. Her eyes opened again and held something deeper in them. Those eyes always made my heart move that much faster. When her attention was on me so fully I felt exposed but thrilled at the same time. It was a deadly and beautiful combination.

"But you had interests. Immortals you were close to." I ventured, thinking of her earlier words with a spark of that hot spike of jealousy.

"There it is again." She murmured, watching me closely. "You cannot be jealous–"

"I am not!" I insisted a bit too loud in the small space.

She gave me a knowing look. "You should not be jealous because there is nothing to be envious of. No other suitor that has me the way you do, Tayah Ashrive. Meeting you ruined and remade me."