As Naill entered the mist, I nodded jerkily. “If there are three-headed giants on the other side, I’m going to be very angry with both of you.”
“If there are three-headed giants awaiting us, your anger will be the least of my concerns,” Casteel replied, tone light with amusement. “Ready?”
Not really, but I said, “Yes.”
Fighting the urge to close my eyes, I jerked as thin vapors stretched out from the rapidly approaching mass, a cool caress against my cheeks. Setti made a soft whinny as the tendrils curled around his legs, and then the mist enveloped us. I could see nothing. Nothing but the thick, choking, milky-white air. Panic bubbled up in me—
Casteel shifted behind me, pressing his lips to the space behind my ear as he whispered, “Think of all the things I could do to you.” The hand at my hip glided over my thigh, and then up it, moving with predatory grace toward my very center. “That no one would ever be able to see. Not even you.”
My breath snagged for a wholly different reason as his fingers danced over me. I tensed as muscles low in my stomach clenched in response and my head snapped to the side. I opened my mouth, but whatever I was about to say was forgotten when Casteel caught my lower lip between his teeth.
He slowly let go of my lip, but his mouth was still there, warm and solid against mine. “I have so many ideas.”
My heart stuttered as a wave of shivers exploded over me. I could imagine what some of his ideas involved, and for a brief moment, I wasn’t thinking about anything. A breathy sound left me, lost to the mist—
“You can open your eyes now,” he murmured against my lips.
I hadn’t even realized I’d closed them until he spoke, but now I knew why he’d done and said what he did. He’d sought to distract me, and it had worked, bringing a quick end to the rising panic.
“Thank you,” I whispered, and his hand, which had made its way back to my hip, squeezed. I opened my eyes as he straightened behind me to see…
To see that the mist had thinned out to wispy coils around moss-shrouded rocks and the legs of the waiting horses. I blinked as I saw Beckett sitting before us, his tail swaying along the ground, stirring the mist as he craned his head back, looking up. I followed his gaze, lips parting on a sharp inhale as I saw what he looked upon.
Gold.
Glittering, luminous gold leaves soaked in the rays of sunlight that penetrated the mist.
“Beautiful, aren’t they?” Delano asked, looking up.
“Yes.” Awed, my gaze crept over the golden trees. “I’ve never seen anything like them.” Even when the leaves changed colors in Masadonia with the weather, the yellows were muted and muddied. These leaves were pure, spun gold. “What kind of trees are they?”
“Trees of Aios,” Casteel answered, referring to the Goddess of Love, Fertility, and Beauty. I couldn’t think of a better namesake. “They grew in the foothills and throughout the Skotos range after she went to sleep here, deep underground.”
I glanced back at Casteel. “She sleeps here?”
His eyes, which were only a shade darker than the leaves, met mine. “She does.”
“Some believe she is under the highest peak,” Jasper said, drawing my wide-eyed gaze to his. “Where the trees of Aios flourish so intensely, you can see them from the Chambers of Nyktos.”
“Chambers…of Nyktos?” I repeated.
“It’s a Temple just beyond the Pillars,” Emil explained. “Very beautiful. You must visit them.”
“Does he sleep there?” I asked.
He smiled as he shook his head. “No one knows where Nyktos rests.”
“Oh,” I whispered.
“We should go ahead and split into smaller groups,” Casteel cut in. “Kieran will ride with us. Beckett, you need to take human form and go with Delano and Naill.”
I watched the wolven bound through the mist, causing Naill’s horse to prance nervously. The Atlantian rolled his eyes as he looked at Casteel.
“He’s good practice for whenever you decide to settle down and have children,” Casteel said, and I could hear the smile in his words.
Naill looked like he might fall from his horse.
Having guided his horse to face us, Jasper smirked. “I fear after one night keeping an eye on Beckett, he will swear off children.”
“Gods,” Naill muttered as Beckett suddenly launched himself at a…gold leaf that had tumbled into his line of sight.
Quentyn shook his head as he watched his friend. “You should see him with the butterflies.”