Page 57 of Dryad’s Treasure

“Yeah,” I agreed, lifting my head to meet him for a kiss. Gray’s lips were softer than I’d thought they’d be. They were plush and inviting, easily molding against my own, yielding and eager.

Pulling away with a satisfied groan, Gray settled his head back on my chest. My arms wrapped around him, tucking him close. “I don’t ever want to leave this bed,” Gray lamented. “I know we’ll have to. I’m just saying, for the record, that I’ll be against the move.”

I chuckled, shaking Gray. “For the record, your thoughts have been duly noted and seconded.”

“Good.” Gray’s body relaxed into mine. For a moment, I thought he might have fallen asleep. Evidently his silence had been due to thought, not slumber. “What do you think Huxley was thinking when he trapped that pixie’s magic?”

My good mood vanished, tension filling my previously loosened limbs. “I don’t want to know.”

“No, I know that, but I think we need to. It’s protective magic. That means he wanted to protect something.”

“Given recent events, I’d say the only thing Tenzen Huxley would have found valuable enough to protect was his own damn self.”

“I can’t argue that.” Gray’s fingers were back to tracing absent designs on my thigh. “But how? That much magic… No one knows how pixies manage it, but if you tried to place that kind of magic into a being that already possessed magic…I can’t imagine the outcome would be positive. And it would have to be something living. That type of raw magic wouldn’t work otherwise.” Gray swallowed hard. “Do you think he meant it for Frost? I know he’s not a full pixie, but…maybe it would have worked.”

I barely suppressed the shiver running down my spine. “I don’t know. If so, the joke would have been on him. Frost’s shifter side mated with a vampire. Maybe it still would have worked, if it ever would have to begin with, but I doubt it. Let’s hope we never need find out.”

Gray shivered, and I pulled the covers up over his shoulders. “Cold?” I asked.

“Yes, but I don’t think it’s temperature-related.”

I knew exactly what he meant. I’d felt the same way when I realized exactly where the core buzzweed was located. Was it simply coincidence that it was below my birth soil? At least three stories deep, to my knowledge, my roots had never come close to it. Then again, would I have known if they had? Before becoming Gray’s anchor, I hadn’t been aware of any of the buzzweeds. Now, when he was in wisp form and I could hear its song, I knew, without a doubt, where it was located. I hadn’t realized when we found it. Now I knew, and I had no idea what to do with that knowledge. For some reason, I hadn’t told Gray. Maybe I didn’t want to worry him, or maybe voicing my thoughts out loud would make my own concern real. Maybe Gray had already figured it out, but I didn’t think so. Gray said my birth soil’s song overruled all others when he was near it. Considering what a maze the compound was, I doubted Gray understood the core’s proximity.

Pushing thoughts of the buzzweeds aside, I rubbed my hands up and down Gray’s arms, shoulders, and over his back, attempting to warm him up from the outside in.

“Hmm…that feels good. Don’t stop, I⁠—”

“Keir needs you.”

I jerked, instinctively rolling Gray beneath me, shielding his body from our ghostly intruder. “Elvira! A little privacy would be nice.”

“I’ve no time to care about your living, carnal desires, Martin. Keir sent me to get you. You are needed in the reception area.”

Gray wiggled out from underneath me. “The reception area? Is that where I was first taken?”

“It is,” Elvira answered. “We have an unwanted guest. Keir is unable to attend as Lazarus requested he stay and protect the eggs. Keir wants you there in his stead.”

I scooted to the edge of the bed, already reaching for my pants. “Why isn’t Lazarus staying with the eggs?” I asked as I shoved one foot into the fabric.

“He has gone to meet the visitor.”

My head snapped up, a lance of fear piercing my heart. “I thought Thalia wasn’t due to arrive until tomorrow.” Besides, I doubted Keir would call Thalia an unwanted guest.

“It is not Thalia that has arrived, but another.”

Before I could ask, Gray said, “Wyvern?”

“Indeed. It would seem the knowledge regarding the eggs is no longer secret.”

“Shit,” Gray and I said in unison before we stood, dressing completely and hustling out the door.

The tense pressure filling the room nearly sent me to my knees. Gray’s reaction was similar and he immediately reached out, grasping my forearm. My branches elongated, wrapping around him and pulling him close.

Lazarus stood there, legs braced apart as if he were ready and prepared to rush the female he was currently arguing with. Smoke filled the room, along with more than a few eroded, hissing wounds in the floor.

“Acid,” Gray whispered, voice barely audible and filled with fearful awe. “She’s an acid wyvern.”

I cringed. Lazarus’s internal fire was bad enough. Acid seemed worse. Both were probably equally deadly.