Chapter Twenty: Sated | Part 3
By the time Thirtyx reached the door, Seerla was around the corner, nearing the dormitory exit. Thirtyx trailed her through the courtyard at a healthy distance. Both moons were out and gleaming as if sharing in the celebration. Thirtyx forced himself to examine them both—and the distant stars beyond—as he counted 20 fracs at the entrance to the academic building. He didn’t think they’d been followed, but still…
Seerla wasn’t immediately visible inside. Thirtyx’s heart, already pounding with excitement, beat harder in terror. Then, the stairwell door clicked closed at the left end of the hall.
Seerla’s footsteps were high above him by the time he reached the stairwell, but he watched her disappear onto the fourth floor. He nearly tripped over his feet in his haste to follow. His untamed hunger had returned, and Seerla’s cryptic energy danced around it with abandon.
With a fully unfamiliar swagger, Thirtyx approached the only open door in the fourth floor corridor. He still hesitated before he entered, tasting the air for signs of a trap, but his senses remained overwhelmed by Seerla’s wild energy.
He’d barely stepped inside before he was embraced by a squealing mass of limbs and hair and scales. “We did it!”
Thirtyx chuckled as his arms wrapped around her. “Considering how hard we studied, I should hope so. Still, it’s really comforting to see it on paper, isn’t it?”
“Pfah, I don’t think I’ve ever been so relieved.” She released a prolonged sigh and seemed to melt into him. The comfort of her embrace unwound the remaining bits of tension he’d been holding since before the exam—since he decided to join Seerla on this crazy ride. He felt so safe with her. So right with her.
Thirtyx tensed when Seerla started to pull away, but she grabbed his hands, still trembling with giddy excitement. “I’m so glad we were able to sneak away. I couldn’t imagine celebrating this without you. I mean, we did it together, didn’t we?”
“We both know I’d have never survived it alone. Hells, I barely survived it with you.” Pulling his eyes away from hers felt like dimming a bright light inside his chest, but he didn’t want to say this next part to her directly. “It sucks that I have to survive everything else without you now.”
She squeezed his hands. “You’re not without me. Even if we have to be careful about seeing each other, I am always in your corner, Thirtyx. I’m rooting for you. Because… because I don’t want to survive everything else without you, either.”
Thirtyx didn’t need to be a Verith to sense the change in energy—the way Seerla’s grip softened as her gaze became more insistent. Her pulse sped through her fingertips, a drumbeat symphony with his own. “We make a good team,” Thirtyx said breathlessly.
Seerla didn’t answer with words. Instead, she leveraged her grip on his hands to pull him closer. He leaned down as she stretched up, and his eyes slid closed as their lips met.
Relief and pleasure and excitement chased each other through his system. That hunger he’d been cursing for weeks felt truly sated for the first time, turning from an inconvenient frustration into a delightful passion. Seerla’s energy surged before enveloping in him in a tight embrace. Much as he’d denied it, he’d known all along, hadn’t he? That the inscrutable flavor was her desire for him.
Seerla’s hands moved to his waist. He reached up to cup her face. He wanted to bathe in this miasma of emotions and energy for the rest of eternity. What else could possibly matter outside of this moment?
Calley Jones 