One step after the other, Alex pressed onwards towards the entrance to the city. It was still a fair distance away, as if the Library had dropped her far enough back so she could first take in the view. Delivering her to the middle of the action would have been more pragmatic, but she was grateful for the chance to get her head together and gain a better idea of what she might be dealing with once she arrived.
After perhaps ten minutes of trekking across the cloudy landscape, Alex approached two great, golden gates reaching high into the sky. They were open, inviting, but that didn’t make them and the city they led to any less daunting.
The fact was, Alex had no idea what to do or where to go once she stepped into the golden domain. While she could understand the language of the Tia Aurans thanks to her inner translator, she couldn’t speak it, and she had no idea if they’d be able to understand the common tongue of Medora—or Freya. More and more she was realising that she should have asked Athora some pertinent questions before venturing to his home world.
With a deep breath, she stepped through the gates, her plan being to seek out the first person she could find and try to communicate that she needed to speak with whoever was in charge. She had no idea if it would work, but it was the best she could come up with.
As it turned out, she needn’t have bothered considering her options, because as soon as she crossed the threshold, a trickling sensation shivered down her spine, followed closely by what felt like a needle stabbing into her temple.
She cried out at the sharp pain, the agony enough to send her to her knees. Unable to fight off the invisible attack, she keeled over onto the cloudy ground and was unconscious before she could so much as wonder what had happened.
For the first time in days, Alex felt comfortable and at ease. Her head was cushioned by something soft, and gentle fingers were playing with her hair, the sensation causing her entire body to relax.
She didn’t want to open her eyes, didn’t want to discover it was a dream and wake to the reality of still being in the unending desert. But then she remembered that she’d already left the desert.
Clouds.
She recalled seeing rainbow clouds. And a city of gold and diamond so bright that even the memory burned the back of her eyes. She also recalled stepping through gates that had prompted her being stabbed in the brain by an indiscernible weapon. And now here she was, no longer in pain—very much the opposite.
Blinking herself into awareness, it took a moment for Alex to comprehend where she was. Or rather, why she was where she was, and who she was with.
Because, from what she could tell, she was lying with her head in Kaiden’s lap.
“Hey there, Sleeping Beauty,” he said, smiling softly down at her. “How’s the headache?”
His words were quiet, almost as if he was afraid of causing her more pain. She had to struggle against melting at his concern. Instead, she pushed herself up into a seated position and didn’t hesitate to lean forward and wrap her arms around him.
Startled, it took him a second to return her embrace, but then his arms circled her waist, pulling her tightly against his warm, strong body.
Alex took longer than she should have to let him go. And when she finally released him, she struggled to look him in the eyes, embarrassed by her display of affection. But he reached out and tilted her chin up until she met his gaze.
“Not that I don’t appreciate a good hug, but do you want to tell me what that was for?” he asked.
Alex resisted the urge to look over his shoulder as she answered, “I just—I was worried about you. When I arrived and you weren’t with me… I didn’t know what had happened.”
Kaiden’s expression warmed and he moved his hand from her chin to tuck a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “I was worried about you, too. I thought you’d get here much sooner than you did. And when you didn’t…”
He trailed off, but he didn’t need to finish, since Alex could see the concern lingering in his eyes.
“What happened to you, Alex?” he asked. “When they brought you in, you were a mess.”
Heat flooded her cheeks at the idea of just how terrible she must have looked upon her arrival. Her relentless time in the desert had left her skin rubbed raw from both windburn and the lashing sand, while her lips had been scabbed and chapped from prolonged exposure. And her clothes… they would have been just as unappealing as the rest of her after she’d trudged through the dunes for almost a whole day.
The thought of Kaiden seeing her like that made her want to crawl into the nearest hole, but she knew he’d seen her much worse. Not just in their Combat and SAS classes, but also when she’d happened upon him after some of her more ruthless adventures. And besides, it wasn’t like there was anything she could do about it now.
But… Raising a hand to her face and touching her lips, Alex could feel that she no longer bore any evidence of her hours spent in the desert. Not only were her hunger and thirst sated, but, glancing down, she saw that her skin was completely healed. Furthermore, she wasn’t wearing the jeans and jacket she’d sported upon arrival in Tia Auras; instead, she wore a white dress that covered only one shoulder and had gold banding circling around her waist. The outfit was floor-length with a long slit down the side, revealing gold, strappy sandals curling halfway up to her knees. Added to that, on her bare-shouldered arm, there was a shiny cuff around her bicep, the spiralling design beautiful. In fact, the entire ensemble was beautiful. But still—
“Please tell me you didn’t change my clothes.”
Kaiden’s lips twitched and Alex felt her heart skip a beat, fearing his answer. But then he shook his head and said, “No. I saw you when they first carried you past, but they returned you here after they’d healed you and swapped your clothes. They did the same to me.”
Relief swept through Alex and she looked at him properly for the first time. He was also wearing white from top to bottom, but instead of a dress, his outfit included linen pants and a billowing, long-sleeved shirt that was partially unbuttoned, showing off the tanned column of his neck and upper chest. Alex felt her mouth turn dry at the sight, but she also wondered why they were both dressed like Grecian royalty.
Recalling what he’d said about people carrying her ‘past’, she turned from him, her gaze widening and then narrowing as she took in the room they were in, the sight prompting her to rise on unsteady feet.
Enclosing the two of them was a transparent barrier, like a large glass dome over their heads. Within the space was just the bed of cushions that she and Kaiden had been resting on. Otherwise, nothing. But outside of the dome… they were in the middle of a throne room. A set of shining stairs led to three gilded chairs overlooking the vast space of which they were currently the only occupants. The room was beyond decadent, with golden pillars leading to an arched ceiling hung with diamond chandeliers. Yet despite the intimidation of such an awe-inspiring sight, the space was silent in its emptiness.
Alex reached out and pressed her hand against the barrier, finding it solid to the touch. “Are we trapped in here?” she asked Kaiden as he moved to stand beside her.
“I’ve tried everything,” he said. “The only way it comes down is from the outside.”
Alex turned to him and every thought she’d been holding in spewed forth in a steady stream. “How long have you been here? What happened? Why were we separated? How did you even get here? Where is here? And who’s holding us captive?”