Black Crown (Darkest Drae, #3)(14)

Now, go get Lani to Phaetynville. I’ll go wake up the others and let them know Draedyn is not in his lands like we’d thought.

He stood and stretched, much like Lani had done a few minutes ago, only I was way more distracted by his lack of aketon and skimpy undergarments. His promise to show me what love felt like unfurled low in my belly, a languid desire. Even away from him I couldn’t escape my attraction. Actually, that Ryn seemed less reasonable now than when I’d left, which was super great. Not.

I’m leaving here in less than twenty-four hours so I can meet you outside the forest tomorrow night. He stopped mid-stretch, corded arms extended to the ceiling. His chest twitched, and I focused on the muscles. I can’t wait to see you too.

Hot potato, what a view, but I rolled my eyes. I never said that. And are you looking at yourself to give me a peep show?

I felt his grin widen, and my heart tried to race its way across Gemond to him. I stood like I was making to leave, but I couldn’t help stretching up as if that would allow me to get a better peek at him.

I’m going to bathe. Too bad you’re not here to join me. But I can give you a peep show for that, too, if you like?

My jaw dropped.

“Ryn!”

I squealed, my attention on Tyrrik destroyed by Lani’s shouting. I turned beet red as I spun toward her.

She stood two feet away, waving her arms in the air as she jumped up and down on a rock, yelling my name.

“I’d like to go,” she said when she had my attention. “I’ve only been waiting to find my people for fifty years, but feel free to continue your conversation.”

I brushed off my hands and then my butt. “Yeah, Tyrrik and I were just discussing the . . . the plan. He suggested the same.”

Lani raised her eyebrows and said, “Right. Sure he did.” She shook her head. “Don’t insult my intelligence. You were not discussing ‘the plan’ unless it was a plan for what he’s going to do to you when the two of you finally hook up.”

I felt Tyrrik’s laughter as our connection faded, and I huffed at Lani but didn’t bother denying anything. What was the point? Instead, I pushed past her to our bags and guzzled a waterskin of nectar before packing everything up.

Lani said nothing as she packed her stuff and ate breakfast. “I’ll be right back,” she said after she finished. “I need to go to the new and improved bathroom.”

Huh? It was then that I noticed the scraggly spot we’d used for our toilet last night was no longer scraggly or small.

A verdant copse of evergreens rose high into the sky. Bright purple blackberries hung heavy on thick stalks of the thorny plants. The grassy undergrowth was almost waist-high, and several bushes filled the spaces between the trees. The lush growth melted into the surrounding area, and I stared in awe at what would surely be a beacon from the sky. We were so lucky that hadn’t sprouted during Draedyn’s fly by.

My mouth dropped open, and as Lani marched toward the area, I pointed at the thick growth. “Did you do that?”

I was used to seeing some change in growth at the places Tyrrik, Dyter, and I had stopped at on our way to Gemond—let’s just say all Phaetyn fluids did the trick—but nothing like this. The trees were huge, like at least thirty or more feet into the air. And those blackberries were the size of Lani’s fist. “Is everything still growing? What’s in your pee?”

Lani said nothing as she marched into the copse of trees and foliage. A few minutes later, she returned, stopping to pick a blackberry that, yep, was way bigger than her fist. She took a bite, and its purple juice dripped down her chin.

“Your turn,” she said cheerily.

She was eating her pee blackberries. Yuck. “Is that because of you? Or is that because there are double powers here?” My mouth hung ajar as I scanned the bounty before me, torn between disturbed and amazed. “Holy Pancakes, I can’t believe—”

Lani started with a giggle, but the small chortle quickly turned to big guffaws, too much for her frame to handle. She shook as tears streamed down her face.

“You set me up?” I asked, incredulous. “You set me up! You sent power into the ground. Jeez! I thought we had some super magical pee going on.”

She was seriously twisted. But then I thought about my ginormous pumpkin. Maybe there was something wrong with the Phaetyn who had ancestral powers. Did we all get a kick out of big? Maybe we were all really competitive.

“You’re sick,” I said as I walked into the trees. I couldn’t help the grin.

“Yeah, you too.”

A few minutes later, with our bellies full of fruit, I took off with Lani on my back for the Zivost Forest.

Did you fly all day and stay up all night? Tyrrik asked, interrupting my thoughts.

What? I asked. I’d flexed my Phaetyn mojo on and off all morning, alternately talking with Tyrrik.

You’re still tired. Normally, your Phaetyn side heals you, but I can feel your exhaustion. He paused a moment before continuing. Is the barrier that difficult to hold? I thought if you had the ancestral powers, it was supposed to be easy.

You're not telling me anything I haven’t already thought. I asked Lani about it, and she said it was like a muscle. Apparently, I don’t do enough Phaetyn mojo sit ups.

Tyrrik chuckled, and I sensed him sitting against the stone wall in our room.