Mel was escorted by carriage to Falden and felt relieved at avoiding people’s dark glances. They had watched her with such open contempt when Derek Taveck had dragged her through the city, that she felt like she never wanted to walk through this town again. The glee of people who had once been nice to her baffled Mel, and she wanted to crawl up into a ball and forget all of this ever happened.
At the school, Master Foss, who had joined them in the carriage with the guards, walked Mel to a dorm room further down the hall from Gabriella’s. Mel wanted to knock or make some kind of sound when they passed Gabs’ door. She wanted to know she was in there, safe. But Mel refused the urge and swallowed her worry. She didn’t need to get into more trouble than she was already in.
Master Foss dropped Mel off inside her dorm and turned his back to Mel, but he hesitated in the doorway. He glanced back over his shoulder and gave her a thin-lipped smile. She could see pain behind his eyes, and Mel knew he felt sorry for her.
“I’ll see you tomorrow in the dragon forge. Try to get some sleep tonight, okay?”
Mel nodded, putting on a brave face, and waved for him to leave. Master Foss walked away through the corridor, and Mel’s chest tightened. The guards went into her room and closed the door behind them. She wasn’t alone. She was in here with two strange men she’d never met and didn’t want to know. She didn’t even care what their names were, because they looked at her with suspicion and disgust.
At this moment, Mel wanted to slide down against the closed door and cry. But she couldn’t, she couldn’t when they were here, watching her every move. Instead, she exhaled a deep and guttural sigh, turning toward the guards and drawing her lips into a line.
“Are you going to let me shower by myself at least?” she asked.
The guards shared a glance, and then one of them flushed noticeably. The other one cleared his throat and puffed his chest out in indignation.
“Of course,” he said. “We’ll follow you to the showers and make sure no one is inside, but we’ll wait for you to come out when you’re done. Standard procedure.”
“There’s a standard procedure for this?” Mel raised an eyebrow.
The guard cleared his throat again. “Of course.”
The other guard seemed to have regained his professionalism, and the blush had disappeared from his now pale cheeks. He looked toward her, but not directly at her, seeming to focus on a spot just above her right shoulder. Mel let out another sigh and gestured for the guards to follow her to the showers.
#
She was getting ready to leave for the Falden bunker when a knock sounded at her door. Both the guards turned in surprise, as well as Mel. They put their hands on their swords and assumed defensive stances around the door. One of the guards opened up to reveal the knocker, while the other one was standing slightly behind the door, out of sight from whoever was here to visit her.
Mel’s head throbbed, and she felt a dizziness around her. She had showered and changed into cleaner clothes, but still hadn’t eaten anything. In fact, she had stood over the sink inside the shower room and lapped up water in her hands for what felt like half an hour, at least, just to quench her thirst. Mel hoped it was Gabs who was coming to visit her, but she assumed she couldn’t since she probably didn’t even know Mel had been released.
“Where is she?” Austin’s voice sounded like a knife ready to cut.
Mel’s heart skipped a beat, and she suddenly felt like she wanted nothing more than to see him. He had saved her somehow from the dungeon and the possible torture. If Mel had ever questioned Austin’s motives, she felt like she trusted him completely now. Even though she didn’t know how he had convinced the governor to let her into the Dragon Forge.
The guard stepped aside from the door to let Austin inside.
“Taveck,” he said in surprise.
Austin strode into the small dorm room, adorned with a single bed and a dresser at the side. He looked at Mel and then glanced around the space, seeming to evaluate if it was good enough for her. Mel almost wanted to chuckle at the thought of him caring about that after she’d spent a night in a damp dungeon cell.
After Austin had scanned the room, his eyes landed on hers again and Mel’s breath hitched. Austin waved a hand behind him to the soldiers, not releasing her gaze.
“Leave us,” he said.
The guards hesitated, seeming confused and not knowing if they should follow his orders or not.
“We can’t, Sir,” the guard said. “We have orders to not leave her out of sight with anyone or anything.”
Austin let out a frustrated sigh and turned to the guards. “And now you have new orders to leave us alone. You can stand outside the door and keep a watch if you want.”
The other guard licked his lips now. “But what if she tries something on you, Sir? She’s a criminal.”
Mel saw Austin’s shoulders rise to his ears. “I’m an elemental warrior from the Taveck line. I would like to see her try. Now, please, if you will, leave us alone. It won’t be long. I just need a word with Melissa.”
The soldiers shared another glance, but they seemed to waver now. Austin wasn’t really an elemental warrior yet, he wasn’t employed by the governor or the king. But he was one in training and practically guaranteed to get the job afterwards because of this family name. Everyone knew this and Mel guessed the soldiers didn’t want to argue with a Taveck.
Mel also guessed that if Austin had been any other elemental warrior, they would have protested more and not been happy with him pulling rank. Especially since it was just weeks ago, since the governor had decided that all elemental warriors outranked the entire Aldrion army.
The guards huffed a bit, but then walked outside the door and closed it behind them. Austin turned back to Mel, dragging a hand over his face in a very Austin way. Mel couldn’t help but smile at him. She could see that he didn't like to be this person. The commanding Taveck who gave orders, not suggestions.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just don’t want them here. I just want to explain to you why I had to do this.”
Mel tilted her head to one side. “What do you mean? What did you do?”
Austin met her gaze for a second, then he averted his eyes and paced the room. It was small and he could only take a couple of steps before he had to turn around and pace back again.
“I handed over your dagger and the metal that Gabs found in the ruins. I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do, Melissa. It was the only way I could think of to convince them to let you out from the dungeons. I just couldn’t deal with you being locked away down there. Not that I know if this is much better.”
He threw his arms out to his sides in exasperation and his hands almost touched the walls of the room. For Austin, this room was definitely not enough, but Mel didn’t care. For her, it was a huge step up from the dungeon. But Austin probably didn’t know how it was down there, what her night had really been like.
“I should have asked you first before deciding what to do with your dagger. But I couldn’t. I wasn’t allowed to see you. I still don’t think I’m allowed to see you. But it helps that the soldiers seem to think that me and my brother are on the same page about things. They think I see you as a criminal, too. Not as…”
He swallowed and stopped pacing the room. He stood right in front of her, maybe two steps away from her.
“It’s okay,” Mel said. “I’m glad you did. The dungeon was horrible and I couldn’t have stayed there for another second without losing my mind. You truly saved me and I’m grateful to you. I really am. Of course, I don’t like that the governor has my great grandfather's dagger or the metal we just found. But if that’s what it cost to get me out of there, then so be it.”
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Austin let out a deep sigh, and his shoulder finally descended toward the floor. It looked like he had been holding his breath for this. Maybe afraid she wouldn’t forgive him for making the decision.
But Mel knew it had been the right thing to do and, even if it wouldn’t have been, he had acted with her best interest in mind. Something she appreciated. It was not something so common in this world, people who actually put you first. Mel’s heart was open, and she wanted to tell Austin this, tell him what she felt for him.
“Please don’t feel grateful to me,” Austin said. His face looked flushed suddenly. “I don’t want you to think of me as a good person who did it for you. I honestly did it for me, for very selfish reasons. I couldn’t live with you being down there, and I needed to see you again. I handed over your belongings to the governor for me.”
Mel opened her mouth, but then closed it again. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t a saint or whatever. But she was still grateful for what he had done, and it had still been the right thing to do.
“How’s Gabs?” Mel asked, trying to change the subject.
“Fine. She’s working on creating more of the metal we found. She’s good.”
It was quiet for a beat and then he shook his head, looking down at the floor, not meeting her gaze. “I know you don’t want to talk about it. My feelings for you. So I won’t. I know Marcus was pushing you to be with him before and I’m not entirely sure what happened there, but I don’t want to do the same thing he did. So I get it, okay, I get that you just want to be friends and that’s totally fine. I don’t need anything from you, except maybe your friendship. I just don’t want you to put me on some kind of pedestal. I know what that feels like all too well. I don’t want to be a saint, a Taveck, or an elemental warrior in your eyes. Please, just think of me as Austin, your friend who’s sometimes an idiot.”
He gave Mel a tentative smile, finally meeting her gaze again, and Mel saw that his face was red and his hands wriggled against his sides. He looked nervous and uncomfortable. Mel swallowed hard, noticing the way he was talking to her. He had feelings? What kind of feelings?
Mel took a step toward him, and Austin’s eyes widened slightly. His gaze was locked with hers and she felt him drag in a quick inhale. Like her presence made him even more nervous. Mel smiled, trying to reassure him that she didn’t think about him as a Taveck. She definitely didn’t see him as that anymore, not after he had stood up against his brother for her. Not when he had put his neck on the line and his reputation.
“It’s not that I don’t want to talk about that,” Mel said, feeling her voice trembling. “I didn’t want to before, because it felt like you were so much above me.”
Austin winced and Mel held up a hand to reassure him, but she was standing close now and her hand grazed his chest. She felt her heart speeding up and a little courage trickled in from her gut. She let her hand rest gently against his firm body. He looked down at it for a second, then up at her again, the confusion noticeable in the shape of his brow.
“It still feels a bit like that,” Mel continued. “I’m a prisoner of sorts and you’re a powerful Taveck, commanding soldiers to do as you please. It’s a difference for sure. But I realize now that it’s only a difference for everyone else. The way they see us. But it doesn’t have to be a difference between you and me. I mean… if you see me as just Melissa and I see you as just Austin, we’re equal together in a sense. We don’t have to bring in the dragon cult or the governor here between us, if we don’t want to.”
Austin swallowed, his throat bobbing, but he kept his gaze at her. He stood perfectly still in front of her like an immovable object and it made Mel feel calm. Like she really did trust him. Trust that he wasn’t going to see her as beneath him, or above him, just see her for who she was behind it all.
“I think you’re amazing, Melissa. Honestly, I don’t even understand how you could ever think I was above you in any way. I get that the dragon cult here in Aldrion doesn't have a stellar reputation at the moment and that you’re locked in here with guards watching you. I get the obvious differences and if you don’t want me because of it, that’s fine. I won’t push you. But I’ve never thought about you in that way. I’ve always just thought you were amazing, strong and confident. Beautiful, and your command of magic is impressive.”
Mel’s smile widened. “You really think that?”
Austin nodded, watching her intently.
A blush crept up Mel’s neck, and she was growing hot. His presence felt even more noticeable now, even though she hadn’t stepped any closer in a while. Her hand still rested on his chest, and he hadn’t moved away from her. He let her touch him. She thought that was a good sign.
“I don’t want things to change between us,” she said. “I don’t want you to expect things from me if we…”
Austin’s eyes dipped down to her lips, lingering for a second and then flew up again, catching her eyes. “I’ll never expect anything. I only want you to do what you're comfortable with.”
Mel felt her blush deepen. “Oh no, or well yeah, okay. I actually meant more like I don’t want you to expect me to feel anything, especially not right away. I don’t want to feel pressure to feel things I don’t feel. But yeah, probably good if neither of us expects other things, too.”
Austin cleared his throat. “Oh god, I didn’t mean to sound so presumptuous. Look, here I am, being an idiot again. Sorry. You probably just want to be friends, and that’s fine.”
He took a step away from her and her hand fell from his chest. They weren’t touching anymore, and Austin was staring down at the floor, wincing softly. Mel felt like he understood her completely wrong. Why was she so bad at this?
The only experience she had had with intimacy and relationships had been with Marcus, and he had always been so pushy. She had had to be the one who pulled away, not the one who chased. But this was different. Austin was different, and she liked that about him. That he wasn’t hovering or trying to kiss her out of the blue. But it also meant she needed to be better at this. She needed to make him understand what she felt and what she wanted.
Mel bit her lip and watched Austin. She felt her heart drumming in her chest, trying to convince her to do things that required a lot of courage. She didn’t know if she had that. But she wanted more. She wanted him.
Mel swallowed hard and decided she needed to go for it despite her fears of being rejected if she wanted to be more than just friends with Austin. He had told her he wanted that, so why was it this hard for her to do the same?
“I don’t want to be just friends,” she said.
Austin looked up, catching her gaze again. Somehow, he managed to look genuinely surprised. Okay, so she hadn’t done a good job explaining her feelings before.
“I want more.”
Mel took a step toward him, and Austin didn’t step back this time. She put her hand on his chest, assuming the position they had held before he had backed away.
“I want to move slow,” she said. “I don’t want there to be pressure in having to feel certain things or do anything, really. From either side. I just want us to take it slow. I want to let my feelings catch up with what my body wants.”
Austin’s eyes widened when she mentioned her body. Mel couldn’t help but smile at this. He really seemed to have no idea what he made her feel just by standing close to her.
Mel let her hand stray from the position on his chest and she dragged it up toward his head. Her hand stretched and stroked the back of his neck, around his hairline. The dark waves of his hair brushed against her fingertips, and she felt her stomach tightening.
Austin licked his lips and took a step forward, closing the distance between them. He was angling his head down to her and Mel knew if she reached up on her toes, their lips would meet. She dragged in a deep breath as she felt his hands wrapping around her waist.
His touch was light, almost hesitant, as he folded her into his embrace. His hand stroked her back in gentle movements, but his eyes never left hers. It became painstakingly clear to Mel that if she wanted more, if she wanted to feel his lips against hers, she would need to make the move. Austin wasn’t going to instigate this.
She let out a small sigh, and his pupils dilated. He looked like he wanted this and his hands kept stroking her back, gently. Like he never wanted to let her go. Mel collected all the courage she had built up inside of her and lifted her heels off the floor. Austin’s eyes widened, and he reacted by lowering his head slightly for her to reach him.
Mel’s mouth hovered an inch away from Austin’s, but he didn’t close the distance and Mel felt frustration growing inside her. Like she wanted to not be the only one who wanted things, she wanted to feel him want her back. But she decided to take a leap of faith and went for it, anyway.
She pushed the last inch, so her lips touched Austin’s with light pressure. For an excruciatingly long moment, she hovered there with her mouth against his, feeling like she had made a terrible mistake. But then his lips softened and his hands flew up to her hair and cupped the back of her neck. He dragged in a sharp inhale and pressed his lips against hers hard.
One of his hands dipped down to her lower back and then around to her waist, grabbing her and pulling her flushed against him. His other one lingered, tangling into her hair and keeping her locked against his lips. Mel felt herself relaxing into him and let out a sigh of relief and pleasure.
Austin seemed to like this and deepened the kiss. He let out a soft groan and suddenly there was no question about if he wanted her or not. He made it obvious exactly what he wanted, and Mel couldn’t help but smile against his lips and tug him closer.
A knock on the door filled her with sudden panic, and Austin released Mel. Her heels landed on the floor and they stood close, watching each other. Austin’s eyes were full and his hand stroked her arm for a second. Then the door opened, and he took a wide step away from her. Mel did the same and now the distance between them almost looked suspiciously far away instead.
They were hugging opposite walls, and the entire room spanned between them. The guard who walked inside, looked from Mel then to Austin, then shrugged.
“We need to go, Sir,” he said. “They’re filling the bunkers now. You need to get going.”
Austin nodded. “Thank you.”
He turned slightly to Mel and his gaze lingered for a second on her face. “I’ll come back when I can. To discuss this issue with the magical imbues further.”
“Sure,” Mel said. “It’s an important…issue.”
A smile broke through her fake seriousness, and Austin’s lips curled slightly. The guard let Austin out from the dorm room and then escorted Mel away to the Falden bunker.