Her pulse started racing at the thought of being in such a tight, confined space.
“No fear, wife.” He continued to speak in English, held his hand out to her, and curled his fingers into his palm. “Come.”
When she moved closer to him, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders as he led them into the cave.
“I trust you,” she said softly, and he stopped. They stared at each other for a moment.
“Good. I’d never hurt you,” he spoke in his language this time.
She tried to break up what he just said and finally realized what he’d spoken. Smiling for the first time in what felt like forever, she allowed him to take her deeper and deeper into the cavern.
They descended, Stian obviously knowing where they were going despite that she couldn’t even see her hand in front of her face. Finally, the space opened to show light coming in from various holes in the rock surrounding them and bouncing off clear crystals throughout the stone walls.
The sound of dripping water echoed around them, and the scent of wet earth filled her nose the deeper they went. They stopped, and she stared in wonder at what was presented. A beautiful pool of crystalline water was right in front of them. She leaned forward, surprised to see steam coming up from the water.
“Earth heats water.” He crouched and scooped up a handful of the clear fluid.
“A natural hot spring,” she said and followed suit, squatting and touching the water. It was warm, so warm she wondered why he heated water in the hut instead of coming here and bathing.
“Hot spring,” he repeated her words in English, his accent so thick it was almost hard to tell what he said.
She looked at him and smiled. “Yeah. This must be a volcanic area, or this water and the rocks must be deep enough that it’s all heated from within.” She was speaking to herself, because she knew she spoke too fast in English for him to understand.
She was no expert in all of this, and certainly didn’t know this world or dimension, but that seemed like the most logical reasoning.
Hell, for all she knew, maybe there was some fire-breathing dragon in the bowels of this world, its fire causing this water to be this temperature. That thought was enough to have her smiling in amusement.
Then he stood and removed his coat, and she knew he brought her down here for more than one reason, and it wasn’t just to show her this incredible oasis.
16
It was like a soft brush of chilled air over her bare arm, a whisper in her ear, a feeling of being watched. It was those sensations that had Agata slowly opening her eyes, blinking, as the fire burning from the center basin was a little too bright right away, and looking around.
She thought for sure someone would be in the hut, knew they weren’t alone even though she couldn’t see anyone.
Getting up and slipping out from the heavy fall of Stian’s arm, she sat on the edge of the pallet and looked over her shoulder at him. He turned around, his big body rippling with power even though he was at rest. She grabbed one of the thinner blankets off the edge of the pallet and wrapped it around herself.
He was either a heavy sleeper, which she didn’t know if she believed, or she was dreaming. The latter made more sense, although this felt so real. She felt the warmth of the fire, felt the chill of the outside seep through the coarse burlap that covered the windows.
Wrapping the blanket around herself, she stood, looked at Stian once more, and then turned her gaze toward the door. She could leave again, just get dressed, grab what she could, and try to leave before Stian woke up. But this was a dream… right?
But she wasn’t a fool, knew she couldn’t make it out there with the temperature dropping, the night having fallen, and who knew what lurked in the shadows. Besides, there was something shifting inside her, something that said she liked being wrapped up in Stian’s arms.
Another part of her said she couldn’t stay here. She needed to find out where she was and how to get home.
The wind picked up, howling through the cracks in the hut, threatening to burst the place down no matter how strong it was. She went over to one of the windows, pulled the burlap aside, and looked into the murky darkness. Stian made a noise, and she looked at the pallet.
But there she was, lying right beside him, his big hand on her hip, his fingers curled into her skin. He whispered something deep and sleep-filled against her neck, and even though she stood feet from the bed, clearly dreaming all this, she swore she felt the sensation of his breath along her flesh.