Allyra sighed, and struggled back to her feet. “Fine, let’s go.”
* * *
As far as Allyra was concerned, Jason had simply gotten lucky with his guess. But the fact that they were now ensconced under a large cluster of red rocks meant that he had been right and they at least knew where they were on the map.
She glanced at Jason.
He was the perfect picture of nonchalant elegance—lying on the sand with his eyes closed and one arm folded behind his head as a makeshift pillow. His long legs were stretched out before him, crossed at the ankles, and a small smile played on the corners of his lips. It was impossible to say how he could look so carelessly relaxed after the day they’d just had, but she was sure that the little sphere of dancing, flickering flame he held in his left hand had something to do with it. His Inferno Gift was allowing him to stay warm.
She, on the other hand, might actually freeze to death. The huge swing in temperature between the intolerable heat of the day and the current freezing stillness of the night was almost impossible to comprehend. And while she’d spent most of the day wishing she could wear fewer clothes, now she found herself wishing that she had a thick jacket to wrap around herself. Allyra curled into herself, and huddled against the rock, hoping to warm herself with whatever heat the rock had retained from the sun. In truth, it was a futile exercise; any heat had long dissipated into the cloudless sky.
“Can I interest you in some Gifted warmth?”
Allyra turned and found Jason staring at her, his dark eyes lit up with a thousand dancing stars by the flickering flame in his hand. She was cold enough to give the offer some real consideration. She was still weighing the pros and cons of spending the night curled up against Jason when he spoke again.
“I’ve been told on numerous occasions that my arm makes a particularly comfortable pillow,” he said with an exaggerated wink.
That sealed it.
“Pass,” she said shortly and turned back to curl up against the rock, wishing she didn’t have to hide her Elemental Gift. A small flame of her own would be particularly welcome at this point.
The silence enveloped them, and she clenched her jaw together tightly to avoid her teeth chattering.
“Look, you’re not my first choice of a bedmate either. But I’m too tired to keep a bigger fire going, and if you don’t come here, you’re definitely going to freeze to death.”
A few months ago, she would’ve held on to her inherent stubbornness, and no amount of cold would’ve driven her to Jason. But, she was older and maybe just a little wiser. If her time in the Between had taught her anything, it was that pride had no place in a fight for survival.
“Keep your hands to yourself,” she warned, before carefully lying down next to Jason, keeping her back to him.
“If you want to stay warm, you might want to consider actually touching me.” Jason’s voice was amused.
Allyra scowled but scooted closer. With her back pushed up against his side, his fierce and wonderful heat bled into her, and within seconds, she drifted into sleep.
* * *
The next morning, Allyra jerked awake with the taste of smoke on her tongue and a scream on her lips. She trembled with equal parts desire and fear.
Allyra could still feel his lips tracing over her collarbone and his fingers tangled in her hair. Worse, she could still taste the smoke twisting down her throat as the world burned.
She let out a shaky breath.
“Nightmare?” Jason asked from behind her. “Or what do you call it when you have a bad dream during the day? Daymare?”
She craned her neck and shot him a disbelieving look.
He was lying in exactly the same position he’d been in before she fell asleep, almost as if he’d turned to stone through the night. She moved gently away from him, aware there was a layer of sweat down her back where she’d been pressed to him. Jason’s heat, so welcome in the cold, was now making her overheat uncomfortably as the temperature rose with the sun in the sky.
Allyra sat up and winced instantly. It felt like someone had driven a nail through her right eye. “Why do I feel like I have the worst hangover of all time?” she asked rhetorically.
Allyra struggled to her feet, throwing out a hand to steady herself on the rock as her vision broke out in a multitude of black spots all spreading like fire over a photograph until she saw nothing but black.
It took two minutes of intense concentration and deep breathing before her vision returned, albeit reluctantly. Even then, her heart thundered abnormally quickly in her chest and she struggled to catch her breath.
“How in the world does anyone live at the Atmospheric College? This altitude is just about the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever experienced.”
Jason let out a bark of laughter, which ended in a series of coughs.
“They don’t,” he gasped out eventually.
The cogs in her mind moved slowly, rusted together by the lack of air.
“What?” Allyra asked. “There are people at the Atmospheric College.”
“So uneducated,” Jason muttered.
“I feel like crap, but I’m still fully capable of kicking your ass,” Allyra retorted.
“There are people living at the Atmospheric College,” Jason explained, with over-exaggerated patience. “But they don’t live at this altitude. There’s a pressurized dome around it, maintained by a group of Atmospherics, called the Assembly of Wind.”
Allyra turned Jason’s words over and over in her head. A spark of an idea threatened to
