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-Ninjaburrito

Chapter 7

Oh man it was hot, like the room was on fire. Cyan looked over at the fireplace, maybe Tinny had come in at some point to stoke the fire. It was empty. She had told the maids they didn't need to bake her anymore. After a visit from the royal healer, she had been granted a clean bill of health and a box of mana pills.

Currently there was barely any left in her body but after taking the pills a little had returned and was no longer freezing all night. She wasn't allowed to take more than a few a day or risk killing her liver and kidneys.

It shouldn't be this hot in the Vermillion palace, normally it's cold since the family were all fire mages and liked to be comfortable. Just because they could live in volcanos or whatever didn't mean they didn't like finer things such as air conditioning.

She threw on clothes Tinny had left for her, a silvery silk top with dark blue cuffs and a blue skirt Cyan felt was a little too short. The maid had told her to show off her legs while she had them and all twenty-year-olds should own a skimpy skirt. If this was Clear Water, she'd be chased out of town for wearing something so short.

She opened the door to the hallway, checking to see if anyone else had noticed the intense heat. No one was there, all doors shut firmly, and the hallway lights dimmed for the night.

Cyan moved slowly, listening for signs of fire, feeling the temperature growing as she moved to the family section of the floor. Light flicked under a door at the very end of the hallway.

"Shit." She murmured and ripped the door open. Maybe someone had got drunk or something and decided to light rooms on fire. Wouldn't be the first time that happened in a palace of fire mages.

It was like opening a furnace. Heat blasted her in the face and bright red light blinded her for a few moments. She instantly started sweating as she moved into the room looking for the source of the fire.

Massive silver jaws snapped at her. She dove to the side narrowly avoiding being bitten in half and looked up to find dinner plate sized silver eyes glaring down at her.

"Hello there." She whispered to the huge red lizard glaring down at her. "You must be the Salamander Fuegoleon talked about."

The Salamander was easily the size of the room and obviously the cause of the heat filling the palace and the blinding lights. Its body was wrapped around a large circular bed, standing as a guardian over its occupant. Putting one hand in the air as a show of surrender she slowly sat up to see who was in the bed.

It was Fuegoleon, his hair matted and skin covered in a thin sheen of sweat. His sleeping face was twisted in pain as he thrashed around the bed. Salamander must have sensed his distress and placed himself in a position to protect his master.

"Ok, I'm going to stand up and check on him. Please don't try to take another bite out of me." She slowly stood up looking the beast in the eyes and took a few baby steps towards the bed. The salamander growled a warning but moved aside, giving her access to the bed.

"Please please please." she continued to murmured under her breath, adrenaline pumping through her blood as she passed inches from the scolding lizard skin.

She sighed with relief once she reached the bed and quickly crawled to the captain. His skin was pale again and dark circles around his closed eyes.

"Fuego, hey it's ok." She spoke softly and ran a hand down his face hoping to wake him slowly from the nightmare he was trapped in. She knew too well how it felt to be trapped in a dream with no escape. "Shhh."

His thrashing calmed slightly but couldn't wake himself. She would need to use the Nightmare Incubus spell and see if she could pull him out but knew there was no way her mana would hold out long enough at its current level.

Sighing she turned back to the lizard staring menacing at her every move. "I need to go get something from my room, then I'll come back and help him but I'm going to pass out if you don't cut the heat." He didn't move but after a few seconds the temperature decreased to a more tolerable degree. "Thanks."

Cyan ran back to her room, grabbing her grimoire out of the bedside table and the box of pills for boosting mana. Hopefully taking more than she should once wouldn't destroy her organs and she only needed a boost for a few seconds.

She had never tried to change a dream before, pulling the light magic out of Fuegoleons mind didn't count since it hadn't been an actual dream. This time she would need to dive and see if she could stop the nightmare and calm both him and the behemoth of a beast before the palace burned down.

Once back in the room she pulled her soaked shirt off to a thin strapped undershirt and jumped back on the bed. Salamander growled but didn't move as she placed her grimoire next to the red-haired man and counted out three pills to swallow them.

"I can do this, in and out quickly. Just change it to anything else and get out." She was nervous and a little terrified mostly of the angry lizard but also because she hadn't attempted her magic since dying. She didn't know what would happen.

Sucking in several deep breaths and feeling the overwhelming amount of mana engulfing her she placed both hands on his face. She didn't trust the monster to not overact if she climbed at him so she would have to sit uncomfortably and do her best.

"Nightmare scape, Nightmare incubus." She hissed.

Oh, it hurt. Every muscle in her body screamed as she made the connection to the borrowed mana and grimoire, but she pushed past it.

It was the blinding white light again. At first, she was terrified that some sliver of power was left over but she soon realized that it wasn't the case. No, he was having a nightmare of being trapped in the light again which was understandable.

The pain was already setting in and her head began to pound. It shouldn't be hard to change the dream since all she had to do was get rid of the light. Her hands stretched out and she gave one hard clap that echoed around her. The lights instantly went out leaving nothing but darkness.

Fuegoleon relaxed under her hands in the waking world, but his breath was still fast and shallow. She couldn't leave him in the dark, it wasn't much better than being trapped in the light.

She knelt and blew air into her hands till a soft flickering fire appeared like a candle. The fire didn't give off much light but offered a comfortable warmth to the darkness.

She pulled out quickly, not waiting around to see anything else before she started bleeding out.

Her eyes opened to find the salamander had shrunk down to a more manageable size and watched her curiously. At Least it wasn't glaring anymore.

"He should be fine now and sleep better." It dipped its triangular head that felt like a thank you. "Alright, I'm going to get out of your hair but if this happens again just find me. I don't want to die of heat stroke in my sleep."

She picked up her grimoire, moving to the side of the bed. A strong arm wrapped around her stomach and pulled her pack down to the mattress as a heavy weight pinned her down.

She cursed and looked down to find Fuegoleon wrapped around her, his head pressed firmly to her stomach. "Don't go please." A voice whispered out.

He wasn't awake. He was probably reacting to the dream and didn't want to be alone. She waited until he seemed to be fully asleep and tried to wiggle out of his grasp. His arms instinctively tightened, and the salamander let out another warning growl.

"Damn it." It wouldn't be so bad to comfort him while he slept if he wasn't snuggled between her legs and using her as a pillow, not a great position to sleep in. She huffed and threw her grimoire down on the floor with the pills and tried shoved pillows behind her head and shoulders. Though she was annoyed she found herself raking her nails through his scalp, calming him back to deep sleep. A smile played on her lips as she relaxed and finally fell asleep.

Something soft and delicate brushed the line of Cyan's hip pulling her to the edge of consciousness. She moaned lightly in the back of her throat as the sensation moved up her hip to the lower part of her stomach. She wasn't quite ready to wake up in fear of the lovely touch disappearing.

A warm wet touch made circles on her skin, slow and tender before teeth scraped her navel. Cyan's back arched slightly off the bed, pushing her body into the mouth waking her.

It's been a long dry spell for sure but usually her dirty erotic dreams didn't feel so real. She bit her lip and moaned again when a hand slipped under her shirt to trace the bottom of her rib cage.

"Hmm, you smell good." The voice was husky, the type of voice that still held traces of sleep.

Her eyes flew open, the words breaking through the haze of sleep to reality. Looking down she found the violet eyes of Fuegoleon peering at her through thick lashes. He held her gaze as he continued to press little kisses above the band of her skirt. Her knees rose on either side of his naked back and skirt pushed to her hips.

Her heart slammed at the sight followed by an intense flickering of a second heartbeat at the apex of her thighs. The hand slid down her side, tickling her while his mouth shot adrenaline through her limbs. He continued to watch her, maybe waiting to see if she'd reject him or a slap him in the face.

When she did not rebuke him the corner of his lips twitched and a whooshing sound alerted her to the presence of his magical arm. She tensed a little as he touched her exposed stomach with the flaming arm expecting it to burn her. Instead, like in the tub it sent tingles of electricity through her nerves as it slid under her shirt to her small breast.

She hissed and fell back against the pillows when the warm fingers brushed against her nipple. This was more than being gentlemanly, not that she was complaining.

His human arm wrapped around her thigh and pulled her farther down on the bed, his head dipping to run lips along the inside of her leg.

She bit her lip and pressed her palms to her eyes trying to control the sensations assaulting her body.

She could feel him smile, his hawk like nose brushing dangerously close to the bundle of nerves between her legs. Her heart skipped a beat when his teeth brushed over her thin under shorts.

"Holly-" She sighed, involuntarily pressing herself harder to his errant mouth. Her body was throbbing in away foreign to her, needy and demanding for release.

Fuegoleon groaned, his hand wrapping painfully on her thigh as if he was worried, she'd try to escape the assault of his mouth. The fiery hand cupped her breast, his thumb continuing to slide lightly over her nipple till her breath hitched in her throat.

This was an entirely new sensation for her. There had been no pleasure from Everett and their time together was mostly just pain. The aching between her legs, the goose flesh running down her arms and the urge to squeeze her legs together was incredible.

When his hot mouth clamped down on her sex over the shorts the rocketing pleasure almost shattered her. Almost.

He sat up suddenly, leaving her cold and panting to look over at the doorway. She sat up quickly to demand that he finished what he started when she saw someone was in the room glaring at them.

An impossibly tall woman with a hooked nose and fiery red hair placed her hands on her hips like she was scolding a small child. "Sorry to interrupt, brother but we have a meeting this morning." She eyed Cyan's skirt and exposed body. "Or have you forgotten?"

Cyan quickly pulled away from Fuegoleon and pushed her shirt and skirt down, flushing at being caught by his freaking sister.

"No, I haven't forgotten." He replied coolly, an almost threatening tone edging his voice. "I still have an hour to meet you."

She huffed and popped a hip out. "Early is on time little brother or have you forgot our fathers' teachings?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Go away."

Her eyes narrowed in return, and she huffed, cloak billowing out around her as she left the room and slammed the door.

Neither one of them moved or even breathed for a second. Cyan had never felt so humiliated ever in her life. The previous feeling of pleasure that had been building went ice cold, the mood ruined.

He sighed and turned back to her, flopping down once more and pressing his face to her stomach. "Shit!" He hissed angrily and rubbed his nose into her shirt.

She giggled and tried to push his head away. "That tickles, stop."

He ignored her till she smacked him. "Ow." His eyes caught hers and an eyebrow rose. "Why did I find you in my bed this morning? Not that I'm complaining since you're in love with me and all."

"Will you stop saying that." She admonished, smacking him on the shoulder again. "I never said that! And you should be thanking me, your damned lizard tried to burn the palace down last night due to your bad dream."

The salamander gave a huff but didn't bother looking at the pair from its napping place. Fuegoleon gave it a look before locking eyes on Cyan once more. "You used your magic to stop it."

"Yes." The intense look in his eyes was sparking another wave of desire in her again causing her words to shake.

"You could have hurt yourself again or even died again." His voice grew darker as he crawled up her body. She shrank back from him, her heart pounding as he grew closer like a predator about to devour its meal. All she could think about was his mouth between her legs again, finishing what he had started.

"It was a quick trip, it hurt a little but I'm ok." She stammered.

His large hand shot out and gripped her throat gently, pushing her down into the bed as his weight settled on her. "Don't do it again." He whispered in her ear, his lips brushing delicately along her earlobe. "I don't think you understand what it was like, holding your bloody corpse. Temlar bursting in the room with his wife and son and seeing you dead. The horrible sounds they made. I had to leave to protect the compound thinking you, someone I barely knew, sacrificed her life for mine. It's not a feeling I wish to revisit."

She hadn't thought about that, how it looked to everyone. How Sheila, Kenny and Temlar felt when they found her.

"I was just trying to help. To do my part. "She whispered and wrapped her arms around his neck in a small hug.

His thumb traced the tendons in her throat gently as he thought, then his weight was gone as he pulled himself from her embrace. "Get dressed little one, we have a meeting with the Wizard King today." He jumped off the bed and began getting dressed in his uniform. "After I talk with my sister." The last part sounded irritated.

She didn't move, still reeling from his words and touch. The lizard disappeared in a puff of smoke as Fuegoleon walked through the doors to the hallway without looking back at her.

She blinked a few times as his footsteps sounded down the hallway quietly.

Was he mad at her? The man was hard to read, hot and cold in the same breath, it was like whiplash.

Today was shaping up to be a strange day.

It took a few minutes for her to find the silk top and do a walk of shame back to her room where Tinny stood waiting. "Rough night?" She asked, a smile playing along her thin lips.

"Shut up." Cyan hissed, a blush consuming her face as she began washing up and changing into fresh clothes. Tinny just chuckled and helped her brush her hair and gave her a pair of black lace up calf boots.

Tinny stepped back once she was satisfied and pursed her lips as if looking for some fault in her work. "You're as presentable as you can be to meet the Wizard King."

Cyan glared. "Thanks."

The maid just smiled and flicked her hair over her shoulder. "I'll show you where the Masters study is, he should be finishing up with the Mistress soon."