After such revelations, Kalina decided to call off her walk through the flea market. Stef and Dante didn't ask anything. Dante acted as if nothing had happened, and Stef limited herself to giving Kalina a look that promised questions for another time. Thus, Kal headed to the guild.
Three hours later, Kalina was still in the library. With a sigh, she finished rearranging a stack of books and documents. She had tried to research the Drakes to no avail. Nothing. Not a word, a hint, or background of the supposed Drakes, and much less about a Pair.
Maybe Syria would have known something. However, her friend had gone on one of her mysterious trips.
Finally resigned, Kalina decided to retire to her chambers.
Stef, of course, was waiting for her right in front of her room with a knowing smile on her broad lips and a look hard to define, somewhere between mischievous and curious.
"Oh, I want details Kal. ¿Who is that exquisiteness of a man? Is as if a painting of the god of beauty came to life."
"Stef, poetry has never been your thing." Kalina huffed as she opened her door.
Stef giggled and swooped in like a hawk on the hunt. Without stopping smiling, she sat in the armchair closest to the window. For her part, Kalina made an exasperated gesture and imitated her, taking a seat next to her in the matching armchair.
"He will be my workmate on this mission. He is a kru captain."
"¡Damn! ¡Sign me up for the next mission to Aladar! Kal, there is more. I could see it. You and the hot beyond humanly possible captain, you have something. Come on, the tension could be touched, Kal. ¡Ah! ¿What about that flower?"
Ah… The damn rose. Kalina had kept it. Yeah, she wasn't going to mention anything about it. So, casting a circumspective glance at her friend, Kal chose her words very well:
"I'm not going to deny it. This is the only thing I'll say, Stef. Yes, I'm attracted to him." That was a tremendously simple way to say everything the captain made her feel. In any case, Stef let off a shrill scream that caught Kal perfectly off guard. "Gods, Stef!"
"Oh, Kal, you cannot imagine how glad I am! ¡Oh! And the god of beauty likes you. I saw it. This mission will be lots of excitement. You'll see, my dear." Stef said and got up from her seat. When she spoke again, she was already opening the door to the room to leave: "Ah and Kal, don't let me down, sweetie. Devour that exquisite man. "
"Crap, Stef, stop saying those things and stop calling him that."
In response, Stef gave her a mischievous wink and closed the door behind her. Then Kalina smiled. Valian… And with the thought of him came her vision:
She was completely naked and was partially submerged in the water. And in front of her… ¡Gods! He was also au naturel. Kalina just knew it. Valian... He was close to her, every inch still. His eyes, like a storm, were fixed on her. The wet, reddish hair stuck to his sublime face. Drops of water slipped here and there on his hard body. ¡Damn! And ¿she was crying? "Stay." He asked, seeming to choose not to move for fear of scaring her away.
"I am not going anywhere." She said.
Along with Valian's beautiful smile, the vision faded.
They were in a damn lake, that was all Kalina knew. She could still feel the cold of the water on her body.
I am your beast... That was what he had said. He had also said something about their energies. At the same pace... Yes, that. So, Kalina immediately remembered Syria's words: fluctuating in an exact pattern like yours...
The terrifying taboo energy Syria had felt had probably been Valian's. Kalina was certain.
Damn… ¿What had she gotten herself into?
I am not going anywhere... Her words in the vision had not been random. Kalina knew what they meant. They meant that she was staying in Aladar. In the future, she would decide not to return to Sacra Terra.
¿Why? Unfortunately, the knowledge that Kalina could gain from her visions was always limited. Yes, the thoughts were limited to the exact moment of her vision. ¡Good heavens! She hadn't said goodbye well enough to Syria, or Stef, Dante, or Irion.
¿What to do? ¿Should she move on? The truth was she didn't want to back down. ¡Shit! The mission would begin the next day. Her mission. And she had never backed off from anything.
Aladar. Drakes and Pairs. Valian...
¡Hells, she was going!
She should give a very big hug to her friends the next day.