But next she had to shake her head and suppress the urge to laugh. The way he went about rubbing the two sticks together was a deplorable waste of time. He would never get enough friction between them to make a spark the way he was doing it.
“That’s not the right way, silly,” she said helpfully, and then moved behind him, taking one of his hands in each of hers. She leaned into his back as she showed him the correct method.
With her body pressed so closely against his back, it was easy to feel precisely when his heartbeat sped up. Felicity’s breath caught when he turned his head to look back into her eyes, and she suddenly became much too aware of just how intimate their proximity really was.
“Do you know something?” he said huskily as his green eyes began to smolder. “I think we’ve got plenty of heat at the moment.”
Felicity sucked in her breath, and her own heart suddenly went into overtime trying to keep up with his. Lance tossed down the sticks he still held, and twisted around to come up onto his knees.
Trembling with need, Felicity scrabbled backwards a bit to allow room between them, but he was having none of that. He grasped her by the shoulders and drew her back in, melding their upper torsos together as he gave her a searing kiss that was hotter than any fire ever could have been.
“Lance!” she gasped softly.
He gathered her up into his arms and moved with her on top of the sleeping bags, covering her body with his own. Felicity’s breath quickened as his lips reclaimed hers, tasting her with a wild need.
“Lance!” she gasped again.
His hands tangled into her mass of tawny curls, and a moan tore its way out of her throat without her permission. She found herself running her hands down his arms as he leaned more fully against her.
“Gods, you taste good, Felicity,” he whispered into her mouth. The tip of his tongue grazed her bottom lip, and then delved inside her mouth for an even sweeter taste.
“You, too,” Felicity managed to get out between more kisses. Their breaths mingled together as the heat they shared climbed slowly up to a blazing fire between them.
“So sweet,” Lance muttered as his hands ached to explore further. He kept himself under control with an iron will, not wishing to frighten the poor girl with the true depth of his desire.
“Lance!” she whispered, her voice almost pleading.
“We need to get some more sleep,” he grumbled as he moved off of her and reached for a blanket.
He arranged the covers over the top of them, and then pulled her to his side. Felicity’s ear rested against his ribs, where she could still hear the wild beating of his heart.
For the next few hours, they lay there like that, with Lance cradling Felicity in his arms. Sometimes, his fingers slid up to play in her hair, and sometimes they drifted off to sleep, but never for long.
With a contented sigh, Felicity turned slightly as the sun began to rise. She gazed up at the blaze of colors as they changed and brightened in the sky, painting the entire world beneath them in their shifting hues.
“Did you ever see anything so beautiful?” she asked.
“Never,” Lance told her, but he wasn’t looking at the sky as he said it. He was looking at her.
TWENTY-SIX
“Well, I suppose we’re going to have to find some breakfast,” said Lance as he stretched beneath her.
“What kind of breakfast?” Felicity smirked.
“I’ll have my eggs poached, and I want a bunch of those little sausages filled with cheese, and—”
“Lancelot Jones, is that what people call roughing it these days?” Felicity admonished him. “If we want breakfast in true Mundane camping fashion, we have to get it from off the land itself.”
“As in?”
“Well, I think we’re supposed to pick berries and try to catch some fish,” she said. “The only problem is, I tried to tie on a hook to my fishing line, and the knot won’t stay. I’d hate for my hook to come loose and fall off while the line was in the water.”
“When exactly did you try to tie on a fishing hook while we’ve been sleeping?” Lance inquired. “That would have been quite a feat.”
“You don’t remember when I needed to go find the bushes?” she said with a smile.
“Ah, I see. So you went into the bushes and did some surreptitious, albeit unsuccessful, line tying attempts in the dark, at well past midnight, and therefore think that somehow you have failed?” he asked with some amusement. “How about trying again in the light of day, sweetheart?”
“I don’t see what possible difference that would make,” she grumbled. “I should have been equally able to do it then as I am now. I have never failed to do whatever I set out to do before this.”
“Indulge me, my dear,” Lance said with a chuckle.
“If you insist,” she agreed with a heavy sigh. She stood up and went to retrieve the hook and pole, bringing them back to their bed with her.
Felicity tied the knot again, and this time it held. Her lips twitched with irritation that she had been so weak as to require light to aid her, but she didn’t say anything about it.
When Lance saw Felicity’s scowl he knew better than to say anything about it, either. He remembered what Laenos had told him in his dream, and thought he would do better to leave well enough alone.
Instead, he asked, “So, I take it that when you catch this fish you’re so keen on, you’ll know how to clean it and prepare it properly? Because trust me, my darling, learning how to do anything of the sort was not on the list of priorities I have been following in my lifetime.”
Felicity chuckled. “You mean to tell me that in over two hundred years you never bothered to scale a fish?” she teased him.
“Hardly, imp,” he said as he squeezed her arm, then decided to give it a kiss instead.
“Maybe we should just pick some berries,” Felicity answered circumspectly, and the two of them started to laugh.
“You do know which berries to pick, I hope?” Lance added as they headed for the forest.
“Of course I do,” said Felicity, a bit put out now. “I’m a bookworm, remember? I saw their pictures.”
“Oh yeah,” he said as if he’d only just remembered. Felicity swatted him on the arse.
“Woman!” he grumbled as he tried to swat her back. Felicity spotted a berry bush, and dove behind it. She picked a few berries and chucked them in his direction, hitting him on the bridge of his nose and leaving a big splat of juice there.
Seeing the state of Lance’s face made Felicity laugh so much she didn’t even realize he’d picked some berries of his own until she felt some hit her upside her head.
“Hey! How dare you throw berries at a lady?” she chuckled, gathering more ammo and eating some as she went.
An all-out berry war broke out, and soon the two of them were covered in juices and debris. Felicity laughed so much her sides were hurting, and Lance was not far behind her.
“Mm, I just thought of something interesting,” Lance said as he captured Felicity and wrapped her into his arms.
“What’s that?” she wanted to know.
“I’ll bet you taste even better now,” he said, and then he proceeded to nibble on her wherever he could reach, sucking off berry juice. He avoided any areas she had not yet permitted him to taste, of course.
Not to be outdone, Felicity nibbled Lancelot’s delectable body as well. Finally, they nibbled each other’s lips, and that was all it took for the game to be over and the real fun to begin.
Felicity lost her balance and crashed backwards against a tree. Lance crushed her against it and continued to kiss her, groaning softly when she reached up to drape her arms around his neck.
“So good,” he whispered softly against her lips, and he started to lap at them with the tip of his tongue. Felicity opened her mouth, and his tongue slid inside, making her moan as well.
Before long, the pair of them were kissing each other desperately, wanting and needing. Lance’s hands smoothed down Felicity’s
arms. His fingertips came so close to brushing the tips of her breasts that he might as well have actually done it.
Felicity could barely breathe, but not because his mouth prevented it in any way, just because what he was doing with that mouth was making her so breathless. She melded her body to his, and no matter how close she held him, it just didn’t seem to be close enough.
“We should stop this,” Lance whispered desperately against her lips. “We really should stop, my girl. We’ve got work to do.”
“You’re right,” Felicity agreed with a reluctant sigh. “We still need to figure out what symbol to look for, and then go look for it as well.”
“Yes, and change our clothes again, it would seem,” he said with a smirk. “But I would suggest we do so well away from each other, or we might not get any work done today at all.”
Felicity laughed at this, and kissed his cheek before she turned and ran away, back toward their campsite. She was digging out a set of clothes when Lance arrived and grabbed his own bag to do the same.
Now that it was no longer dark, they discovered that the campgrounds had a little bathroom facility that contained showers as well as toilets, so each of them were able to go into the proper bathroom and get cleaned up. Afterwards, they met each other back at their campsite and settled on top of their bedding to examine Felicity’s book a little better.
“So, my dear, what have you found in that book that can tell us where to look?” asked Lancelot hopefully as he ostentatiously laid his head upon Felicity’s knee. She smirked and delved her fingers into his long, golden hair.
“Well, there is a certain symbol that seems to be prevalent throughout the entire book,” she said. “See, look. It’s an oval wrapped around a line. It almost looks like the eye of a dragon, really. Just like the eye on the book’s cover. In fact, after studying further, I’ve found that the origins actually stem from the tale of Amaranth herself.”
“Enlighten me, my dear.”
“The oval is actually an orb of knowledge which is said to have been forged by the dragons. The line represents a sword, forged by the giants, and the legend states that it was the weapon used to cleave that orb in two.”
“Then it certainly must be the symbol we are looking for,” said Lance. “It couldn’t mean anything else.”
“It is said that only once the Dragon’s Eye is healed can the knowledge of the dragon-mages return to our world. Which means, only by healing the orb could we ever hope to obtain the book that Amaranth holds.”
“Wow, that sounds like one tall order doesn’t it?” said Lance as he glanced past the book to look into Felicity’s eyes. “This Grimoire Draconis is worth a lot more than Dervish has been letting on. It’s no wonder he wants to prevent it from being found by anyone else.”
“I wonder why the giants would have wanted to end dragon-magic in the first place,” Felicity commented. “They can’t have cleaved the Eye simply because they wanted ownership of one tract of land, as the book seems to imply.”
“I have no idea,” Lancelot shrugged, but then he reached up to tug her toward him.
Felicity chuckled and leaned down to give Lance a quick kiss, and then she said, “Anyway, there’s only one way we’re going to spot something like that. We’re going to have to fly over top the mountains.”
“What, no climbing?” asked Lance with a mocking pout as he kissed her again. “How shall I ever live with my disappointment?”
“Don’t worry, Master Jones, I’m sure we shall still get to climb something,” she said. “Just not until we have some idea what it is we’ll need to climb.”
Lance chuckled. “How about if I just climb on you?”
“Naughty boy,” she admonished him. “It’s work time, remember?”
“Mm, party pooper,” Lance grumbled as he got to his feet, then helped Felicity up as well. “Let’s not bother to break camp, though. We needn’t bother till after our little jaunt, when we have some idea where to put everything. There’s no point in carrying all this stuff about the entire day.”
“You’re probably right,” Felicity agreed.
“That’s good, since we’re going to be cheating big time by flying in the first place,” he said with a grin. “For that matter, we could even pop over and have some lunch in Paris, since we aren’t following the rules as we had set them forth.”
“Well sure,” Felicity said as she bat her eyes up at him. “Maybe even at a five-star restaurant after we fly over to Nice to do some more shopping for the perfect outfits to wear while we are there. Your treat, of course.”
“Undoubtedly, since I am the one who has all the money.”
“Don’t rub it in, Lance,” she grumbled as she moved away to look up into his face. He easily reached out and brought her back, kissing her some more.
“You mean you don’t want me to rub anything else today?” he inquired with a grin. “I never did finish rubbing, you know.”
“Lance!” Felicity protested as each of his hands slid down toward one of her butt cheeks, and his lips trailed down her throat, leaving hot, searing kisses along the way. “Come on, it’s almost noon already, you lecherous wizard. We should be working on—um, on the—the other adventure, not the one you wanted on the train.”
“Damn. I hate it when you’re right, my dear,” he growled as he bit the side of her neck and held her really close for a moment before he let go. “But you sure are building up the list of things you’re making me wait till later to do.”
“Somehow, I can’t bring myself to feel guilty at the moment. Let’s go.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
With wands held aloft, and a veiling charm concealing them nicely, Felicity and Lancelot floated high above the mountain range in search of the dragon’s eye symbol. So far, they’d been at it for roughly an hour, and so far, they hadn’t managed to turn up anything.
“This is getting us nowhere,” Lancelot pointed out finally. “Do you have any idea which way we ought to go next, my dear?”
Felicity glanced over at him, and he smiled. The wind was blowing her unruly hair in every conceivable direction. The veiling charm that she’d wrapped around herself cast a blue sheen over her that made her seem almost to sparkle as the shards of energy snapped and sparked.
Lance wanted to kiss her, but he knew that was a bad idea. He could just see it if they forgot to keep their wands up and plummeted to the depths below right in the middle of a good snog. That would be foolish, indeed.
“I have often found that the best place to hide something is right under the very noses of those from which you wish it to be hidden,” Felicity pointed out. “I think if we head south, and a bit to the east, we’ll spot something soon enough.”
“Yes, I see,” he chuckled. “So, what you’re saying is, the best place to hide something from the Romans would have been somewhere in Rome itself? That makes perfect sense.”
“Of course it does,” Felicity said with a grin. “I’ve done it myself on many occasions.”
“Did you really?” Lancelot inquired with a raised brow.
“Oh, yes, especially if I didn’t want my aunt to find it,” she chuckled. “She always takes the most difficult path to anything, so of course she didn’t notice a thing.”
“I’m going to have to keep that in mind for future reference,” Lance teased her.
“Oh damn, I just gave up one of my best kept secrets,” Felicity pretended to groan as she hit herself on the forehead. “I suppose I’d better never try to hide anything from you now.”
“No, you had better not, my dear,” he agreed. “Because if you did, I would be sure to find it.”
“Wow, then I suppose when we get back to the museum I’ll have my work cut out for me finding new places for the things I’ve hidden there already.”
“Oh ho, that sounds like a challenge!” Lancelot answered with bravado. But then something off to the side caught his eye. “Wait a moment, what was that? Circle back around, my lovely, and look over there. Do you
see that, there on the face of that cliff? It looks very much like a large oval with the area that might once have been a line scratched out.”
“Yes, I think you’re right,” Felicity agreed. “But I don’t see any sort of caves or entrances anywhere. It looks like solid rock.”
“I cannot say from up here for sure,” said Lancelot. “But I do believe it’s well worth a closer look.”
“I quite agree,” Felicity said.
“But first, we should go and collect our things and set up a camp here. We can look for possible ways in, or any other clues that might be helpful, once we’re settled in.”
“This place looks pretty secluded. There are no trails in or anything,” Felicity said. “It’s completely surrounded by dense forest, so I doubt that anybody would disturb us here.”
“Hmm, that sounds promising,” Lance commented with a suggestive grin.
“Stop that, you naughty boy,” Felicity said as she flitted over and swatted his backside yet again.
“Another swat, my dear?” Lancelot laughed. “I’m going to have to invest in a scroll or two of vellum just to keep track.”
“Well, you did say you had the funds,” she reminded him with a sweet smile. “I’m sure you could afford it.”
Lance laughed heartily as they headed back toward camp. “That I can, my darling. That I can.”
They packed up all of their belongings, and once again used their wands to locate the eye symbol, unpacking everything just outside the line of trees in a little clearing they found at the base of the mountain.
“Felicity Lake, this is getting to be all kinds of ridiculous,” Lance exclaimed about an hour later. He still had not figured out how to erect the tent he’d been trying to put up. It fell over for the fourth time, and he growled in exasperation.
Felicity had stood dutifully watching the first three attempts, but turned away for this fourth one, busying herself with arranging some of the other gear in a more orderly array.
It didn’t particularly need any arranging, she just didn’t want Lance to catch her chuckling. Of course, he was not the least bit fooled by her ploy.
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