We got to the next town by carriage. This was a bigger one with large town walls. And a lot of soldiers lounging about. I stepped closer to Astral as two very large soldiers eyed me for too long for my comfort.

"Not used to military outpost towns?" Zeke asked and glanced up at me.

"No. We had a few soldiers by the college but nothing like this," I replied with a bit of a shaky voice. I had no idea why they made me feel so uneasy. Maybe it was because of the big guns they had slinging from their belts or the fact that there were this many of them.

"Will they pose a problem?" Astral asked, taking my hand in his.

"Well, we probably shouldn't leave Mars alone on the streets. I don't know how the soldiers feel about people who're cursed. And considering the two of us are mages, and look the part, maybe we should just keep a low profile."

Astral frowned. "Right. Let's just find an inn with rooms and get some dinner. It's not like we're doing anything wrong here. And maybe we'll not stay around for long."

"I like the sound of that," I muttered and followed after Astral.

We found an inn and got rooms. It was a nice place, and they were all very friendly to us, which was a relief. I had feared they'd be rude. I wasn't sure why that had been my first thought. I was just an anxious mess and didn't feel like leaving the room, once Astral and I had settled into ours. Zeke got her own single room as we all felt like it'd be awkward for all three of us to share. I mean, we had just picked her up. She didn't know us that well yet.

While Astral had gone down to find us some food, she knocked on our door, opening it and popping her head in.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

I was sitting on the floor, leaning against the end of the bed, writing down some notes about one of Astral's latest visions.

I smiled and nodded. "Sure, come in. Astral is finding us food."

"Great, I'm starving."

"Me too."

She sat down next to me on the floor and peeked at my notes. "What are you writing?"

"I'm logging Astral's vision. We keep a journal of all of them, also to count how many reoccurring ones he has."

"What's the verdict?"

"One keeps popping up a lot, but unfortunately it's also the one that is the vaguest. It's one out of three that has a taste to it as well. So, we think it might be more important to stay observant on that one."

"I don't think I've had a vision with taste before." She frowned a little.

"How does your mouth taste after a vision?"

"That differs." She shrugged.

I glanced at her. "Start writing it down. Sounds like some of your visions do have a taste."

Zeke nodded, making her braids bounce a little. They were pretty. The colour too. I had never seen any mages with that dark purple hair. Usually the colours were brighter, like Astral's.

"So, one bed huh?" she asked and smirked at me.

"Uh, yeah."

"So, I take it you're not just friends or study colleagues or whatever."

"No... I don't think so." I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my arms on top of them. "Have you had uh... Many significant others?"

"I've had girlfriends, yeah."

"Right," I muttered and rested my chin on my arm. I glanced back at her again. "I like your braids."

"Thanks. Keeps my hair from breaking and stuff. Want me to do yours?"

I smiled and nodded. She scooted closer and gently ran her fingers through my hair.

"I'll make a couple. Can't braid your whole hair. It's too thin."

"I'd look ridiculous anyways."

"You'd look a little bald," she laughed. "But if we make two on one side, it'll look pretty."

I liked the sound of that. I wanted to look pretty. It was an overwhelming feeling. A desire, really. I wanted this so badly.

She was gentle. It didn't hurt and she didn't pull too hard on my hair. But it was nice. It was a different kind of intimacy I had never had with anyone but Astral. I really wanted Zeke to be my friend. She seemed nice.

"That's one," she said and pulled a pearl out of her hair, placing it in mine, keeping the braid from untangling. It was blue, the pearl. "You have really nice hair though. You should let it grow even longer."

"You think so?" I asked and tentatively smiled a little.

"Yeah. It's very wavy and soft."

I felt my cheeks redden. No one had ever complimented me like this before. No one but Astral. I wasn't used to this kind of attention from anyone else. There had been one person in my life and that was him. I didn't discredit his compliments or anything. I wasn't ungrateful. But it was foreign to me when it came from anyone but him.

The door opened and Astral stood in it with a tray in his hands. "What are you doing?" he asked and arched a brow.

"I'm braiding Mars' hair," Zeke chirped and finished off the second braid with a green pearl this time. "Doesn't he look pretty now?"

"He did before too," Astral muttered and put the tray on the small table with two adjoining chairs. "Your food is in your room," he said aimed at Zeke, bent down, grabbed my chin, tipped my head up and kissed me.

I chuckled pretty goofily. I couldn't help it. When he kissed me, my stomach did summersaults.

"Right, I'll go eat. When are we leaving?"

"When I've found us a ride out of here. We need to find a carriage who'll take us at least closer to Heatherhills but they're all going south instead of north," Astral said and straightened to his full height.

"That's annoying," I noted. "Maybe we should just walk-"

"That's gonna be a no from me," he said, interrupting me before I even got to finish.

I rolled my eyes and rose to my feet, going to the table to inspect our dinner. The smell got the better of me and made my stomach growl.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," Zeke said and waved before she left the room.

Astral came up behind me, hugging me. "I like the braids."

"You do?" I asked and turned my head, so I could see him.

"I like anything on you." He kissed the side of my throat and goosebumps spread across my skin. I turned around and draped my arms around his neck, kissing him on the mouth.

My stomach growled again.

"One day we'll have to release the beast residing in there," Astral chuckled against my lips.

"I'm sorry. I'm hungry." I laughed and pulled back. Astral cupped my cheek with the palm of his hand.

"Let's eat then."

I was full and warm and comfortable as never before and what made me even more comfortable was watching Astral write by the candlelight. The yellow light of the flame mixed well with the green of his hair. I liked sketching him too. I wasn't very good but good enough, so it looked like him, at least.

He looked up from his notes and frowned at me. "You're staring."

"You wouldn't know if I was. You're writing."

"I can feel it."

"You can't feel that," I shot back and frowned at him. 

"I feel everything. I'm that in tuned with you."

I snorted. "Bullshit."

He rose from the table and joined me on the bed, looking down at my sketchbook. "My, my. You're creating art. Don't let me stop you." He leaned in and kissed the corner of my jaw.

"You moved though," I breathed, putting the sketchbook down.

"Bad me. How horrible I am." He kissed my cheek this time.

"Truly. It could've been a masterpiece." I chuckled and moved my head up, letting him kiss my throat this time.

I gently took his face in my hands, running my thumbs over his cheeks. I loved his gentleness towards me. I loved the appreciation I felt in his touch. The way his tongue pressed against my skin.

I turned my head and received a kiss on the mouth this time. He pulled back a little and smiled, his fingers gently grabbing one of the braids.

"Where did the pearls come from?" he asked.

"Zeke gave them to me. Don't know where she got them."

"That was kind of her. She's very kind to you."

"She is. It's... Nice. And weird. No one is ever nice to me except for you."

He sighed a bit and dumped down on his back, putting an arm behind his head, looking up at me. "You realise more people will be kind to you now when we're not in college anymore right?"

I shrugged a bit. "I don't know."

He put his hand on my knee, slowly stroking my skin with his thumb. I had abandoned my trousers long ago.

"You're lovely and the people at college were too dumb to see it."

I lifted my hand and bit at my nailbeds. Astral's hand wrapped around my wrist and brought my battered fingers away from my mouth.

"Don't do that," he said softly and pulled me down to him, kissing me as he slid his hand up in my hair. He hated that habit. Mostly because it left my fingers bloody most of the time.

I deepened the kiss. Astral exhaled through his nose, hot air hitting the top of my lip and pulled me in between his legs.

I pressed my hips at him very gently and he sucked in air between his clenched teeth hard.

"Is this alright?" he asked, looking up at me. There was barely any colour left in them, his pupils so dilated.

"Yeah," I murmured and kissed him, pressing myself at him again.

We got undressed, but slowly, having to stop ever so often to kiss again. I could feel he was impatient, but it also felt like there was something in me making him wait, that did something for him. As if it only made it better, the longer I made him wait.

And it did something for me too. I liked the control. As much as I had enjoyed the other things we had done, I had let him take the lead because I simply didn't know what to do. And I had been afraid of doing something wrong. My fears had all but melted away now. I did whatever I wanted, and it felt good. I did the things he had done on me, doing everything I could to make him feel good as well.

He guided me inside of him before I even got a chance to ask if he was ready. He had been waiting long enough it seemed.

He moaned loudly as I slowly pushed against him. He almost forcibly grabbed my face, getting me down so he could kiss me. He seemed so desperate in his efforts to get closer, and I was fighting a losing battle. I wanted this as badly as him. We were just desperately pressing our bodies together as much as possible, not wanting to let a single inch to go untouched.

He was moaning too. Beautifully. It was better than any music I had ever heard, and it filled my head with more confidence. Every sound he made was another statement of how my body pleased him. How I pleased him.

I had never thought of myself being in this role. I had always fantasised of the things he'd do to me, because I had always been passive in our relationship. Just followed along whatever he wanted to do, most of the time. But now he was following me. He didn't try and interfere with anything I did. Not even when I changed the rhythm of my moving hips to a faster pace. He just moaned louder, assuring me this was exactly the right choice in that moment.

It was all just so perfect, even if I did make awkward sounds here and there. Astral either didn't seem to care, or maybe he didn't notice. He seemed entirely wrapped up in feeling me.

I gently cupped his cheek with the palm of my hand, and he opened his eyes, looking up at me. I slowed down and kept just looking. He did too. It was so intense.

"Kiss me," he panted, and I heeded his command.

I felt his fingers dig into my back and I kept kissing him. He kept kissing me back too. He was perfect.