Chapter 73: Saphyr

Blanche opened her eyes and slipped a hand under her pillow to grab her phone. The transition between worlds was becoming almost natural: the screen showed it was barely daylight. She groaned. Two more hours to kill, with no desire to go back to sleep.

Eight days spent in the Otherworld... for only six hours having passed here. Better avoid going back for now, or she'd end up late for class.

She got up without waking the two sleepyheads — Eva and Phénix — put on sports clothes, grabbed her card, phone, and earphones, then left the room.

Not without leaving the window open. She would only have to push it to get back in later.

To avoid the surveillance camera and slip out of the building unseen, she stopped time. That spell remained her favorite — too bad she could only use it once a day.

She rushed out of the campus, flew over the gate, and reached the still-sleeping city for an improvised jog. The cold morning air gently bit her cheeks as she moved at a steady pace through the empty streets. A few streetlights cast a pale glow on the damp asphalt, and the particular silence of the hours before dawn still wrapped the sleeping buildings.

Her thoughts slowly began to drift.

As often when she ran, her mind gradually detached from the repetitive motion of her body. Her strides became automatic; only her breathing, the steady rhythm of her heartbeat, and the wind against her skin remained. For a few moments, she almost forgot everything else.

Then the deep rumble of an engine pulled her sharply back to reality.

A car slowed down beside her.

The vehicle glided along the sidewalk with an almost unreal smoothness, too silent, too elegant to go unnoticed even in an empty city. Its midnight-blue body swallowed the last shadows of night while reflecting sapphire highlights under the streetlights. Long, low, aggressively perfect, the car looked more like a predator on the prowl than a simple means of transport.

Even at a crawl, it radiated insolent power.

The window slid down, revealing a driver she immediately recognized.

The faint streetlight fell across his features as he turned slightly toward her, perfectly at ease behind the wheel of that outrageously expensive machine. Between the car, the indecent hour, and this almost theatrical appearance in the middle of a half-asleep city, the whole scene felt absurdly cinematic.

And honestly, her tired brain refused to cooperate for a full second.

"Phénix?" she said, incredulous.

What was he doing here?

"Get in, my beauty."

She smiled despite herself. Considering the last time he'd said that... Her curiosity piqued, she got into the passenger seat. He even leaned out to open the door for her from the curb.

"But what are you doing here?" she whispered. "I mean... I haven't even sent Phénix yet."

"Oh? Then he must have come on his own..."

She looked at the drakion. In his white t-shirt and dark blue jeans, he was stunning — those colors made his eyes and hair stand out.

"Nice color."

The words slipped out before she could stop them. Saphyr briefly looked away, realizing what she was staring at.

"Thank you. And before you ask: yes, it's my natural color. I was born in an ancient era, when a dragon's scale color was reflected in its hair. I am what is called an alpha: born a dragon, hatched from an egg, not human like more recent generations."

Blanche blinked.

Born from an egg? Hatched?!

She turned her head away, fighting back a laugh. A losing battle.

"Sorry..." she managed once she regained control.

"You're joking? I'm just so happy to hear you laugh... smile... all of it. It doesn't bother me, quite the opposite."

He gave her a devastating smile, complete with a dimple. The kind of perfectly mastered smile that could defuse an argument or start one, depending on its owner's mood. The pale dawn light briefly caught his features as he leaned casually against the door, clearly far too aware of the effect he was having.

Blanche turned bright red.

Heat rushed to her cheeks with humiliating intensity, instantly betraying the chaos in her mind. She looked away briefly, then back again almost immediately, as if unwillingly drawn.

She wasn't used to being flirted with so openly — and she had to admit, it was hard to ignore.

Everything about him seemed designed to capture attention. His relaxed posture, the insolent ease with which he occupied space, that almost provocative confidence in every gesture... Even his voice carried that deep, warm, dangerously seductive tone of men who know they're being watched.

Masculinity, arrogance, power... an explosive cocktail for her teenage hormones.

And her brain, traitorous as it was, had apparently decided to cooperate fully with them.

Especially since Aaron had left her unsatisfied...

That thought hit her with unexpected force. Aaron and his endless patience. Aaron and his gentle looks. Aaron and that infuriating way of respecting every boundary to the point of never truly closing the distance between them.

So of course, finding herself in front of someone who so openly assumed his interest was deeply destabilizing.

And maybe, just a little, dangerously intoxicating.

"Where are we going?" she asked, barely recognizing the neighborhood.

"Home."

She didn't comment. "Home."

He was her drakion companion, according to him, and he seemed sincere. Why resist? There were worse specimens... though being Glen's familiar was debatable.

"So... you really are my drakion companion?" she asked, clearing her throat.

He smiled.

"It's a long story, but yes. We've known each other for a very long time... millennia. I know about your husband, Kiyan. It doesn't bother me not being the center of your world, as long as your feelings are mutual. Most of the time, at least," he added with a wink.

Blanche was left speechless.

She knew she was polyamorous — she had read about it — but living it was something else. She didn't feel ready.

Not ready to have one man in her life... let alone several...

The empty roads quickly led them to her house. The city faded behind them, replaced by the steady murmur of waves and the first colors of the rising dawn. Through the window, Blanche watched the still-sleeping coastal villas drift by, palm trees motionless in the cool morning air, and pale reflections of the sky on the calm water.

Then they arrived.

A magnificent villa by the water, bathed in the dawn light.