A few moments later, we entered his quarters, a grand chamber filled with books and papers, much like his office library back at the palace. Except that this one was way smaller.
In one corner, I saw Brenna busily reading some papers. I noticed she looked a little stressed out, with her lush brown hair in a wild mess and her eyes tired, undoubtedly from the constant reading.
When she spotted me, she waved and called out my name enthusiastically. I assumed my sudden appearance would take her mind off the boring reading, if only for a moment.
I went over to her as Lord Noah shut the door.
"What are you reading?" I asked.
"Presentation materials," she replied tiredly.
I took the seat opposite her as she gave me the report and proceeded to explain to me what it was about. I spent the rest of the afternoon with Lord Noah and Brenna, running through the presentations. By the time we were nearly done, it was dark, and dinner was just around the corner.
I was just packing up when Brenna said, "Let's go and get changed for dinner."
I nodded in agreement.
As we headed out the door, Brenna said loudly to Lord Noah, "Don't forget to join us for dinner, my lord."
Lord Noah waved, his masked face still buried deep in paperwork. "I won't."
As I shut the door behind us, Brenna said, "He will forget. We'll have to come back and get him later."
I chuckled. How typical of Lord Noah. He was always so engrossed with his work that he forgot about almost everything else around him.
Brenna and I headed up to the third floor of the airship, where our bedchambers resided. Along the corridor, we parted ways, and I entered my quarters.
"My lady, you're back," Ruth, my personal maid, said.
I nodded as I shut the door behind me. "Hi, Ruth. How was your day?"
"Good, my lady."
I chuckled. I had no doubt she had probably been busy figuring out which gown I should be wearing for dinner, as usual. She would have spent at least all morning making her decision, picking the perfect one and then mixing and matching that with other accessories. In the afternoon, she had probably been in the kitchen, helping the staff.
I said, "I desperately need a bath."
The maid nodded. "I'll prepare one for you right away, my lady."
As Ruth headed into the bathing chamber to prepare my request, I went toward the queen-size bed where the woman had set out the evening outfit for me. I was just touching the soft material of the pretty gown when I felt a chill, followed by a feverish heat coursing throughout my body. Suddenly, I felt dizzy.
Shit!
The world around me was spinning, and I found myself collapsing onto the bed as my vision darkened.
I freaked out.
God, what is happening to me? Have I caught something nasty?
I lay there on the bed, taking a few slow, deep breaths as I told myself I'd be fine. Maybe it was just the realm traveling and the change in the environment or something that weakened my body.
Not that I had ever caught anything when I had been traveling from country to country with my parents when I had been young. Then again, my vaccines had always been up to date. So maybe it was something akin to a flu here? Since obviously they didn't have vaccines in this realm because they had never had to deal with this kind of sickness before. At least not until very recently when the Aurora Barrier ecosystem started to weaken.
A moment later, my vision cleared, and the dizziness was gone too. I sighed in relief and thought that I must get a good night's sleep tonight so that my body, and hence my immune system, could fight whatever it was that I had caught without my knowledge.
Apparently, having strong qi didn't equate to a strong immune system. Then I wondered if some of the pathogens appearing in this realm happened to be, like, all-powerful. With their toxicities enhanced by the abundance of qi. It was possible.
As I was sitting up, Ruth returned. She asked, "You look a little off, my lady. Is everything all right?"
Ruth is always very observant, isn't she?
The plump canine woman carried on. "Have you been training too hard? Please don't overexert yourself, my lady. I know that the lords train hard, but they're warriors, and they're used to it. You're new. It hasn't been long since you started, right?"
I nodded. "Around two and a half weeks."
Since I discovered that I had pure qi and after that incident of me advertising to the whole realm that I had a strong one and the chaos that ensued with the lords going berserk, I was told that dark beasts and those who hunger for my qi would come hunting for me. Despite that, the demon lords had vowed to protect me. They had suggested I take up self-defense to protect myself in case the shit hit the fan. In other words, I had to learn how to fight, which sounded like music to my ears because I knew at least one of them would be training me. After all, I did want to be as capable as Leona. Having seen her confidently going into battle and awesomely kicking the enemies in the backside had inspired me.
"Two and a half weeks? That's not long ago at all. Yes, like I said, my lady, please don't overexert yourself."
I chuckled. I thought Ruth was behaving a little bit like my mother, who was always overly concerned about me. Then again, a mother is always concerned about her children, right?
I sighed, wondering how Mom and Dad were getting on back home.
"My lady?" snapped me back to the present, and I quickly said, "Don't worry, Ruth. I just feel a little bit off; that's all. I'll be fine."
The woman said, "Then I'll prepare some medication for you just in case."
I suppose that's not a bad idea.
"That would be awesome, Ruth."
As the maid went about finding some medication for me, I headed into the en suite, stripped myself naked, and then took a good soak in the hot bath. It was twenty minutes later when I decided I'd had enough and got out. After drying myself, I donned a silk robe and headed into the bedroom.
The moment I shut the door behind me, I smiled in pleasant surprise at seeing Caleb. The handsome man was standing by the large window and gazing off at the scenery passing by below. In the distance, the different hues of the aurora light danced and glittered beautifully.
"Hello," I said, walking toward him.
Caleb turned, and his steel-gray eyes, which were dark and intense, came to rest on me.
"Hello," he said in greeting.
Once I was close, he wrapped his ironlike arms around my waist and pulled me to him. Then he proceeded to plant his lips on mine.
The moment our flesh came into contact, I felt these intense sparks between us, and my body turned into a frenzy of heat. I had felt like this with him before, as well as with Felix and Geoffrey, but never this intense, just as it had been with Aaron earlier this afternoon. I wondered what was going on. Either I was becoming even more sexually attracted to these men, or it was something else entirely.
Suddenly, I started shivering, and I couldn't help but terminate our kiss because I just couldn't handle the overwhelming feelings any longer. The longer I felt his skin against mine, the more I thought I might just collapse and beg him to simply ravish me.
I buried my face against his chest and inhaled the man's beautiful scent instead in an attempt to ease the overzealous sensations that suddenly erupted in me. That only made the heat in my body rise and react even more.
Caleb wrapped one hand around the back of my head and asked, "You look like you're flush with a fever. Are you unwell?"
I nodded. "I just feel a little off; that's all." I licked my lips and said, "Maybe I caught something, like a virus."
"The new pathogens emerging into our realm due to the weakening of the barrier," he said. "Have you had something like that before?"
He sounded worried. I lifted my head then and gave him a smile. "I'll be fine. Viruses are common on Earth, where I came from, so it'll pass in no time."
I moved out of his arms and turned to pick up the gown that was lying on the bed. Suddenly, I wondered where Ruth had gone off to, since I knew the woman was always so eager to help me get dressed up. Caleb had probably told her to leave when he came in.
I was just unzipping the dress when Caleb said, "It's probably best to tell Noah about it, just in case."
Dear Lord, but Caleb is a worrywart, isn't he? Not that I didn't like a man who worried about the welfare of his girlfriend just as he was worried about his soldiers' safety. In fact, I found it endearing. After all, that trait only made me love him even more.
I turned to him, stood on tiptoe, and gave him a peck on the lips. As I moved back, I said, "I'll be fine. No need to bother Noah with something this inconsequential. He's busy with his work. He looks stressed out." I chuckled. "Must be the deadline for those reports and presentations, for sure. I think he's putting too much on his plate."
Caleb said, "That's just Noah. He thinks our world rests on his shoulders, which it does—where the barrier is concerned. He's one of the few who knows the ins and outs of the magical system in our realm, and we rely heavily on that for our daily lives."
I nodded in agreement. "Then you understand why I don't want something this small to bother Noah."
Caleb sighed as if giving in. "Fine." He gave me this wicked grin that made my heart skip. "Now then, shall I help you get dressed?"
I cocked my head to one side. "Eh?"
Caleb shifted his attention to my silk robe and lightly touched the collar with his fingers. As those fingers of his moved lower toward the valley of my breasts, my eyes followed them, and my body flared in heat with anticipation.
Caleb swiftly moved his hot gaze to my face, and as suddenly as that, he said, "Fuck!"
Looking at him through my lashes, I asked coyly, "What's the matter, Caleb?"
The man let go of the material of my robe like it was on fire and then raked his fingers through his hair. He looked both flustered and frustrated, I thought.
He said, "It looks like I'm playing with fire." He moved around me and headed to the door. "Get dressed quickly, and I'll see you in the dining room."
As he paced out the door and then shut it firmly behind him, I said, "Aye-aye, my lord."
Alone, I smiled cheekily. I knew he was turned on a moment ago. It was his own fault for starting the seduction by playing with the collar of my robe and suggesting he help me get dressed. Of course, we couldn't do any sort of sexy stuff here while on this airship because to do so would be a disaster, what with his powerful dark qi and without the many shields preventing it from getting out of hand.
Dismissing the thought of Caleb from my mind, Iturned my attention to getting myself dressed. Once I was done, the pale gownfitting my body perfectly, I took the two pills that Ruth had left for me,which were like multivitamins of sorts to boost my physical body. Then I headedout the door.