Trinket (Reverse Harem)

Frosty Embrace

 He looked at me like I had spoken some foreign language. The rest of the room went still. The only sound was Ethat's slightly strained breathing.

Had I done too much? Did they not want me anymore, now that they'd had a chance to be without me? Had I crossed too many lines accepting Soir's invitation?

"Not if you're going to throw it at that Raven or into the bay," Ormiss said, trying to keep his voice noble and reserved but it trembled deep in his throat.

Pain sliced through my neck and scars. "I wasn't going to do either."

He removed my trinket and handed it to me.

What if I'd gone too far? What if I'd done too much? I'd pushed them away. Was there really any coming back from everything I'd said and done? Maybe I should have just thanked them and walked right off a cliff--

I put the necklace over my head before I thought further about a brief attempt to fly. The sharp points hit the calloused spot between my breasts.

Ormiss trembled all over like a horse being stung by flies. Ethat dragged himself across the floor so he could get a better look with his undamaged eye. A few flies drifted out of his nostrils.

Itek stepped around to get a look. Korr came around my other side. His icy gaze traced the necklace to the trinket, a blizzard moving across his irises. He held the trinket between his fingers and ran his thumb over one point in particular. Then he gently released it. "Did the Lord-Raven propose to you?"

That was his reaction? Was that a diplomatic way of saying fuck you, we found we're happier without you?

"Yes," I said, not sure if I was shaking with fury or humiliation or grief.

Itek looked at Korr sideways. Ethat made a weird noise like a laugh and a moan.

"What do you want me to say?" I told Korr, trying to hide whatever I was feeling.

Korr caressed my face with his hands. They were too hot. I froze as he ran his palms along my cheek and jaw, cupping me with graceful long fingers. He bent low. "Nothing, my love. You don't have to say anything at all."

He kissed me gently. His lips were too hot, and he felt fragile under the strong grace of his fingers.

Asund's bulk pressed behind me. He flicked his fingertips down my arms and growled by my neck, capturing the leather thong in his teeth. "No words."

Korr ran his thumbs down my cheeks while holding my jaw in his palms. Ethat shoved his triangular head between us and purred, rubbing his desiccated cheek against me. Then he gave his brother a friendly bonk that would have knocked Korr over if Itek hadn't caught him.

"We know you aren't here because you have forgiven us," Korr said, a sad smile on his lips, "or because things are settled in your heart. You are here because the Ravens brought you back to us."

Asund hooked one strong arm around my waist and pressed his body against my back. He kissed just behind my ear. "All that matters to us is you are back. I swear, my love, I didn't. Not when I rejected you, not when you dreamed I was with the Priestess. If--"

"Stop." I cut him off before he could say anything else. For me, the rejection had been real, and my life. But for him it was a dream. That's what the Priestess had told me: that dreams were where we flirted with nightmares and temptations to try them on for size. Most dreams were, at worst, vivid, and not actually real. They were just eddies and foam in the Churn, and minds played in the shallows.

And in Asund's dreams with the Priestess, he had never dreamed of being with her. I had dreamed that, because I had thought it could be real. For him, he had just run across nightmares, trying to save me.