Embers and Ashes

Chapter 32

(Hey there dear readers,

I am so sorry for not being able to write for so long. When shit rains it pours. These past weeks have been utter Hell. Family drama is the best sum up. This chapter might show my state of mind, so bit darker, but I think it's needed for newly weds to not always agree on things. I'll try and make the next a lot more fun.

Thank you so much to all my faithfull followers. I hope you enjoy.

Love,
Lady Thyme)

Melona

   As Lady of Embry and Eris wife I would now be head mistress of the house and have every servant at my beck and call. As well as being in charge of setting up gatherings and meetings with head officials of other land owners. All whom Eris frequently invited over as much as possible so he could collect information on the inner workings of the court that no one else paid any mind to.

   The key to getting that information is in getting their guard down with good food and activities that set their minds feral apparently. So when my husband asked if I’d be willing to set up a picnic for a hunting party I git to work right away.

   The day came on the sunniest day we have had all season and I relished in the pinks and golds of the sunrise that morning. Slipping into a pair of riding pants as I sip on my morning tea. Having the house to myself for a little while as the guests wake and ready themselves. Eris having already dressed and gone to the stables hours ago in anticipation for the day ahead.

   “It’s been so long since I’ve gotten to ride horse back”, I grin as Pom helps me with braiding my hair and tying it neatly behind my back with rich pine green ribbon the match the vest adorned in gold embroidery of leaves. “And I’m not going to be forced to go side saddle!”

    “I am sure it will be quiet the experience for you. Have you ever been in a hunting party?”, my maid asks.

   “Yes, but Illyrians are a bit more gritty when it comes to hunting. And rarely do it for sport or for the simple sceptical of it. They hunt because they have to in order to feed themselves and their families”, I answer as I dab on a simple bit of rouge on my cheeks and lips. Pocketing it for later and to keep chapped lips away on this brisk day.

   “This should be a pleasant change then. No need to trouble yourself too much if nothing is caught. Food will still be on the table”, her gentle hands squeezing my shoulder in reassurance.

   I nod and smile at my hunting clothes as I slip into the fur lined coat to fit my form so splendidly that it almost fit like a second skin over my pretty silks and linens.

   My good mood only slipped away when I caught sight of the woman standing in the doorway. Watching me with cold dark eyes and her sheening gold hair pinned neatly in a bun behind her head.

   Thali

    Doing my best to swallow the slithering fear and territorial nature of the bond tied in my rib cage I stand. Turning to her with an ever so pleasant smile as she too stood in a jacket but a thick fabric riding skirt encircled around her legs.

   “Maybe you are more suited for Eris then I previously thought”, was the snide remark that parted her lips.
   I sigh and take a breath.  

   “Is there something I can help you with?”, I ask without hissing and moving around the vailed insults.

   “Why do you think I would ever need your help?”, she snorts. “You’re a pathetic excuse of a female to have a mate and leave him so cold in bed. Everyone knows you haven’t bed him yet.”

   “I don’t see how that is any of your concern, but if you must know we have decided to wait until we are both comfortable enough with each other to have that sort of intimacy”, I answer as Pom clenches her fists as if she too was ready to throttle the other female.

   “That’s laughable”, she snorts. “You’re just testing him. You just want to see how much he can handle your rejection, well believe me when I say I have already done so and if you don’t handle him soon his bad habits will send him into the arms of another.”

   “I’m glade to see you have such confidence in me”, Eris croons from behind her. Having snuck his way up the stairs and patiently waiting for her to finish. Thali’s back turning as stiff as a pillar.

   “Eris”, she murmurs and instantly bows her head, but he doesn’t look at her. Simply passing around her to come to my side. Glancing me over and slipping me close.

   “Don’t you dare try and slip away after the insults you gave my wife Thali Mae Rathen”, Eris scolds as she tried to slink away quickly but is pinned down by his words and his cold gaze.

   “You know what I said was true”, she hisses at the ornate carpet sprawled over the wooden floor of our bedroom.

   “Maybe so, but what right have you to address these private issues to the Lady of Embry?”, he asks bitterly and I flinch at the hurt in her eyes.

   “I’ve been your friend since the beginnings, and. . .”, she offer. 

   “Have you know?”, Eris questions. “Do friends treat each other like dirt? Like expendable objects that can be picked up and put away whenever we desire it. Thali, when we were children, maybe we were friends then, but whatever we are now it is not friendship. I don’t even think it can be labelled as mutual respect.”

   “What are you trying to say Eris?”, she growls and whatever final decision he was making was now set.

   “I no longer recognize you as my friend, or anything of the sort. You are no longer welcome in my home or in my life. Leave with your betrothed this afternoon as planed. Afterward, if I catch you on my property you will be seen as a trespasser and dealt with”, he says with the bitterness of frost consuming the life of meadow flowers.

   She goes to retort. To fight back but her lips slowly quiver shut and her head bows in defeat. “As you wish my Lord.”

   And she leaves.

   “Eris, you didn’t- ”, I try to offer once she was cleanly out o ear shot.

   “Yes”, he cuts me off before I can finish. “Yes I did. I should have done this years ago. Way before I even met you, but I didn’t have the strength or the reason until now.”

   I let a smile grace my lips as he places a delicate kiss to my cheek.

   “Are you alright?”, he asks as he brushes his nose over my temple. “Those where some very colourful images and curses you where uttering in your mind.”

   “I wanted to kill her”, I admit as my hands run over the lapels of his jacket. Clutching them so hard my knuckles turned white. “I could have. It would have been so easy.”

   “I know. I’m sorry that I have made you suffer for so long on this. You’ve been so worried none stop these past weeks. I’m sorry”, he offers.

   “How can’t I be?”, I whimper and lay my ear on his chest. “You could leave me so easily. What if one day you realize I’m not worth it?”

   “That day wont come. I’ve chosen you Mel, and only you. Now please, she will bother you no more, or haunt your dreams and worries. I am yours, from now until the end”, he murmurs into my hair and I sigh heavily.

   “Thank you”, I hum back. “I know that that was a heavy price to pay.”

   “You are worth it”, he smiles and takes my hand to pull me along with him to the stables.

~

   I hadn’t realized that Thali had been betrothed to one of the lesser lords. Moros for all appearances seemed a descent fellow. Out of them all Eris seemed to be able to tolerate him the most.

   “He is far older then most care to remember. Far older then even my own father. Older then Helion spellcleaver. They say that he was part of the first ilk that slithered out from the burrows and shed their beastly forms for more favourable form”, Eris explained as we ride side by side upon our steeds. Eris with his pure black mare, and I on the chestnut stallion. “Some think that is why his eyes are still that of beast. Gold and shinning from centuries of hunting in dark places.”

   “Some things are easier to shed then others faeling”, the older male chuckles as he strides up to join us.

   “I am sure of that”, Eris nods politely out of respect for his elders.

   “Of course you are child. Your well of power is great in of itself. You are quiet capable of taking the toll to shift, are you not?”, he smirks as if he already fully new the answer. Eris does not answer. “Your fathers worries much on the matter. Most cannot do it without first becoming High Lord.”

   I watch as Eris straightens his back and lifts his chin in ignorance. “I do not know what you speak of.”

   “Of course you don’t”, he rolls his eyes and turns his bright eyes to me.

   “You have a considerable amount of magic in you too, don’t you Lady of Embry”, his smile a bit crooked as if it where all some sort of game.

   “I suppose”, I answer simply.

   “Fine, you two keep to yourselves on the matter. What I would like to know is what you did to put Thali Mae in such a foul mood. You are aware I must put up with such things”, Moros sighs heavily.

   “I made sure that she understood that I am no longer an option for her. Saving both of us the worry of betrayal”, Eris words cold and clipped.

   “I do not think such things would prove effective. That young female will do as she pleases weather I like it or not”, Moros shakes his head. “She is far too stubborn.”

   “If you do not like her then why marry her?”, I ask.

   Both males laugh.

   “Don’t be so naïve Melona”, Eris sighs. “It’s a business transaction. Loyalty is bought here, not earned. Thali’s Uncle has rights over her as her last remaining male relative. He can give her to whomever he so chooses. She is lucky that Moros is as kind as he is about it all. She is she hasn’t been spaded for how freely she’s given of herself to whomever suits her fancy.”

   “No female sold for the benefits of others is lucky Eris”, I bite back and both look at me with apology. “Just because I believe that my circumstances are acceptable to better our nations doesn’t mean that it is right. Our bodies are not proper.”

   “Of course but. . .”, Moros starts.

   “But nothing. Frankly I’m disappointed in both of you. Males of your rankings should be fighting against things like this. Not reveling in it”, I sneer.

   “There isn’t much I can do about that right now”, Eris sighs.

   “Bullshit”, I hiss and pull on the reins to direct my horse away from the annoyance of the two males. Now in a foul mood of my own and wanting more then anything to shoot arrows threw something.

   So I direct my horse through the woods as silently as possible towards the now grassy fields in search of pheasants and rabbits. Pausing to breath in the wind brushing it’s way over rattling grasses, and quaking leaves. The sent of damp earth and delicate rot of leaves is carried off with it. 

   At least it carried my sent away from any potential prey. So I took the opportunity to let my horse have a bit to eat and drink water while I creep through grass. After being in the mountains I was so used to hunting from heights. Trees made that a bit easier, but still it was so odd to watch the softly rolling hills shift with such wonderful quiet songs. It calmed me enough to start thinking clearly.

   Think about Thali and all she has had to give up. Much like myself being forced into marriages that are not of our wanting, but I always loved the idea of being married where Thali does not seek to feel comfortable. Maybe seeking a wealthy life, but only for status because that’s all she has ever known. My heart now caught between the ways she’s treated me and with my understanding of her situation. I took away her chance at peace with the world, I can’t say I would have gone quietly if I where in her predicament, but I can’t see myself purposefully being out right cruel about it. 

    Sighing I lean against the rough surface of the tree. The shark ends of the bark poking through the fine material of  my hunting clothes. A small reminder that life was still in motion and that these problems would pass like everything else. So I took my time to try and enjoy it.

   Only pulling out my bow and arrow when a herd of deer came into view. A large healthy buck with several of his females grazing happily on the grasses. Any one of them would make a perfect meal, so I chose my target and was ready to take it when something barreled through the tops of the trees.

   Correction, someone.

   “Pomona?!”, I gasp and clutch at my rapidly beating heart. “You nearly killed me!”

   “You must come home now Mel!”, she ignored my statement in a frenzy of worry. That look of dread in her eyes made me pause.

   “What’s happen Pom?”, I ask putting away my drawn arrow.

   “It’s Miss Rathen she, oh just please come home quickly!”, she begged.

~

   Laughing. They all came back laughing and it made my blood boil. These high ranking pompous brats that called themselves mighty where sick and twisted in my mind. Instead of victory over their hunt it rang in my ears as mockery. Mockery at the power they held over others.

   “Melona?”, Eris paused in question as I stormed down the stairs with smoke curling on my fingers and vengeance raging in my heart, and not even my mate could douse those flames as I parted the crowd of males like a spear.

   My target. Moros.

   Who, to his downfall, had the audacity to smile at me in greeting. That insufferable look of smugness his death sentence as I grabbed him by his jacket and with every ounce of power I had in me, lifted him up from the ground and slammed him into the wall. The plaster cracking and sputtering around him.

   “You will release Miss. Rathen from her bargain to you or so help me I will rip off your head where you stand”, I seethe through gritted teeth at his throat. The male becoming ever so still and tilts his chin upward to expose himself further for my benefit.

   “Lady Vanserra, please, I cannot -”, he starts.

   “You can and you will”, I snarl.

   “Melona, this isn’t the place to -”, Eris tries to settle his hand on my shoulders. Trying to sooth me.

   “You are either with me or against me on this subject Eris”, I warn not even turning my head.

   “I am with you, but this is a subject that needs to be held delicately, and in private”, Eris offers as the others start to share glances of confusion and disapproval.

   “Am I embracing you husband?”, I croon sarcastically.

   “No”, he says firmly. “But I do believe this is not what you think it is. Now please, what has you so upset?”

   “Upset? Upset?! Oh I am far beyond upset”, I snap as I grab a fistful of that ancient Faeries hair and drag him up the stairs. He screamed and scrambled like a wild animal but I held him firmly.

   “Excuse us a moment”, Eris sighs calmly and bows before leaving the group as if trying to keep some form of peace amongst his guests. Of course, no one stopped him as he left.

   Coming up stairs to find Moros sitting in a chair in the dinning room with a very cross female he wasn’t altogether prepared to handle. 

   “Glade to see she hasn’t eaten you old fool”, Eris muses as he shuts the door.

   “I’m not all that confident that she still isn’t going too”, Moros admits as he shifts in his chair. “Are you certain she cannot change into a beastly form?”

   “Even if I could, I have lived with and raised Illyrians, so believe me when I say I can kill you without it”, I growl.

   “. . . Point taken”, he nods.

   “My dear, I must insist you calm down. . .”, Eris pauses when I glare at him.

   “I will not calm down and you know better then anyone why”, I hiss at him.

   “Moros has no intensions towards Thali the way that Cato treated you”, Eris says plainly.

   “And how would you know?”

   “Because I was the one who helped forge the bargain. I specifically worded it myself for a loophole that Thali could take if she so chooses, by Moros request”, he explains.

   I look between the two males. My blood still burning.

   “Did either of you bother to tell Thali of your scheming?”, I question.

   “I have not gotten the chance. I was planning on discussing it this morning with her, but she was in a terrible mood and I thought it best to wait until she settled”, Moros sighs heavily.

   “Or maybe you should have informed her of your planes. Have her opinion before now”, I state bitterly. “. . . You have a lot of fresh blood on your hands.” 

   “Blood?”, Moros asks and frowns at the statement as if the word did not fit.

Only after a moment did it all makes sense to him.

   “No”, he breathed before launching himself from his chair and down the hall.

    What he found in his shared bedroom with her stopped him dead in his tracks. A very pail and sickly Thali sat up in bed with a blank expression as Pomona tries to get her to eat some soup. Holding the spoon to her lips but the female refused to eat. Only blinking when Moros barged in.

   The stench of iron stained the air. It was so heavy that it was a meal for the old Faery, but it terrified him more then pleased him.

   “Thali?”, he questioned with a soft murmur, but what little strength she had she used to turn from him. Clutching at the blankets and pulled them around her as she faced the wall. “Thali, what happened?”

   “. . . I couldn’t see another way out”, she mutters. Her voice tired and hollow. “I couldn’t see another way out.”

   Moros clutched at his hair in frustration and maybe slight panic.

   “Thali. . .  I didn’t want this to happen”, he tries. “I. . . I’m so sorry.”

   She doesn’t answer as he cautiously walks around the side to her. Eris’ arm holding me gently in place when I start to stop him. His expression firm as he watched Moros.

   “You were never in any danger little one”, Moros coos as he bows beside her. “I was never going to demand anything of you. I had Eris make a contract that allowed for several loopholes that your Uncle would not be able to interfere in. You are free Thali Mae. Free to roam where you wish. Be whomever you wish. Do as you wish. I only delayed in telling you because I wanted your Uncle to believe that he’d be getting what he asked for. . . I am so sorry. It was never supposed to coast you this.”

   “. . . Free?”, she asked as if it where a foreign concept.

   He smiles sadly, “Yes, free. You are not bound to me unless you wish. 

   Ever so gently Eris pulls me from the room and orders Pomona out before gently shutting the door. Smiling down at me even if I answer it with a scowl.

   “She is safe with him. I promise”, he answers and tries to sooth my worries with a kiss to the cheek which I turn from. “I wouldn’t let her alone with anyone if I didn’t trust them.”

   “You trust him?”, I sneer.

   “I do”, he nods. “As much as I trust Zathrian, as much as I trust Jon. . . As much as I trust you.”

   I pause and listen to the quiet of the hallway. Trying to hear what was being said on the other side of the door. Trying not to claw down the door and tare the offending male to shreds.

   “I’m angry”, I hiss at him.

   “I know”, he sighs and squeezes me a bit tighter. “This is not how I wanted this day to go.”

   “This morning she had come to beg me for help, but never got the chance. She was so desperate she was willing to ask someone she hated to help her. She was all alone Eris. I put her there”, I whimper. “Mother above, if I had known.”

   “It would have changed nothing, and you have done nothing to her. Thali Rathen has put herself where she is”, Eris answers.

   “Or maybe we all did”, I correct.

   Eris sighs and places his forehead to mine.

   “You should have told her. You should have told me”, I whisper.

   “I know, but I thought with having such a strong tie to the subject that it would have been too much for you”, he tries to explain.

   “That is my choice to make. Not yours”, I tell him sternly.

   “I know, and I am sorry”, the sorrow stirring between the bond was answer enough to tell me that his regrets.

   “Please come down stairs with me”, he begs and squeezes my waist.

   Letting out a breath I do my best to breath away the sting of anger and breath in the thick sent of cinnamon.

   “We’ll talk later?”, I ask.

   “Of course.”

   I nod and take his hand in mine.