Embers and Ashes

Chapter 34

Melona

   Life went back to what I suppose would be considered a normalcy. Days filled with paperwork and running around doing errands for the royal family. Hiding ourselves away from it all in our tranquil slice of the court.

   This particular one was a bit quieter than the others. So, I had decided to spend it at my mates’ side. Resting in his lap while he looks over the new trading agreements, he was able to arrange with Kallias, the High Lord of Winter, this past week. A whole week without him keeping that bond between us restless.

    A week where I was left alone to think. At first just about finding my place in the day to day workings of the Court. Then about my past. About how much I missed weaving, healing, and caring for a family. I missed laughter and my skirts being tugged at with sticky fingers. The bright eyes of Faelings that would hold up a new discovery to show me. I miss having that joy and wonder.

   “Eris?”, I call softly. Fisting my hands full of the silk of his shirt.

    “Yes beloved?”, he hums. Only half listening, and half buried in work.

    Leaning up I graze my teeth over his jaw. With a start and utter delight, I had his full and undivided attention.

    “What is it Mel?”, he hums while I nuzzle to hide in his neck. That spicy scent of his lulling me further into what I wanted.

    “I think I’m ready”, I murmur as I shift against his body. He didn’t need much explaining as to what I meant.

    “Are you absolutely certain?”, he asks gently turning his face to kiss my cheek.

    “I want to try”, I hum with a nod.

   “If you feel that you are ready, then I am more than happy to oblige”, he smiles and kisses my neck. His hands finding my waist and pulls me flush against him. Slowly and purposefully shifting so that I could feel the warmth spread in my stomach. The thrill flustering me.

   Eris shifts me to sit up so that he could run his nose over my own. Slowly dipping and teasing his lips over my own. It made me smile. Smile and give into those lips.

   Moaning softly at the taste of him and burry my fingers into his thick curls. Dragging us deeper into movements and touch until Eris’ waist thrusts up and sends lust shooting through my body with a gasp.

   “Tell me that this is what you want”, his breath hot on my lips. His tone breathy but firm. “Mother above Mel, I beg of you, tell me that you want me.”

   “I want you Eris”, I smile and hum softly as he captures my lips again with his. His tongue sliding past my parted mouth to claim. His hands greedily slithering up my skirts and nearly felt the burning of my core, but alas we were rudely interrupted.

   The venomous snarl that erupted from Eris had all the ferocity of a male that had loosened his grip of his restraints on a mating bond. His nails digging into the fabric of my dress as he shielded me from the view of the young guard. Eris looked ready to incinerate the male where he stood. The only thing that saved him was what came out of his mouth next.

    “We’re under attack! There is an intruder in the front hall!”, the guard shouted while out of breath.

   Eris stilled. Then everything in him sharpened down to a very fine piercing thought. Protect my mate. Protect my mate. Protect my mate.

   The bond sang the words and his grip loosened slowly. Sliding away from my blushing body and around the table. Heading straight through the door like a knife cutting air.

   It took me a moment to cut through the fog of my lust to realize that Eris had left me, but the scent of him changed and morphed into something else when I could taste the sparks of his flame. Taste as he shed his skin and slithered down the hall as a giant mountain snake.

   After regaining myself I was faced with the horror of the front hallway. The space was utterly destroyed. Furniture mangled under the weight of Eris beastly form. Scorch makes lining the ceiling and walls.

   I nearly screamed when I spotted the intruder plunge their sword into my husband’s scales. The rage of my mate suffocating me as he attacked the Illyrian warrior, and it wasn’t just any Illyrian.

   It was Devlon.

   I was moving before I could think. One second, I was on the stairs watching. The next I stood between Eris and Devlon with Hadres blocking the oncoming blade. Both males shuddered to a stop when our swords clashed.

   “Cybele”, Devlon breathed in shock. The anger and hatred shattered when he realizes who it is protecting the monster he sought to slay.

   “Put your weapon down, Devlon!”, I order with all the authority in my bones.

   “I cannot do that”, he seethes. “I cannot let the Bastard win. He’s lying to you Cybele. He’s deceiving you, and you are too blind with hope and forgiveness to see it!”

   Eris hisses with curls of smoke peeling from a flaming maul, but coils back when I lift my hand to halt him. His flaming eyes cutting at Devlon like a hundred knives.

   “Eris has nothing to hide from me”, I insist on trying to knock some sense into this male.

   “You’re wrong. He’s lying to you know. He is not your mate Cybele. I don’t know what sort of dark magic he’s put on you, but you know that that isn’t true”, he barks.

   “And why should I not believe that? I know my own feeling, Devlon. I know he is my mate. I feel it”, I hiss.

   “No, it is a mirage of some sort. It must be!”, he rages.

“And how would you know that?!”

   “Because I am your mate!”, he declares.

    My stance falters from the shock. How much it cracks my soul in half with doubts, and Devlon uses that to his advantage. Disarming me with a swift move and has me pulled up against his body in an instant. A blade at my throat to stop Eris from advancing when his own shock draws away when he realizes I am in the hands of the enemy.

   “I don’t want to hurt her”, he tells Eris when I whimper and squirm. “So, don’t follow me.”

    Eris eyes settle on me. Fear breaking his spell as he shifts back into his body. His knees planted in the cold marble floor.

   “Please, there is no deception”, he begs for me. “Please, do what you want with me. Kill me, I don’t care, but leave Melona to live her life freely.”

   “Do not follow us”, Devlon hisses and takes a leaping start into the air. Spreading his wings and we left through the stain glass ceiling.

~

   He dares not land in any part of the Autumn court. Instead he flies to the lonely sacred mountain’s territory. Placing me down in the grass of a small opening of trees. All strength leaves me as I drop to the ground and cry at trying to keep Eris calm from this distance. Begging him not to follow. To let me deal with Devlon. To not start a war because of me.

   “Cybele”, Devlon murmurs as he crouches beside me in concern. I take the opportunity to turn on him and punch him with all my strength in the nose. The force landing him stunned on his ass while holding a crushed and bleeding nose.

    I had never struck anyone out of anger before. It was only ever out of fear. Fear for myself or the safety of others. This? – I am pissed.

   “Curse you Devlon”, I snarl with all the vigor and cold I could muster. “Curse you to a coward’s death.”

   He looks up at me in shock.

   “What has he done to you?”, he mutters.

   “Nothing! Absolutely nothing!”, I shout. “This is of your own doing Devlon. You kidnapped me from my home, and from my mate. I don’t care what you believe, Eris is my mate, and I love him.”

   “You don’t really believe that, do you?”, Dev asks.

   “Yes, I do”, I stand firm.

   “But our powers. Their mirrors of each other”, he points out.

   “My power is the mirror of all killing – power!”, I yell to make a point.

   “No, we are equal’s Cybele”, he counters as he stands. His nose now healed over on its own. “We have been from the start and you know it.”

   I shake my head, but cannot stop the sinking realization in my gut that he could be right. I wanted to rage against the doubt, but it bites me and I couldn’t ignore it any longer.

   So, I turned and left. Devlon of course went to grab at me but I turned on him with a glare so fierce that it stopped him dead in his tracks.

   “You will not touch me”, I say lowly. “You will leave me be to think, or so help me I will put both of you out of your misery.”

   Both whatever sort of bond between Eris and I existed, and Devlon’s mouth shut closed. I needed to figure this out, and I needed to do it on my own.

~

   I made myself a simple little hut out of ever green branches and twine I kept in my little pocket of space between worlds. Once again, I caught and cooked my own food. Staying on my own was second nature at this point in my life.

   Three days I spent exploring and thinking about the state of my life. I knew Devlon had set up his own little camp just over the hill where he thought I wouldn’t realize. I knew he wouldn’t leave until some sort of decision was made. He wouldn’t leave until I choose my fate.

   Choose Devlon and go back to my old life. Go back to my children and being Matka. To have a purpose greater than any other. To care and create so that other’s might live, but the shame it would bring to my family. The war that would ensue would bring it all down around me.

   Choose Eris and to the Court I would never be anything but his consort. The female to bare his heirs, but to Eris I was his wife. Maybe his only trusted friend, and I love him.

   Still, I loved Devlon. I think it is time I admit that to myself.

   I’ve loved him for a long time. He was my rock and strength who helped me care for my children. He protected me. Taught me, fought for me. Never had we seen eye to eye in anything, but we always would respect the other. Always seek each other’s comfort and support.

   Maybe in our hearts we had always been unspoken lovers. Never in the physical sense, but in action we showed devotions that not many married would have shown.

   Still, I’m bitter to realize what I have with Eris runs much deeper than that. His mind, his soul, is a part of my own. I can feel the string of our bond. The warmth he has for me. All that we’ve shared. The trust and secrets.

   I knew who I wanted to choose, but it still breaks my heart.

   That’s when I spotted two figures standing just outside my hut. The first I recognized instantly from the flaming red hair he had tied back. The other took me by surprize when I realized who it was.

   Helion Spell Cleaver.

   “I thought I told you to stay away Eris”, I scold as I step out into the evening light.

   “I found something, well, we found something”, he adds Helion into the conversation. “Something that may explain what this Devlon is claiming.

   But I need you to know from me, that I have done nothing to hurt you. I have not lied Melona.”

   I stay silent and grit my teeth as Devlon comes over the side of the hill. Cautiously making his way down to the group.

   “Well get on with it”, I hiss at the High Lord who looked a bit uncertain of the situation he’d been dragged into, but a book appears in his hands as he sits in the grass. Eris taking his lead and sitting beside him. I choose to do the same.

   “It would not be so farfetched for you to have more than one mate. Your ancestors at one time were ruled by queens with the ability to take more than one mate was. Such power could have been passed to you further down the lines. Tirades are very the most frequent, but haven’t been found for centuries”, Helion starts to explain as he shifts through old pages.

   “And when he”, Eris eyes darted to Devlon as he took a seat not too far away. “Claimed I had put some sort of dark spell on you, I knew I had not, but my father is well versed in ancient magic’s. He would have the motivation to keep us together through deception or not, and the ability. So, I sought Helion’s assistance to try and figure a way to detect it, and root it out if it was there. I do not want you tied to me through a lie, Melona. I would have suffered out the bond if that is what you asked of me.”

   “There is no magic binding you. I checked”, Helion points out. “Several times. . . Whatever you two share, it is genuine.”

   “Then what is it that Cybele and I share?”, Devlon cuts in.

   “While looking for a spell that would bind two people together with the ferocity of a mating bond, I was only ever able to find a single attempt in a story about a queen who feared that if her nephew found his mate, it would be her downfall. So, she bound him to another, but that spell was broken when he found his mate”, Helion smiled. “It’s actually a really good story.”

   “Just get to the point”, I snip.

   “Right”, Helion sighs. “The Prince and his mate also shared another sort of bond. The name for it is Carranam. It is where two beings are equally matched and mirrored in their magical abilities. Common in mates, but not exclusive. It also forms a strong emotional bond between the two partners. It could be easily confused as a mating bond since it is rare in our day and age.”

   “So, what you are telling me is that Eris and I are truly mates, and Devlon and I are this Carranam?”, I ask for clarification.

   Helion nods slowly.

   I let out a breathy laugh of relief. That laughter quickly turning into sobs as I start to shake and crawl to Eris. Flinging my arms around my mate and pulling myself against him. Which he does in turn. His own tears of relief glistening over the smudge of purple under his eyes from lack of sleep.

   “I’m sorry”, I weep. “I’m so sorry I doubted you.”

   “It’s alright, even I did not know what to believe”, Eris admits with his lips on my cheeks.

   “I want to go home”, I mutter as my fingers grip his hair. He nods softly and helps me to my feet. Helion and Devlon both stand as well.

   I make the mistake of turning to find the defeated look in Devlon’s eyes. My heart softening back into it’s proper place. I couldn’t stay mad at him.

   Devlon thought I was in danger. That Eris had deceived me into thinking we shared a bond, and this Carranam bond we shared has been haunting us for years. For a long time I thought we were supposed to be together, but I never let myself hope. My future was already decided and I didn’t want Devlon to suffer for it.

   “Devlon, I . . .”, I take a step towards him as his wings tuck in tightly. “I’m sorry.”

   “No, I am sorry”, he cuts in shaking his head. “I should have just let you be.”

   “You thought I was in danger. You were protecting me, and I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you for that, but you did kidnap me. We could have figured this out together”, I sigh heavily and go to Devlon to wrap my arms around his waist. His body jolting under the touch. “I’m sorry that we can’t share what you hoped we could. If it means anything at all, while living in your camp, I thought we were mates too. I just. . . I didn’t want you hurt when I had to leave.”

   He nods and pulls me into a gentle hug. “It means everything.”

   There is a tugging down the bond and I sigh softly and pull away.

   “I’m choosing Eris”, I tell him firmly. “I’ve made that commitment to my people, to myself, and most importantly, to him. I married him, and I love him. He’s my mate, and he has never harmed me. I’m safe with him and I do not plan to leave.”

   “If that is what you choose then I will respect and honor it”, Devlon nods even if his voice quacked a bit around the edges.

    “Thank you for caring so much about me”, I try to get him to look at me, but he seems unable to. “I’m sorry Devlon.”

   He nods and backs away, as do I. Walking back to take Eris’ hand who gently takes it, and looks to Helion.

   “I have had my payment. You no longer owe me anything”, Eris tells the older Fae who dips his chin in thanks.

  “Send my greetings to Phina, if at all possible”, his smile brightening as he said one of Seraphina’s nicknames with such tenderness it startled me.

   Eris nods once more before squeezing my hand and I watch the two males melt away into mist, and I find myself standing in the bright afternoon sun of the Autumn Court. Looking out of the windows of the Embry house at the fields turning white gold once more.

   We don’t move from that spot for a long time. Just breathing in the silence.

   “I wasn’t lying Melona”, he murmurs. “I would have done it. I would have cut the spell, and I would have let you go with him. If that is what you wanted.”

   “Why?”, I asked softly.

   “I promised – I promised you that I would not treat you like my mother has been. If he was truly your mate, if you chose him, I would have let you go”, he says running a thumb over my hand. “I would let you go because I love you. More then I’ve ever loved anyone.”

   Not being able to stand it any longer I turn into him and hug him like if I didn’t he’d fall into dust. I buried my nose into his chest and cried while kissing him there. Relishing in the fact that I still had him. That he would not be taken from me. That I didn’t have to loose another family.

   “I have you little one”, he coos and brushes my hair from my face so that I could look up at him with water hazel eyes. “You are here with me, and no one will take me from you again. I wont let them, not again. Never again.”

   His lips brush over mine before he scoops me up in his arms and captures me into a deep kiss. A firm and claiming kiss that dragged the breath from my lungs with a wonderful shock. My hands clinging to his hair in order to keep our lips locked as he begins to move backwards.

   Backing into our bed where he sat. The skirts of my dress riding up around my ankles to encase in a sea of silk. My breath catching when his hands roam up the sides of my legs.

   We pause to catch our breath before I smiled through the tears and kissed his nose, “I love you too, Eris.”

   He smiles too before kissing me again.

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(Hello Dear Reader,

I know it has been a very long time since I have last updated. I am so sorry for such a long wait, and that this chapter might not be the best. Unforchanetly I have been very sick these past couple months, and had not motivated to do anything creative.

Just wanted to thank you for your patience, and wanted to give a breif explaination on why I've been gone for so long. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I wish you all a wonderful day/night.

Love,
Lady Thyme)