Skuldalið (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Eight: Gebo

Calder stared at Hemming expectedly while the man made a disgruntled face and hummed brokenly.

"I do not know how to describe it. What I was told as a child, is that there are hearts that Máni has broken apart. Each part of a heart is placed in another's body, waiting for the other part to its other half." Hemming eventually got out.

Calder furrowed his brow; the moon broke Hale and Padmas heart so that they would come together? Presumably Hemming and Calder also.

"I am sorry. I am not good at describing these things." Hemming sighed with a grimace. "Think of it as this; Hale and Padma could not love someone as much as they love each other. Their hearts form into one; they are destined to be together."

"This is for Ulfhednar?" Calder questioned, a little confused why he had never heard of this.

"For my kind, yes. Our beasts are like real wolves, but we do not get to choose where the other half of our heart as fallen."

"How do you know if you have met the other half of your heart? Why did Máni break the hearts?" Calder enjoyed making Hemming answer questions, the face he makes when he thinks is very handsome.

"Your wolf tells you. Your mates scent is richer and notably different from another's; you love them for all they all, even their flaws." Hemming stared at Eira and Calder could tell that his mind had drifted.

"Have you met your mate?" Calder asked and smiled softly at Hemming; he almost did not want to ask. What if Hemming had a mate somewhere and Calder meant nothing to Hemming? But then, Hemming himself had called Calder his mate.

Hemming snapped his gaze to Calder's with a blush before backing away and pulling his finger from Eira's clenched fist.

"It does not matter at the moment. Máni broke the hearts of Sköll and Hati in half so that they would never find love, as the two wolves chased Máni and Sól, they would never see each other."

Calder frowned when Hemming backed off and replaced his own finger where the older mans had been when Eira has started to fuss.

"Máni did the same for the Ulfhednar who had changed; but did not consider that once the hearts were united, the love would be stronger than a normal humans." Hemming said and stood, walking to wear Calder's trousers and boots lay in favor of moving them around to dry all the cloth.

Calder stayed silent; so if what Hemming had said this morning was correct, Hemming and Calder shared a heart? They had a love stronger than what Calder would ever have with another human?

Calder frowned deeper as he looked back down to Eira, running the back of a finger against her cheek for comfort.

Why did Hemming hesitate in telling him? Did Hemming not wish for Calder to be his mate?

Padma and Hale seemed in love, why could Hemming and him not have the same thing.

This made Calder's heart clench painfully, it hurt to know that Hemming did not want him; in his mind he knew this when they met, but this confirmed it.

With all the impossible things that had been happening; Calder learning of how some of the Ulfhednar could change to wolves, finding a baby in the woods, Calder's strange desire for standing in the rain for hours on end, two ravens following him around that seem to eerily resemble Huginn and Muninn, and now the thing that broke him was Hemming not wanting him.

Calder tried to hide the tears streaming down his face silently, keeping his head down and looking to Eira as if she would help. He had tightened his shoulders so that they did not shake; he would not cry again over some pathetic infatuation with another man.