24. Elowen
ELOWEN
“… I
’m going to find my mate.” Someone makes a strangled sound, and it takes me a moment to distantly realize that someone is me.
Sariel and Evandriel proceed to have a hurried and heated conversation while all I can manage is not to faint. Dozens of questions whirl in my mind, the most prominent of which is, if my mother is in an after realm… is there a chance I’ll be able to see her again?
It isn’t until I see the flashing of a blade that I’m snapped out of my thoughts. Instinct has me trying to shove Sariel behind me, but I’d have more luck trying to move a boulder. Sariel gifts me an expression that is somehow both warm and admonishing as he presses a kiss to my brow.
“Please don’t ever try to come between me and a blade, love. If I had to choose between your life or mine, I would sacrifice mine without hesitation.”
Evandriel gives us an appreciative smirk before offering the blade—handle first—to Sariel. “It would take a lot more than a blade to fell this beast anyway.”
My heart drops as I watch Sariel take the dagger in hand and swiftly sweep it over his palm. Blood spills, and I shriek in dismay. “Wait, what are you doing?!”
“Can’t have you two love birds running off into the sunset without upholding your end of the bargain, now can I?”
Sariel frowns as though that was exactly what he’d intended to do. Evandriel gives him a knowing smirk. “Right, let’s keep it simple: you will let me use the ring to take us to my soulbound and then wherever we wish to go afterwards to make our home. Hopefully, not here?—”
“That’s not how it works,” Sariel interjects. “The ring will only ever take you two places: to your soulbound and to the place you call home.”
Evandriel’s brows lift, flicking briefly to the soggy, littered alleyway. “I do not wish to call this place home. And I imagine Ffion will want to be near her daughter. Take us back with you.”
Sariel scowls, but the expression softens when his gaze returns to mine. The burden of having to tolerate Evandriel’s presence is nothing compared to being able to be near my mother again.
Sariel offers Evandriel a curt nod, making the male’s face light up. “So, I use the ring to bring us to my soulbound, and then you take us both with you and Elowen back to your home in…?”
“Atratus.”
Evandriel’s face splits into a wide, too-bright grin, and for a moment, he almost looks like another person. It’s like hope has lifted a dark cloak from around him to reveal the radiant soul beneath.
However, it’s promptly snuffed out as a muffled roar echoes from behind the door leading back into the underground railway tunnel. Evandriel’s brows lift as icy terror trickles down my spine. “Time to go. Shall we?”
Sariel features harden. “And you will promptly return it to me when we all return to Atratus?”
Another roar rumbles through the tunnels, making my panic spike and my breath hitch. Evandrial gives him a desperate nod.
“Yes, dear fuck, yes, whatever you want.”
Blood roars in my ears, drowning out the words as Sariel and Evandriel quickly proclaim their vows. In the next moment, a strange but rather innocuous-looking ring appears in Evandriel’s hand. Sariel snatches it and shoves it on Evandriel’s finger as another enraged bellow echoes and rumbles from beyond the metal door.