Chapter 12 #2
“Yeah.” I smiled, then frowned. “I’m going to wear out the batteries in my vibrator, though.
” Audrey laughed while Liam gave me an annoyed frown.
“You still don’t have to be here,” I reminded him.
“This is our house. Don’t you have some castle to count your gold coins in or something?
” Liam sighed, then shoved an insane handful of popcorn into his mouth as he focused on his favorite show.
“My family isn’t that wealthy.”
“If your sister is queen, I’m sure you are.”
Liam frowned but didn’t fight me on it.
“Are you ready to go to Hyvenmere again?” Audrey ignored our bickering and kicked me with her foot. “We’re going to Lydhavn on Sunday.”
I raised an eyebrow and asked, “Where is that, again?”
“Lydhavn is the capital of Lyndoruun, where Ilia’s court is,” Liam explained.
“It’s this Sunday, right?” It was the day after my date with Drew. I knew I wasn’t going to get lucky with him yet, so it wasn’t like there was a benefit to having the condo to myself the next day.
“Yes. That’s when Bandthral is happening,” Audrey explained, before I could ask.
I grimaced. “Speaking of Bandthral, Hush referring to it as a ‘mating ritual’ was very odd to hear.”
“Why?” Liam asked.
I opened my mouth to explain how barbaric it sounded, but then realized that might be offensive, so instead I decided to say, “It just sounds so sexual.”
“That’s because it is.” Audrey explained. “Sex isn’t nearly as stigmatized in Hyvenmere as it is in our realm.”
“It sounds so much better over there,” I murmured.
“Minus the problem with siren women and children disappearing. And that Ilia is being a huge dick.” Liam snorted while Audrey shook her head at my over-simplified words.
“So is this orgy strictly between mated Hyvenmerians, or is this just kind of a come one, come all, free-for-all situation?”
Liam gave me a confused look while Audrey choked on her bite of popcorn.
“That’s not—oh my god.” Audrey chuckled a little as she cleared her throat. “No. Bandthral is what sirens do to try to find their mates. Each territory has its own version of this every season.”
“Oh.” I blinked at her, then turned to Liam. “So you have a Bandthral, too?”
“In a way, though it’s more of a formality. We’ve seen some success with fae finding their mates the last couple of years, though.”
I tilted my head at Liam in thought. “How do Hyvenmerians find their mate? I’m getting the impression that it’s a little bit more than just basic sexual attraction.”
“For my people, the fae, it’s a core feeling. My parents knew they were destined to be together because they could feel a connection between each other’s heartbeats,” Liam replied.
I widened my eyes. “How did they discover that?”
“My father felt my mother’s heartbeat in the market. He was selling his leather work, and she was asking the people questions about what they needed from her.” I gave Liam a funny look before Audrey chimed in.
“His mother was queen.”
“Got it, proceed.” I nodded.
“My father described it as an overwhelming feeling. Like a rope was wrapped around his heart, tugging him in the direction of hers, putting their heartbeats in sync. She felt it too, but she was busy conversing with her people. She didn’t want to be rude, but she could feel him getting closer and closer.
Finally, my father made his way through the crowd of people and found her.
” Liam’s smile was warm, the smile of a child who grew up with loving parents, who probably shared their story with him multiple times.
Must be nice.
“Then what happened?” I pressed.
“I mean, everyone around them kind of realized what was happening. The crowd made room for her to approach my father, who was sweating after realizing that the queen herself was, well, his.” He chuckled.
“The first thing he tried to do was bow and be respectful. Even though he could feel deep in his bones that he was meant for her, my mother had a very calm poker face. He couldn’t tell if she was feeling the same way.
It wasn’t until she studied him, up and down, that she finally addressed him. All she said was, ‘Come with me.’”
“Damn.” I started snapping my fingers. “I respect a woman with a no-nonsense attitude.”
“I wish I could meet her.” Audrey sighed.
“I wish you could, too.” Liam’s face fell, mourning his parents’ horrible loss. “Anyway, she moved him into her residence. They spent a couple of weeks getting to know each other.”
“Biblically.” Audrey grinned. He grimaced, the face of a child who had no desire to picture their parents being intimate like that.
“Doing whatever they did.” Liam gave Audrey a look. “And the rest is history.”
“And then you and your sister were born.” Audrey sighed, reaching over and pinching his cheek. He let Audrey tease him until she pulled back.
“My twin and I were miracles, considering the fertility issue being present at the time,” Liam finished.
“But all that to say, a mating bond is a very deep connection, and it’s a tragedy when the bond is unexpectedly broken.
When one mate dies an unnatural death, the other struggles to regulate and recover from the trauma.
Some…never do. But assuming no tragic events occur, it’s a wonderful bond to experience with someone.
My parents could feel where the other was within a certain amount of space.
They could always sense how the other was feeling, based on the beat of their hearts. ”
“That’s insane,” I whispered. “Imagine being able to feel someone else’s heartbeat.”
“We can hear someone else’s heartbeat, though,” Audrey replied. “As you know, Hyvenmerian’s all have excellent hearing, so hearing heartbeats isn’t that odd an experience. My hearing isn’t as good as Liam’s, but yeah, I can hear your heartbeat right now.”
I widened my eyes at her. “What the hell?”
“I know.” Audrey snickered. “But the difference Liam is saying is that there’s hearing a heartbeat and feeling someone else’s.”
“It’s almost as if your heart is irrevocably connected to another’s.”
I tilted my head. “Do you have someone you share that with, Liam?”
He wasn’t moving, but he visibly tensed in his seat before turning to give me a dry look, “I haven’t mated with someone like that yet, no.”
“It’s just…” I paused to shrug. “You sound like someone who has experienced it.”
Liam frowned before turning back toward the TV and saying, “My parents spent a lot of time telling us about it growing up.”
I nodded, not believing him at all, but not wanting to push it either.
“How do the other creatures form bonds?” I asked instead.
Audrey grinned. “Fergus’s father is one of the Kings of the Nereids, and he has formed two.
According to him, he and his mates touched the same body of water at the same time.
The waves made from their feet felt like a direct touch between the three of them.
So now there are two Kings and a Queen of the Nereids. ”
“Fascinating.” I sat up and tucked my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them. “So the mermaids needed the water to know who they were compatible with?”
“A lot of it is still pheromones, though the people of Hyvenmere have a different chemical and biological makeup than humans. I assume that because part of their biology is so connected to the water, it makes sense for the water to also assist in helping them find their partners.”
“How do sirens discover their mates, then?” I pressed, my curiosity taking me by storm.
Liam shrugged, and Audrey’s expression became thoughtful, “We aren’t quite sure. Sirens are private about those things.”
I hummed, “Which would add to Ilia’s overall anxiety about humans and halflings just trampling into Hyvenmere.”
Audrey quirked her eyebrow and replied in a deadpan tone, “Yeah. That’s what I do. I trample through the Mellhawn Gates.”
I snickered at her, visualizing her doing just that.
Liam gave us a confused look before turning back to his TV show.
“Maybe we’ll find out how sirens find their mates on Sunday,” I added.
“Hopefully, we find out what Ilia is up to first,” Liam retorted. I crossed my eyes at him even though he couldn’t see, which earned me a gentle kick from Audrey from her end of the couch.
I loved the familiarity of the moment. Watching TV on the couch, shooting the shit with my best friend of fifteen years, looking forward to my date with a man who could probably get me off with nothing more than a firm hug.
And then after I soaked in the normalcy of my human dating life, I was going to travel with my best friend to a secret magical realm where we’d snoop through, what I assumed to be, another castle.
This was our life now, and as insane as it was when I let myself dwell on it too long, I was just grateful to have Audrey back.