Thirty-Six
T HIRTY - S IX
ESTRELLA
Thunder clapped in the sky, the sound drawing my gaze up to the clouds that formed along the surface of the cave structure that was Tartarus.
Medusa looked to the sky, meeting the Morrigan’s gaze briefly before she turned her eyes back to the group of Gorgon women waiting behind her. She reached out, taking my hand and squeezing it tightly.
“Come quickly,” she said, tugging me away from the river at my back. The clouds above us turned more menacing with every moment, blackening the sky as Caldris hurried after us.
“What’s happening?” I asked, following after her as the wolves snapped at Caldris’s heels, forcing him to keep up. He grunted at them, his steps far larger than mine.
He wasn’t at risk of falling behind or being too slow. The urgency of the Morrigan as they shifted into their bird form took me by surprise, and they fluttered into the distance until they were gone from sight.
“Rain is coming. The rain of the Acheron causes pain all the same as the river itself,” she said, but instead of taking us downriver where I assumed we would attempt to reach the safety of the next river, she brought us inland.
“We’ll never make it,” I said, glancing up at the clouds as they swirled in the sky. The storm brewing seemed like one that would tear through all the homes in Mistfell, like it would obliterate anything in its path. The swirling motion of the clouds formed a cylinder above, the winds picking up to blow sand through the air.
Caldris was at my side in an instant, using his body to shield mine from the worst of the wind. Sand pelted into his armor as he raised an arm to shield his face, tucking me into his side as Medusa guided us forward. The rest of the Gorgons took up the rear, keeping their eyes peeled for any threats that may have tried to follow us.
The cave Medusa led us to was tiny, so small it felt like Caldris would never fit inside. There wouldn’t be room for all of us, but she ducked her head low and walked inside without hesitation. Caldris and I shared a glance, but the first drops of rain fell. It sizzled on the leather of his armor, smoke rising as it burned a tiny hole into the protection.
“What about the wolves?” I asked, turning back to look at Fenrir and his sisters. He lowered his head to me, a sign of respect as his voice rang through my mind.
Do not worry for us. We will go to a cave nearby.
I returned the wolf’s nod, ignoring the pointed glance Caldris gave me as he observed the communication he couldn’t hear. With a swallow, he shook it off and nodded as the wolves raced in the opposite direction, pushing me forward gently. I ducked down, reaching out to grasp his hand in mine as I pulled him to follow. His fingers were like ice, even without his physical form, his magic keeping him cool in what was otherwise a balmy, too warm setting with the flames that often surrounded us.
He had to bend himself in half to fit within the cave, but he maneuvered himself through the narrow passage. It plunged into darkness, leaving me to grope the fingers of my free hand along the wall to feel for the path to take. I could no longer see Medusa as she faded from view, disappearing into the depths of the narrow cave ahead of me.
“Keep going, Estrella!” she called, her voice echoing off the walls as I fumbled and came to a stop. The walls felt like they were closing in, getting narrower. My shoulder bumped against the rock, and if it hadn’t been for the leather protecting me, I might have lost a layer of skin against the porous surface.
I took another step, continuing on the path and choosing to trust the woman who had birthed me into my original life. Caldris grunted behind me as he squeezed through the narrowing passage, and I could just imagine how he struggled to fit.
I continued on, guiding him with me and refusing to risk separation. I stepped, tipping forward when the rock vanished beneath me. I yelped as I fell forward, falling through a gap in the stone. My fingers slipped through Caldris’s, neither of us prepared for me to drop so suddenly.
My stomach dropped out as I fell, finally splashing into a pool of water at the bottom. I swam, kicking for the surface desperately.
I was so fucking tired of water.
I burst through the surface, gasping for air as sound returned. “Estrella!” Caldris called, leaning over the hole in the floor to stare down at me. I couldn’t see anything but the shadow of his form, blinding by the dazzling lights around me.
“I’m okay!” I called up, turning in the water to meet Medusa’s stare. She treaded water, floating on the surface as serpents slithered across the surface to touch her affectionately. They glowed from within, reflecting light upon the water. “You need to see this!”
“Are those snakes?” he asked, and I smiled, knowing that he could see down into the cavern. I caught a tiny ball of light in my hands where it floated through the water, raising it to my face to stare at the tiny creature held in my palms. Her body glowed with a mix of turquoise and purple, her upper body humanoid on a much, much smaller level.
Her arms were barely visible, so small and thin as she ran them through the pool of water cupped in my palms. From the waist down was the tail of a serpent, reminding me of the sirens but somehow snakelike.
I lowered her to the water, kicking my legs to keep afloat as Caldris dropped into the water. The other Gorgons followed behind him, sending ripples through the water as they splashed beneath the surface.
“What is this place?” I asked Medusa, looking around the enclosed cavern. The walls were covered with a deep purple flower, the vines nearly silver as they slithered along the stone.
“Welcome to the home of the Gorgons,” she said, swimming to the shoreline at the edge of the water. She strode out slowly, tiny ripples of glowing water sliding off her body as she turned to wait for Caldris and I. She held out her hand, leaving us to swim for her as Caldris flipped his ashen silver hair out of his face. It glowed with the colors of the cavern, illuminating the metallic sheen in a way I’d never seen before.
I stepped out of the water, my drenched armor feeling so much heavier with the added weight of the water. Medusa looked over my shoulder to one of the Gorgon women swimming with the serpents contentedly. “See that we’re informed the moment the storm passes,” she said, turning on her heel after she received a confirming nod.
She guided us to a much more open tunnel through the caves, tiny creatures skittering and slithering through the flowers that lined the walls. “This is where you live?”
“I spend most of my days in the Cradle of Creation with your father, but this is the home I built for myself before I fell in love with him. This is the home of my family,” she explained, pausing at the entrance to a larger alcove. A few Gorgons lingered in it, sliding hands and feet through the shallow pools of water scattered across the floor.
She turned to look at me, meeting my stare with a furrowed brow. “Do you love him? Truly?” she asked, glancing to Caldris. My mate jerked his head back in shock, his mouth dropping open as if he might convey his outrage. He hadn’t reacted in the slightest when Medusa revealed who my father was, confirming my sinking suspicion that they’d had time to speak before I emerged from the Acheron.
“Of course I do,” I said, taking his hand in mine. I squeezed it reassuringly, wondering what the point to her question could possibly be. Why now? Why hadn’t she asked the moment I climbed out of the river?
“Your bond is incomplete,” she said by way of explanation, glancing down at our hands. I followed it to the way the golden threads of our bond wound around our touching palms, but the threads glowed with a dim, almost brassy tone instead of the bright sheen of something that was truly flourishing.
“Mab prevented us from completing it,” I explained, pursing my lips together. I wanted nothing more than to know Caldris so completely that I couldn’t tell where he ended and I began any longer, existing on one equilibrium with him.
“You can complete the ceremony here, if you so choose,” Medusa said, making the breath freeze in my lungs. I turned my surprised stare up to Caldris, finding the cool blue of his eyes on me. He didn’t speak, allowing me to consider our options. “You would need to do it in our ways and according to our traditions, rather than those of Alfheimr,” my mother said to my mate.
He didn’t take his eyes off of me, reaching up with his free hand to trail delicate, gentle fingers over the swell of my cheek. “How I marry Estrella matters little to me, so long as she is my mate.”
I smiled, turning to nod at Medusa. “Yes,” I said, no hesitation in the word. If we were to die here, if I was to fail my task, I wanted to die having at least gotten to know what it was to be complete.
“You did not even ask what our customs dictate must occur. I could demand you both light yourselves on fire, for all you know,” Medusa said, raising a brow.
“Then I guess we will burn, but at least we’ll burn together,” Caldris answered, his words making a shudder run down my spine. The pure and utter possession in the deep growl of his voice took my breath away, the notion that I would be his in death as I was in life bringing both of us a distinct, perverse kind of pleasure.
“So be it,” Medusa said, but her mouth twitched into a subtle smile. She turned to a male Gorgon waiting nearby, signaling him over with a motion of her hand. “Deiseus, take the God of the Dead and help him prepare for the handfasting ceremony. Estrella, you will come with me.”
“Why do we need to separate?” I asked, squeezing his hand tighter. I’d only just gotten him back, and already she wanted us to part.
“It won’t be long, but there are things you both must do to prepare yourselves to join together as one,” she said.
I hesitated for a moment, waiting to see how Caldris reacted to the man attempting to lead him away. He smiled at me gently, loosening his grip on my hand in encouragement. “Let your mother prepare you for me, Little One,” he said as I released his hand and turned to face him more fully. “Enjoy your alone time while it lasts. After the ceremony, you’re mine.”
A shiver crept up my spine. It wasn’t so long ago that such a proclamation would have terrified me, the thought of being bonded to one person for the rest of my days absolutely horrifying to me. Now the dark promise of his words made something within me tighten in anticipation, a flutter of wings within my stomach making my heart pound.
It wasn’t solely the thought of being alone with him, of maybe finding the time for us to consummate the bond in truth without an audience. While I might have come to terms with Caldris’s, and mine if I was honest, tendency toward exhibition, that didn’t mean I wanted my mother to witness such things.
It was the intimacy that I knew would come with the completion of our bond. The same way I felt Fenrir in the back of my mind as he hunted for something to eat, zooming through the cave system the Cwn Annwn had discovered to hunt down a beast that prowled through the tunnels…
Soon I’d feel my mate in the same way. Soon, I’d be able to hear his voice in my head and his feelings as if they were my own. And so he would be able to feel and hear the same from me.
Leaving me never truly alone in this world.
Where that might have once brought fear, there was only comfort.
He leaned down, touching his mouth to mine without breaking the eye contact between us. I bit my lip as I backed away, holding his gaze until the male Gorgon chuckled and broke the moment. “Nothing like a newlywed,” he said, looking at my mother with a gaze that lingered just a moment too long. She turned her attention away, holding out a hand for me to take as she guided me in the opposite direction. I accepted it, looking over my shoulder as Deiseus led Caldris away. He smiled at me as if there was nothing to be concerned about, and I knew in my gut that he was right.
I may not have been able to trust Medusa with my heart and my love, but she could have harmed me at any moment. She could have allowed me to die instead of saving me. She didn’t mean me or my mate any harm.
It was the nightmare giving me pain in separating. The memory of his death clung to me like the ominous rain clouds outside, and I knew I would never truly be rid of it.
The snakes in her hair swayed toward me as she tucked my hand around her arm. They slithered down her arm, winding themselves around mine and settling across my chest and neck. Gentle, cautious tongues snaked out to touch my skin, scenting me as they got comfortable.
“They like you,” she said, smiling approvingly.
I swallowed, holding out a hand for one of the smallest serpents to curl up in my palm. He snuggled into my touch, leaving me to smile down at him.
The feeling was mutual.