Six
Gareth
The mayor just stared at me. “I… Well, I didn’t think he would react like that.”
I rounded on her, angry for some unknown reason. Part of it was a feeling that she’d wronged my mate somehow, and I felt the need to avenge him. “What the fuck just happened?”
“Gareth, I think you should sit down and have some more tea.” Hestia didn’t react to my outburst, just sat back in her chair and took a sip, prompting me to do the same.
Awkwardness filled the air. My remaining tension and my bitter dismay hung like a cloud around me.
“Riley has a history with a warlock. I felt he could overcome it to begin the process of breaking the curse on his family. I was wrong.”
A goddess admitting she had made a mistake was rare, so I bit back any retort that wanted to slip from my tongue. “What do we do now?”
This felt insurmountable. Other things, like my appearance or job, could be changed. What I was couldn’t, and until Riley could cope with having a warlock as a mate, we had no chance of building anything.
“Did you sense the magic all over him?”
“There wasn’t much time…”
“Being wrong twice in one day is unheard of for me.” Her lips twisted into a smirk. “I am sure that Riley is under two curses.”
“Two?”
She set down her tea with a clack. “Without him here, I feel it’s inappropriate to discuss it further. His reaction to you was not about you.”
“Yeah, right. You said he’s afraid of warlocks.”
“I believe it goes beyond that. That this is a layer of compulsion.”
“Compulsion?” My cup lingered in the air halfway to my mouth.
Hestia let out a hum. “Again, until he is here, I think it’s best we wait to work this out.” She made it sound so simple.
How could I get him to be in the same room as me after his initial reaction? The idea of it seemed impossible. My heart ached, and I set my cup down to rub at it absently. Now that I knew he existed, now I’d seen him, I wanted to be everything for him.
Hestia frowned and picked up her cup once more. When she spoke, regret was heavy in her voice. “Riley must have hidden some of his trauma from me. I really didn’t think it would upset him that badly. The compulsion on him must be strong.”
“Part of that is me. We’re fated mates,” I said with a resigned sigh.
“Hmm, I thought so. There’s a thread that ties you together.” Hestia looked pleased with this development.
“This is a huge problem, Madam Mayor. My fated mate has a massive issue with warlocks, likely stemming from trauma. You also mentioned a curse, and now a warlock—me—is his mate? There’s no way he’s going to accept my help, let alone our bond.”
The situation came crashing down on me. My fated mate had rejected me, and I saw no way of changing his mind.
“With time, I think he’ll come around to you helping him. Once he sees what a good man you are, then of course he’ll accept you. Unless you think he’s too damaged for you?”
“What? No!” My outrage had me rising to my feet.
“Settle, young warlock. I knew you would feel that way.” Hestia smiled at me, happy with my reaction.
I pushed down my irritation at her condescending tone.
There was no way I would win an argument with a goddess, and besides, I trusted her judgement.
We’d grown closer since I’d started helping with the wards.
I knew she didn’t see me as lesser or young, she just found it difficult at times to relate to other people.
I sat back down and drank my rapidly cooling tea. My nerves were frazzled, and I needed the soothing liquid and the extra shot of love that Debra had put into it. “So, what’s the plan?” I finally asked, putting the empty cup down.
“Well, I would like to give him some time. While he’s thinking, or likely scheming, of leaving Greyhaven, I’ll speak to other spellcasters if he really won’t give you a shot.
You were my first choice as our best and brightest.” Now she was just flattering me.
Guilty conscience much? “Then I will do my best to help the poor boy. I only wish…” Hestia looked torn.
“Wish what?”
“That I could help his mother.” Now I understood her pain. Her powers would be itching to reach out, to restore the family.
“You can’t?” It bothered me that she was offering so little help.
“No, she is much too far away. You know that I cannot leave Greyhaven, or the wards will fail. If it were within my power…” I sagged a little. Putting the needs of the many over the few was understandable. So many vulnerable people lived in Greyhaven.
My mind kept repeating the look of horror on Riley’s face when he found out I was a warlock. “Just how bad is his past with warlocks?”
“It’s not my story to tell, but Riley has scars, both mental and physical.” Hestia answered the question I hadn’t meant to voice.
The whole situation felt hopeless. I slumped further in my seat, my brain whirring as I thought of ways to help Riley, even indirectly. Being close to him was all I wanted, but I knew that was selfish right now. I needed him to learn he was safe from me.
Long minutes passed before Hestia spoke with a finality that told me my time in her presence was up. “Remember, there’s magic in mating bonds.”
Debra took pity on me and gave me a ride home. “You’ll catch your death!” she admonished me when I tried to walk. Really, she didn’t live all that far from me, so it made sense to car share with her. I’d thought the walk would help me think about Hestia’s final words.
All through a hastily put together dinner, I mulled it over. Halfway through the dishes, it occurred to me that I didn’t know all that much about mating. Especially fated mate bonds between different supernatural species.
Getting any sort of rest was a lost cause. I knew if I didn’t answer all the burning questions I had, I’d do something stupid, like find out where Riley was staying and ask for a chance to prove I wasn’t anything like he feared. I also wanted to figure out the mystery of the curses.
What had Hestia meant when she’d said there were two curses? What was their purpose? What would it take to break them?
There’d be no sleeping for me until I quieted my spinning brain.
Hours passed as I tore through my home library, looking at all the books that even mentioned mating, fated pairings, and cross-species bonds.
There were more than a few on curses, which was lucky, but would they be enough to help Riley?
When it turned out that I didn’t have much at home on fated pairings, particularly a cross?species bond like mine and Riley’s, I grew frustrated. My personal library was years of work, yet it was lacking. Was this a symbol of things to come?
I figured it was bothering me too much to sleep, so I’d head to the one place I could be sure would have what I needed: the college library. The walk was invigorating in the cool winter air. My breath puffed out in front of me as I stalked with purpose toward the college campus.
Even at this late hour, the building was lit up and inviting. We tended not to keep traditional hours with the number of supernatural species who tended to be nocturnal. This late in the year, there weren’t many people around, though. I had the library to myself.
Throughout the night, I worked. I got coffee from the pot in the teachers’ lounge when I was struggling to stay awake. I was either going to find my answer or be plagued with dreams about fated bonds and curses.
“Everything all right here?” Fynn, the night security guard, asked. The man had the keen eyesight typical of a gryphon shifter.
“I knew my brain wouldn’t let me rest until I got to the bottom of something cryptic Hestia said,” I explained as I pulled three more books to put into my stack.
“Ah.” Fynn smirked. Everyone knew how infuriatingly vague our patron goddess could be when she wanted to be. “Need any help?”
“You sure?” I paused in my searching to look at him.
The man was tall, nearing seven feet, the usual size for a gryphon male.
His species were lucky in that, like shifters, they had a human guise and could often live in the outside world.
He had blond hair that he wore tied back in a low ponytail for work.
I knew it was shoulder-length and contained all the colors you could find on his lion half.
Fynn’s eyes were the color of gold and were watching me steadily.
Fynn glanced at the pile of books and then down the empty hallway. “I’m not sure I really need to guard the college, not somewhere like Greyhaven, but I like the paycheck.” His grin was infectious.
“Right, well, I met my fated mate today—”
“Congratulations!” Fynn went in for a hug, but I tensed and he drew back. “Or not?”
“Not. He rejected me. Or rather, has issues with warlocks. Couldn’t be in the same room with me as soon as he found out. Literally shifted and ran away.” Okay, so it still hurt, even if I understood it—or most of it. Why had he reacted so strongly? It had to be more than trauma.
Fynn winced. “Right. So, are you trying to break a fated bond to get a new one? Because that can’t be done.” There was a rumbling warning sound pouring out of my gryphon friend. His disapproval at even the idea of breaking it was loud and clear.
“No!” I protested, the word bursting free in my panic. “No,” I repeated more softly. “Hestia said something about there being magic in mating, and I’m trying to understand it.”
“Hmm,” Finn mused as he rubbed his golden-stubbled chin. He went through the books, sorting them into three piles.
“Why three?” I asked, as one pile got bigger and then pushed to one side.
“This one…” He pointed to the largest stack. “Is useless.”
“How do you know?” I was taken aback.
“I watch the researchers and help the librarian when I take the day shift. You know,” he said, changing the subject. “My clan has a lot of myths surrounding mates, fated bonds in particular.”
“Oh, I’d forgotten that.”
Finn shrugged. “There are tales we’re told from childhood, and I think that might be what Hestia was talking about. Your mate’s scared of you because of you being a warlock, right?”
I nodded. “I’m starting to think there’s something more than just fear there, though. Hestia mentioned compulsion, but I can’t even get near him to help him.”
“Hmm…” Fynn scratched his chin thoughtfully. “If there is compulsion, that should be easy enough for you to break. You’ll just have to convince him to let you get close enough to check.”
“How? He was barely in the room with me a moment before he fled.”
“Well, you need to use your fated mate connection to prove you can’t harm him. It won’t be easy. For a fated mate…”
“Then it’s worth a try.” I couldn’t believe that a warlock, one of my people, had likely used magic on my poor innocent mate, leaving these scars behind.
“You could try telling him this story I was always told when I was young.”
He launched into a familiar yarn about two young gryphons, just entering adulthood.
“One day, the female, her name long forgotten, was walking along a road when she met two others, both young men. They tried to woo her, though her heart was already taken. One tried with gentle words and flattery, the other with boasting. She was polite to the second because she had already fallen for the first male, having recognized him as her fated mate. Soon, seeing he was out of favor but misunderstanding the nature of their bond, the second attacked the first. Having seen that the first was a gentle soul, the young woman put herself between them. The males clashed. The first, unaccustomed to violence, hit out wildly. Each of his strikes, when they were sure to land, was always guided away from her by some unseen force. This was their fated bond in action. It protected her from accidental harm from her mate. Time and time again the first male put his body in harm’s way until the female gryphon, sick to her soul, rose to defend him in return.
She tore the second to pieces and soon bonded with the first. When he died at a blessedly old age, surrounded by their children, grandchildren, and beyond, she followed him into the afterlife. ”
The story touched me deeply. I wanted that kind of love. “So, you’re saying he literally couldn’t harm her? Not with violence?”
“That’s right. I think you’ll find similar tales in these books. I’ve heard it in other species too. A fated mate is the other part of you; you cannot cause them harm.”
“So, Riley would be safe from my magic?”
Fynn shrugged. “I think so.” There was a noise from down the hall. “I better check that out. Probably kids wanting somewhere to hang out. Read these books.” He patted the smallest stack.
“Thanks!” I called to his retreating form. He threw a wave my way.
I read all through the night. Made notes and drank the coffee that Fynn gave me. Everything I read gave me more hope. As Fynn had said, I couldn’t harm Riley with my magic because of what he was to me.
Now I just had to prove it so he’d feel safe enough to give me a chance.