Chapter XVII
Over the weeks that follow, Mariam does a lot of thinking.
Eventually, they’ve been home for around a month.
A month of regular grocery trips and the occasional visit to her family or Leandra’s shop, even a tentative trip to Big Wolf’s pub…
Through all that, Sable has not brought up the topic of being mates again.
She is so good and warm and patient… waiting for Mariam to decide.
Mariam cannot imagine how vulnerable she must feel, leaving such an important decision in someone else’s hands.
She thinks of what it would mean to Sable if she said no, if they broke up—how Sable would have virtually no one in this world, and no one even in the Fae realm, if she could somehow return.
She can’t fathom how it would feel to be in that position.
And it makes her love Sable all the more. To be willing to be so vulnerable with her, so trusting with her heart and future… How can she do anything but love her?
One evening, Mariam is sitting down in the living room with Sable, a cooking show on as background noise while she crochets a new blanket and Sable whittles, and all at once it hits her.
How much she loves Sable. How much she doesn’t want to ever be without her, for this to ever end.
And then it hits her that it doesn’t have to.
“Sable, sweetie?” she begins, waiting to get Sable’s attention from her whittling.
Sable gives an absent hum in response, and Mariam sees her glance over out of the corner of her eye. Mariam half-turns towards her, but keeps at work on the crochet, which is soothing her suddenly twitchy nerves.
“What do we do?” she asks. “To become mates?”
Sable’s brow shoots up. “What are you saying?”
“I’m… just curious. You mentioned there’s something called a ‘union ritual,’ but we never talked about what that actually entails.”
Sable pauses, her breathing catching audibly. She stays paused for a long, pregnant moment before she finally speaks. “Well… we let our magic combine, there’s some words we say to promise ourselves to each other, and then we just… have sex.”
“That seems… interesting. Is it that simple? What if someone was mated to a person with no magic?”
“I honestly don’t know, sweet. It’s never happened, as far as I know.” She smiles softly. “What’s got this on your mind?”
“I’ve… just been thinking,” Mariam replies.
“A lot, lately. About us. About how much I love my life now. But something is missing.” Mariam finally stops crocheting and turns her attention fully to Sable, meeting her gaze.
“I want to know you in a way no one else can. To belong to and with you in a way no one else can.”
“What are you saying, Mariam?” Sable asks her, her voice thick. Mariam reaches over and places her hand over Sable’s, squeezing gently.
“I want to be mates with you.”
~§~
Sable lets out a breath she did not realize she had been holding. Those words crawl over her, into her skin, and buzz in her brain. “You want to be mates? To do the union ritual?”
“Yes, my love. I do.”
Sable sets down her whittling knife on a side table and puts the figurine she’s been working on down next to it.
Then she stands. Mariam does too, and the moment she is on her feet, Sable’s arms go around her.
Tears prick her eyes, threatening to fall as she crushes Mariam to her chest. One of her hands tangles in her hair, and she breathes in her scent.
Lavender and vanilla. Sweet and floral, like the first time she smelled her in their bed. Before it was their bed.
Sable isn’t sure what to say. She wants to thank her; the relief and joy is like nothing she’s ever felt. But she already knows Mariam wouldn’t take thanks in a situation like this. Instead she slides one hand up to cup Mariam’s face and asks, “When were you thinking of doing it, then?”
“Now?” Mariam says immediately. “Can we do it now?”
Sable’s eyes widen. “Now?”
“Is that too soon?” Mariam asks. “Is there something we need to do to prepare?”
“No, no, we can do it now!” Sable is laughing, not because anything is funny, but just from the joy. “I just wasn’t expecting this so suddenly. Once we do it, we can’t take it back, so I don’t want you to do it on the spur of the moment. Are you completely sure?”
“To be honest, my love, most of me was already completely sure from the day you first told me about the mating bond,” Mariam admits.
“I just wanted time to see if my feelings would ever change… But they’ve only gotten stronger, and now I’m sick of waiting.
Sick of making you wait. As long as you’re still sure, I’m sure. ”
Sable wipes a tear from the corner of her eye. “Yes, sweet, I’m still sure. And I’m ready whenever you are.”
“Then let’s do it now.”
Mariam grins and she giggles when Sable scoops her up bridal-style and carries her to their bedroom.
As soon as she’s carried her over the threshold, Sable waves a hand and a dark gray flash of magic displaces all their clothes off their body.
They land scattered at the foot of the bed.
Mariam gasps in delight as they’re both left completely naked.
“I didn’t know you could do that!” Mariam says, giggling, planting a kiss under Sable’s jaw. She growls softly before placing her woman on the bed. “Seems like quite a useful ability.”
“I’ll say.” Sable hovers over her, looking at her plush body hungrily. She will never get over how sexy Mariam is. How much she wants to be pressed against her softness, have her head buried between her thick thighs. Never.
Sable steps into bed and crawls over her to lie beside her, snuggling up to Mariam and pressing her body against hers. “Are you ready?”
~§~
“I’m ready, my love,” Mariam says, unable to stop grinning. “How do we start?”
“Just reach out with your magic,” Sable says, “and I’ll reach out with mine.”
Mariam stirs her magic, reaching out for Sable.
Then she feels Sable’s meet her with a wave of warmth through her chest, that soaring feeling of the mating bond coming back sevenfold.
Their magics twist and combine in a beautiful symphony of emotion and light.
Both of them begin to glow in the dimness of their bedroom.
At first, Sable’s is her usual dark gray; Mariam’s pastel yellow.
Then something shifts, and they’re both glowing the same color, a soft dusty gold, not unlike a dimmer shade of the amber of Sable’s eyes.
The mating bond suddenly feels almost physical, like a rope connecting Sable’s heart to her own, and both hearts beat as one.
Sable slips her fingers into Mariam’s, bringing her hand to her lips. “Repeat these words after me, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I swear by the Spirits to love and cherish my mate for as long as we may live, through times of sorrow and times of joy. I will stand by her side through all that comes our way.” Mariam meets Sable’s intense gaze, those amber eyes flashing.
Mariam repeats her words, her voice growing thick with emotion as she makes her way through the small speech. By the end, her voice is failing. She feels a cresting in her chest, like her heart may very well leap from it. And then…“I-Is it normal to feel this… horny?”
“Yes,” Sable says, her own arousal clear in her suddenly dusky tone.
She climbs on top of Mariam and claims her lips roughly.
Mariam responds with a soft groan, arching her back towards her body, eager to feel their breasts brush one another.
Her core is heating, coiling, aching for the woman on top of her.
As their lips lock and their tongues dance, teeth nipping lips between each flick of tongue and pull of lips, Sable’s hand explores her body.
She twinges her nipple pleasantly, making Mariam arch again and moan throatily.
Sable chuckles, then moves her hand further down her body as her legs slip between Mariam’s, spreading them open for her searching hand.
When those rough fingers find her throbbing clit, she takes her forefinger and flicks it over the bundle of nerves.
She begins curling her finger, rolling her clit as she strokes it.
Mariam’s body responds loudly and needily, arching and writhing under Sable.
Then she wraps her legs around her slim hips as an intense wave of pleasure goes through her.
Wave after wave crests through her body, each punctuated with a movement of Sable’s talented fingers, her spellbinding tongue.
Mariam can barely keep up with her; moans and whimpers fall from her lips with every breath, and her soft, plump body grinds against Sable’s harder, rougher one.
She snarls in satisfaction as Mariam’s orgasm nears.
Through the bond, she can feel how eager Sable is to make her come, as vividly as if it was her own emotion…
Can she feel how close Mariam is, then? How her body cries for Sable’s?
Her thoughts shatter as her body does too, pleasure licking through her stomach and cunt intensely.
Sable quickens her fingers and does not bother to stop when Mariam begins to get overstimulated; no, she keeps going, even as Mariam begins to sob, until yet another orgasm crests through her body.
She’s left shaking and weak, so weak. It is only then that Sable moves her hand, curling her fingers in the sheets beside Mariam’s thigh.
As Mariam pants to catch her breath, Sable presses soft kisses to her lips, her cheeks, her nose. Sweet and gentle kisses that melt Mariam’s heart. Eventually, she rolls off of her, lying beside her. Mariam turns on her side to face her.
“I love you,” Mariam says.
“I love you too,” Sable says, and kisses her.
“Is that it?” she asks. “We’re officially mates now?”
Sable nods. “Can’t you feel the difference in our connection? I could… I could feel your emotions.”
“Yeah, I felt yours too.” Mariam strokes Sable’s cheek. “So then you know how much I love you, finally.”
Sable chuckles. “And you know how much I feel the same.”