Altair
A week later.
“And you just have to see the goats!” Hannah, Tino’s mother gushed.
“Don’t forget the ducks!” My mom reminded her. Seeing them together again was perfect. They’d been close friends, best friends, before Tino’s father got his promotion. They hadn’t been allowed to keep in contact either, so seeing them so at ease and right back where they’d left off, was amazing.
“Oh my gods! The little ducklings!” Hannah gushed again.
Tino rolled his eyes at them fondly. We were in our favorite outfits, matching, of course, and eating the delicious dinner at our bonding ceremony. We’d done the same thing our brothers had done, but we’d kept the guest list down to family only. Meaning our parents, Willow, Nujik, Nikki, and Leah.
“So, are you going there then?” Dad asked us both pointedly. Both our parents had moved here when we built the mansion, and had even bought houses next to each other, making them neighbors once again. My parents had kept their old house, though, as a sort of vacation home.
“It would be nice seeing the town again,” Tino said, and I could hear from his wistful tone, that he really wanted to go back.
“You’re okay with us staying there for our vacation?” I asked, knowing they were gushing about the animals because they wanted that for us. They’d all just returned after a week there themselves, with Tino’s parents sleeping in my old room.
“We would love it. The folks in town would, too,” Mom said.
I doubted that. My time growing up there had only been good while Tino had lived next door, the years following were filled with bullying and loneliness.
It was sort of nice going back with Tino.
Maybe we could erase those years apart while creating new memories.
“We can go tomorrow,” Tino said, clearly all in on the idea. I took his hand which rested on my thigh and laced our fingers together. I guess that meant we finally had a destination for tomorrow.
Nujik saved us from any more gushing when he came over to congratulate us.
Things had been a little rushed at the castle, since our day wasn’t in sunshiny weather like the others had been, no, ours was held in a thunder storm, the lightning brightening up the castle, creating gorgeous colors that differed from the ones made from sunlight.
I had always favored thunder. Back when we were seven, we’d built a blanket fort and hid underneath it as the thunder roared outside my home.
Tino and I had made it a tradition after that, always spending the night together whenever thunder was on the horizon.
Luckily, our parents were cool with it, they’d even hype us up beforehand whenever a storm was predicted ahead of time, and those times when it never came, we still made our fort and pretended it did.
Did I truly believe the thunder was somehow a blessing from the gods on our bonding?
Yes, one hundred percent I did. Would I ever tell anyone?
Never. But as we stood there in front of our family and the thunder began, Tino’s eyes met mine with the same wonder as I felt.
And I knew, he believed we’d been blessed, too.
When the ceremony was over, the rain had stopped, too, but funnily enough, it had begun as soon as we were back in the council castle, where we’d held all the ceremony parties.
And it was where we were currently eating.
But because of said weather, we’d rushed from the castle as fast as possible to hurry here before the thunder continued.
“I have to admit, the weather? Kinda liking it,” Nujik grinned, holding on to each of our shoulders as he spoke. “Even Willow seemed to enjoy it, and she hates thunder.”
“I really do,” Willow said, having somehow sneaked up on all of us. “But it was beautiful in the castle. So many vibrant colors! Even if they only lasted seconds.”
“Have you heard the good news?” Hannah asked excitedly.
I fought an eyeroll. If this was about our vacation, then of course they hadn’t heard.
And if I knew her as well as I thought I did…
“They’re going back to their childhood town for their vacation!
” She made some sort of show with her hands, clearly overjoyed we would return there together.
I was too, don’t get me wrong. But I should be the one who was excited, right?
Well, Tino and I. But from the grin he gave his mother, it seemed he was excited too.
“How romantic!” Willow gushed, taking a seat next to Tino. “You leaving tomorrow?” I let Tino deal with their questions while I just sat there with heart eyes as Tino got even more excited the more they talked.
“Right, Tair?” Huh? I guess I’d zoned out. Tino’s lips had looked so perfect as he spoke, his teeth like white pearls hidden behind the puffy pink lips as he spoke.
“Yes?”
He grinned. “That answers my question. We’re off to bed.
” Oh, I liked the sound of that. I eagerly nodded and let him guide me outside.
We had a car waiting for us, not that we lived far, but five minutes of walking in thunder wasn’t how I wanted tonight to end.
I didn’t even remember if I’d said goodbye to anyone when we left, too busy following my man to notice the others.
As soon as the car stopped in front of the mansion we shared with the others, we ran through the rain together, our fingers laced, our laughter almost silent in the thundering rain. We made it inside drenched and panting.
Altair
“You still sure about this?”
“Yes, mark me already,” Tino grunted, hiding his face in his pillow. I really wanted to mark his pretty neck with my name, but I was still afraid of hurting him. He sighed when I still made no move to brand him. “You can heal me if it goes wrong. I trust you. You need to trust yourself, baby.”
I let out a calming breath, then took his right hand in mine as I began.
Nujik had told us how to do it with our combined magic.
Tattoo bonding was customary a long time ago, often to show loyalty to royals or what your beliefs were, before it had turned to romantic claims of ownership.
It wasn’t as common now since it hurt being branded like this, but we had Niam here for that.
Even if he looked like he wanted to be anywhere else than in our bedroom.
I looked at Niam and he nodded. He was ready.
I joined Tino’s magic with mine, and traced the metal pen along his neck, writing my name while adding magic, sort of like lightning, but it made a dark blue tattoo appear where I’d drawn with the pen.
Tino grunted but it stopped as soon as Niam took his pain away.
As soon as I let go of our magic, the pain would stop on its own, too.
“My turn,” I said, eager to get this over with. I wanted his name on me so badly, but I also hated pain.
We switched positions, with him on top of me, but he didn’t allow me on my stomach. “I want to look at you as I write my mark on your skin.”
Niam muttered under his breath but I only smiled. I loved this side of Tino. A side I never knew before I found him again.
The pain faded away as Niam worked alongside Tino. I would soon be branded as his for all to see. And then we would leave for our vacation.
I couldn’t wait.
Tino
This felt surreal. Being back. Seeing the places I used to share with a much younger Tair. It was healing somehow. Gilbert and Kitty were running around on the flower field, loving being out here as much as we were.
“This has to be weird for you. Hell, it’s weird for me, and I lived here until I was banished.”
I looked over at Tair. He was so beautiful.
His eyes tracked our familiars as they moved through the flowers.
Gilbert wasn’t running per se, more like slithering really quickly.
It was a sunny day, so unlike the thunder from the day before.
I would love to come here more often, and from the way my Tair looked over the grounds, he felt the same.
It felt like coming home. Like a childhood memory fusing together with the present.
“It is,” I admitted softly. “But somehow familiar and comforting, too.”
He smiled at me, then looked back on our familiars, his smile still bright and loving as we both just stood there watching them play. I laughed, then explained when he threw me a puzzled look. “Think they’d mind if we got pets?”
“Mind?” he laughed. “I think they would love it!” Only Wilston and Silver had dared to get a pet, and the tiny kitten had already made a horror scene of Silver’s clothes.
But Tair and I had always wanted lots of pets, and our wing in the mansion certainly had the room for it.
Plus, the backyard was basically a grass field that turned into a forest. King and Leon lived outside full time, which they seemed to prefer, and we did, too, to be honest. Gilbert was between places, sometimes he slept outside and other times in our living room.
Our bedroom was a pet free zone, even if we never dared refer to them as our pets.
They were more like our independent children.
“Do you remember the names we decided on?” We lay down on the grass, looking towards the sky, just like we used to. “Like, I only remember a few. Gilbert and Kitty had been the first ones.”
“Yes, because you wanted a cat and I wanted a goat. Gilbert the goat and Kitty the cat. That was the plan.” I laughed along with him.
“We messed that up and got ourselves a huge snake instead.”
I gasped. “He’ll never forgive you if he heard you call him that! He’s a mighty serpent,” I said loudly. “The best there ever was, and ever will be!” That had Tair laughing louder.
“Fine! We got a big, strong, loyal serpent. And now we need a goat.”
“We’re so not getting a goat!”
“But that was our plan! He can live outside with Leon and King.”
“No goats! I want a dog.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, a collie and it needs to be called Chipper because it’ll make you chipper.”
“I can’t believe you remember that! I only remember I wanted a collie.”
“I remember more and more each day. Like, I wanted Kitty the cat to be a red tabby. So now we need a red tabby, just with another name.”
“And with Mr. Fluffy Pants already taken…” I trailed off, not as good at naming pets as I used to be. “Oh! Honey!”
“Yes?”
“Not you! We can call her Honey!”
“Oh! I like that!”
“Because you love honey!”
“Yes, I got that much, thank you.”
I laughed and he joined me. “Now we just need names for the other ten pets we agreed on back when we were kids.”
He groaned, then moved his body so he was on top of me. “No more talking.” Then his lips met mine and I was truly home.
The End