Chapter 5 #2
His lips twitch in amusement. “I can’t even sleep unless I’m near you, Meredith.
You consume me, night and day, and that will never change.
You’re feeling a lot, and I know exactly what grief is like.
If you want release, escape, I can give you that.
This isn’t something temporary for us, and it won’t go away.
I know you don’t know much about mate bonds.
We can discuss it more when you are ready, but you are my mate. I am certain of it.”
I know a little from Blackfire, from when he told me about mates. It is something male wolves are meant to know, and it is rare. “So gargoyles can have mates like wolves?”
“Every living being can have a mate bond. Wolves are not special in that regard.” He smiles at me. “Are you okay now?”
I nod. “Thank you for coming with me… I don’t think I could have done this alone.”
“Never alone,” he murmurs, his eyes dropping to my lips, and my eyes do exactly the same. We are still pressed together, and my body feels like it’s on fire. I might not have any experience with this, but—
“Hey! What are you doing in here? This is my—oh, wow. Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, but wow. I’ll stand facing this way until you’re done,” a new voice blurts out.
I hear the voice. It takes me a few seconds to register who it is. I turn in Zyran’s arms.
Illyia.
She is standing by the kitchen, her hands over her eyes, and dark, threatening shadows are swirling around her. Zyran. I’ve learnt his control of oblivion is somehow darker than mine or my brother’s, or any of the guards’. “Do we want her dead or not?”
“No!” I half shout.
The shadows fade as quickly as they appeared, and Zyran lets me go.
Illyia finally looks at me—she looks thinner than she did before.
Her long red hair falls past her waist in messy curls, and her eyes are bloodshot, but she is still as pretty as ever.
She has on a corset with flowers embroidered into the material, all roses as red as her hair, and a long red skirt skims the ground.
I’ve seen her in this dress a million times and heard the story of how her mother made it for her before she was even born, with all the money she saved up for months. She stitched the dress herself, too.
“It’s true. You’re really alive. I thought—I thought the Crone Pack would have killed you.” She begins walking over before moving faster. Illyia pulls me into a tight hug, her arms clamped tight around my shoulders, and she still smells like roses, like the garden she tends with her mother.
“I’m going to leave you two alone to catch up,” Zyran murmurs, his hand grazing my arm. “You are both safe in here. I can hear one of the commanders coming close, and they no doubt have reports to share.”
“Thank you.” I turn to him before he walks out, holding his gaze and hoping he sees the sincerity in my mine.
Illyia watches him go. “Where did you find that one? He doesn’t look like any of the men I’ve seen…and he has wings.”
“Yes, I’ve noticed the wings. He’s a gargoyle. It’s complicated.”
She leans back and really looks at me. “You look different. Paler and you’ve painted your nails black.” She lifts them up between us. “You just look so…so changed. There’s a shine to you, like the wolves have.”
I clear my throat. “It’s complicated,” I repeat, because I’m not sure how to explain this all to her.
“Where’s Tannith? Is she with you?”
Pain smacks into my chest. I can only shake my head.
Her eyes lock onto mine, and I see the moment she knows Tannith is dead, right before Illyia covers her mouth to hold in a cry, and she pulls me to her again, hugging me tight.
I think we’ve only ever hugged once before today.
I always thought of her more as Tannith’s friend than mine.
Yes, we all worked together at the pub, but Illyia and I only ever shared a few conversations.
Always when Tannith was involved. Tannith and Illyia would go out drinking and partying, dating and doing all the things I didn’t want to.
“I’m so sorry. She was the most amazing person, and this world needed more people like Tan. ”
“Now it’s just got people like me,” I whisper in her arms.
She lets me go. “And so what? You’re a good person through and through, Meredith.
” I shrug my shoulders, and she sighs. “I want to know everything that happened, if you’d tell me.
But I’m glad you’re back either way.” She pulls back and looks at me.
“Also, please tell me it’s you doing all the shadow stuff and getting rid of the wolves.
I told my parents to hide in the house, and I was coming to check on Mr Davies downstairs”—I’d almost forgotten about the old man who has lived here forever, and we all used to take turns getting shopping for him once a week—“when I heard you.”
“I, uh—I’ve taken control of the human district. It’s mine now.” I weakly smile.
“Holy shit, you—” She doesn’t let go of me though, her hands still on my upper arms. “You probably need to start from the beginning. About everything, and tell me where you got that cool tattoo on your neck, because it’s glowing.”
I touch my neck, where the tattoo of a crown of stars rests.
It only glows sometimes, and it’s never made any sense to me why.
I tell Illyia everything. It feels like we sit for a good hour until my story’s finally done, and she hasn’t said a single word the entire time.
She just stares at me, her mouth slightly open.
Illyia has never been a quiet person. She was always the type to stand on a bar and sing and dance and earn a million tips doing it.
Her confidence was always something I envied.
Even Tannith was not half as confident as Illyia.
“Let me get this straight. You’ve made three heirs fall in love with you in the Folkland. You’ve also got a cool winged man who looks—yeah. You have powers. You’re a princess. You now have your own land and people here.” She raises an eyebrow. “Anything else I missed?”
“Nope.” I blow out a breath. “Other than I’m not okay.
I haven’t been since Tannith… I held her as she died.
They knew, all the heirs, they knew. I gave up a chance for a free life with Tannith for them, and Tannith…
she was happy I had them in the end. I don’t think they love me, they just used me and I fell for it.
She must not have understood what they did, because she thought I’d finally found a family. ”
“Bastards,” she snaps, her cheeks burning red like her hair. It happens when she is angry. “What do you plan to do next, Mere?”
Destroy the Crone alpha and his pack. Make sure he suffers for Tannith. “Nothing you need to be concerned about, Illy.”
“I’m your friend,” she offers.
“You were always Tannith’s friend,” I remind her.
“I was always yours, too. You just never let me in. I always thought maybe I scared you—I talk too much, I’m a bit loud and overly opinionated.
But then you stepped in with Bane and helped save my life.
I owe you my life for that. You made it possible for me to run.
” She looks down at the floorboards. “And you know what? Not a day has gone by where I didn’t think—what if I hadn’t run away?
What if I had gone back in? But I didn’t.
I ran. I was a coward for that. So let me make it up to you. ”
“Nothing would have changed that night. One way or another, my fate was to end up in the Folkland.” I nod at her. “Where’s Bane now?”
She tenses slightly. “I haven’t seen him since that night. I thought maybe he had feelings for me, but clearly not. He’s disappeared.” Illyia takes my hands. “Fuck those bastards, right? Not literally, but you get my point.”
I almost laugh. Almost. “Alright then.” I take a breath. “For Tannith, I’m going to try to fix things here. We brought food and supplies. Obviously, I want the orphanage to have them first, and then we can—”
“Mere.” She stops me, sadness washing over her face. “Some of the orphans are okay. I mean, the vast majority of them are scattered between houses everywhere because I worked with people to take them in while I found a long-term solution. My parents took in three young ones…”
“Why aren’t they at the orphanage?” My heart begins to race, and I can almost feel her answer in the air. In the shadows.
“After the Folkland ended, the Crone alpha sent wolves, and they burnt it. They burnt the whole thing down.” Her face drops. “A few people died getting the kids out, and it was…horrible. Things have been tense ever since.”
Shadows explode out of me, ripping the roof tiles up. I feel the open sky—nothing but the night sky above me now. Illyia only pulls me into a hug and lets me weep with her, until there is nothing but anger left.
The Crone alpha has a lot to answer for, and I’m not going to stop until he’s dead.