Chapter Twenty-One
Ekon
On the jet, relaxing in one of the plush leather seats as they taxied down the runway, Ekon shut his eyes against how everything felt like floating through water.
Mao sat on the seat next to him, and he felt his watchful gaze on him even with his eyes closed.
Their bond hummed with concerns and questions about why Ekon felt like a shadow of his former self.
And with that came the image of the eternal fae becoming no more and mocking the claim of eternal status.
He kept that image and thought to himself not wanting to worry Mao any more than he was.
For some reason, he had hoped that Mao’s return with the journal, even with the cryptic message, would somehow make him feel less drained.
It didn’t happen.
They had talked for hours with Mao’s family after his return, and everyone put their opinion forward about what Featherman meant. He’d explained the things he’d said about seeking answers and the ancient magic he needed. This jibed with Mao’s recanting of his encounter.
So here they were back on the jet that Alexi had sent at their request because no matter what they surmised, they still didn’t have the answers.
He’d done more reading and had gone through two-thirds of the first journal.
He did wonder if contact with the pages, despite using a cloth barrier, was also part of his energy drain.
All that pain between the pages, the acceptance of other souls after death, it must have been a very heavy burden. How would the fae have felt to have those files taken by Kelvin? Did he write about that?
“The seatbelt sign is off, do you want to use the cabin bed to sleep?”
Mao’s question roused him from his thoughts, and he opened his eyes, giving a serene smile. “I’m fine here for now. I was just thinking about doing some more reading. I was thinking about Kelvin when he took the files from the bunker…” He sat forward, sighing heavily at how much effort it took.
“Carry on with your thought process,” Mao encouraged, eyes narrowing.
“Did our guy write about it? He saw himself as a kind of protector for those lost and damaged souls. Would it make sense he’ll feel the loss?” He titled his head and rested it on his fist. Hair fell into his eyes, so he swept it back with the other hand, tucking it behind his ear.
Mao's brows drew together, creating a deep furrow. “Keep going.”
“If that was the case, and he felt that loss, could that have caused him to…” He sucked in a breath, and as he exhaled, he murmured, “die?”
“Fuck,” Mao ground out, and with it came a wave of concern he wasn’t able to hold back from Ekon.
His sentiments too. “Then if that is what’s happening to me, or something similar, then what we’ve done could be why”—he waved a hand up his body—“I’m feeling like I’m clutching at water and seeing it slip through my fingers… just like the eternal fae was in the end.”
The following silence was deafening, both in the plane and his mind. It was like their bond had was severed. “I could be wrong, and it is all hypothetical right now…” Their gazes locked, and he felt a rush of fear so intense it stole his breath.
“But with what you saw of the record keeper…”
“Yes,” Ekon whispered, a tear slipping free down his cheek at what that could mean for both of them.
I’m sorry.
Never be sorry, I’m not. You are my most treasured life moment—our mating.
You’ll be my mate for however long the Fates deem it, and I will value it as the gift it is.
“The krakens are ancient,” Mao said aloud.
“There are no other ones I know of, and heck we only know about Alexi and his brothers because of my brother, Ben.
If there are others, then let's hope they know about them too.”
He released his seatbelt and came up; he parted Ekon’s thighs then knelt between them to cup his jaw and moved in to capture his lips in a sweet kiss.
“We’ll wait and see what they think about your magic.
” Another soft kiss. “If you are up to reading more of the journal, then let’s do that. We have hours to kill.”
He nodded slowly, then pressed closer to offer his lips for more of those sweet kisses.
Mao’s eyes revealed passion as he angled Ekon’s head, his lips light and teasing, making Ekon moan in complaint, parting his to deepen the kiss.
He didn’t use anything other than his lips and tongue to drive Ekon into the world of dreamy pleasure.
The kiss was a whisper of blessings, each and every one of the cells fizzed with the joy of it until he was no more than a puddle of fizz in the seat.
There was desire, it just wasn’t raging hot, it was a beautifully dreamy world Mao created where there was no rush to reach an end goal, because the kisses were everything and nothing else mattered.
He wasn’t sure how long they kissed for before there was a discreet cough behind Mao. Ekon’s lips were super sensitive as he licked at them when Mao turned and looked at the steward who was ringing his hands.
Mao muttered something even Ekon didn’t catch before he demanded, “What do you want?”
The man was not the one that had been on the jet before, and his pale completion and red hair made it easy to see the color flood his cheeks. “Sorry to interrupt but the captain has put the seatbelt sign back on because of turbulence.”
Ekon chuckled at how they both thought the same thing. What turbulence?
“Okay.” Mao rolled his eyes. Pushing up and returning to his seat and buckling up.
Ekon reached for the pair of cotton gloves Mao’s mom had given him and slipped them on before picking up the bag holding the journals.
He slipped out the top one and lifted the arm rest to pull out the foldaway table.
Once in front of him, he laid out the journal.
Opening the page, he’d put the feather he’d found inside it and had used as a bookmark, to the side.
“It still looks like Chinese to me.”
Ekon shook his head. “I don’t know what language it is. I just see the words in my mind.” He leaned over the pages and read.
They came again today, each time they brought more files.
Only this time with them was a creature that wasn’t what it presented to the world.
Its face is deceit and death. He has stolen magic from a sea creature I can scent it.
Feel its power. This one is more dangerous than the others who seek its approval.
I fear for the first time. No good can come from this person taking control of shifters.
“Do you think that’s Andromeda it is writing about?” Mao’s voice took a few seconds to register and a few more to hear the question when the pages sucked him into the mind of the fae.
Ekon rubbed at his eyebrow pressing above it when he felt it twitch.
“He was a changeling. It killed the Thalassas parents and used the magic they possessed for many centuries. That’s what we discovered when we helped the brothers with the council issues.
I’d say it’s undisputable with what we know.
Kelvin picked up its scent among others in the bunker. ”
Mao eyed the journal. “He knew what they were doing…” He glanced at Ekon, concern etched there for him to see. “Why didn’t he try to stop it? Tell someone?”
“Who would he have told? The changeling had total control.” He tapped the page, his eyes glowing. “He was frightened and didn’t have the magic to challenge.”
“Your eyes are glowing.”
Mao was staring, and Ekon reached up to touch his eye. “Glowing?”
“Yep, when you spoke about his fear, your eyes changed.” He was tampering down his thoughts, except their bond was strong enough for Ekon to pick up the anxiety at what this all meant.
“I know it’s within me. Maybe it’s trying to explain through me why it felt…
” Ekon reached for the right word. “Powerless. He was alone, carrying the burden of pain because they stole a part of him, first off, then left him for dead. He survived, hunted them down, and found the records. He waited a long time to find my file… centuries. What must he have made of the failed experiment part? And that leads him and me to the same question: if they had taken his essence to use for so long… why pick me? Why use me as a vessel for it and was that what they thought was a failure?”
Mao nodded slowly, rubbing a finger over his bottom lip. “There has to be something special about you that the scientists missed.” His face split into a wide grin. “Then I already know that.”
Chuckling at how corny his mate was being, Ekon glanced back down and continued to read, though there was little more to give them any clues.
It captured his despair at how many children died.
The bond he formed with the dead souls to protect them in the afterlife.
This was prevalent through the remaining part of the journal.
When he finally read the last page, Ekon’s temples pounded and his eyes were blurry with tears.
So much pain, how did one person carry it?
With care, came the whispered response.
“Did you hear that?” Ekon swiped at his eyes to bring Mao into focus. He had tears tracking down his ashen cheeks.
“Yes. I feel his pain… your pain.” Mao scrubbed at his face. “We need to figure out how to help ease it—”
“Before it consumes me,” he finished Mao’s thought and offered a gentle smile to remove any sting of the truth. “I’ve seen what the krakens can do, let’s focus on that.”
It was easier said than done with how he felt, but after the steward brought them a meal, Ekon chose to go and lie down.
He needed some time to process and run through everything he knew.
Because he had a niggling thought when he’d finished reading that the answer was…
the burden of souls. He just wasn’t sure what that meant.
He was unaware of when he’d drifted off to sleep, but he must have when Mao appeared over him and woke him by softly stroking his cheek. “Hey sleepy head, we’ve landed.”
He sat up groggily and wiped the sleep from his eyes, peering out the window into darkness. “Shouldn’t you have woken me before we landed?” Ekon glanced beyond Mao’s shoulder looking for the steward.
“Yep, but you were sleeping so peacefully I told him I’d take responsibility if something happened.”
Ekon grinned widely at the thought that flittered through his head. “You threatened to castrate him, didn’t you?”
He looked cagey as shoulder’s rose and fell. “I’m not saying I did that.”
Ekon tapped him on the end of his nose. “You’re also not saying you didn’t.” He shook his head. “Come on, let's see who came to collect us so we can go find the answers.”
Hopefully.