Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sierra
Iawoke with a gasp, two pairs of blue eyes—one the blue of twilight, the other of a summer sky—still flashing in my mind’s eye from the dream I’d been having. My dreams lately had been getting more and more vivid, more potent, as if someone captured me in my sleep, forcing me to bear witness to things it wanted me to see.
Every dream was soaked in desperation, leaving me breathless and shaky each time I woke from them. This morning was no exception. I had dreamed about two little boys in a cabin, off the coast of a magnificent green sea. Now, as I sat up and searched my surroundings, gathering my bearings, the dream began to fade like the parting mist on a spring morning.
Lucius was not beside me, nor Demos. I remembered where I was, when I was. Providence, in one of the guest bedrooms. My first time sleeping in my parents’ house as a married woman.
I slipped my feet into a pair of slippers and grabbed the robe that had been laid out for me at the foot of the bed. I wondered what time it was. Through the window, I peeked out, not getting too close to the glass which separated me from the cold outside. No snow, but no sun. Dark as an oncoming night. The days had gotten shorter, only allowing the sun to make its presence for maybe five hours every day. But even when it was high, it barely penetrated the winter clouds.
A knock at the door had me turning away from the scene outside. Hannah came in, her arms laden with clean towels and bedsheets, followed by two other ladies maids.
“Good morning, miss, er, Lady Sierra,” Hannah greeted with a smile. The middle-aged headmistress had known me all my life, and the change in my status brought home to me how much had changed in the past several months.
“Good morning, Hannah. You can still address me as ‘miss.’ It feels too strange, otherwise.” I laughed and helped her strip the bed.
“Ah, but you are married now, dear. Are you happy?” She held a pillow while I put a new case on it.
“I am. How are things here? Mother and Father, have they been happy?”
“At first, your mother was a sight to see. Holed herself in her parlor for a week, then watched for the post every morning. But we had some visitors that kept her company.” She tossed another pillow my way. “And between you and me, I think your father sent for them, the guests, just for that purpose.”
We chatted a bit more, she feeding me the local news of births and deaths, highlights of things I had missed since being away.
Soon, I was dressed and going down to the kitchen for a bite to eat. All my life here, I had rarely eaten my breakfast in the dining room, having always wanted to sate my hunger in the kitchen, grabbing whatever Cook had set aside for me before escaping outside, before my watcher could get her hands on me.
This morning was different, though. Not only was I different, but the atmosphere was as well. Somber, wary. Whispers spread among the staff—no laughter, no banter. But each face I encountered smiled at me, and when Cook saw me she took me against her ample bosom and enveloped me in one of her special spine-snapping hugs. She smelled of flour and sugar and piped tobacco, which her husband, Hambul, smoked on the regular.
“Child, you have been missed. Let me look at ye.” She pulled away, holding my hands out. “Married life looks good on ye. Don’t know what you put in that hair to make it so pale, but it sure is strikin’!”
“Oh, something in fashion.”
She touched it cautiously, and I laughed.
“Looks like it’s been dipped in moon water!” She leaned over to the side and handed me a covered plate. “Here ye go, child. I knew you’d be eating it in here. But don’t you be going out in that frigid cold, now, otherwise you’ll have blue skin to go with that white hair.” She paused on my eyes, caught on their color. I turned away so she wouldn’t notice them too much.
“Thank you, Cook. I’ll just eat this on the run. I won’t go outside, promise.”
I left the kitchens and walked through the house, eating the hot rolls with cooked ham slices as I went. The parlor was empty, as was the library. I passed Father’s study and turned back, having noticed a familiar figure standing in front of the desk.
Fadon was facing away from the door, his hands folded loosely behind his back. There was no one else in the room, but a fire was burning in the hearth, and I saw evidence that Father had already been here earlier.
“Fadon?” I stepped into the room and stood beside him. He was staring out the window in deep thought. But now he turned his head and looked at me with a smile so tender I felt it in my toes.
“Meleera.” He had shaved, and his black hair, grown longer now, was gathered low at his nape, tied with a leather cord in red. I could smell that delicious Fadon smell of his: warm musk, hickory, and a slight hint of clove.
“Are you looking for my father?”
He shook his head, smile still in place. “No. I was remembering.”
“Remembering?”
He faced me fully now and gazed at the plate of crumbs in my hand before taking it from me and setting it down on Father’s desk. When he took his hands in mine I let out a breath I hadn’t known I had been holding.
“Remembering that day we stood here just like this. The day I vowed to keep you safe, vowed to bound you to House Trajan. And you vowed the same.”
I shut my eyes at the implied reminder that I had indeed promised myself to House Trajan, swore to him, in fact.
“So I propose, right now, right here, that we do it again.”
I opened my eyes. “Fadon…”
“No, not marriage, but another promise. I will accept you as my mate, if you’ll still have my surly ass. I’m sorry I made you wait this long.” His shoulders rose as he took a deep breath. “I’ve had plenty of time to think, and all thoughts ended at the same place: you in my life. In name only will Lucius be your husband, but when it’s just us, the four of us, I want you to count me as yours, too. I love you, Sierra. And I want you… have wanted you from the moment before we first entered this room to take our vows. Will you have me?”
I could only nod, because to speak would open the door to a flood of garbled, teary words. He pulled me to him and held me, kissing my temple, the top of my head. I inhaled his scent. The relief that he’d chosen me, chosen this, was like an anchor being dropped from my shoulders, cut off and returned to the sea without me. I felt free and loved and so very thankful.
He cupped my face in his hands, obsidian eyes shining bright. “I don’t know how we’ll make this work, but I swear to you, no matter what, we will do this. With all that I am and all that I have, I give myself to you.” Then he touched my mouth with his. The kiss was tender and sweet and warm. Several teardrops glided between our lips, mine. Tears of joy.
It had been way too long since I’d tasted Fadon’s lips.
His voice was husky as he said, “Your father has gone out with Lucius to see about something and won’t be back until lunch.”
“Okay.” I thought it odd he’d mention that, but I didn’t care enough to ask. Instead I kissed him again. A growl escaped from him, and our kisses became heated.
“Wait…” He pulled away and walked over to the door, shutting it and clicking the lock. In seconds he was before me again, his hands going to my osnat and undoing the clasp. “It’s my turn.” His voice was full of heat, lust, barely controlled.
My own heat rose, my body primed for what was to come. I vaguely paid attention to him setting down my osnat beside the plate on the desk. With eyes on me, he undid the buttons on my gown. Each inch of skin that was revealed he kissed, until my gown fell to the floor. I stepped out of it and stood in only a shift and stockings.
“Beautiful.” He rubbed his hands down my arms. He took my face in his, and together we got to the floor. The next few moments were a frenzy of him freeing his length, spreading my thighs, my body prepped and wet underneath him.
I sighed in pleasure when he entered me inch by delicious inch, raising my hips to take more of him inside me. With my hands around his neck, we stared into each other’s eyes and spoke without words. Words were without meaning here, only tongues and touches and our bodies joining.
He nuzzled my neck, stilling himself over me once he was fully seated inside me. “Gods,” he shuddered, “you feel…”
“Yes,” I whispered back. I wrapped my legs around his waist, hooking my ankles at the small of his back. “Take me, Fadon. Gods, please.” My body felt like a vessel overflowing, and if I didn’t release soon, I’d combust.
He moved then. With our hands now intertwined behind my head, he moved like a god crashing to shore, his thrusts full of intent, strong and sure.
I tried to keep my sounds quiet, but it couldn’t be helped. Not with so much pleasure, not with what Fadon was doing to me. I cried out, turning my head to muffle the sound into my shoulder. His thrusts picked up a faster rhythm and I was lost. Nothing else existed but us. Even if my parents and all the Ongahri, all the staff were to walk in right then, I would be so, so lost.
“Sierra… I need…” He released his hands and set one lightly against my throat. I arched my back, giving him better access.
“Fadon Trajan, I claim you as my mate. Now bite me.” No eloquence from me. I needed it, needed him.
Fadon was much too lost himself to form words. His mouth came down on my neck, the opposite spot to where Lucius’ bite mark was. He sank his teeth into my sensitive flesh. I felt him swell inside me, felt the spilling of his seed, and cried out again, pleasure filling me along with the pain that felt so good.
My release rose and rose, and I gripped Fadon so as not to be swept away. I felt him then. Inside my blood, meeting my soul. I let him in. Felt his strength, his character that was so steady, like ancient oaks in a forest, like pillars of granite in a temple time had forgotten. His love for me, his joy, the hope of, at last, finding a companion.
The ribbon of our joining, our bond, wrapped around me, flowing through hidden chambers inside my soul.
We were one.
And in the ocean of my being, I felt not only him, but Demos and Lucius. Finally, all three of my mates were home.
“I love you, Sierra. Not only are you beautiful on the outside but in.”
“And I love you, Fadon.” Through our new bond, I threw that love back at him.
His eyes widened. “This… bond is unlike anything I could’ve imagined. I can feel you.” He sounded awed.
Smiling, I touched his cheek. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
His throat bobbed, his eyes flicking over my face. “Amazing.” His knot inside me was loosening, and now he rocked in gentle lulls. “I don’t want to stop.”
“Well, perhaps we can go one more round. Then we either need to find an empty closet or… oh.” His thrust hit a spot that had me rolling my eyes back.
“Yes, one more.”
*****
Afterward, and with bitter-sweet reluctance, Fadon walked me to my room. I needed to freshen up—a quick wash and a new gown and a serious brushing of my now-knotted hair. At the door, he took out my osnat from his pocket and gently clasped it back around my neck.
“Lucius must have known you’d have more than one mate,” Fadon said, touching his claiming mark with a finger.
“How so?”
“There are two empty settings beside the stone in the center. Here.” He tapped the stone in question.
Surprised, I felt the smooth warm stone myself, trailing my fingers over the spaces beside them. “You’re quite right.” Had Lucius known I’d one day have all three of them as my mates?
“Once this is over,” he said, taking my hand and kissing it, “Demos and I will shop for our own stones.”
“Yes…. once this is over.” I sighed, coming back to reality. Being with Fadon in Father’s study had shut down what we were facing, the war to come, the elemental lost to pain and trapped somewhere in the Basilica like a prisoner. “I hope it’s over soon.”
“Don’t be scared. It will end and we will be victorious.”
I could only nod at his conviction. Inside, however, I was wary. I couldn’t help but feel that this was just a prelude to a new life, one fraught with a slow, dawning dread that I felt in my bones. Whatever we were going to face, I just knew it would come at a steep price. I prayed to the gods that that price wouldn’t be paid by the people I loved.