Chapter 41 Lex
Chapter Forty-One
Lex
Folami’s hand clutched mine just as tightly as I clung to her, both of our palms slick with perspiration from the magnitude of the day. Ilyas’ hand was heavy on my shoulder, grounding me in the moment as his thumb wove intricate circles on the back of my shoulder blade.
It was a miracle, surely, that I had not one but two True Bonds and that they both chose me in return despite the multitude of external factors that could have driven us apart.
My fingers wove tighter in Folami’s at just the thought.
She canted her head slightly, shooting me a small, unsure smile.
Clearing my throat unnecessarily, I knocked on Rohak and Faylinn’s door, cringing at the early hour.
They’d arrived in Lishahl late last night, and I contemplated scheduling the ceremony for later in the day, but Faylinn would have none of it.
The General flung the door open to reveal a frazzled Rune Master, roughly pulling on a boot while hopping on the opposite foot.
A ghost of a smile crested Rohak’s lips as he watched Faylinn struggle before his eyes snapped to the company just outside his door.
His expression shuttered for a moment, a million emotions displayed in the depths of his gaze before he relaxed once more, a soft smile and even softer gaze replacing the teasing lilt of his lips.
“Lex,” he breathed, relief causing my name to feel more like a breath than a statement.
I dropped Folami’s hand to wrap my arms around Rohak, surprised when he returned my embrace just as fiercely.
We clung to each other for a moment, holding back the influx of emotion as we pounded on each other’s backs.
“So masculine,” Faylinn teased from inside their room, clearly winning the battle with the boot.
Rohak chuffed a laugh into my shoulder before pulling back, keeping one palm cupping the back of my head, his eyes searching mine.
“You’re choosing this, right? It’s not forced upon you?” Brotherly concern knitted his brow together even as I nodded my head sharply.
“Yes, Rohak. I would choose her with or without the pull of the Bond. With or without the sickness.”
Rohak clutched the back of my skull for a moment longer, seeming to weigh the validity of my words, before he donned a brilliant smile and released me from his hold.
“You smile a lot now,” I said, thrown off-kilter by his easy emotional displays.
“It’s because I’ve increased his emotional range and made him an actual human,” Faylinn griped, pushing Rohak to the side so she could fling her arms around me first before repeating the action with Ilyas.
Folami tensed as Faylinn turned to her, but the Rune Master instantly caught Folami’s rigid posture and closed expression.
Instead of tugging Folami into a tight hug, she extended one tattooed hand.
Folami eyed Faylinn’s hand, narrowing her eyes in suspicion before slowly extending her own.
She grasped Faylinn’s palm before releasing as if Faylinn’s skin was fire.
“Wonderful to meet you, Folami,” Fay said softly, sincerity lacing every word.
“You may not recall it, but we were in the catacombs together a few decades ago. Thank you for choosing Lex. He is . . . dear to me, to us,” she said with a nod and look at Rohak.
Something unspoken passed between them, and Rohak inclined his head toward Folami, thanking her in his own way.
“I know how hard it was for you to do this today, but I promise to make you as comfortable as possible. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to Bond you to Lex. It’s important to me.”
Folami said nothing, but her expression softened slightly as she nodded, beads clicking with the movement.
“Would you like to follow me?” Fay asked, addressing me now.
“After you, Rune Master,” I teased, turning and gesturing down the long hallway. Fay rolled her eyes but led us down the stairs to the main floor of Lishahl’s manor.
It was less intimate down here with servants bustling about caring for the dozens of rooms that comprised the estate, and I could feel Folami breathe easier, her hand now loosely clutched in mine rather than holding on for dear life.
“Lex, Ilyas, Fo!” a familiar male voice called, preceding the echoing, hurried slaps of boots against the stone stairs. Folami’s grip tightened on mine once more, her whole posture radiating uncertainty.
Ellowyn and Peytor returned a few days earlier from Vespera, but the latter had kept his distance at least until this moment.
Clearly, based on Folami’s reaction, he’d behaved similarly with my soon-to-be Bonded.
I tilted her head with the fingers on my free hand, forcing her to look at me.
I searched her eyes, finding pain and a healthy dose of wistfulness.
She misses him. A pang of sadness and longing swept through me as I drowned in the depths of her amber gaze. She needs him.
A small smile quirked my mouth before I brushed her lips tentatively with mine.
It wasn’t the first time we’d embraced, but all our previous touches were done within the private sanctuary of my bedroom.
The action shocked Folami enough that she was able to turn to Peytor with a look of bewilderment rather than apprehension.
Something told me that Peytor needed to see that, too.
“Fo, can we speak?” Peytor asked, breathless from his run down the stairs. Sweat stuck his curling hair to his brow, and his cheeks were pink with exertion. Despite the situation and tense history between us, I felt arousal pulse through my blood.
Folami glanced at me quickly, as if seeking my approval or judging my reaction. My smile only grew larger as I angled my head toward Peytor.
“Go, Fo. We’ll wait here.”
“It’ll only be a moment. I know . . . I know what today is for you all, and I only wanted to apologize to Folami before you Bond.” Peytor’s voice rang with sincerity, his stunning grey eyes solemn and pleading. Where I expected to see anger or frustration, there was only remorse and longing.
I released Folami’s hand before clapping Peytor lightly on the shoulder.
“Of course. She’s yours just as much as ours.” My words were honest, the deepest truth I could offer, yet Peytor’s reaction felt like I’d just offered him the world. His whole body relaxed, tension bleeding immediately, as he shot a tentative smile my way.
“Thank you,” he said, grasping the top of my hand with his briefly before reaching for Folami.
I withdrew, sparks of heat igniting on my skin from his touch, as Folami practically launched herself into Peytor’s arms. The d’Aelius heir’s eyes closed, his nose dipping into the place between her neck and shoulder as they murmured soft, indistinguishable words to each other.
Ilyas and I stepped back to where Fay leaned against a wall.
“You’re okay with that?” she asked, nudging her chin toward the reunion between Peytor and Folami. The former had the latter’s face tucked solidly between his palms as he gazed at her with utter devotion.
My answer was immediate.
“Yes. I’m more than okay with it, actually. He is hers just as much as she is mine. How hypocritical would it be for me to require full devotion from her when I also have Ilyas?”
Faylinn was contemplatively silent, and Ilyas watched me with shrewd eyes.
“I would never give up one love for the other—they both mean as much to me as the other. Why would I ever ask that of her?”
Faylinn hummed softly as we watched Peytor and Folami embrace once more, relief and love etched into every line of their faces.
“You’re a better person than me,” she mumbled as Folami broke away. Her lover hung back as she approached us, but there was none of the jealousy I expected in his watchful gaze.
He nodded once at Ilyas and me, his eyes silently conveying for us to take care of her.
Until the time is right and you can join us, I thought as I acknowledged his request with a tilt of my head.
“Shall we?” Faylinn asked as Folami came to nestle into my side once more. I placed a small kiss on the top of her head, a motion that Ilyas quickly copied.
“Everything okay, ayaba?” he asked in that great rumbling tone that both served to soothe and light my nerves on fire.
Folami smiled, a large, radiant thing that I felt to the very depths of my soul.
“It will be,” she admitted quietly.
Fay smiled at a small girl and waved before opening a random door and ushering Ilyas, Folami, and I inside.
We followed like sheep herded by a shepherd until we reached the threshold of the bedroom.
There was a large wooden table with Fay’s tools already set out, ready for our Bonding ceremony.
The covers on the bed were tucked back, the deep-blue sheets open and inviting.
Ilyas moved to an armchair in the corner of the room, relaxing back and crossing an ankle over his knee.
“I’ll be here for when you want or need me,” he stated.
“But—” Folami started to protest, whirling to face him, panic written in her gaze. Ilyas held up a palm to stay her words.
“But nothing, my warrior. I’ve already had this experience with Lex. Now, it is your turn. I will be here, watching and waiting, but will not intervene until you ask. It is special, sacred, and something that should be shared between a Mage and their chosen Vessel.”
“But you’re his Vessel, too,” she argued, flinging a hand at him. Her tone was sharp, and anyone else would see her words as venomous, but Ilyas and I knew better.
Folami was scared. Overwhelmed with emotion and trying to combat it all the only way she knew how—by fighting tooth and nail.
I soothed a palm up her back, and she jumped at my touch.
“Shh, Fo,” I whispered, tucking an errant braid behind her ear.
“Ilyas is right. He is already Bonded to me. This—this part is between you and me. After . . . that is completely up to you.” My voice rasped with lust as I thought of all the ways we could use Ilyas once we were fully Bonded.
My Pleasure Vessel caught my tone, desire swimming in his ocean eyes as he not so subtly adjusted himself in his pants.
Folami hesitated, but nodded, turning back to the bed and climbing up after removing her shoes. Her toes twisted together, betraying her true feelings, as she sat and waited for me to join her.
I shucked my shirt, leaving it a mess on the floor, before toeing off my boots and joining her on the bed, our bare shoulders pressed together.
“Where would you like your Marks?” Fay asked, amusement glittering in her gaze.
“Here,” I said without hesitation, pointing to the spot above my heart. Fo reared back, surprised at my declaration. “So you always know that my heart chose you and not the Bond,” I whispered, lips dusting hers with a fleeting kiss.
Folami’s eyes betrayed nothing as she held my stare. “Can you make a Bonding Mark over a scar?”
Fay nodded solemnly. “Yes, Folami. I can do that.”
My future Bonded nodded her head once, finally pulling her intense gaze from mine to meet Fay’s stare.
“Then that is where I want mine as well,” she said, pulling off her cropped shirt to reveal bare skin and breasts beneath.
I sucked in an audible breath as Ilyas groaned loudly from the chair.
“That’s not fair, ayaba,” he rasped, palm covering the erection that was now most definitely tenting his pants.
Folami shrugged, breasts bobbing with the movement, pulling my gaze to her dark nipples, which were quickly hardening under our scrutiny.
“We will be getting naked soon anyway to complete the Bond. And it’s not like the Rune Master has never seen breasts before,” she snarked, but a faint blush covered her cheeks.
“I’ve seen more nipples than I care to admit,” Fay said seriously, causing Folami to finally crack a small smile.
Seemingly content with that response, the Rune Master turned back to her table, selecting a sharp blade that glinted in the sun, the steel so pure it was nearly blue, and a few strips of binding cloth.
She worked quickly, not needing to preface the ceremony with any unnecessary words, considering we’d all been through the process once before. With quick slashes and confident strokes, Fay drew the Bond Mark on my chest with Fo’s blood before repeating the process on Folami’s chest with my blood.
Fay wiped the blade on her black pants before cutting her own arm, dipping her finger into the quickly welling blood to trace the lines already drawn on our chests.
The second her blood covered Folami’s, I felt a string flutter to life in my chest, pulling me toward the woman to my left. Fo sucked in a deep breath at the sensation, drawing my gaze to hers.
Endless wonder filled her eyes, and my gut clenched at the thought of her first Bonding feeling anything less than euphoric.
I wasn’t sure I truly wanted to know.
“This . . . this is incredible,” she said in awe, voice thick with emotion. Apparently, I was going to get the answer whether I asked for it or not.
“It should feel that way,” Fay admitted, quickly binding the cuts on each of our forearms. “I’m sorry it wasn’t as pleasurable the first time.”
Fo winced, but her expression cleared just as quickly as it darkened, lust now dominating her gaze.
“I don’t think I need to tell you how to seal the Bond,” Fay said wryly, standing quickly from the bed as my knuckles gently grazed Folami’s stomach and lower breasts.
Ilyas laughed lowly, the sound full of desire as he watched my finger coast up Fo’s chest to run teasingly over her nipple.
“And that’s my cue to leave,” Fay said wryly, placing her dagger in her belt before leaving our room, closing the door with a thud on her way out.
I barely registered her departure, my attention focused solely on the stunning woman beneath my palms.
“I need you,” I admitted softly. “Not just because of the Bond, but because I need to feel you, Folami. Need to feel the woman who sacrificed her own convictions simply because she loved me.”
Folami’s breath caught in her throat, chest heaving with each soft touch.
“Then have me, Lex. I am yours.”