Chapter Fifty-Seven
Ellowyn
The door to mine and Torin’s suite banged against the stone wall, the loud reverberation causing me to jump and instantly reach for my magic. Pain pooled in one shaking palm while Destruction snaked down the arm of the other, both powers twining together into a lethal cocktail.
“Ellowyn!” a happy female voice called, instantly quieting my racing mind and soothing the itch to destroy.
I shook my head in disbelief at the woman who stood relaxed in the doorway, a massive grin on her face.
“Fay?” I asked, dropping the hold on my magic immediately. “What are you doing here?!” I exclaimed, running to my friend with my arms open.
My heart thumped faster for an entirely different reason than my previous adrenaline spike; it had been nearly seven months since I’d last seen my friend, and even that reunion was short-lived.
Fay fell easily into my embrace, both of us clinging a little bit tighter than normal.
“Why are you here?” I asked as we pulled apart, the same love and excitement shining in Fay’s eyes that I knew was reflected in my own.
“I’m here to break you out of this stone prison,” Fay said with a mischievous waggle of her eyebrows.
My own raised toward my forehead at her confession.
“Is that so?”
Fay shrugged her shoulders with a glint in her eyes that told me there were books or ancient information involved in her future trek.
“Can we sit and catch up first?” she asked, nodding toward the twin chairs that flanked the lit fireplace.
The weather was slow to warm in the north; a constant biting wind blew from the Far North and across the Narrow Sea that separated the two parts of Elyria.
Alvor—the capital of Deucena—was on the northernmost tip of Elyria.
After growing accustomed to the definitive seasons in the middle part of Elyria, I was growing tired of the near-constant chill.
As such, Torin ensured our fireplace was always lit and, every so often, a new blanket or two would appear on the bed or laid across an armchair.
A small, fond smile played on my lips as I thought about my husband. He was off somewhere with Talamh today, and it was one of the very first days in a long, long time that I had completely free.
I didn’t even know what to do with myself or the time that was suddenly thrust into my lap.
Thank the gods Fay appeared.
“Gods, it’s cold here,” Fay swore as she plopped heavily into one of the chairs, instantly kicking her boots off and tucking her feet beneath her body before pulling a thick woolen blanket from the basket on the floor and covering herself until just her head was showing.
I threw my head back and laughed, sudden happiness warming me through.
“So, tell me of Vespera. Of Rohak,” I said, flinging myself down into the opposite chair, feeling lighter and younger than I had in ages. A second blanket covered my body as I rested my chin on my hand and leaned closer to my friend.
Faylinn rolled her eyes as her cheeks darkened, though she tried to hide her reaction from me.
“Ooh, there’s a story there. Have you . . . completed the Bond yet?” I asked with a lascivious waggle of my eyebrows.
Fay sputtered and coughed, choking on nothing, much to my amusement.
“I’ll take that as a no,” I teased.
Fay grumbled something as she tucked errant locks of curls behind her ears.
“No, we haven’t completed the Bond yet,” she griped, wistfulness and longing coating her tone. It only surprised me further.
“But you want to,” I hedged.
Fay sighed, her shoulders drooping beneath the blanket as she leaned her head against the side of the chair, lolling it until she could see me out of the corner of her eye.
“It’s complicated.”
“So uncomplicate it,” I said with a shrug. “Tell me about it.”
“It’s a long story.”
“I have time,” I said, refusing to let her weasel her way out of this conversation.
Fay grumbled something else, but I pleaded with her.
“Please, Fay? It’s been months since I’ve had legitimate time with you, and even longer since I’ve been able to talk to someone who isn’t my brother or my husband.
I miss you, and I want to know what’s going on in your life. ”
Fay’s face softened, and I knew I had her.
“We’re going to need wine,” Fay finally relented.
“That I can do.”
“And then he says,” Fay proclaimed loudly before taking a giant breath and lowering her brows and voice, imitating Rohak. “‘We’ll finish this later, Faylinn. Once you come back to me.’”
Fay’s rather full glass of wine sloshed down the sides as she held her arms up in almost a square, as if she were trying to make her body look bigger.
I giggled uncontrollably at both her poor imitation of Rohak and her utter frustration.
“I mean, who says that? I’d just given him the best head of his life and then he just . . . leaves me wanting?!” She crashed into the chair with a groan and a shake of her head, wine spilling down her wrist and onto her pants. “Oh, shit,” she said as I continued to giggle.
“I cannot empathize with you, but I can sympathize,” I said with a slight hiccup, patting her hand much harder than I intended. It only served to slosh wine over the sides of both of our glasses, sending us into unprovoked hysterics once more.
It was the middle of the day, and we were absolutely, with complete certainty, drunk.
I’d called for a bottle of wine from the kitchens, but we’d finished it in record time as we discussed some of the less intimate details of our time away from each other.
But once the second and then third bottles disappeared just as quickly as the first, all bets were off, and no topic was untouched.
I snorted at the thought. Fay was definitely still untouched by Rohak and more than a little annoyed by it.
We sat in comfortable silence, each of us slurping loudly at the last of the wine in our glasses, lost in our own thoughts.
For the first time in a long time, I was at ease and relaxed.
Even a bit hopeful that this is what life could be like once all of this was over and the gods were eliminated.
Fay and I could have drunken days together without the constant impending doom, a fear that lingered like a bad cough in the deepest part of winter.
Maybe we could live near each other—close enough that our kids could grow up together, if I ever had them, and she could help teach the littles. Or whatever she wanted to do.
“What are you going to do when this is all over?” I asked, leaning back in my chair to look at the ceiling. The stones were spinning and undulating in such an intricate dance that I had to watch.
“Have as many babies as Rohak will put in me,” Fay said with conviction. “Then maybe open up a library or write a book or do something that isn’t inscribing runes on people’s bodies when they don’t want them.”
I hummed, fingers tapping the glass lightly as my feet swung lazily over the chair’s arm.
“What about you?” Fay asked in return, her voice as faraway as my thoughts.
“Nothing that has to do with war or destruction or hurting people,” I admitted softly. “I’ve had just about enough of that for three lifetimes, let alone this one. I’d give it all up if I could—these powers, my titles, everything.”
The heaviness and truth of that statement hit me square in the chest, knocking the breath from my lungs for a moment. I hated what I’d been forced to become and knew that if I thought of all the lives I’d altered or taken simply because I was born to be a godling, I would spiral.
“What would you do instead?” Fay asked sleepily, jarring me from my swirling thoughts.
“Own a farm,” I said instantly, surprised at how quickly the answer came.
“Somewhere green and full of life. Away from expectations, where I could just simply be. There’d be lavender fields and gardens and maybe other people.
A place where lost souls could come together and be with each other.
I’d never felt that sense of belonging until I met you and Torin.
I still struggle with it sometimes, if I’m honest. But I just want a place where I can be at peace and use my powers for good and not .
. . whatever this is,” I said, waving my heavy hand around as magic sparked at my fingertips. “And I’d own a goat,” I concluded.
Fay snorted as a second voice joined our conversation.
“A goat, hm? And what will I be doing in this scenario?” Torin’s voice was all tease, and a wide smile broke across my face even through the wine-drunk haze.
“Torin!” I exclaimed, sitting up far too rapidly and causing the room to spin about me. I stumbled for a moment, spilling the rest of my wine, much to Fay’s amusement, before ditching the glass on the table and throwing myself into my husband’s arms.
“Fay’s here!” I said much too loudly. Torin laughed as he held me tight, happy to have me cling to him like a needy toddler.
“I see that,” he replied easily. “Hello, Fay.”
“Hello, Torin,” Fay replied without moving from her chair. “I’m stealing your wife in the morning.”
His eyebrows rose a bit as he blinked rapidly at the news. “Huh. Is that so, wife?”
I nodded against his shoulder. “Is that okay?”
“You never need to ask permission, Ell. You can do what you want, when you want it. Just let me know where you are so I know you’re safe,” he said softly, his honey eyes swirling with so much love and devotion.
The emotions overwhelmed me, and I pressed my lips to his in a hard, wet kiss. He smiled against my mouth, but kissed me back. Our embrace lasted long enough that Torin’s hands began to wander, and I heard Fay groan from the other side of the room.
“Really? In front of me, when my Bonded is too far away?” she complained as Torin and I separated with heated stares.
“Where are you going?” he asked, serious once more as he gently tucked an errant strand of hair behind my ear.
“Uhm, Fay? Where are we going?” I asked, certain she’d told me earlier, but unable to recall.
“The Valley,” she mumbled tiredly.
Torin hummed in thought. “I have to leave for Iluul in the morning anyway,” he admitted. “It’s what Talamh and I were discussing earlier. We need an alliance or at least their ships if we want to stop a potential naval attack from Solace.”
“I am much too drunk for this conversation,” Fay mumbled as she pushed unsteadily from the chair, swaying on her feet as she set her wine glass down next to mine with a loud clink.
“So, leaving tomorrow will be a good distraction for you,” Torin continued as I nodded in agreement.
“You two go ahead and discuss whatever you need to—” Fay started as she swayed toward the door.
“Or fuck!” I added. Torin’s head flew back, throat working as he laughed long and loud.
“Ugh, yes. Or that. I’ll just . . . see you in the morning,” she hiccupped with a drunken wave of her hand as she left the room to find a bed.
“Poor, Fay,” I said with a shake of my head. “Rohak won’t do anything to ease that sexual ache. She just has to sit there and bear it until she wants to complete the Bond.” I grimaced in sympathy.
“You don’t have that issue, do you?” Torin mumbled against my neck. I gasped as the stubble on his jaw scraped against my skin, eliciting a wanton moan from deep inside my chest.
“No,” I said breathily. “No, I don’t.”
Torin’s teeth nipped at the place he’d just kissed before he turned suddenly and tossed me on the bed.
I bounced with a groan, the room spinning aggressively before I turned on my side and promptly retched on the ground next to the bed.
Torin’s chuckle mixed with my groan of pain and embarrassment before I felt his presence next to me once more, a warm, damp cloth wiping away the evidence of my sick from my face.
“Perhaps not today, wife,” he said softly. “You rest. I’ll clean this up. And if you wake in the morning and feel . . . better, then I will show you all the ways a woman should be worshipped. Until then, rest,” he said with a last kiss to my forehead.
My eyelids drooped as my head pounded, and I drifted to sleep in our bed, surrounded by his scent and the feeling of love I knew would never die.