Chapter Twelve
Eve
“Mates, to become ayim-bound, will share ayim with one another. Marriage ceremonies don’t require it, unless you’re also marrying your mate.
And,” he added off-handedly, “not everyone has a mate. Or perhaps doesn’t find them.
Or perhaps aren’t born in the same lifespan.
No one knows for sure. It is true, however, that it’s considered a treasure to have and hold a mate.
Even better if you can marry them. That bond is always upheld in seraph society. ”
I nodded.
“When we find our mate, the ayim will pound in our blood. It can cause dizziness, shortness of breath, tingling in the limbs.”
“Sounds like a bad case of puppy love,” I joked.
“It’s more than that,” he said. “Until the bond is recognized, until the ayim in both mates react to one another, it can cause discomfort, even pain. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
His wings spread out behind him in what seemed like an elaborate shrug. “I’ve met a few mated pairs, and they always say, ‘when you find your mate, you’ll know.’ It is the most infuriating answer ever to give a horny young seraph barely out of academy.” He flashed a smile.
“That is an annoying answer,” I agreed. “What are the benefits of being mated?”
“You know you found your perfect other half,” he said.
“And the males become deeply protective. Mated pairs who achieve pregnancy sometimes bear more children than married couples who aren’t mates.
And according to superstition, mixing ayim will make the seraphim stronger, heal faster, and perform greater magic.
While all those things make mating an attractive possibility, the most important part is finding the one person who will understand and care for you, no matter what.
“Anyway.” He cleared his throat and rubbed the center of his bare chest as if it pained him. “Engiel and Onyxa.”
“Oh, yes, them.” Anything to get me away from thinking of Gabriel as a horny young man. “So they were mates?”
“No.” He shook his head.
“But I thought you said—”
“Onyxa was Gar. The Gar do not have mates. They choose their partners more like you humans do. Although they loved one another, they could not be mates.”
“How did Engiel expect this would work?” I set the empty tray on the floor, hardly realizing I’d eaten the whole thing while enrapt by Gabriel’s story.
“He hoped that by mixing his ayim with her blood it would invoke something similar to a mating bond, something his people would recognize.” Gabriel’s resonant voice took on the singsong quality again, soothing my body.
“He put together a trading party and went to Onyxa’s tribe.
In these days, the Gar and the Seraphim were not enemies, but nor were they allies.
But when they arrived, he found Onyxa had been betrothed to the prince of another clan. ”
I gasped.
“He stole her away. Or perhaps she stole him. No one is sure. It caused a huge rift. Threats were made, fights broke out. After a few months they returned, hand in hand, and explained they loved one another, and Engiel had chosen her not only as his wife but also his mate.
“It calmed the leaders enough that war didn’t break out immediately. However, enmity still grew between the Seraphim and the Gar. A few years later Onyxa fell pregnant.”
A cooing sound escaped my lips before I could stop it.
“Children between the two races are possible, but uncommon. Unfortunately, something went wrong during Onyxa’s labor and she died.”
I gasped again. “What about the baby?”
“He lived. Engiel took him far away, somewhere safe, though no one ever found out where. But with the death of the Gar princess, hostilities inflamed again. Onyxa’s former betrothed claimed Engiel had caused her death through neglect.
Enraged, Engiel challenged him to—I suppose humans would call it a duel of honor, yes? ”
“I think so.”
“They both perished in the fight.” He paused, then returned to his normal speaking voice. “And that is how the first war between the Seraphim and Gar began.”
“That is tragic,” I told him in severe tones. “You didn’t warn me.”
He looked at me as if I was from a different world. Which I suppose I was. “I told you it’s one story of how the wars started.”
Shaking off the melancholy, I glanced around at the room he was creating. “Let’s set some dates for when your friends come to visit. I want to be prepared with the proper amount of food and wine.”
He nodded, walking past me to pick up a staff. As he passed by his wing brushed my shoulder.
I shivered at the soft, sensual touch. Had that been on purpose?
When he turned, staff in hand, his knuckles were white and his eyes had turned the color of an ancient forest. He stared at me, his gaze flickering down to my lips, then he turned away again.
I let out a long, silent breath. His friends needed to show up, otherwise I’d break down and beg him to kiss me again.
* * *
Gabriel
I spun in the air, completing a barrel roll and a tight maneuver that put me upside down for a split second. It was dangerous, this close to the treeline and the steep roof of the manor, but I didn’t care.
I needed something—anything—to get my housekeeper out of my mind.
Yesterday, I smelled her scent in my chambers after she cleaned it.
I walked to my bed and sniffed the sheets, imagining a world where she sprawled in them, naked and flushed with pleasure I’d given her.
Later, I’d walked through the Great Hall and my gaze had immediately gone to the oriel, my heart fluttering like a nervous child on the precipice of his first flight.
And she’d stood there, humming. Red and orange and gold splashed across her face and her hair, now she’d stopped wearing that ugly bonnet.
My heart took wing.
I immediately spun away and hurried away. A human? How? Why?
But when I went to my gymnasium, I found a familiar bundle of canvas tied by leather cording propped near the door. My sword. Waiting for me. Eve’s presence was everywhere.
I gritted my teeth, strode outside, and snapped my wings open, catching the air with such force I gave myself whiplash as I came to a halt midair.
Eve’s voice, her intelligence, her curiosity—it all made me crave her. The way her eyelashes laid across her cheek, the way I knew her breasts would fit perfectly in my hands…I was going mad. I laughed into the wind. Perhaps I was already mad.
I used to assume that, if I married, it would be to someone within my echelon, as the laws dictated. In Aerie, would a human even rank in the order at all, or would they be considered one of the wingless outcasts?
It doesn’t matter. I’m not in Aerie, I’m not even on Rundis. It doesn’t matter anymore. Those thoughts that had once been a weight around my neck suddenly became like a soft breeze, lifting my heart like the wind would lift my wings. I grinned. It doesn’t matter anymore.
The draft shifted, and I knew she stood below, watching me. The endless wind swept her scent up to me, tickling my senses. It was warm and soft and sweet, like her.
I groaned. Even the air conspired against me.
Sighing in resignation, I tucked my wings inward and let myself drift toward the earth. I looked down at the last second.
Eve stood, her skirts whipping about her, revealing the luscious shape of her legs. One hand shielded her eyes from the wind, but even from this vantage I could feel her gaze on me.
A ridiculous, adolescent urge to preen, to flash my feathers and catch what sunlight I could burst through me—something I hadn’t felt in decades. My muscles tensed, and I forced my body to hover above her. If I landed I’d do something stupid, like kiss her again.
“That’s so lovely.” Her wistful expression struck me right in the chest, which throbbed again. It was growing more painful, only ceasing when I was near her, it seemed. “I wish I had wings.”
“Maybe I’ll take you flying one day.” The words were out of my mouth before I could temper them. My mental image of her in my arms, her warm body snug against mine, her arms draped about my neck, was almost more than I could bear. My wings faltered a beat and my cock lengthened in my trousers.
Her eyes sparkled and the delight that spread across her face made her incandescently beautiful. “I would love that. To see the world from above? I imagine all your problems must fade away.”
She’d said something like that before. Was she running from something? She’d already said her community was quite strict and not many women left. Sometimes, in the stories she’d tell me, I could sense holes she carefully trotted around, little secrets she wanted to hide from me.
I had my own secrets, so I could hardly begrudge her. But it still made my feathers ruffle. Especially if it was something I could help with—I wished she would trust me.
“There’s a path through the moors over there.
” I pointed across the tall, brown grass above the gentle slopes of hills.
“Up to one of the crags. It’s higher than it looks.
” The path appeared treacherous from the air.
The slope of the land and the heather disguised many twists and turns, even crevices in the rock.
It likely wasn’t safe to travel alone, especially if you’d never done it before.
“The view of heather in bloom from the air is a special sight. Perhaps when the sun returns I can take you to the top of the cliff.”
She smiled, tucking a strand of wayward hair behind her ear. “I’d love that.”
I nodded and flew away, toward a gable on the roof. I didn’t realize I was smiling until I’d landed on the shingles, my mouth spread so wide my cheeks ached.
What was I going to do with her? I couldn’t bear to think of her leaving, but I also didn’t see how anything was possible between us. Keeping her seemed a recipe for disaster. And, of course, she might choose to find employment elsewhere eventually. My heart panged at the thought.