Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Boreus nodded. “We’ll go with you.”
“If you wish,” she turned from him, and he missed what she said after that.
Boreus went to her, laying his hands on her shoulders, turning her to face him, looking at the false smile curving her lips and bent to kiss her forehead. “Put it down, Autumn.”
“I don’t have a place to put it.” She whispered. “I won’t let anyone else carry it; it’s too heavy.”
“Auster and I can carry it together.” He said, taking her hands. “Put it down and let us hold it for a little while.”
She shook her head, letting his hands go and backing away, only to run into Auster, who had come up behind her. “We can carry it, Autumn.”
“I would not ask that of you, East Wind.” She turned, pushing away from him and making for the door to the villa. “I won’t return, I’ll stay at the Bastion.”
Autumn left the villa, Boreus hard on her heels. But she didn’t look back, and she didn’t speak. Just kept walking forward, eyes fixed on the next point in space.
He knew what she was doing, and he wasn’t about to allow it. She was going to try to push them both away now, try to push them together, so that they could both mourn Eleni.
She had a death grip on her past now, and they were going to have to pry it away from her.
They made the Bastion, Autumn moving through the hallways to the empty throne room where the Highest would sit. She went to the center, kneeling on the floor in the empty room, and bowed her head to nothing.
Boreus tried to talk to her, but she didn’t say anything. Just stayed on the floor, unmoving, and wouldn’t look at him.
Boreus could feel Auster behind him, but before Boreus could try again, before he could find words that might work, the air opened, and the Highest filed in.
Settling onto their thrones, Light looked down at Autumn and then over at Boreus with concern on her face.
“It’s my fault, Highest,” Auster said from near the door. “I was honest with her, but I said it wrong.”
“Love,” Light looked over at the other Highest.
The other Highest stepped down from his throne and came to a stop next to Autumn, who still didn’t look up. “Autumn, do you remember what I told you?”
“You have told me many things, Highest.” Her voice was a blank, dead thing. “Which thing are you referring to?”
“Oh, child,” Love reached down and pressed a hand to the top of her head. She flinched, but Love just held his hand there. “You are going backwards, Autumn. Is your faith in them truly so weak?”
“They do not deserve me hanging around their necks.” She replied.
“I will release them, as I had planned from the beginning.” She shuddered, the force of everything she was hiding hitting her like a blow.
Boreus could feel it: the war she was fighting with herself.
“I cannot give Eleni back to them, and I cannot seek dissolution, but I can let them go, let them be happy together.”
“And what about your love?”
“This may be the only way I can tell them.” She finally looked up at Love. “I do not bring joy, Highest, and if I cannot bring them that, if I am only going to drag at them, isn’t it better that I simply set them free?”
“Have you asked them what they want?” Love asked.
“It will be a relief to them.” Autumn sounded utterly certain. “They will fight me at first, but after a few days, they will be relieved.”
“Alright,” Love lifted his hand from her head.
“If that is truly your wish, we will test it.” He looked at Light, who nodded.
“You will be gone from them for a fortnight.” He said.
“In that time, we will have lessons. At the end of those two weeks, I will call them back and we will see how they feel.”
Love raised his eyes to Boreus and Auster. “You are dismissed; you may return in a fortnight.”
“Highest,” Boreus nodded, taking Auster by the arm and moving to leave the throne room, looking back at where Autumn was still kneeling on the floor. “I will see you soon, love.”
She looked at him, finally, eyes full of tears and that certainty he’d seen when she’d asked him to take her life. “I will understand whatever you choose.”
“Then I will see you soon.”
He left, piloting Auster out of the room and then out of the Bastion. Back to the villa so they could make a plan. They had two weeks to plan for her coming home, and Boreus knew they would need every minute of it to convince her to stay.
“Let’s raise your home,” Auster said, turning to look at him. “It will take time, most of the two weeks, and I know I have no place there, but it will tell her we have been thinking of her.”
“It’s a good idea,” Boreus took Auster’s hands. “What do you want to do?”
He looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, she’s released us both.” Boreus replied. “If you wish to leave, she will not blink, and I will understand.”
Auster raised a hand and smacked Boreus on the head. “That is the most idiotic thing that’s ever come out of your mouth. I refuse to leave.”
Boreus nodded, a smile curving his lips. “We’d best get to it then.”
They worked steadily, pulling the walls up from the earth, joining them, and fixing the inside until they were standing in the middle of a charming little house.
They’d worked, and at night, they’d talked. Boreus missed her like burning, but talking about it had helped him stay steady enough that he could rest and finish their home.
Autumn loved color, light, warmth, so the house was full of those things. And there might not be a room for Auster, but since they’d managed to get the roof on, they had both abandoned the villa for their home.
And then the two weeks were up and they could go back to the Bastion. Boreus bathed as the sun was rising, gut churning, arms aching with the need to hold her.
They went to the Bastion, to the throne room, to kneel to the thrones of the Highest. They all filed in a few minutes later, settling into their thrones, but Autumn was nowhere to be seen.