Chapter 31
Chapter 3 1
Elpis
We returned to the coven and decided to eat a quick dinner before traveling to the cabin. Rein was overwhelmingly happy. I knew she was still unsettled from having to watch my life of slavery, but the misery she had endured was drowning dramatically under her growing adoration of Toast.
It seemed like everything for those two had snapped into place once they’d addressed their injuries. Did beasts fall in love faster than their humans? They seemed to go from strangers to attentive mates in the span of a day. Or perhaps those with similar injuries could connect sooner on a deeper level. It was hard to say, but I knew that today had been incredibly meaningful for both of them. For all of us, ultimately.
We said our goodbyes to the coven mothers and left the grounds. I gave Toast an enormous, wet smooch on his snout and crawled into his grip to be carried southward.
Thank you, mate, Toast said happily and launched into the sky.
Since it’s getting dark, should we pass by Astertrove? I asked Keyon and Toast. I want to see if I can sense anything .
We can pass on the eastern side of the town. The majority of buildings there face the west because of the view. It’s all cliff face on the eastern side. Should be safer, Keyon suggested, and Toast growled an acknowledgment.
I tried to keep my watery eyes open through the night wind’s cold sting as I looked for the town’s lanterns in the distance. Once we spied the twinkly lights of the taller buildings, Toast shifted east to approach from a more covert angle.
“Oh!” I cried and slapped a hand to my mouth.
Elpis? You ok? Keyon asked, alarmed.
Ah… yeah. I’m just… I took in a breath to try to brace myself against the hopelessness that was pouring from the town. Oh, great Sun God! There are hundreds under there!
So, you do have a stronger sense now, Keyon said thoughtfully. That will make our search easier. Once we do our raid, do you think you’ll be able to ‘sniff’ them out? Would you be able to point out where they could be?
I think so! I replied optimistically. It’s just very overwhelming. I don’t know what it’ll be like when I’m down there. Oh goodness, this is rough. I’m not going to be sick, but… I can feel my stomach turning a bit. L-let’s go.
We’re going, mate, Toast said comfortingly and flew us the remaining distance to the cabin.
They’re here! Keyon exclaimed, beside himself with excitement. Toast! Look!
Toast sank through the trees to land in front of the cabin. The entire outdoor area was full of people, tents, supplies, and campfires. There was a massive reaction to Toast’s arrival, and individuals came clamoring to greet him. When Toast shifted into Keyon, he was inundated by his knights before he got a chance to finish dressing. Keyon fended them off with a hand while he turned to me, trying to put a shirt on with one hand.
“Give me a minute, moonflower.” He laughed, struggling to get the collar of the tunic over his head. “Let me deal with my Inferno first. They’re a bunch of lost hatchlings without me.”
“Not so, you absolute coxcomb!” one knight shouted in good humor, and Keyon whirled to playfully yank the outspoken dragon-shifter into a rough headlock.
I nodded and crept to hide behind our bags to watch the celebratory reunion. There were dozens of males around Keyon now, but I saw Leofwine break through the crowd to make his report. From the grins on their faces and the back-patting, it seemed like everything went smoothly, which was a relief.
Two large blond males followed Leofwine through the throng of shifters, and I recognized one as the blacksmith we’d met at the farmer’s market. I supposed the male next to him was his twin. Did they both defect to join our cause? Their family must be around here too. How many people had Leofwine brought back?
Seeing the quiet little haven turn into a village made my anxiety spike, and I hugged myself. So many people… I desperately needed a distraction.
The only people who hadn’t run to greet Keyon were either civilian-looking folk or warriors who seemed to be injured. A male with a broken leg shouted a hello to my mate from his campfire, who gave him a friendly wave in return. I itched to go to him, but I felt so shy.
Eventually, the impulse to heal him bothered me so much that I snuck past the crowd and scampered to greet the injured male. The brawny, freckled redhead looked up at me as I approached and gave a thin-lipped smile. With his pallor and the tension in his body, he looked like he was in a fair amount of pain. His eyes flickered up to my forehead, and he did a double take.
“Ah, hello miss…” the male said, trying to look me in the eyes, but his gaze kept sliding up to my horn.
“Elpis Eudokia,” I introduced myself shyly. “I’m Keyon’s fated mate.”
“No shit!” boomed the deep voice of a colossal male from behind me. I jumped in fright, squealing embarrassingly.
“You scared the lady, Sir Gerfrid,” the male before me chastised.
“’Pologies,” the large, bald, and bearded male said, settling next to me with some gauze and ointment. It looked like he was tending to some wrists that had been abused under shackles much too tight for someone his size. His poor hands were quite swollen.
“Never woulda thought he’d mate and mark someone,” the male with the broken leg remarked in wonder. “Must have known to wait for the right one! We expected he’d die a virgin! The men will love this!” He laughed boisterously along with Sir Gerfrid.
“And you are?” I asked, wanting to get his name so I could offer to heal him. I could barely pay attention to what he was saying, and my right foot tapped away with gusto.
“Sir Stroud,” he said with a polite nod.
“Please, can I fix that broken leg? It’s driving me crazy,” I asked, and both men gave me an odd look.
“That’s a strange way to ask, My Lady, but… you can look at it if you think you can do better,” Sir Stroud said, shrugging his mouth. I sighed in relief and shuffled up to grab both sides of his head. “Woah, woah, M’Lady, that’s not my leg!”
“Shhh!” I ordered. “Don’t move or I’ll hurt you on accident.”
The male grimaced and held still as I pressed my horn against his head. Like Adelais had, the male relaxed considerably after several minutes and groaned in relief. Then I sat back and gestured to his leg.
“How do you feel?” I asked. He felt healed, but I wanted to hear it from him. Would these strangers think I was weird? Would they think I was too bizarre to be their leader’s mate?
“Fucking shit!” Sir Stroud shouted and jumped up onto his feet. “You healed it!”
“What?” Sir Gerfrid sputtered. “Lady Elpis, what about my wrists, eh?”
I turned with an excited grin and placed my horn against his shaved head. His wrists were healed in seconds, and I sat back, feeling warmth spread inside from how he gaped at his fresh skin. He tugged at his cloudy, black beard and cursed a string of words .
“And there, my dear friends,” Keyon’s voice said loudly from behind us, and I started again, nearly scared out of my wits, “is my fucking amazing fated mate, Elpis Eudokia.” I blanched to see Keyon grinning with all of his people hooting and hollering behind him.
The boisterous crowd was demanding a celebratory lap for their general’s new mate, so Sir Stroud and Sir Gerfrid picked me up and paraded me from campfire to campfire on their shoulders. It was pretty obvious that Keyon kept a wine cellar because everyone here looked like they’d had a cup of something. I might need to look for hard cider myself if this continued much longer! Most of the shouts were jesting jabs at Keyon for no longer being a virgin, slights that he seemed to take with levity. I only witnessed him doling out several death threats.
“Elpis? Elpis!” I heard a female yell out my name, then scream it. I looked around frantically and spotted a smaller hand waving to me from behind all the massive, rowdy males. I knew that voice!
“Let me down! Let me down!” I patted the males frantically, who set me down quickly, sensing my urgency. I ran through the crowd toward the voice with tears beading in my eyes.
“Elpis!” the female screamed, and I crashed into her embrace, sobbing like mad.
“Zos-s-sime!” I bawled, crushing her against me, unable to believe it. She was here! After a minute of near-violent crying and us checking each other to make sure we both had all of our limbs attached, Zosime dragged me to a campfire where a number of other people were sitting and eating. A female hatchling looked up and jumped to her feet, eyes wide with excitement.
“Dagmaer!” I sobbed and ran to lift her into my embrace. She was heavier! I kissed her cheek repeatedly until she started complaining, and I released her, only to have her cling to my skirts.
“H-how are you here?” I gawked, and Zosime gestured for me to sit by the fire. I looked at the brawny male next to her and gasped. “You! You were at the smithy! The farmer’s market! ”
The smith’s son’s jaw dropped, and he looked at Zosime while gesturing to me. “Is this Elpis? We met her and the knight general at the farmer’s market! They’re the ones who encouraged us to visit Uncle Sigivald.”
“Granpa Sigivald!” Dagmaer corrected firmly. I looked down at her in surprise and back to Zosime.
“Mind filling me in here?” I asked, confounded.
“I know!” Zosime said to me with wide eyes. “So much has happened in such a short span of time!” She propped her chin up with her palms and rested her elbows on her knees. “After we were liberated from the mansion, they rehabilitated us at the castle. They gave me odd jobs to work so I could start earning a bit of coin.” She frowned and looked over at Dagmaer. “They separated us, and I asked if I could adopt her, but I needed to prove that I could earn income and give her a good home first. There was also an adoption fee I wasn’t able to afford yet, so it seemed impossible.
“I took every job I could find and worked myself to the bone,” she said with a nostalgic laugh. “Almost a week had passed when I scented my fated mate, but it was like we were playing hide-and-go-seek. We couldn’t quite find each other!” My eyes moved to the smith’s son, and I was certain I knew where this story was going. “Days passed until he finally tracked me down in the garden! I was weeding, and Sigeweard practically kidnapped me back to his family’s home.”
“Uh, sweetling, let me remind you that you did not require any convincing whatsoever,” Sigeweard said low so Dagmaer couldn’t hear. “It almost became publicly indecent.” Zosime’s face turned red, and she cleared her throat to keep talking. I didn’t bother to hide my smile. I could already tell they were happy.
“S-so, Sigeweard didn’t want me toiling away for work anymore, but I told him I had to in order to adopt Dagmaer. I didn’t want her going to a family who didn’t understand what she’d been through… My male put down everything he was doing that very moment and went out to initiate the adoption. So… Dagm aer’s our daughter now.” Zosime beamed and moved her hair aside so I could see the mark Sigeweard had given her.
Pulling Zosime into a tight side hug, I looked tearfully at Sigeweard. “You have no idea how much good you’ve done. Th-thank you… on behalf of every Reborn looking for a fresh start.” I cried a little more and rocked Zosime, melting at the thought that all three of us had found exactly what we needed.
“Things are getting better,” he replied and rubbed his mate’s back. “She still has nightmares, but she can be around more people now. She’s working hard. Both my females are.” He grinned affectionately at his adopted daughter, who was sporting a fine milk mustache.
Zosime pulled back from my hug eventually and decided to finally address the glaring change in my appearance. “Elpis,” she said tactfully, “you didn’t use to have… a horn.” She put her fingers to her lips as she glanced up at it. “What happened to you after we were rescued?”
I told her almost everything that had happened since Keyon arrived at the mansion. Zosime and Sigeweard smiled broadly when Dagmaer jumped excitedly about the ‘spy’ part. I said that Keyon ended up being the ‘spy’ that I predicted would come as a sign of being rescued. Keyon might just have a little fan now.
“That’s remarkable, Elpis. I can’t imagine how difficult it’s been, but oh! You have a fated mate now too. I’m so happy!” she said, embracing me again. “We three… we’re so fortunate. I couldn’t ask for more!”
I felt a part of me soften, a part that’d been high-strung since day one. I glowed from my hope and theirs, the ones who meant so very much to me.
“Pardon me, Lady Elpis?” a male’s deep voice said from behind me, and I turned with a small smile. I could sense his injury before he even spoke. His wrist was sprained, and it looked like he was coming to see if I could help him like I had the other knights. This male was dressed all in loose black clothes, and I wondered if maybe he was one of Leofwine’s spies. “I tweaked my wrist earlier, and I was hoping… ”
“Of course!” I replied excitedly. I loved finally having something to offer other than sexual acts, and I loved that it was my choice to give. It made me feel like… maybe I could have another profession. It made me feel… respected! That was it! What a strange feeling, the way it elevated me.
The male went off grinning, and another one replaced him, hesitantly asking for help with the nasty rashes he’d gotten while shackled. I healed him and felt more hope grow with me. I was in my element and thriving! This felt good! My instincts loved using my skills on these warriors. These were good people and deserved my assistance. They’d help free people like me. Soon!
My smile faltered when I noticed a line had formed. I froze as the next male knelt so I didn’t have to stand to heal him.
A line. I had a line.
My body chilled and locked, minus the mild shaking from my arms and legs. My breathing became fast and shallow, and panic sprouted in my chest. A hazy wall wrapped around me.
“Sigeweard, she shouldn’t b—” I vaguely heard Zosime say in a distressed tone. “Her breathing is too fast…”
“Already on it,” he said and appeared by the male near me to disperse the line. I heard the words ‘Reborn’ and ‘trauma’ and distantly wondered if I’d ruined my first impression with Keyon’s men. My mind was in two places now, and my body was back to feeling dirty and used. Tears streamed down my frozen face as I recalled the parties at the mansion. The filthy hands on me…
“Elpis? What happened here?” My mate growled softly, sounding more concerned than angry. I couldn’t look at him; all I could do was stare straight ahead, held down by several vicious tethers. One tether made me feel so disgusting that if I moved, I’d feel even more violated. Another tether was one of fear. I was horrified that everyone had seen me crumble into this state. I was too afraid to look at faces, to see what they must think of me now. I didn’t want to realize how embarrassed I should be. Numbness was my only shield. If I didn’t move, nothing would change.
“Help me bring her inside, and I’ll tell you, Knight General…” Zosime said quietly. Keyon carried me to the master bedroom, where it was dead quiet. Adelais had discovered us on our way up and was asking anxious questions.
Zosime told Adelais to run some cold water, the colder the better, and instructed me to dunk my face. I could either hold my breath or scream, whatever helped. I did as she asked, and after a few plunges into the shockingly cold water, my mind began to clear, and my body started to relax.
Zosime then made me run in place for several minutes, which I didn’t feel like doing at all, but she insisted it’d help. A medic and scholar at the castle who’d been treating her trauma suggested four ways to break out of these… heightened states of distress.
Finally, they put me in bed where Zosime taught me how to take long, counted breaths and perform an exercise where I had to flex my muscles individually. It was strange, but she was right. By the time we were done, I was feeling a great deal of relief and exhausted enough to sleep.
Zosime pulled Keyon and Adelais to a corner and spoke in a low voice. I could barely hear them, but I knew she was telling them about the mansion’s parties and the lines that would form for my ‘services.’ I pulled the blanket over my ear to make doubly sure I wouldn’t hear any details, but at least I felt grounded now. Thank the Moon Goddess that Zosime was here… I’d been doing ok with the crowd at first, which was an improvement, but the line had shattered my composure.
I felt Keyon’s muted rage through our bond, and I knew he was struggling to stay calm for my benefit. I couldn’t blame him for being upset though. Had he been through the same, I would have been livid. After they finished talking, both Zosime and Adelais left while Keyon came to lie down and hold me.
“We have a strategy now, moonflower. Tools to work with. We’ll use those techniques if this happens again. Until you’re all better, ok?” he said, kissing the base of my horn. “You’re so generous, Elpis. Just don’t overdo it. Promise me?”
I nodded, then asked, “Did I embarrass myself? Do your knights hate me now?”
He snorted. “No. I’m sure I’ll be surrounded by a bunch of sniffly, concerned dopes when I go back outside.”
“Ok…” I said, laughing slightly at the funny mental picture his words instilled and forced myself to stop thinking about it. He cupped my cheek and turned my head so he could kiss me properly.
“Your horn is a hazard.” He laughed, moving around it to lay his lips on mine. The kiss relaxed me even more, and I sighed with the renewed alleviation. He stroked my horn lazily while he kissed me and played with its shape. He released my lips and asked, “Does this feel good? I’ve been wondering.”
I was going to shake my head but thought better of it. “Nay. I can barely feel you touching it. I think it’s for the best if it’s being used to stab through bone,” I informed him, a touch dryly. He laughed quietly, rocking me gently with his quaking chest.
“That’s a very good point… pun intended.” He smirked and tapped the tip of my horn to test its sharpness.
“Don’t! It cuts easily,” I hissed and swatted at his hand. He frowned and pressed harder with his thumb.
“Elpis, it’s not cutting me. It feels sharp, but it won’t cut,” he murmured and showed me his hand. “Odd sensation.”
I grabbed his hand to give it a closer inspection. “Maybe because you’re my mate?” I asked. Sure enough, his hand wasn’t bleeding. It certainly should be. It should have been skewered with the pressure he’d put on it.
“Oh, thank the gods!” he exclaimed and kissed my horn. “Now we know you can’t maim me in the middle of the night,” he said, tickling me slightly to get me to giggle. He kissed my lips once more and nuzzled his nose into mine. “I have to go back out now, moonflower. We’re sending out a couple scouts tonight so we can strategize for the raid tomorrow. I’ll come to bed in a couple hours, though, ok? ”
I nodded and smiled, feeling much better now. I closed my eyes, thought about all the wonderful people in my life who were now safe, and fell into a deep sleep.
I woke to a bunch of females trying to feed me breakfast and laughed when a little hatchling attempted to blow raspberries on my cheek to get me out of bed. I ate with Zosime, Adelais, and Dagmaer, then left to see where Keyon was. I needed to know if I should join the raid as Elpis or Rein.
Oooh, me, me, me! So that I can see Toast again! Rein gushed.
I smiled at her enthusiasm and found Keyon strapping a large, wheeled cage to one of his shifted knights. He was wearing a loose, armor-plated jacket that looked like it’d be easy to toss off if he needed to shift. His pants also had sections of metal plating and… made his butt look rather nice.
He turned and grinned at me, knowing exactly what I was feeling. I skipped up to him, feeling incredibly refreshed, and asked, “So what now? When do we leave? Should I shift?”
He kissed me and said, “Morning, moonflower.” Right!
“Morning!” I added, sheepishly. “I’m just so excited!”
“Oh, I can tell.” He grinned, setting the last strap in place, and led me from the cage. “And no, I don’t think you should shift right away, mostly because Rein might not fit in every doorway.”
That is… very true, Rein mused.
It just means you have a lovely butt, Toast added, and I nearly choked on my own spit. Keyon pressed his lips together in suppressed shock and mirth. Toast! You rascal!
“And uh… yes, we’ll be leaving in about an hour. Leof and I want to hit them early today. The sooner we get to these dens, the better. News will spread fast about Leof’s team defecting and my Inferno escaping. We’ll be met with more resistance as we make progress. Hopefully that resistance will be sloppy considering the males Cyneric’s filling the ranks with. ”
Oh gods, I had to wait an hour. I wandered off while Keyon finished preparations and looked for something to keep my mind occupied. I was soon interrupted by a number of males apologizing about last night and offering small gifts to earn my favor. I told them it wasn’t necessary at all, but they insisted, so I accepted the offerings with mixed feelings. Gratitude was still at the top of my heart, though. For a bunch of scary-looking men, they could be rather sweet.
I wandered around more discreetly after that and kept my senses alert for any injuries that would truly hamper the rescue effort. I privately healed several more sprains and another pair of beat-up wrists that were rubbed raw from shackles. When Keyon finally called out to me, my heart fell into a full gallop; it was finally time to leave!
Interestingly enough, we weren’t flying to Astertrove. Keyon and Leofwine wanted to keep a low profile to make sure no one saw where our departure originated. They wanted to keep the cabin’s location a secret for as long as possible. That meant keeping to the ground.
We finally arrived at the gilded gate, and by that point, I was well past miserably uncomfortable. My stomach roiled from Astertrove’s acute hopelessness. Keyon stroked my back and said, “Stay close to me, moonflower. You tell me where to go, ok? We’ll find them. My men will take care of the rest. Leof already took out their messengers.”
I nodded and drew a deep breath. I could do this!