Chapter 72 #3
And its one final gift came from Gaelfr himself, his entire body buckling, bending, bowing for her, as the light exploded from deep within him, and showered deep into her, instead. One last coruscating arc, blasting her with fire and colour and life —
And then, in answer to its call, Raye — shattered. Breaking apart into glittering sparkling shards of ecstasy, burning incandescent and free, while her cry of victory and wonder sang through the night, calling all to bow and worship before it.
And here before her, her orcs were bowing.
Obeying. Their heads low, their hands on their hearts, their shared prayer shimmering through the night air.
But then the night’s favoured supplicant slowly drew out of her, rising swaying to his knees, so their full combined light could stream out of her, pooling rich and abundant onto the altar beneath them.
“Goddess of Bautul,” Gaelfr breathed, his voice hushed and reverent, his hand over his heart.
“We have offered this brave, faithful woman before you this night, and she has offered you her freely earned gifts in return. I beg you to honour her, and grant you her favour. I beg you to pour out your greatest blessing upon her, and make her our own.”
Our own. Our own. A prayer, a promise, reverberating through the garden all around them, rising to the sky.
Quivering through Gaelfr’s body, and Kalfr’s beside him, and all the orcs around them, their heads still bowed, their hands all touching warm and safe to her skin. Honouring her. Blessing her.
Raye drank it as deep as she could, filled herself with its quiet sacred favour, with its deep, unspeakable power.
And for a shining breath, as the moon winked down toward her, she — she was the goddess.
The goddess’ breath easing through her, the light dwelling deep inside her, burning even the smallest motes of darkness away.
Raye was blessed. She was Bautul.
She didn’t know how long she held it, channeled it, cradled it sacred and true — but at some point, it slowly slipped away again, stealing into the night, while the band slipped away, too.
Until finally it was just her again, sprawled shaky and sticky on the altar, with Kalfr and Gaelfr lying warm and safe on either side of her, touching her, kissing at her cheeks, her neck, her hair.
“Good, saeta?” Kalfr’s husky voice murmured, and when Raye’s eyes focused on him, he was smiling, warm and easy and affectionate, without a flicker of distance or hesitation.
And Raye’s smile came easy too, and maybe triumphant, because she’d met his challenge, hadn’t she?
She’d shown him, as strong and as fierce as a kick to the bollocks, how much she’d wanted this.
How in those shining, magical moments, she’d… become this.
“Yes, so good,” she murmured, caressing her shaky hand against the slick-wet skin of his arm. “Though is this really… common, among you? This amount of… helping?”
Kalfr nodded, and pressed a soft kiss to her temple. “Ach, common enough,” he replied. “Most of all within our bands. It is one of the old Bautul ways, and it deepens our scents upon each other, and thus helps us better find and follow each other, and keep each other safe.”
And though Raye perhaps should have been shocked by this revelation, she could only muster a curious fascination, stroking a hand against the dripping-wet roundness of her belly.
“So this is why Bautul bonds are stronger, too,” she said, not quite a question.
“And why you barely noticed Sybil’s scent on you. ”
Goddess, maybe she shouldn’t be bringing Sybil into this either, but Kalfr’s eyes were still warm, easy, without a flicker of doubt or pain. “Ach, just thus,” he murmured. “But also you, and Gael. You have just seen how much seed my ástvinur can make in one night, have you not?”
His eyes danced as they flicked toward Gaelfr again, and his hand caressed Raye’s slick belly too, again as if showing it off for Gaelfr’s eyes.
“You shall be dripping his seed for weeks, saeta, and scenting stronger of him every day,” he said lightly.
“As if he was not already besotted enough, ach, Gael?”
It was only then that Raye’s eyes fully met Gaelfr’s, her face strangely heating.
As if she’d been avoiding looking at him, as if she felt almost shy, despite everything they’d just done.
But he still looked a little shy too, and maybe awestruck, as he betrayed a hard swallow, and his hand slid down to join Kalfr’s on her rounded belly.
“A-ach,” he breathed. “You — you look and scent so good thus, saeta. So sweet. You are just what I — I —”
His throat swallowed again, his mouth oddly wavering, and now Kalfr’s hand slipped toward him, caressing against his shoulder. “Speak this, Gael,” he murmured. “The vows.”
The vows. Raye stilled and blinked at Gaelfr, and he looked at her too, his eyes so bright, his shaky hand rising to his heart. And Raye almost sobbed as her own hand slid up to clasp his, holding it there against his heart, as if needing to feel it, to savour every breath —
“I love you, saeta,” Gaelfr whispered, his chest heaving beneath their clasped hands. “And with the goddess as my witness, I — I grant you my axe, and my favour, and my fealty. I shall honour you, and cherish you, and care for you, and keep you safe. For as long as I bear breath.”
His voice quaked all through Raye’s body, because — she remembered these words.
They were almost the same words Kalfr had said to her, kneeling before her, what felt like an eternity ago.
It was the matehood vow. The vow that would finally bind her and Gaelfr together as full partners, parents, lovers, family.
It meant — Gaelfr was hers. Her mate. For good.
Raye’s breath caught, her hand spasming against his — and suddenly she was laughing, and perhaps weeping, all at once. Lost in the relief of it, the sacred final truth of it, brought here to life before them. Her mate. Her mate.
In a jerky movement, Gaelfr swept her close into his arms, wrapping her up against him, and maybe he was weeping too, gasping into her hair.
And now here was Kalfr, embracing them both, dragging them all tightly together, wrapping them in warmth and safety and peace.
Her mate, her mates, and it couldn’t be real, it couldn’t.
But it was, it was here beside her, within her, brought to life all around her. Her garden. Her home. Her mates. Her family. So calm and warm and blessed, safe and at peace, just as the goddess wished.
And as Raye’s face turned fully to the moon, bathed in its silvery grace, she could almost see the figure from her dream, winking toward her, turning to face her in the light. Seeing her, knowing her, meeting her. Offering up her trust, her bounty, her blessing.
“Thank you,” Raye whispered, to her, to her loves, to the shining, hopeful world around them. “I’m so glad to be home.”