Chapter 42
Maelis
Icontrolled my breathing as I stepped onto the Luminaris.
The Veil was pulled over me, and I saw the familiar flashing of lights around me.
I tried to focus on Theo then, trying to will the Pathways to lead me straight to him.
I saw the temple come into focus, but the Pathways lifted me higher until the Lodge came into view. The Pathways didn’t slow down, I kept climbing higher and higher and I knew then where we were headed: the Veilstead.
It made sense for him to be there, the house in the mountains was his sanctuary.
The Luminaris slowed down and I came to a halt.
I didn’t lift the Veil straight away because I needed a moment to think.
What could I possibly say to him?
How would he react to seeing me?
Was he even alone at the house or had he brought company?
My heart was beating fast and erratic and I had to laugh because apparently, being reborn hadn’t changed me at all—or at least not my fears and insecurities. The Veil lifted and I saw the Veilstead appear in front of me.
The last time I had been here, it had nearly been night, but today the sun was out in full force.
The snow around me was glowing white, glistening in the sun.
Like tiny mirrors reflecting light, the snowflakes painted patterns in the untouched snow and white smoke rose from the branches of the trees.
It was peaceful, quiet, and so at odds with the chaos inside of me.
I felt sick to my stomach, torn between bursting into tears and laughing like a mad woman.
Choice.
This was my choice, my own free will. Like the untouched snow in front of me, my life’s story hadn’t been written yet and it was up to me to make it count. I took one step after another and the closer I came to the house the more I could see inside.
There were several people in the living room.
I could make out Malek with his black features and I saw a blonde woman, probably Lythandra. I couldn’t spot Theo anywhere, but then I heard him laugh.
I stopped, and the sound of his voice took my breath away. Malek was teasing him with something and I heard Theo’s flat response through an open window, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying exactly.
I felt like an intruder.
Maybe life had just carried on without me and maybe I shouldn’t be here. But the Fates had told me that living meant hurting and I couldn’t do one without the other. So I took another step forward and another one and suddenly I saw Malek go rigid as he was staring out the window.
I stopped and took off the hood of my cloak.
My dark hair fell down in waves over my shoulders and I lowered my hands to my sides. Malek didn’t move.
I knew it was impossible for him to blanch, but he surely looked like he had seen a ghost. Without taking his eyes off me, he started shouting, “Theo! THEO! THEO!”
That’s when I saw him running down the stairs to the living room. He frantically looked around the room and everyone followed Malek’s line of sight.
Time stopped.
Literally.
I didn’t know if it was me or him or both of us, but nobody and nothing moved around us, and the only indication that we weren’t affected was the quick breaths we were both taking.
Theo stood there, and the book he was holding fell to the floor with a thud.
Before I could even blink, he was outside, standing just a few stretches away from me.
Shock was edged on his face, but also tenderness, longing and pain.
“Maelis?” he whispered.
I couldn’t hold back my tears anymore and fell to my knees.
Every bit of strength left my body when I heard him say my name and I was so tired of being strong.
He was instantly in front of me, on his knees too. I wept into my hands, unable to speak or even look at him.
He gently stroked my head with his palm.
“It’s all right, darling. I am here.” And with a tenderness that left me speechless, he lifted me off the ground and into his arms.
I buried my face deep in his chest, my shoulders shaking from my crying.
He just held me and carried me back to the Veilstead, past the frozen people in the living room and up into the bedroom.
He sat down on the bed with me and grabbed the warm blanket, covering us both in it.
He didn’t speak, he just waited for my body to stop shaking, until I didn’t have any tears left and my face was red and swollen.
My breathing evened out, the pounding in my head fading until there was only the quiet between us.
“Theo?” I whispered, afraid that saying his name too loudly might break whatever this was.
For a long moment, he didn’t answer. Then he drew in a slow, uneven breath.
“I thought,” he said hoarsely, “that I would never hear my name in your voice again.”
The rawness in it cut straight through me.
“I’m scared to look at you,” I admitted.
He shifted beneath me. “Why?”
I felt him lean forward, the warmth of him close again, his lips brushed the crown of my head.
“I’m scared you’ll look happy,” I said quietly. “And that you’ll tell me you’ve moved on. That you don’t want me here anymore.” I swallowed. “And… I probably look awful. All red and puffy.”
A soft breath left him, almost a laugh.
“If that’s true,” he murmured, “then you’re the most beautiful red-nosed, puffy woman I’ve ever known.” His voice gentled. “As for the rest… I suppose you’ll have to look at me to find out.”
I wiped at my cheeks and forced myself to sit up.
He was close, so close. Half a breath away. And somehow, impossibly, even more beautiful than I remembered. The light in his eyes shimmered, no longer the deep violet I knew, but something softer. Lilac.
Changed.
Just like us.
“Hello, trouble,” he said, smiling like he’d been waiting centuries to say it again.
My hand lifted on its own, fingers threading into his hair, tracing the familiar line of his jaw, the roughness of his stubble grounding me.
“Hello,” I breathed.
He lifted his hand and touched my face, as if to make sure I wasn’t a mirage.
He took my hand into his and kissed the inside of my palm.
“This is not some cruel joke? Am I going to wake up and find this is all a dream? Have you truly come back to me?” He breathed and I could see tears rolling down his cheeks.
My own emotional outburst had forced him to restrain his own shock and it seemed to overwhelm him now. I leaned forward and pulled his head into the crook of my neck. I held him as he sobbed and although he didn’t cry for nearly as long as I did, he had puffy eyes when we pulled back.
“I want to hear what happened to you, and how you are here now. But first, I have to test something important” he said.
He leaned over to me and pulled me closer on his lap again.
His hand palmed my cheek while the other one was reaching behind my head.
He gently angled my head upwards and pressed the softest of kisses on my lips.
He remained there for a couple of seconds and drew his lips back, only to bring them back down on mine again, this time kissing the side of my mouth.
First on the right, then on the left and then back to a full kiss on the lips.
I moaned softly, getting lost in the feeling of his beautiful lips on me.
He was still going slowly, pressing kiss after kiss onto my lips, but putting more force behind them with every touch.
He growled and I felt his tongue slide over my lips.
I opened my mouth to his, our tongues touched and all the pain and tiredness I had felt before dissolved into nothing.
There was only us, him and me and this moment.
He drew back and his eyes were shining brighter than anything I had seen before.
“It’s truly you, Molly Mae,” he breathed and smiled so broadly that it ripped my heart open. “How are you here? I am so happy but so confused. When I didn’t hear back from you after Veridus visited you last, I was sure you were truly gone,” he breathed.
“I know you love long and boring stories, God of Wisdom. But I am going to cut this one short: You were right,” I said quietly.
“I had to choose. My whole life, I waited for someone else to make the decisions — the Fates, duty, the prophecy. I let myself be carried along, too afraid to choose for myself. But this time… it had to be me. I had to choose the life I wanted.”
I hesitated, just for a moment.
“The Fates brought us together. Their plan was for us to unite our powers, defeat the Heralds, and rule together. I was meant to become your consort, your equal. But they didn’t see the one thing that changed everything.” My voice caught slightly.
“They didn’t expect me to fall in love with you.”
Theo’s expression softened, his grip tightening on me.
“Let me stop you right there, wordsmith,” he said, raising my fingers to his lips. “They didn’t expect us to fall in love. And not being able to tell you how much I love you… that was my biggest regret.”
He kissed me, deep and sure.
When he pulled back, I smiled.
“I was kind of hoping you’d say that. Didn’t want to be presumptuous.”
He laughed, that full, warm sound I’d missed so desperately and once it faded, I went on.
“I came back because I chose to. I chose you. I chose this life. And for the first time, I’m free.”
This time we didn’t hold back. Theo pulled me towards him, so I straddled him and wrapped his arms around me.
Pulling me closer, our mouths crashed and his hands went up into my hair.
We were flush against each other and still it felt like I wanted to be closer.
We kissed like we had been starving, a silent desperation in our kisses that turned my bones into liquid.
I could feel him growing hard, my hips were moving against him of their own accord.
He groaned, “Maelis, you don’t know what you’re doing to me.”
His sultry voice was oil on my already burning skin, the aching between my legs so strong that I thought I might combust there and then.
“I hate to put a stop to this,” I breathed between kisses, “but there are a bunch of people downstairs, frozen in time.”
He kept kissing me, his hands gripping my hips and moving me over his hard cock.
I laughed against his mouth and tried to pull back. “Auretheos. Stop!”
He grumbled and buried his face in the crook between my neck and my collarbone.
“You are killing me, Maelis. You have no idea how much I want to fuck you.”
That was it for me.
I quickly moved backwards and climbed off the bed.
“Stop it now.” I laughed and backed away, but he was already off the bed and with two quick strides he was before me.
He pulled me towards him again and my arms went around his neck.
“I love you, Molly Mae. And when everyone has left, I am going to bury my head between your legs and make you cum until you beg me to stop.”
I sighed, maybe I should just give into him.
But he pulled out of my embrace and put two stretches of distance between us.
“All right. Let’s release the others downstairs, answer all of their questions and send them on their way.”
I smiled. “Good plan.”