Chapter XVII #2
“You know,” Mariam says, suddenly thoughtful, “the words we said earlier reminded me of something. It’s not magical or anything, but the human realm has a similar ritual for committing to a relationship permanently. One that we could, uh, actually invite other people to.”
Sable smirks. “Mariam, I have been in the human realm long enough to have picked up on the concept of a wedding. Are you asking if I’ll marry you?”
“Should I have gotten down on one knee?” Mariam asks with a giggle.
“You know what my answer would be,” Sable says. “But one thing at a time.”
“That seems fair,” Mariam says. With a grin, she pecks her on the lips. “Well, then for the next thing… I have to say I’m still feeling rather… hungry for you. I think it’s your turn, my lady.”
“Happily. Get over here, sweet.”
* * *
The two are insatiable that night, making love well into the early morning hours, each always eager to take another turn pleasuring the other.
Mariam has never experienced anything like it, and thinks maybe the mating bond brought with it not just Sable’s lifespan but some of her strength and durability too.
But finally her still human body reaches exhaustion and they must stop to sleep.
And sleep finds them both more easily than ever.
Mariam wakes around ten in the morning, a little sunbeam dancing on her face.
Through their bond she feels her mate’s presence the moment she becomes conscious, faster than any of her other senses could have clued her in.
Sable is in bed beside her, still asleep, arms wrapped around her.
She lifts Sable’s heavy hand off her shoulder to kiss it, which wakes her as well, before slipping out of her arms to unsteadily stand.
“I am starving,” she says as she pulls on a thick nightgown from where it was discarded on the floor during a previous night’s lovemaking.
Sable rubs her eyes and groans. “Me too, sweet.” Her voice is still husky with sleep. She breaks a smile and then rolls out of bed and stretches with a bellow of a yawn. “I think we worked up quite an appetite. “
“I think so too,” Mariam teases. She situates her nightgown, then heads into the living room as Sable begins to slip back into the clothes she’d been wearing yesterday.
Mariam stops in her tracks and shrieks. Sable is at her side in an instant, only half-dressed. “What is it?” she cries, but she needs no answer, because immediately she sees it too: a hooded figure sitting on her couch, holding a black leatherbound book.
“Good morning, you two,” says The Champion.
Mariam glances to Sable, who looks like she’d like to start growling, but Mariam shakes her head and turns back towards the uninvited guest. “Er, good morning,” she says. “What brings you here?”
The Champion slowly rises, then crosses the room to stand before them. “I’m sorry to interrupt your day. But a little birdie told me you two went through with the union ritual last night. Congratulations.”
“Wait, you knew we were mates?” Mariam asks, looking between Sable and The Champion. “Was I really the last to know?”
“Never fear, Mariam, Sable did not speak a word to me.”
“Then—”
The Champion stops her in the middle of the question with a wave of her hand.
“I have… ways of knowing these things,” she says in her typically cryptic manner.
Then she offers them the thick book she’s holding.
“I know you’ve heard this from me a few times already…
but this is my final gift for you. Truly this time. ”
Mariam takes it and notes that the front of it is blank of a title. “What is this?”
“Think of it as a phonebook. It is a directory of all my allies throughout the world, as well as all the safehavens my Reapers monitor.”
“What’s a safehaven?” Sable poses the question as an aside to Mariam, but Mariam just shrugs.
“I’m surprised Leandra hasn’t told you,” The Champion says.
“Well, she is rather tight-lipped. Maybe more than me.” She chuckles at that, though Mariam doesn’t get the joke.
“A safehaven is a magically protected place. Not protected by me; it’s somebody else who does that.
An enclave within the human realm where supernatural beings are guaranteed safety.
If anyone is killed there, the consequences for the attacker are…
dire. And disturbing the peace to any extent marks one as excluded from the safehaven’s protection. ”
“That seems great,” Mariam says. “Sable, you’ve been so worried that you might attract danger to us, but it sounds like if you did, we’d have plenty of safe places to go. You said this is a directory of all of them?”
“As many as I know about, at least,” says The Champion.
“I normally only distribute these books to new Reapers, but I wanted to offer you two one, as well. Both as a gift to celebrate your union, and to thank you for your instrumental role in ridding me of a truly painful thorn in my side last month. I made sure to specifically highlight Faeral-friendly resources, for Sable.”
Any lingering anger Sable had for The Champion seems to have evaporated. She looks awed. “Thank you, genuinely. We’ll make good use of this.”
“As you should. Oh, do keep in mind, no one other than the two of you must ever touch it. It’s enchanted to go up in flames if anyone else does.”
Mariam’s brow goes up and her lips flatten into a line of concern. “Um, why?”
The Champion waves her hand dismissively. “After what you experienced with Caedren, I’m sure you can understand why I have to take my operational security seriously.”
“That makes sense,” Sable says. “We’ll keep it safe.”
“By the way,” The Champion continues, “I’ve heard you met Big Wolf. His pub would be the nearest safehaven from here. If anything happens, if you feel either of you is in danger at all, I recommend you go there.”
“Really?” Mariam asks. “That’s awesome! Actually, we were thinking of seeing if we could get Sable a job there. Do you think they would hire her?”
“I’ll certainly put in a good word,” The Champion replies warmly.
“I hear they’re looking for bouncers right now, anyway.
” She briefly lays a gentle hand on each of their left shoulders, then her hands fall.
“Goodbye and good luck, you two. I’d say this is the last time we’ll see each other, but I know better than to tempt Fate. Try to stay out of trouble.”
And with that, she is gone, tearing away within the blink of an eye.
Mariam turns the book over in her hands. “What do you say, my love? I make breakfast and then we crack this thing open?”
“I think that sounds like a plan.”