Chapter 1 #2
And all in good time.
Zayn managed a half smile in his current state only, as he told me, “Well, I like it. It looks really cozy.” He lowered his gaze and murmured, “Something we need right now.”
I gave him a squeeze. “Come. It’s even ‘cozier’ inside.”
I released Zayn and Evira tightened her hold on him, walking him over to the porch, following as I led the way, a sweep of my citrine magic dropping the ward as we went.
I strode up the porch steps, opened the front door with a flick of my magic, ushered them across the threshold.
As they moved inside, starting to take everything in, I locked the door and re-erected the ward.
Then I observed their reactions.
Surprise was definitely at the forefront.
There was no cohesive color palette or single style of décor within.
That wasn’t what this home was about.
And it had absolutely been intended as a home.
Something I saw them both recognizing as they continued looking around with wonderful wide-eyed awed expressions.
Zayn walked to the brown leather couch. When it came to leather, black was my preference, but the brown gave a more homely feel. And it also paired with the cobalt-blue throws and cushions I’d adorned it with.
“Win’s favorite color,” he murmured, stroking one of the throws and marveling at the softness. A softness that came very close to that of Winter’s hoodies he was so fond of wearing.
The walls were a deep gray. Well, charcoal… Evira’s favorite color. There was a fluffy snowy-white oversized couch opposite the brown leather one that matched the one in Evira’s dormitory suite. I’d crafted a crystal coffee table that came close to the one also in her suite.
There were checked pink and black rugs covering the wooden floors—a touch of Zayn.
I had a fireplace without flame, as I’d left it to be filled with his magical Ifrit flame.
A wide bookshelf covered an entire wall and consisted of epic adventure stories like those Evira kept in her suite that she’d told me she and Torvek had read as children, tourist texts on various sites and landmarks of note through the supernatural world for Winter and myself, then some instruction volumes about sculpting for Zayn who’d demonstrated an interest in joining me in that hobby of mine.
He couldn’t use the vibrational aspect, so those contained another way to go about it.
There were floor lamps nestled in the corners of the room, the lampshades a sleek black with chrome studs adorning them.
I watched as Evira and Zayn’s attention went to the many photos framed on the walls.
Photos of the four of us.
“Whoa, these… I took these,” Zayn exclaimed.
“Yes, any that you sent along to me, or via the Group Chat, I gathered for this display.”
“This is unbelievable, Vaxan,” Evira crooned, beaming over at me.
I smiled. “This is merely the living room.”
I led them through into the kitchen.
“Holy shit!” Zayn cried as he took in the ultramodern appliances, and the fact that the walls were fuchsia, the cabinets pink zebra-print. And it was spacious and highly conducive to him exploring his passion for the culinary arts.
I left him to bask in that for a while, before then taking them both upstairs.
I strode into the first room to the right, and smiled to myself as surprised gasps left them once again when they saw what lay within.
There was a jewelry-making station over in the far right corner, materials and equipment all set for Winter to resume his hobby of fashioning models of magical creatures from wire, warped metal, and various gemstones.
He hadn’t engaged in that since being at Loxley as he’d been weighed down by so much else.
But setting this up was me hoping he could sink back into that soon—once all of this was over.
And it would be over. We would return him to us.
We absolutely would.
Zayn found an area protected behind magically imbued glass for him to create his Flamecraft shapes and animations. It was just a few feet from my sculpture workstation.
And a little further along, I’d created a space for Evira, a large sleek gray metal desk with special volumes on political strategy, negotiation tactics, alongside my private notes of what I’d learned over the years. Something to assist with the trajectory I’d recognized she was on with Exalt.
There was also a sparring area I’d created in the basement of the house.
Well, the access point was really the basement, I’d tunneled deeper to see to it.
She enjoyed hand-to-hand combat even more than I did, and the way I’d forged the space would ensure she wouldn’t have to tone herself down at all.
I’d show her after we took some time, as what I’d already shown them they were still trying to process.
“This isn’t just your house, not just a break from things, is it?” Evira questioned.
I smiled, looking out at them both. “I prepared it for the four of us.”
“It’s fucking awesome, Vax. Seriously.” His voice cracked as he uttered, “You doing all of this… it’s really something.”
Emotion welled in his eyes and he looked away, then meandered over to Winter’s station, fondling the implements there.
Evira came to me and stroked my forearms over my blazer. “You built a future for us.”
“Well, Zayn will be leaving Loxley Academy after this final year and he needs somewhere to go. You, Winter, and I will be there for another few years yet. My proposal is that we leave the dormitories and reside here, while attending classes. So the four of us remain together.” Truth be told, I had come to even resent that we had separate dormitories at this point in our relationship.
Yes, it was clearly my possessive and territorial nature at play.
However, that was at least channeled in a healthy way with my loves, due to the dynamic we’d forged.
“It’s so lovely,” she said. “Thank you, Vaxan. What you’ve done here is incredible and so touching and extraordinarily thoughtful.”
Zayn joined us, confessing, “I want this. So much. But… Win… he…”
“We will retrieve Winter,” I assured him.
“That’s not even a question,” Evira rumbled with that draconic protective ferocity I adored about her.
“Even when we do, though, it’s just that… Sylas being gone… Win is so close to his family… how is he gonna make it through that. The grief… it’s… it’ll shatter him.”
“I know, Zayn,” Evira said, stroking his hair. “But we’ll be here for him.”
“We’ll soothe him,” I added. “Ease him through it, doing whatever we must to help him heal from the depths of grief.”
“Yeah, we… we can do that. We can be that for him.”
“Absolutely,” Evira told him, her gaze discreetly flicking to mine with some uncertainty.
That was to be expected. This wasn’t a scientific matter, or a tactical strategy… it was part of Winter’s heart and soul being torn away through the loss of his dad.
And that grief wouldn’t just belong to him. His mother and his other two fathers would be carrying that also, their foursome broken and now incomplete.
“We’ll see to it,” I spoke, my voice coming out steady and full of conviction.
Sometimes when things lacked certainty, that was desperately needed, the impression of it was enough to hold onto hope.
Relief flooded me when Evira brightened and Zayn nodded.
“About pulling Winter back to us,” he mused.
“How on earth can we—I mean, Vax, you said you couldn’t pull on the vibrational tracking tether you have on him, right?
And Ketheron and Ambrose are trying to find entry points into Sanctus, but there are so many fake ones from Ruxnoth that’s slowing them down so much.
And now with Sylas… gone… they can’t even use the necromantic link to find him.
And Velra as Win’s mom can’t track him by blood because of that blockage she put in place to protect Win from ever being tracked through her by any enemies. ”
“There are other means to locate him. Also, my vibrational tracking is just unable to be used for right now—I need access to more power.”
“You have Celestial magic from Taen,” Evira pointed out, as I’d told her about that earlier. I’d had to in order to explain what I’d been doing there battling against Ruxnoth with Sylas, Kai, Ryker, Velra, and Cassius earlier.
“Further Basilisk power will be integral, the Celestial aspect will just boost the speed with which I can complete the task, and allow me to push past obstacles. But with Sanctus being on another metaphysical plane, it poses further complications. There is also the issue of the Necromancy protecting Sanctus. For that… without Sylas… perhaps Ambrose could be an alternative. Or a workaround from Kai could be found.” I held up my hand.
“But none of that can be dealt with until cooler heads prevail. Certainly not right now at this moment in time. Sylas’ family is deeply steeped in grief, as is Kai. ”
“He’s right,” Evira told Zayn. “We recuperate tonight, maybe tomorrow as well.”
And truth be told, my head wasn’t as clear as I would have liked currently.
Whenever there was a lull in our conversation, my interactions with the two of them, flashes of that nightmare reality earlier assaulted me.
Winter shrieking as Sylas had been stabbed.
Me holding him back, trying to keep him from Ruxnoth.
And then… then that heathen tearing him from me, where I’d been unable to do anything but watch him disappear into the ozone with him.
“Vax?”
I blinked to see Zayn eyeing me with concern. He stroked my nape. “It’s okay. You’re right about what you said. So let’s… recuperate, yeah?”
Evira wrapped her arm around my shoulders, offering me so much care and understanding as well, the two of them obviously registering the state of me, and how I’d been holding it at bay for too long now. “Come on, lovely.”
I gave a nod and sank into them.
And not only physically.
I was allowed to.
I was always allowed to with them.
I could just… be.
That—them—had become integral to my life, my way of being… what I’d become because of them.
And nothing, nothing on this earth, was going to ruin that.
Absolutely nothing.