Embers and Ashes

Chapter 31

(Hey everybody,

So sorry for making you all wait for so long. It's been a really rough couple of weeks on my end. Work have been brutal and my emotinal well being has been utter poop lately. Thank you so much for your patiences.

I know that this is probably not what you were hoping for but it's the best I can give. I'll try to rewrite it when I feel better. Hope for now it is good enough.

All my love,
Lady Thyme)

Melona

   Warm buttery beams of sunlight trickled through the gauzy curtains of the patio windows. Soothing my skin where the nip of the cold autumn morning breeze lay. Somebody seems to have forgotten to close the windows last night. Most likely on purpose since his body is living and breathing fire. Along with living in such conditions his entire life. Where I might be well adapted from the cold mountain air the palace had always been warmer.

   Still, any excuse to get away with burrowing myself into my new husbands bare chest. As well as hiding from the cold air of the room.

   “Must you keep wiggling”, Eris grumbles with his lips barely parting and his arm lazily laying over my waist pulling me closer. Firmly locking me in place.

   “But I’m chilly”, I wine as I nuzzle my nose over his body.

   “Well, if you keep on moving up against me like that then you are going to wake something that should stay asleep, and you will certainly not feel an ounce of cold in your body for the next three days”, I can almost taste the smug expression on his face, and that fresh bond betrayed him in showing me exactly what he meant by it.

   Mother above.

   “Snake”, I hiss and go to flick his side.

   “Vixen”, he purrs back having caught my hand firmly by the wrist before I was able to. Bring it up to his lips to drowsily kiss every single finger before opening his amber eyes to look down at my tiny form nestled up against him. “Good morning”

   Peeking up at him I smile at his messy bedhead, “Morning.”

   “How are you feeling?”, he asks holding my hand to his chest.

   “Exhausted”, I sigh exasperated. “All those people, and excitement, and that dress was excruciatingly heavy.”

   Smiling he leans down and kisses the top of my head. “Well today we can rest. No one will bother us here. . . or we could start exploring our bond.”

   That look in his eyes. That hunger disturbs me a bit, and I turned to hide under the blankets. 

   “Melona”, he calls softly. His hand tenderly holding my back, as something large and scaled wraps around the gate of my mind. “My promise still stands. I wont force you into anything you don’t want to. I’m not going to force myself onto you.”

   “But hasn’t it been torcher not having me to yourself?”, I whimper.

   “It has, as I’m sure it has been for all males over the centuries. I’ve seen what happens to males that are rejected. They either take it to court and force the female to except, or they lock themselves away and let their minds grow insane. I’d much rather loose my mind if it meant keeping you safe from me. I’d rather have the pains and longings then have you fear and hate me. You’re the only friend I have that doesn’t hate me”, he talks so softly as if addressing a distressed bird he’d cradle in his hands. I felt like that small shivering creature, but I really did feel safe in those hands. “Besides, I’m sure there are other ways to satisfy a bond other then physical intimacy. Our friendship has always been from understanding each other mentally. From understanding each other’s souls.”

   “I’m sorry”, I mumble against the sheets. Trying to overcome the tightness in my stomach.

   “Don’t be”, he places his head to mine. “Don’t ever be sorry about this.”

   “You aren’t. . . You aren’t angry?”, I ask.

   “Not at all”, he says firmly while kissing my shoulder. “Now please, please come back to me my dearest. I want to see you. I want to spend time with my wife. There is no need to hide from me.”

     Taking a breath I turn over and onto my back to once more look up at him. Peeking shyly up at my husband. Not a lick of that cold looming destruction that haunted him in Hedone. Here he could be happy, here he could be free enough to enjoy himself.

   “There you are”, he purrs and kisses the tip of my nose.

~

   After quiet a long time of simply lazing in bed and silently enjoy the sound of each other’s heart beat, we had finally put some food into our bodies. A nice steaming hot breakfast of cakes and syrups with spiced teas. 

   The quiet of the sun creeping over the horizon basked us both in delightful light and it almost made my heart glade. It gave me hope and I felt a bit more at peace.

   “Am I anything like you thought your mate would be like?”, I ask as I cross my legs up on the sofa chair. Looking over to where Eris sat beside me as we sit in front of the fireplace. 

   “Nothing at all, and I’m grateful for it”, he smiles. “I expected my mate to be just as cold and ambitious as I am. If not worse. I half expected it to be Thali.”

   My gut turned at the other females name, and I felt a bit of shame when Eris turned to me with a bit of surprise in his eyes.

   “Can you blame me?”, I huff a bit and slump in my chair.

   “For being jealous? Not at all”, he smiles. “I was honestly starting to wonder if you could in fact feel jealousy at all. I was starting to worry that I was going to be the only territorial one between the two of us.”

   I grumble at him and he only smugly drinks his tea.

   “You don’t need to be worried about her anymore”, he says softly. A hint of sadness in his voice.

   “You still care about her?”, I can feel the sinking feeling in my gut.

   “She was the only consistent thing in my life I have ever had other then my mother. Thali wasn’t always the bitter drunk she is now. We grew up together, she was there for me after I watched my friends get butchered in front of me. She listened to ever rant. We’ve been threw so much together.

   Even if in the end we did nothing but tare each other to pieces from the pain of it all, we still care. I don’t think I can stop that. . . yet”, he sighs heavily and rakes a hand through his hair in frustration. 

    “I don’t think I get it. . . but I’ve never had what you have with her, with anyone. I’ll try to understand it as best I can”, I try to be kind even if I really didn’t want to when I think of the night he confessed he slept with her. Especially now that I know that he knew full well I was his mate.

   As the thoughts swirled in my mind Eris flinches.

   “I’m sorry”, he lips barely part as his hands grip the chair beneath him.

   “What’s done is done”, I sigh and try to shake it all away. “We all have to do what we think is best for us. We’re still individuals Eris, and sometimes we can be greedy. Don’t worry, I’ll have made my own faults, and will continue to make them. We’ll get threw it.”

   “You should hate me”, he mutters.

   “Maybe, but I’ve never been one for the easy way out”, I try to smile and get up to go sit in his lap. He doesn’t hesitate to pull me close as I settle and rest my head against his chest. “Life is long and filled with enough trials on it’s own, and hate takes up too much space in it if you let it. I don’t want us to be constantly against each other. I want to be your partner, your friend, your wife. Not your enemy.”

   “I would like that as well”, he smiles and kisses my hair.

   “Eris?”, I hum. “Was there a point when you realized you wanted to keep me?”

   “Yes. . .”,he chuckles softly. “When you healed Niran in front of the entirety of the Court. My father was trying to trip you up. To find fault. To see if you would be easily intimidated by his control over his son’s, over me. You didn’t falter to give forgiveness. You didn’t hesitate to continue being kind despite being afraid. Years ago I would have thought it naïve, but after seeing it, that was the bravest thing I’ve ever see anyone do.

   But it wasn’t until you forgave me for what happened with me and Thali that I realized fully that you where the one I wanted. No one has ever forgiven me for anything. Not even mother. You did it so purely and without expecting anything in return. You excepted the person I was weather good or bad. You didn’t expect me to change, you just wanted honesty.  That, that’s when I knew I loved you.”

   I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss his jaw. “I herd it. I herd the prayer you gave for me.”

   “That was the first prayer I think I ever really meant”, he admits and my throat tightened.

   “I love you Eris”, I murmur.

   “I love you too Melona”, he whispers as his arms coil around me.