Wildfire

Forty Nine

It hadn't taken much convincing on my end to convince Akeno to go ahead and move himself and his family to one of the outer chambers in order to lessen the strain on Cho and his men for at least the next few nights. Kavya, Ronin, Indra, Bohdi, and the guards at the outer doors more than capable of keeping them safe right alongside us so that Cho might send more men into the village that Shen had last been seen in to search for the traitorous noble.

And yet, my father in law knows better than to knock on the door that shuts us away here in our inner sanctum... Rayne and I needing a single afternoon of no interruptions, just quiet pseudo peace while the newest medication Kanaye has brought him soothes away his rampant nerves and the very real pain still plaguing my stunning shard of starlight as his shivers calm themselves once he has been truly settled against me with no eyes to gaze upon him but mine. 

...

Rayne

...

It is refreshing to find myself in Emrys's arms without need to think of the man who has seen fit to terrorize me in my first days by my sweet Prince's side... I had tried to tell everyone before we had even arrived at the palace that something was bound to go terribly wrong if we went through with presenting me... And while the strikes that I had thought might rain down upon me hadn't come from the royal family themselves... Just rather from two wayward men from the same branch family distraught over the fact that I had had the nerve to show up here at the palace at all. 

I had told them all that this had been a bad idea... And yet I find myself thinking that I would reverse none of it if this is the price I am to pay for finding comfort in the amazing man who currently has me wrapped so securely in his arms... 

Shen Hirai can have my dignity... My reputation... My very vision itself as long as it means that I can still be the one able to cling to Emrys and have him return my affections the way he never fails to do, his fingers nimble as he unfolds the plait currently restricting my hair so that he might be able to soothe me into resting, the braid only going to cause an ache in my temples if I were to try and sleep with it in. As long as I never have to be away from Emrys Shen can have everything... 

I didn't come here to collect the title of Queen... I didn't ever intend on using my mating to climb the societal ladder that everyone else seems so hung up on... I had simply wanted to find a man that might cherish me and disregard the circumstances of my birth or how I came to be a member of the Cloud family. I had only wanted a man who might look at me exactly the way Emrys looks at me and show me every moment of every day how much he loves me just as Papa shows Mama. 

I'm here because my parents had witnessed me be brought to my knees and unable to suppress the song that rules my own heart when I had heard Emrys's call, and like always they knew what was best for me even if at the time I had not seen it myself... They had not been able to allow me to ignore the draw I had felt upon hearing the great bellowing of Emrys's beast, even now the memory of it burning away some of the cold dread that had filled my belly last night and stayed with me through the morning... I will never regret giving into my mother's demands... Shen Hirai could beat me twice and spread all the gossip his disgusting mouth can handle spewing and I still would never regret the choice that brought my sweet Prince to my side, where he shall stay for the rest of our lives so that I might cling to him and feel safe. 

No. The only thing the Hirai's had accomplished when they had raised their hands to me was to reinforce the bond between Emrys and I, his hold on me one that screams of protection and love and the willingness to end the lives of people who wish ill upon me for standing by his side...

They deepened the instinctual love that we already harbored for each other and broke down the walls that would have possibly stood between us, and that there lies their primary mistake. They had not realized that despite Emrys's even demeanor, when it comes to me, his Moon Beam meant to always walk beside him as his own personal slice of permanent calm, he is willing to go above and beyond, talk of even pushing his father aside so that he may raise me to the title of Queen officially so that I might garner even more safety than is currently offered as just his fiancee... So that the sour King who had seen nothing wrong with how I had been treated so cruelly could no longer have any bearing on anything to do with guiding the kingdom he had led so far astray...

...

Emrys

...

When the tears on my sweet Moon Beam's cheeks finally stop so do his shivers, and I find him wiggling so that he might roll me flat onto my back, his body following mine until he can hoist his leg up to tangle it on top of mine in the most indecent way, his hand finding it's favorite place right above my heart so that he might help keep himself even with the steady tempo of the rage boiling in my veins over the injustices served to him... The rage that finds itself even more justified and somewhat soothed at the feel of Rayne pressing his pale lips all along the crook of my neck as a sweet and silent thank you for caring so greatly for him. 

It is a thank you I do not need, but also one that I cherish so very much as I settle us down in this new position and adjust the sheets around us so that if walked in on we would not be so very exposed before I start to hum the lullaby that my sweet cherub seemed to be so taken with the other night in order to urge him to close those heavy eyelids of his and fall victim to the rest he so very desperately needs at the moment.