ANSEL
The moment he shut the door, she turned to look at him. And smiled.
Damon.
She'd be lying if she said she saw this coming. That this was Manon was talking about. But...he was here. Standing in front of her.
She took a moment to take him in. The dark eyes, black hair with that streak of grey, his marking as a wolf. And that smile as he reached a hand out and tugged her closer.
She giggled. Giggled.
"How long have you been here?" she whispered in his arms, idly tracing the lines of face. He closed his eyes, leaning into the touch. She missed him. Missed him more than she thought she could. Was it ironic or mere coincidence she had told Feyre about him a few days ago when she had asked?
They all had been getting ready to leave that morning when she came to give Ansel her satchel she had been looking for. She had thanked her, taking the bag from her which allowed Feyre to catch a glimpse of her wedding band.
When Ansel caught her staring, she simply smirked and nodded at Elide. "He's her cousin," was all she said.
Feyre blinked. "Really?" She nodded. "Is it safe to assume you two haven't seen each other in a while?"
Ansel snorted. "A while is an understatement." Then shrugged. "Its not like I'm the only one who hasn't seen their mate is a long time."
"How do you do it then," she asked. "Stay away from them for so long?"
She shrugged. "We have no choice at the moment."
Feyre must have seen something in her demeanor change because as they started walking, she went beside her and asked, "Tell me about..."
"Damon," she offered with a smile.
Feyre smiled. "Damon then. Tell me about him."
Ansel sighed, looking down at her wedding band. It was grey, lined with silver on the sides. And on the middle were little drawings in black. Wolves. And Damon had tides. Waves. Something for the both of them. And the rings had been a surprise for the both of them. She smiled. "Outisde his job, he's a dork." Feyre laughed. She grinned. "I mean it. A dork."
Now, that very dork-her dork-was here. She wouldn't complain about it. Ever. She had contain her squeals of joy when he entered the room that morning. And of course he had noticed.
"Does it matter right now," he murmurred, leaning down to kiss her neck. She smiled, closing her eyes.
"Not really," she answered a second before the door banged open. Aelin She hissed as Damon turned his neck to look. "Fuck you," she growled.
Aelin smirked. "I think Damon wanted to do that." Damon inturn just chuckled. "Come on. Everyone is meeting up in Pearl's room."
"For what?" she asked, following her out of the room with Damon.
She shrugged, "Catch up. Seems like we all have stories to tell." She faltered slightly saying the words. Ansel knew why. Damon asked her,
How bad?
Horrible, she replied, squeezing his hand. He didn't ask further. But Aelin said, her voice low in the hallways,
"So Damon," she grinned. "How have you been, Wolfie?"
Damon chuckled, slinging an arm around her shoulders. "I am slightly better becuase I'm not suffering with Vanessa's presence that much now." Funny thing that he actually looked relieved. The girl did love to talk.
Aelin hummed. "I like her though. She's a straightforward girl. I like it." Then she scrunched her brows. "Actually. Why did you let her come with you?"
"I told you-"
"No the real reason," Ansel cut him off. "You could have left her anywhere." She was genuinly curious. And he could have. And Ansel knew he didn't do anything without purpose.
She saw him hesitate for a minute, deciding how to answer before giving in. "She had no where else or no one else to go to." SHe knew how that felt. That feeling of being lost. When you don't know what to do anymore.
"Ah," Aelin said, knowing as well as she did how it felt. Hell, everyone of them knew how it felt to be completely lost and hopeless with nowhere to go. "So you didn't keep her around because of-"
They both caught that glimmer of mischief in her eyes. Damon decided to cut her off and say, "She's not interested, Ashryver."
Aelin's mouth formed an O when she understood. But didn't say anything else when Damon opened the door to what she assumed was Pearl and Malcolms current room.
He tossed her a wink over a shoulder before they went in.
She smiled.
MALCOLM
He was flying aimlessly, just as he did every night. With no destination. Just the need to get away, feel the wind and take in the darkness of the night.
Night itself offered him a sense of comfort. As if it took form and laid a gentle hand on you in comfort, taking away your troubles for the moment. He could never explain it but he knew theres more to it and not just because he was Stargazer.
He told Pearl where he was going. Right before the others had come in. He needed a moment alone. Every night. He always did. It reminded him when him and Estelle were kids. When they used to sneak out every night, no matter where they were. And flied. He could still hear her laugh of complete joy, the calm look mixed with happiness on her face. The freedom she felt had been contagious when she flew. There had never been a night when they never flew together.
When their mother took her wings away, she told him to go on his own. That he didn't need to stop because of her. They were six hundred at the time. He had only taken her in his arms and flown for the both of them. That soon became their new routine. He wanted her to feel the wind again, even of it wasn't the same, she still felt calm.
Then she took on flying on dragons. He remembered Kayda. The scared little runt of a dragon huddled in the corner of the aerie, her wings shredded by on of the bigger dragons. Estelle had taken her. Choosen Kayda after she saw the way the dragon watched the other dragons as they flew with longing in her eyes.
He had asked why she'd chosen Kayda that night as he flew with her in his arms. "We're the same her and I. Both of us had our ability to fly stolen from us. I want to help her. It's not fair for her to suffer."
He might have said the same to her. But he never questioned it again. Not when he saw her, everyday, tending to Kayda. Coaxing her out of hiding. Saw her fix her wings, slowly, carefully. the parts she couldn't fix, she had a wings made for her. And then they both flew. And he slowly saw the joy on her face grow after each successful flight. It had always made him smile, seeing that wild carefree grin on her face.
"You're distracted." He turned, looking to the left for the source of that voice. Manon. Abraxos silent as he flew with his rider.
"You're silent," he fired back, slightly drifted closer, careful to avoide Abraxos's wings.
She shrugged. "I wanted to enjoy the silence for a bit." Red. He saw her eyes rimmed with red the moment that she turned her face to him. But then she looked away. He didn't question it.
"Can't have that in that room now can we?" Indeed. Even if there was two of them in the room, it would be a racket.
She waved a hand, "We can go later," she said. She nodded at a cliff below and steered Abraxos down. Even in the middle of winter, there were little flowers peaking out from under the snow. Manon made quick work of undoing her buckles before dismounting. Abraxos went off to the flowers.
Malcolm landed and raised a brow in question. She smiled. "He has a weird obsession with flowers."
"So unlike Ryu," he chuckled.
"Very," she agreed. Ryu was her dragon back home. One she had trained alongside Estelle. Malcolm still remembered how frustrated everyone got in the palace's when they realized they both had flown off yet again.
He observed her now as she sat down on the ground, taking in the view of the city from afar. Silently, he sat down beside her. She pulled her legs up, chin resting on her arms folded atop her knees.
"What's wrong," he asked, eyes on the city. There were barely any lights. Only a few lanterns in the streets. He had never seen such little light at any time of the day back home. Especially Evolete.
"Just thinking," Manon replied.
"Am I too bold to assume it's about a certain blue-eyed King," he teased.
She offered him a smirk before turning back to the city. "I hate how you know me too well, you bastard."
He chuckled. "So it is then." She shrugged.
"Amongst other things," she said. She was silent after that. So was he, turning his gaze upwards, to the stars. Each world had a different formation of stars in the sky. Some nights he took his time in learning them. But one constellation remained the same. He learned that every story or legend told in every world had a different constellation. Till now, the only one that remained constant everywhere was an eight pointed star. The symbol of the Stargazers.
Manon seemed to follow his gaze upwards, only drifting to a single little star that he tried not to see and read to often. He couldn't really bring himself to.
At last she said, "I told him." Ah. He had a feeling it had something to do with that.
He asked, "Everything?" They both still looked up.
"No, just...the general story. Not who we are. I thought that would be a little too much for one night."
"You'll have to tell him eventually. You all do."
"I know."
After a moment he asked, "What made you tell him?" It was none of his business, but her silence led him to believe she had something on her mind. No doubt why she flew out tonight in the first place.
"I..don't know. I felt like I had to, I guess."
He looked at her then, at the slight shakiness in her voice. She didn't say anything, Just rested her head on his shoulder. He waited a minute before wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
They looked down at the city below and he said, "Tell me what's the problem?"
She took a shaky breath, as if trying to will herself to form the words. In the end she whispered, "He's a human, Malcolm."
He knew that. And he'd been thinking about it for a while too. But he didn't know what and how things were actually between them. Now he did. But there was something else too. Honestly, he was surprised Manon had him around for these two years. Usually Manon would stay with someone for a week and then never saw the person again. Always. She never had a serious-tell-them-everything-in-my-life kind of relationship and neother did she so much as kiss a friend. If you asked her if she had plans on anything like marriage, it would be a solid no.
She was a free spirit. She didn't want to be caged to one thing all her life. Atleast, according to her. She showed everyone when she refused to be anyones bridesmaid because she knew they would throw the boguet at her. Just for the hell of it.
"What else?" he asked. She didn't answer. So he just said it. "You think he's your-"
"I don't know," she cut him off. "I don't know what this is. All I know is that I can't lose him. I...." She sighed.
"There are ways to fix this you know." And there were. She knew it too. But she just shook her head.
"We'll see, I suppose." And she left it at that. "How's Estelle, then?"
Quick to change the subject. He shrugged, "I don't know. How's Khris?"
"Ah," she said. "I saw that coming for a while."
"What happened then?"
She shrugged, "Just a fight. It's fine."
He didn't think it was 'just a fight.' He'd seen the two fight. They lasted maximum a week. And they never seemed to hate each other as much.
"You didn't answer my question," she said.
"You think I know?"
"Then what did she call for?"
"Something I don't know about." He paused. "She sounded ok though. Atleast a little better."
"That's good then." She sighed and stood up. "We should get going. They'd be done by now."
He couldn't help the laugh that escaped him. Neither could she.
................................................................................................................................................................
Pearl was already in bed by the time he got to the room. Half asleep. She turned, eyes half closed as he silently slipped into the bed.
She reached out a hand lazily. He chuckled and took it and she pulled herself closer, resting her head on his chest.
"You were gone too long," she mumbled in her sleep.
"It was barely an hour," he said, idly stroking her hair. She sighed at the touch.
"Too long," she said.
He chuckled again, placing a kiss to her hair. "I apologize, princess. It won't happen again."
"It better not," she yawned, pulling closer. She was asleep not long after.
ESTELLE
"Do you not sleep?"
She looked up from her phone as Ashton entered the kitchen. She'd seated herself on the kitchen Island for the better part of the night and didn't seem bothered to get up.
"What's it to you?" she asked, looking back at her phone.
He shrugged, pouring himself a glass of water. "Just saying. You look like shit."
She rolled her eyes. "Thanks." He sighed. She didn't know why but she said, "I slept for the better part of an hour so shut your mouth."
She looked up to find him smirking. She raised a brow. "I'd take any chance to get you in trouble, Princess," he said, bowing at the waist and left the room.
She glared at his back as he left. Then realized she was smiling.