Back when his punishment began, Elara never allowed Emrys on this patrol. But as the years have stretched on, she becomes more convinced the betrayal will never be repeated. She finds it easier to banish him to seven-day patrols than torment him for seven days straight. She’s grown bored of him, as she tends to do with all her toys.
It still grates on Emrys that he once loved the Alpha of the Southern Wolf Pack.
Coming to the top of yet another hill Emrys allows himself one moment of rest to gaze upon Valtara. From this distance, in the setting sun, it glimmers like an oasis. After a single breath, he casts his eyes down to the ground and pushes on.
He is on a tight schedule, and while usually he’s allowed to rest at night, he can only do so when he reaches certain points along the path. Emrys still has another hour or so to reach the cave. There, he will lay restlessly. That cave brings him nothing but pain. But Elara will know if he skips it and she’ll punish him double for avoiding the emotional pain the place brings. He will be forced to relive the times he betrayed her and she will revel in it.
Continuing forward, Emrys puts one foot in front of another just as he’s been doing for the last eight years. So rarely does he let his thoughts drift to the golden-haired Fae he stumbled upon on this very same patrol nine years ago. So rarely does he allow himself to sink into such fantasies. There is no escape anymore. There is only one foot in front of the other.
Casting away any thoughts of his lost life, Emrys limps forward. By the time he approaches the grove, the sun is set. The pain in his leg is blinding, and his stomach rolls with hunger. Emrys is sure he will fall unconscious as soon as he lets his body hit the ground in the cave, safe from emotional turmoil after all.Perhaps, after fainting, Elara will find it inside of herself to send him just a bit more magic. Otherwise, he may not make it back.
It’s against Wolf law for a pack member to die by preventable means. The Pack magic won’t allow it. So, at the very least he knows the magic, the same magic that keeps him tortured and tied to Elara’s will, would not let him die tonight. He isn’t sure if there’s comfort in that, but he long ago released any notion of a life where this wasn’t this truth.
Entering the grove, Emrys doesn’t bother to sniff the air. He doesn’t notice anything amiss until a giant Fae with massive brown bat-like wings steps out of the cave, a knife gripped in his palm.
Perhaps it is finally time for Emrys to die. He stands tall, lets lose a snarl that sounds pathetic even to his own ears. If he is to die, it will not be a weak Wolf’s death, even if internal strength is all Emrys has left.
There is a scuffling noise. The Fae shifts his eyes to the left slightly. It would be the perfect chance to attack if Emrys could, but the injury to his leg would never allow it. Instead, his mind flashes back to the North, to his home. How he wishes he could die there, be returned to the wind and cold where he belongs.
What Emrys sees next makes him think maybe he has died already.
Aerin Tolvare shoves the knife towards the ground. Aerin: golden hair and golden skin and golden eyes. Aerin who Emrys met in this very same place for the first time nine years ago.
“Do not, under any circumstances, hurt him.” She says the words quickly, like she can’t get them out fast enough.
Then those golden eyes are on him. Aerin knows it’s him but asks anyways. This form is a sorry excuse compared to what Emrys was before Elara’s wrath.
“Emrys?” Her voice cracks on his name.
There aren’t words to describe the emotions that roll through his body. A sudden burst of joy shoves him forward. He limps as fast as he can across the grove. Aerin meets him just over halfway, crouching down to embrace him as Emrys crashes into her. His tongue finds her face, if only to know for certain she is real. The taste of her skin is as familiar to Emrys as it has ever been. Aerin laughs through building tears. He tastes the salt on her cheeks as he continues what feels natural to him.
“Em. Em. Em,” Aerin chants his name like a prayer. His soul soars. He doesn’t consider anything but his own happiness in seeing her, alive and well, older and stronger.
Emrys backs up a step, allowing her to sit up in the grass. Aerin smiles and strokes his ear, down his neck. This body is thin and sallow. As she feels it her eyes grow sad.
“Em, please, I need to talk to you. I need to seeyou,”she begs, holding his Wolf head in both her hands.
Emrys wishes and he wills, but that form is long gone. Elara hasn’t allowed him to take a Fae form since the night they were discovered. No matter how he pushes or pulls, no matter how much he wills it. Elara is his Alpha, and it is her who controls him. Whether it’s his behavior or his form, the Alpha is in control of all things.
Emrys shakes his head no.
“Oh Gods,” Aerin murmurs.
“The Wolf is hurt; I can smell the blood. Get it in here before something else comes looking for an easy dinner,” the male Fae bosses. Emrys bares his teeth at him, but he’s right: Emrys is bleeding, has been for a while.
Aerin looks him over, running her hands across his body. Despite knowing her hand is approaching the wound, Emrys is unable to stop the small whimper that escapes his jaw when her hand brushes it. He’s fairly certain the leg is broken. That thewound is his own bone, piercing through skin. Aerin pulls her hand back immediately, only to find blood on her fingertips.
Rage blazes in her eyes.
“I’m going to kill Elara for this,” Aerin swears. Then she takes his face in her hands again, “Do you hear me? I’m going to kill her. And I’m going to free you. I am never leaving you again Emrys. Never.”
As if Emrys’s body knows these are the words he has been waiting to hear for eight years, as if his body knows it’s finally safe to give up, his vision fades, his legs give. Emrys drops into the grass just shy of Aerin Tolvare.
25
AERIN
Aerin thought she knew heartbreak. Aerin thought she knew rage. But when Emrys collapses, she realizes she doesn’t know anything. She feels foolish, ashamed of her own naivety. Aerin thought she’d show up here, find Emrys, and take him home. Easy. Aerin never once imagined the level of torture inflicted on him by Elara.
