I watch him as he continues to make a pillow nest. In my past life, I would have taken his words as a challenge. He’s good-looking, nice, probably knows what he’s doing between a girl’s thighs. I would have relished the opportunity to make him see me as desirable and then happily walked away when I had gotten what I wanted from him.
But now, I must have turned over a new leaf, because I find myself not caring whether Wekun sees me as anything. It’s almost a relief in a weird way that he doesn’t care, that he’s not flirty or subtly pushing boundaries.
I sigh and wonder if I’ll ever be the same after all of this is over. Once these mate bonds are broken and this war is over, what am I going to? I guess I could live in the Eyrie, give all the houses there running hot water, or maybe I find a little patch of land and build a cottage and collect...fuck, they don’t have cats. I try to think of the alternative to a cat lady spinster, but I don’t know if there is one here.
I pause, contemplating if fairies like to be kept as pets, and then internally facepalm because I’m an idiot. Wekun can travel between worlds, so he can take me home when all is said and done. If I break the Vow, then I’ll have done what I promised to do and there would be no point in staying in this world anymore.
I could leave.
The thought sends me reeling. I don’t have to be stuck here. I’ve been searching for a way to get back and here it is, standing in a pile of pillows. Astonishment rocks me, and I suddenly find the words to beg Wekun to take me home sitting on the tip of my tongue. I stop them from spilling out. The realization that I can leave all at once feels a little toocounting your chickens before they hatch.First the mate bonds need to be severed, and then I need to actually figure out how to break the Vow. Once all of that is done, I can bring up my plan to Wekun. I’m sure he’d be happy to help, it’s what he seems to be all about.
“Okay, how does this work and what should I do?” I ask, ignoring the nervous wobble I hear in my voice.
“Lie down here,” Wekun instructs, patting the pillows in the center of his nest. “I’m going to put my hands on you in search of a thread of your magic. If I can find one, then I more or less tug on it and see what I can unravel—”
“And if you don’t find a thread?” I interrupt to ask.
“Then I may not be able to do anything. I won’t give up, but it would make everything harder,” he tells me solemnly.
I nod and take a deep breath. Well, here’s hoping he can find something, because I have the sinking suspicion I’m going to need it if I want to help the Gryphons.
“Wakanda Forever,” I exclaim quietly to myself, like I’m hoping somehow the words will pump me up and prepare me for what may or may not happen.
Both options suck dirty dick, because if he finds a thread, I know this is going to hurt. I can recall the memories of when I first got the markings when I was little and what my dad did to take them away. I’ve never felt anything like that kind of pain. Well, not until Zeph knocked me out of the sky and smashed me into the ground.
If Wekun doesn’t find hints of my magic, then everything I’ve been planning and striving for is about to get a little more impossible. I hope for the sake of the Gryphons who are about to destroy one another that I can find a way to put a stop to it.
I scoot over and lie down in front of Wekun. His Narwagh-pant-clad knees rest against my side, and he bends over me with his hands outstretched. He closes his eyes as though he’s centering himself or perhaps praying. Maybe he’s whispering his ownWakanda Forever.
My eyes trace the lines of the cream-colored tunic he’s wearing and watch as he takes a deep breath, releasing it slowly. I try to relax and stare up at the ceiling of the tent as his warm palms move up to rest on my chest. He pauses for a minute and then moves down my sternum, like his hands are a metal detector and he’s trying to listen for the right cadence of beeps to tell him he’s hit the jackpot.
I become all too aware of my breathing as he skims slowly over my body. I’m nervous. Worried about what happens if he finds something, worried if he doesn’t. Pigeon sends me a wave of reassurance, and I give her a grateful smile. We’ve been doing so much better together; checking in, taking the other’s feelings into account. I haven’t been able to let her out to stretch too much, but as soon as Wekun gets us sorted—one way or the other—we’ll start training again.
I try to go through the list of things we need to do in my head as Wekun’s hands roam over my arms and then move back to my stomach. Pigeon and I need to find the words to break the Vow. We need to convince the Ouphe and the Gryphons here to help us. And then we just need to win the war.
No pressure.
My heart picks up a little as Wekun’s searching palms dip lower down my abdomen. His skin skims the fabric of the thin tank top dress I’m wearing, and my body wakes up and heats, regardless of the platonic way my brain is saying it should react. He stops suddenly just above the apex of my thighs, and I try not to snort.
Who doesn’t want a magical vagina?
The rapacious little shit has gotten me in enough trouble though, and I don’t know if I’d trust whatever Wekun is obviously feeling to be the guiding light for Gryphon salvation.
“Got it,” Wekun announces calmly.
Fucking hell.Well, this just got infinitely more awkward.
Pigeon makes that chuffing sound that she does when she’s amused, and I roll my eyes at her. I swallow down the wisecrack I have for Wekun, because he’s clearly concentrating so hard.
A jerking sensation hooks through me. Thankfully, it doesn’t come from my crotch, but rather my chest, but I’m all at once overwhelmed by the feeling that something is being threaded through me. It’s as though each cell that I possess is the eye of a needle and Wekun is carefully fitting a warm, stinging string of magic through each opening simultaneously.
I gasp as the slight burning sensation goes from uncomfortable to agonizing in less than a blink. My back bows off the large pillows I’m lying on, and just as I feel the bloodcurdling scream claw its way out of my throat, I’m ripped away from my body.
I scramble to try and hold on to myself. I feel Pigeon’s talons scrape down my arm as she tries to reach for me, but I’m suddenly hurtling back through the star-filled sky as though I’ve been lassoed and I’m being drug to fuck knows where.
My body crashes against stone, but surprisingly it doesn’t hurt. I work to pull oxygen into what I’m pretty sure is my incorporeal body and look around. Shock slithers through me when I immediately recognize where I am. I’m sitting inside the gazebo that Nadi brought me to, surrounded by the overgrown and long abandoned Ouphe city of Vedan. I’m back in the heart of where the Hidden used to live.
Only it’s not Nadi glowing green and sitting next to me.
