Ember (8 page)

Eventually.

It wasn’t long before I heard a hitch in Desmond’s breath and looked to see Cora appear at the back of the fae. He gazed at her with undeniable adoration. I went weak in the knees for her.

Cora wore a cream empire waist dress that fell mid-calf, layered pieces swaying gracefully as she walked to meet Desmond. A loose braid crowned her head with a wreath of lilies of the valley atop her bronze hair. Her wings were a light shade of mint, blending perfectly with her coral eyes.

Her gaze shifted shyly to the ground when I heard him breathe, “Wow.” She was the epitome of grace sauntering down the aisle.

Hearts full, eyes wet, the hush across the fae was profound. This day was only the beginning of putting Faylinn back together, and everyone was present to witness it.

When Cora reached Desmond they locked onto each other’s wrist in a Root, facing one another. Cavan spoke, but it all faded into the background as I observed Desmond and Cora wrapped so deeply in the moment. Everything revolving around their bonding was simple. It wasn’t about anything except them. No lavish dresses or diamond rings, just the two of them sealing their fate to one another.

When the moment came, they exchanged matching wooden bands, sliding them onto one another’s wrists and shared a tender kiss before embracing. And then a cheer so elated resonated across the crowd; I thought my eardrums might burst.

Declan met me at the front, offering his elbow, and we followed the couple back up the aisle while everyone disbursed to enjoy the food and dance.

“Zaelae, my brother.” Declan spread his arms to hug Desmond, their palms giving manly pats to the other’s back. “Sister.” He smiled at Cora. “Zaelae.” She stepped forward to embrace him.

“Thank you, Declan.” She seemed to disappear in the arms of these two brawny brothers.

“What does zaelae mean?” I asked.

“It’s basically wishing them well and congratulating them,” Declan explained.

Allura appeared at Declan’s side and hugged both Cora and Desmond. “You two are just a match made from the Fates,” she said.

My eyes found their wrists now adorned with identical bands about an inch wide. Their light wooden bands were carved with matching ivy vines.

“So do we exchange bands rather than rings?” I asked no one in particular. For some reason I was fascinated by the identical bands.

Desmond and Cora looked at me in confusion as if they thought it should be something I already knew. The others nodded, accustomed to my incessant questioning.

“Why do we hold wrists in a Root?” Declan tested me, and I felt like a five year old answering my teacher.

“Our veins are our lifelines,” I repeated what I remembered like a good little student.

“She’s my lifeline now.” Desmond gathered Cora into his arms, kissing her forehead.

“It’s nauseatingly symbolic, is it not?” Kai commented. My eyes shot to the sound of his familiar voice and saw him leaning against the nearest trunk. Though I knew he was always near, he definitely made it a point to keep himself undetected when he was.

“I actually think it’s kind of sweet.” I looked pointedly at him. “What’s wrong with having a reminder of your reason for living?”

“Wow, Queeny,” Allura interjected with the rise of an eyebrow. “I didn’t take you for such a romantic.”

I shrugged. “I just think it’s nice to get to be with the one person you love more than anything and know they feel the same way.”

“It is,” Cora agreed, peering up at Desmond. “Des, how about we dance a little bit and then head home?”

“Whatever you want, Cora.” He took hold of her hand, and they faded into the crowd.

“It only made sense for them to be the first,” Allura dreamily said as we watched them retreat. “It’s about time they finally get to be with each other.”

“Yeah,” Declan said somberly as he watched his brother and, now, sister mingle blissfully with everyone. Watching their happiness left an ache in my heart. Would I ever get the opportunity to be as happy as they were? Would any of us?

I shifted my gaze to the tree and saw Kai’s eyes were not on them but on me. His eyes didn’t shy away, and neither did mine. I wished I could read his thoughts to know what was running through his mind when he looked at me like that. There wasn’t any way to really describe it. It wasn’t any one emotion I could pin point. It was everything all at once, drowning me in an ocean of sensations of which I never wanted to let go.

Finally, he broke the connection, altering his stare to the gathering of fae with indifference and then left in the opposite direction without a word.

“Let’s get in on this celebration, shall we?” Allura beamed. She reached out and took my hand, dragging me into the crowd to dance. If dancing would clear my mind, I would dance all night.

Chapter Seven

A
ll night long I had stayed awake in bed thinking about bonding. As a Royal what colony was I allowed to bond with? Kai and Declan had made it pretty clear that because of the law, I would never be able to be with either of them, not that I had let my thoughts wander that far into the future with one of them anyway. We were never going to be possible. But after Desmond and Cora’s bonding, it was as if I couldn’t think of anything else.

Cameron normally would have been my first call when I couldn’t sleep. He would have talked me through this and listened. I wouldn’t have even cared if he didn’t have anything useful to say. I just wanted to hear his voice and to know someone had my back—someone understood how inadequate I felt. Gosh, I missed him.

As Evan rambled on about I couldn’t even tell you what, that question started to nag at me. Who was I supposed to be bonded to? I hadn’t wanted to seem so eager before when talking about bonding, but this felt like a pretty important topic. How long would it be before they expected me to bond?

“Evan,” I interjected, cutting him off. He shut his mouth and stopped pacing around the chamber or atrium or whatever I was supposed to call it. “If everyone else has a colony to bond in, when the time comes who can I bond with?”

He took a moment to take in what I had asked. I’m sure I was completely off topic. Though he should have been irritated with my interruption, he merely blinked and shifted gears. “Before Favner it was customary for the Royals to bond with Royals from the other kingdoms. By tying powers it creates a unity between kingdoms, encouraging us all to keep the peace. It’s a reminder that we once came from the same place, even though we live in different kingdoms now and believe different things.”

“I have to bond with someone from another kingdom? How’s that going to work? There can’t be
that
many Royals.”

“I estimate there are about twenty to twenty-five eligible Royals.”

This just keeps getting better and better.
“Are you telling me that not only can I not bond with someone from Faylinn, but that there are only a handful that I can even choose from?”

I could tell he didn’t know how to respond to my bluntness, so he only nodded.

“And what if I don’t want to marry another Royal?”

He began shaking his head. “That … that’s never happened in the history of our existence.”

“But can it be done?”

Apprehension showed on his face when he realized how serious I was. “I don’t think it would go over well with the other kingdoms. Even if you made it acceptable for all colonies to bond outside of their true colony, as I know you would like, you fall under a separate category, My Queen. You are a Royal. In order for you to have a choice every kingdom must agree to it.”

I had to get permission from six separate individuals before I could bond with someone I loved? “And why should they get a say? They chose to break away from Faylinn. Why is it our responsibility to bond with them? Their opinions should be moot.”

“Your Grace, it’s simply the way it is. I didn’t make the rules. They’ve been in place for centuries now and have always been honored.”

“I understand the sacred nature in which they stand, but I don’t understand why I should have to suffer in order to appease a group of faeries who were the ones to rebel in the first place. Why should they get to make their own rules, while we are forced to abide by the same ancient ones put in place ages ago? It’s hypocrisy.”

“You’re speaking blasphemy, Your Highness,” he said calmly.

“I think I’m speaking logically and fairly. Whose side are you on anyway, Evan?” I realized then that my voice had risen to a ridiculously loud level.

“Yours, My Queen. Always,” he said immediately and bowed.

I sighed, frustrated with myself for going all royally high and mighty on a man who had done nothing but try to help me. “Calliope,” I said, resigned.

“I’m sorry?”

“Will you not call me Your Majesty or Your Highness or any other form of royal respect? I understand royal formality, but when it’s only the two of us, will you please not? It makes me uncomfortable.”

“As you wish.”

I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Evan. Can we be done for the day?” My brain couldn’t handle anything else.

His lips pursed, unhappy with my abrupt decision, but he conceded. “Yes, Calliope.” He bent at the waist, while retreating quickly out the atrium doors.

Technically, if I wanted to, I could bond with anyone. It would take some convincing and a little bending of the rules, but it could be done. The question was, was I willing to make that compromise? It wouldn’t be fair of me to be the only one who was exempt from bonding in my own colony. Could I really do that and still feel good about the decision?

Probably not.

The sound of chuckling brought me out of my stupor. “Oh, Your Majesty, can’t handle the pressure already?”

I groaned outwardly, but inside I was beaming, relieved to see him. A part of me wanted to hug him, but I reigned in that unexpected urge. He had made himself scarce all day. I noticed since I’d been here, even while guarding me, he did everything in his power to communicate with me less and less.

“Kai, for what do I owe the honor?”

“My apologies,” he said formally, leaning forward in a bow.

“Get up,” I ordered tiredly with him mid-bow. “It’s bad enough that Evan does that a million times a day as with the rest of the fae. I don’t need it from you, too.”

He offered his playful grin. “I’m simply paying my respects.”

“You say that as if I’ve died.”

“Well, I suppose this is like a rebirth. You do look …” He cocked his head to one side, “… different now.” His indigo eyes trailed from my moccasin covered feet to my crown. I touched it self-consciously. I didn’t like wearing it in the first place, but Evan made it clear I couldn’t get rid of that custom, just yet. I needed something to set me apart from the rest of the fae.

“The faery in me is taking over. I don’t think I look much like a human at all anymore.”

“It’s about time. I was beginning to worry there was no hope for you.”

It sounded like an insult, but coming from Kai, he was probably trying to pay me a compliment. It didn’t change the fact that it made me want to smack him, but I held back the urge. It suddenly occurred to me how mad I was at him and Declan for keeping me in the dark.

“Why didn’t you and Declan tell me I have to bond with another Royal?”

He snorted. “Because it never came up. Why are you so concerned about bonding?”

“Because someday in my future I would like that to be a possibility, and I want to know what my options are. Doesn’t it bother you that you can’t be with anyone but a Sower?” I wanted to take the words back as soon as I said them.

He looked briefly taken aback by my question before he was able to recover. “I’ve never really thought much about it.” He tried sounding nonchalant, but I heard the lie in his voice.

I suddenly didn’t want to know his answer to the question because if bonding with another Sower didn’t bother him he wasn’t concerned about a future with anyone else. “What are you really doing here, Kai?” I steered his attention.

“I came to check up on you,” he said simply. “Making sure you weren’t slowly dismantling this kingdom piece by piece.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I muttered dryly as he chuckled.

“Honestly though, Calliope, are you surviving? Do you think you can handle it all?” I swallowed when he locked his eyes with mine. They watched me with a hint of concern that I wasn’t expecting to see. I disguised the immediate hitch in my breath.

The way my name fell from his lips like it belonged there ignited feelings inside of me that I had never associated with Kai before. I blinked away our eye contact and chuckled humorlessly. “I’m surviving.” I sat back at my newly acquired table, heaving an exhausted breath. “I feel like this was all a big mistake. Some people think I’m their savior while others look at me like I don’t belong here.”

“You belong here,” he assured. “They will see it soon. It’ll just take time.”

I’d recently been repeatedly beaten over and over by his sarcasm that I wasn’t prepared for his concern. I offered him a small smile, but wasn’t reassured by his conviction. “Do you really believe that?”

He blinked and paused a moment before responding. “I do.”

“Where’s Declan?” I asked for lack of anything else to say. My nerves were getting the best of me.

With a subtle eye roll he said, “He stepped away for a minute. I didn’t pry into his whereabouts.” A flicker of annoyance passed in his eyes. He began to retreat, but I wasn’t ready for that yet.

“Kai—”

The assertive footsteps of Evan’s all too familiar gait came from the corridor before he appeared in the doorway.

“Well, Your Majesty,” Kai said, formal again. “Unless there is anything more you require of me I should get back to my duties.”

My brow ruffled for a moment until his eyes urged me to play along.

“No, Kai,” I released him. “Thank you. That will be all.”

He bowed as a trace of a smirk played on his mouth before he showed himself the exit.

“I’ve come to inform you that your dinner is ready.”