Shades of Redemption (Mists of the Fae Book 3)

by Jaime Marks

  “So….shit.” She shook her head. Her body shivering. They each grabbed their robes and Cymeryn wrapped his around her shoulders covering her back as Marcus lay his satin and silk robing over the front of her like a blanket. She accepted them both, which was a good sign. At least she wasn’t angry enough to throw the robes back at them but she was definitely angry. He just couldn’t tell where it was directed.

  She looked from him to Cymeryn and back before she took a deep breath. “Ok so I can feel them. I…feel them both. What I want to know is how it’s even possible that I’m pregnant with both of your children?”

  Chapter 10

  Reyana sat there staring at them both awaiting an answer but she sensed they didn’t have one any more than she did. She wouldn’t even believe it if she couldn’t feel the young in her womb herself. One with the distinctive Darkness of Cymeryn’s essence and the other with the distinct Light of Marcus and both of them Gray. Each Fae, Shade, Gray had their own essence, an energy signature that was specific to them. It was how they managed to locate each other and how they could limitedly communicate with one specific individual. When a Fae became pregnant you could feel the Father’s essence clearly in the young as they grew within you through the blood of their lines. At least that was what she had been taught. She had had Staryana when she was still human over sixteen years ago. She remembered feeling a much stronger connection to Sean at the time, but nothing like this.

  “Perhaps I might interject, if the Shade can bear my dialect.” Shala appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

  Cymeryn groaned as he reached for his pants. “I really despise faeries.”

  “Let her speak, brother. Shala often knows more than we can imagine. She is a guide and a friend of sorts.” Marcus assured him. “I would never have been able to trust risking this without Shala’s revelations.”

  The sprite bowed to him in gratitude despite how Cymeryn rolled his eyes. He said nothing else as he dressed, regarding the pixie suspiciously as she watched their interactions.

  “Shala, why are you here? Did my Father send you?” Reyana asked feeling more than a little lost and glad that they had covered her before she had arrived. It just felt wrong being exposed in front of her even though in reality she knew she was generally always with her in some respect.

  “The Divine Being indeed senses your plight, the way you are consumed with fright. He sent me here to ease your fear, he bids you do not shed a tear.”

  “How is it possible though, Shala? Is this his will?” She asked still not understanding.

  “You three were bound quite long ago a young destined to be, but you see your choice was the key, and their loyalty.” She motioned to both Cymeryn and Marcus.

  She tried to reason out the rhymes as her head spun so she could be sure she understood.

  “What do you mean we were all bound faerie?” Cymeryn demanded as he studied her in frustration.

  “Two were born of Night and Light to protect Lunya in the fight. Destined to sit still by her side, in the Palace to preside. Meant to protect her from corruptions hand but Lazurys was too fast with his demand. When she was born of mortal shell the bond did not break as you can tell.”

  “Don’t you mean Dark faerie? And I was not born Dark and Marcus has always been Light…predominantly.” Cymeryn retorted crossing his arms as he regarded her critically.

  “Darkness has its varying forms, it quite resembles phases of the storms. You were never meant to yield to Lazurys’ rule, though he coveted you as his tool. The Darkness has a place you see, outside of the corruption that has become reality.” Shala explained patiently enduring Cymeryn’s scrutiny as she always had Marcus’.

  He looked confused as he ran a hand through his hair. “I do not understand.”

  “Shala,” Reyana hesitated trying to phrase her words carefully. “I just need a yes or no so I know if I understand this ok? As Lunya, they were bound to me…as my protectors; twins born predisposed to the Dark and the Light. When the Divine Being sent me to the Fae, the bond remained. They remained bound to me as my protectors but I died and was reborn. The prophecy said I was to choose between Dark and Light, but I chose balance. Are you telling me I was also destined to have a child somewhere in this?”

  She watched the sprite nod. “You had already chosen once you spread the Gray, so when both their seed entered you this way, neither was rejected nor turned away…and twins were conceived once more this day. Your Father wishes you to know that it’s alright to let this flow. The love you found is not wrong to share, of your guilt he is well aware. Allow this love to make all of you whole, to heal the pain in one another’s souls.”

  She must have turned bright red at that point because both Cymeryn and Marcus snickered and she could feel the heat of it on her skin. She preferred not to think about how much her Father knew.

  “There is much for you three to discuss, so I shall leave no muss no fuss. But first Protector of Night, that which once was hidden will now have sight.” She bowed to Cymeryn and they watched as she shrunk and flitted away. Reyana sat in silence as they studied her. She didn’t know what to say. She was too overwhelmed.

  “Reya, say something so we know that you are okay, that you do not hate us for this.” Marcus whispered. “Had we even fathomed…”

  Cymeryn’s hand went tentatively to her stomach as he knelt beside her. “I am sorry, Reyn.”

  She grabbed Cymeryn’s hand holding it against what she supposed was her womb so that he knew she wouldn’t deny him the right. “I’m not angry and I could never hate you…either of you. I’m just a little shocked and trying to figure out exactly how the hell this is going to work.”

  Cymeryn stood with a sigh withdrawing his hand from her. The resignation in his form was clear. “Simply Reyn, you are going to tell every and any Fae who asks that they are both of Marcus’ blood.”

  “Cymeryn, you can’t be serious.” Marcus interjected obviously appalled.

  “Actually, mine blooded twin, I am quite serious. No one can ever know that she is pregnant with my young, because Alayne can never know.” His head hung, pain radiating from him as he took a couple steps away from them obviously seeking distance as he prepared himself to do what he felt he had to.

  “Cymeryn, please tell me you aren’t going to leave.” She pleaded not looking at him. She could already sense his answer. It was too much for her. She couldn’t take losing him again, especially not now.

  “Cymeryn,” Marcus choked, “Is that who you’re protecting her from? Is Alayne coming for Reyana?”

  Cymeryn nodded as he stared off into the distance. “I will not lie to either of you. My original intention today was to take you and deliver you directly to Lazurys, Reyn.”

  Reyana watched him noticing for the first time he hadn’t refer to the Dark deity as his lord once since they’d been together. She also took note to the brown highlights slowly emerging in his hair. They were barely noticeable, but she knew what she was looking for and she was more than aware of what they meant.

  He spoke softly, his eyes closed tight, his brow creased. “As punishment for my failure last month, Lazurys decreed that should Alayne reach you before me, to succeed where I have failed or even if I simply allow you to slip through my grasp once more, we will both be left to Alayne’s devices. It is a fate that I could never allow you to suffer, Reyn. You have no idea what he will do to you and not even for the joy of doing it, but in order to destroy me. I knew that you may hate me but I was willing to take you this eve by force if necessary if it meant you would escape that fate.”

  “And now?” She asked softly. “What would you do now?”

  He met her eyes with sincerity. “Now I can never deliver you to him. You have given me the greatest gifts, Reyn. Your love and my young within you are gifts that I most certainly do not deserve after the century of torture I have waged on all the realms. This is my penance, my beautiful Reyn, and it is my gift to you.”

  “Cymeryn, please don’t do this
to her, to yourself. We can keep her safe together. We will find a way. Once you are Redeemed you will escape Lazurys’ reach.” Marcus pleaded. “I can feel your bonds to him breaking already. Surely you can as well.”

  He looked to Marcus. “Think on this, my brother. She is royalty. She should be bound to a proper line in a traditional fashion. Aside from that I am not the typical Shade. I possess Lazurys’ own essence. I accepted it within me willingly. He will always own me. I cannot be Redeemed and even if I could her people will never accept us both. Once our young are born their own essence will form and it should be close enough that no one will question whether or not they are yours. Perform the Claiming in private, take them both as your own, Marcus. Love my young as you will your own and give them the life they deserve.”

  “And what about you, Cymeryn? What exactly is going to happen to you? And how am I supposed to deal with this? No one else will know but I will always know. How am I supposed to lie to your child?” She was getting angry. She couldn’t believe he was going to do this or even worse that they were deciding this without so much as a word from her.

  He knelt before her taking her face in his hands as he pleaded for her to understand. “Reyn, if he discovers this, if Alayne finds out you are with my young, he will be relentless and exploit every weakness you have until he can get his hands on you and then he will rip the young from your womb while he forces me to watch. I have to go back so I can protect you. So I can protect them, and so I can protect Staryana.”

  “What does Star even have to do with this?” She scoffed knowing he tended to use her connection to her daughter to get her to see reason.

  He released her and rose to his feet looking between them. “She is one of your greatest weaknesses, my love. And you may both want to brace yourselves for this because I was certainly taken off guard…Her Father is Alayne’s blooded son. Syneous is his son. Which makes Staryana…Alayne’s grandchild.”

  Reyana gaped at him in shock but Marcus was on his feet. “What the hell do you mean she is Alayne’s grandchild? Sean was never that strong! Kato would have sensed it.”

  “I did not sense it either. Lazurys had him masked. I would never have turned him myself adding to his strength had I known. The last thing I need is a link directly to Alayne’s own line.” Cymeryn slashed the air with his hand in disgust with the entire situation. “He was put in place to keep Reyana subdued and under control until she was near her awakening. Why they did not simply awaken him and take her I do not know. It does not make any sense to me how they went about this. It is almost as if there are other things at work here and Syneous made a point of letting me know that Staryana was conceived to control Reyana and that their young was the reason they were married. With the way he downplayed Staryana’s existence? You can bet Alayne has great plans for the girl.”

  Marcus paced. “Cymeryn, you should stay. They will use you if they can. They have been manipulating and using you in this all along. They will try to lure her out with you. You must see that.”

  Cymeryn grabbed him by the shoulders stilling him. “I feel it too, my brother. The renewed bond between us. I know why you fight this, but you must understand, there is no other way. I can at least create enough delay to try to last out until she is not quite so vulnerable, hopefully until the young are born. I am counting on you, brother. You must protect her. You must keep them safe.”

  “Promise me that if there is a way you will return to us. That you will call and let me help you.” Marcus held his stare. “You will not be able to do this alone.”

  “I realize you both think you get to decide this, but I need you, Cymeryn.” Reyana didn’t even look at them. She sat with her legs crossed staring down at the blade of grass she was twisting nervously. She couldn’t let him leave her, not again but she knew she couldn’t force him to stay either. “If you go, you need to come back to me when and as you can. I need to see you, not just dream of you. Otherwise I swear to you both I will come find you my damned self.”

  They both gaped at her in horrified shock as they spoke in unison. “You can’t be serious!”

  She looked up and met each of them in the eye. “I’m quite serious and you both know I’m good enough at ditching whatever guards you assign. You both ambushed me, twice now. Made love to me until our hearts merged as one. Now you want me to sit idly by as you tell me I can never see you again. You don’t get to make that choice, Cymeryn. I’ll keep your secret for now. I’ll do as you ask, but you will come to me when you can or I’ll come to you. I’m pretty sure I can find either of you anywhere at this point.”

  “Even if I promise you Reyn, you have to realize this may not be a weekly or even a monthly thing.” He sighed noting her defiance. “It will be sporadic and random. I will have to either sneak away or appear to be trying to obtain you and that will get risky. I cannot appear to fail continually or Alayne will win. Worse he could follow me right to you. I don’t like the idea of taking those risks with you.” Cymeryn watched her carefully. He was worried she would tear in two and he was right to worry. She needed him here, she needed both of them here if she was going to be ok with this.

  She let her essence reach into him so that he could feel exactly where she was at and how much she meant what she said. “You want me to hold it together, not to tear myself up over all this? Then I need to know you’re alive and I need to see you in whatever way you can reach me.”

  He nodded grudgingly. “Alright my love, I promise I will do my best to come to you. I will check in within your mind so you know I am alright and come to see you as often as I am able but it will likely need to be here. I do not trust meeting you in the open where you are vulnerable and you are not to risk journeying here without Marcus. It is too dangerous. If you need me, reach out to me. I love you, both of you.” He added as he clasped Marcus’ arm. “I must go. I have been gone too long as it is and I have to find a way to mask all this before I return to your former home. I do not know what tricks Syneous has learned from his Father.”

  Marcus reached down and helped her as she rose to her feet and handed him his robing. He brought it to his nose. “It smells like you, my insatiable, Reyn.” He smiled teasingly as he pulled it on and fastened it. “Come here, love.”

  Reyana went to him letting him pull her into a strong embrace, his essence flooding her as he let his love flow through her. “It will be alright, love. I will find a way to make this right for you. It will just take time.” He assured her.

  Tears streamed down as he took her face in his hands and kissed her reverently. He almost broke her heart as he knelt before her and kissed her stomach, sliding the robing out of the way so he could touch her skin. He rose and kissed her one last time. “I will come to you when I can. I do you love you, Reyn. Whatever happens, however things appear, never forget that it is an act and that I love you with every fiber of my being.”

  She nodded as he kissed her forehead. “I love you too, Cymeryn.”

  “I know, Reyn. I have always known.” He clasped arms with Marcus once more. “Keep her safe. Keep them all safe.”

  “You have my word, Cymeryn. We will be there, waiting for you when you’re ready.” Marcus vowed his hand over his heart as he spoke.

  He nodded and they watched him leave. She felt Marcus’ strong embrace slip around her from behind as his essence flowed through her, comforting her. “We will help him if we can, Reya. We will find a way.” She turned into him and let the tears flow freely as he held her trying to somehow ease her. “Let’s get you dressed, Reya. We need to go back soon and I would feel much better if we get Byryn back to Star.”

  She nodded, “Should we tell him? About Alayne?”

  Marcus rubbed her shoulders as he spoke. “Actually, Reya, I believe Byryn tends to know far more than we realize. He’s suspected there was something we were missing in Staryana’s lineage. He keeps insisting the Darkness in her is too strong; that her strength in it is too powerful for what we knew. So yes, I plan to tell him. I als
o believe he already knows about the young. He’s hinted he knew but is too respectful to come straight out and ask. I was considering telling him the truth about everything. I trust him.”

  “Do you think it will put him at risk, Cymeryn that is?” She stared back at the entrance to the grove as he helped her into her sheath and handed her the gown.

  “No, in fact Byryn may have some insight that will help us.” Marcus offered. “The boy understands their world and he has proven a valuable ally. He knows we were with Cymeryn this eve and has kept my secrets. I had to tell him we planned on meeting him or he would have alerted the others the moment he sensed him. Cymeryn is his Grandsire. Despite the fact that he has renounced his lineage he can still sense where they are, likely because he is so versed in his manipulation of the essence.”

  She nodded. “I trust you Marcus and I don’t believe Byryn would ever judge me. I just …can’t deal with it yet if everyone knows. It’s bad enough I will have to make it public soon and Mythos is going to insist on a Bonding ceremony. A very large and public ceremony.” She groaned at even the thought.

  Marcus pulled her to him. “Listen to me, we won’t do anything you don’t want to do, ok? I don’t care what your brother wants, this is about you. I understand you not wanting to formally bond with either of us individually. We’ll take it one step at a time and figure it out, alright? There is something you should know, though. Kato knows that you are with young, and he suspects the babe is Cymeryn’s.”

  She grimaced. “How would he even know?”

  “During his Redemption, Reyana. He sensed the pregnancy. I don’t believe he knows there are twins or of their unique parentage but he does know that Cymeryn is linked to you in some way through the young.” Marcus sighed scratching his jaw. “I have been trying to appease him all month. He has tried several time to get me to reveal the pregnancy to you and address the risk that carrying Cymeryn’s young posed to you as you are so prone to wondering off.”