by Cece Rose
I glance at her and offer a small smile of my own. “Oddly, I think that’s actually one of the most reassuring things I’ve heard in over a week.”
Twenty-One
A Dark Wedding
I have to admit, Cia was right about the stupid pixie dust. There’s a glowing, light sparkle to my skin that reflects underneath the moonlight. I keep glancing down at it, semi-entranced as she leads me through the palace grounds to a small grove of trees. We follow along the trail of candles that have been set out to guide our way to the small clearing at the centre of the grove.
In the clearing, nine people stand waiting in front of a large, crackling bonfire. Cia moves to go and stand beside Aven and her parents, not giving me so much as a parting glance on her way. King Cirrus is looking at me with open distaste, and none of the heads of houses look very amused to be here either. I’m not sure if that’s purely because I’m a witch, or if there’s any disdain for Rhydian too. He’s not exactly the perfect prince, choosing to mostly ignore his commitments in favour of various dangerous and borderline illegal pursuits.
I finally turn my gaze to look at Rhydian, feeling my stomach twist as he looks away, unable to meet my eyes. Shit, why does it hurt so much that he doesn’t really want to do this?
A tall, spindly figure steps out from the flames of the bonfire, drawing the attention of everyone gathered. The creature looks like it’s composed of burning wood and ash, and yet it moves almost gracefully. From my limited knowledge of other creatures that existed in this world before it’s destruction, it looks like it must be a rare type of lesser fae. A few heads turn back in my direction, looking at me expectantly.
Knowing that I can’t back out now, I step forward and move to stand beside Rhydian in front of the fae that will be leading the small ceremony.
“I give welcome to you both in the heat of my fire, but I must ask, do you come in honesty and without deception this night?”
“I do,” Rhydian answers tightly.
“I do, too,” I agree, following Rhydian’s lead.
“Then kneel before me, and raise your arm that is closest to the other,” the fae commands, and we wordlessly comply. I glance sideways at Rhydian, but he doesn’t return my stare even as the fae creature begins to bind our arms together with a rope.
It chants as it twists the rope around our arms, reciting in a strange language I’ve never heard before, but thanks to Cia’s explanation earlier, I know the gist of what it’s saying. ‘The twisting, baring, and binding of souls, and some other junk’ as she so helpfully put it. As the rope gets further down our linked arms, it begins to glow, and I stare at it curiously. Cia didn’t mention that part.
The creature finishes the binding, and indicates for us both to rise, and turn to face each other. Despite feeling self-conscious as hell, I follow Rhydian’s lead as he removes his clothing, trying my best not to stare. His stupid, pretty green eyes are up there, damn it.
I reach up with my free hand, and undo the button at the back of my neck, amazed and horrified at how easily the dress slides down my body and morphs into a puddle of cloth at my feet. Rhydian, typically, isn’t so shy about where he’s looking.
“Now that you have bared your bodies, you must bare your souls.”
From nowhere, it feels as if I’m falling. The only thing keeping grounded is Rhydian holding onto me. I squeeze my eyes shut, willing the sensation away, but I have to ride it out till it comes to a natural halt.
“Kayla,” Rhydian prods me gently.
I open my eyes, looking around us for an explanation to the falling sensation I just experienced. Instead, I get more questions, as I find that the two of us are now alone in the grove. Everything is cast in a silver ethereal glow, giving the space a sense of otherness that it didn’t possess before.
She didn’t mention this part either.
“Where did everyone go?” I ask, still looking around, as if someone might hop out from behind a tree at any moment and jump-scare the life out of me.
“They’re all still in the grove, we’re the ones that have moved. Well, more like we shifted reality just slightly, so we’re still in faery, in the same grove, but in a secluded bubble outside of time. A little like the rift, but less stable.”
“All this shifting realities stuff gives me a headache,” I mutter, before forcing myself to turn back to Rhydian. It takes far more effort than I’d like to admit to keep my eyes at a respectable level. “So, how does this soul baring thing work exactly? Cia wasn’t heavy with any of the details. But, I guess, at least she told me something, which is more than I can say for you. Do you know how messed up it is that you got me into this, and then just left me to worry about it alone?”
Rhydian winces. “I’m sorry. I should have been there more for you over the last week. I should have been helping you prepare, to make this easier on you, but I just felt so guilty that I didn’t want to see you, or Darren.”
“You should have been there, you don’t know how much it hurts that you were ignoring me,” I reply, before quickly covering my mouth with my free hand. Why the hell did I just admit that?
“We can only speak the truth here. That’s the whole point of this place. We both have to confess a truth that we’re hiding from the other. It’s supposed to be something that makes fae marriages stronger, but more often than anyone would like to acknowledge, it’s caused a murder before the end of the ceremony instead,” Rhydian explains, guessing exactly where my thoughts are.
“The truth hurts, huh?” I joke.
“In some cases, it really does,” he answers humourlessly.
“So… how do we do this?” I prompt him, glancing down briefly at our linked hands. And definitely not anywhere else...
“Pretty much what I just said. We each confess a truth, seal the truth with a kiss, and then we’ll be back in the actual clearing.”
“That’s it? What am I even meant to tell you?” I question, a little confused at this whole exercise. And I thought witch rituals could be strange.
“I can’t tell you what to tell me, it doesn’t work like that. It has to come from you.”
“Well, fine, you can go first then,” I tell him, surprised when he gives me a small nod of his head in agreement.
“I’m sorry for getting you caught up in all this, but I have to tell you, I’m also glad it was you. I know it’s selfish of me to admit, but I’m relieved it was you who ended up with the ring that night, Kayla. If it were someone else, I don’t know what I’d have done. I know you don’t want to hear this, and you probably won’t believe me, even with us compelled to honesty, but I do care about you. More than I’d like to admit to myself, or to you, or anyone. I want you to know, if things weren’t like this, if the Halloween party mix-up hadn’t happened, I’d have still chased after you regardless. I don’t think I’m able to resist you,” Rhydian confesses.
“I care about you too,” I admit back, swallowing thickly before continuing, “I’ve never wanted something that I shouldn’t so badly in my life.”
The ropes binding our arms begin to dissolve, burning into our skin painlessly without leaving a mark.
“I guess we did it,” Rhydian announces quietly, as he flexes his now freed arm, stretching it out.
“That was it?” I question, feeling a little anticlimactic. That had been easier than expected, if only a little embarrassing.
“It can take a hell of a lot longer if people resist being honest to each other, or so I’ve heard,” he answers, before stepping closer to me. “There’s only one thing left to do to get out of here…”
I bite my lip, feeling butterflies flutter in my stomach as I comprehend the meaning of his words. We’ve kissed before, but this feels different, way more intimate than stolen kisses in places we shouldn’t. Maybe we should—
Whatever thoughts that had been forming in my head are brushed away as Rhydian pulls me to him. The presence of his body pressed tightly against mine sends surges of magical energy through us both
. I tilt my head up, as he brings his lips down onto mine firmly, sealing our truths with a kiss that sends my pulse racing.
Twenty-Two
Three’s Not Always A Crowd
Much to my relief, after we’d returned back to the grove, Rhydian had promptly led me back to the palace. Away from all of the people that I’m sure had been there placing bets on whether I’d come back alive or not.
As we walk together through the empty hallways, I realise that I left my dress on the ground in the clearing, and that I came all the way back here completely naked. How quickly I lost all sense of modesty… maybe there’s something in the air here?
“What are you smiling about?” Rhydian asks me, noticing my amusement.
“I just realised that I’m walking around a freaking palace, absolutely naked, and nobody is stopping me. What a world you have here.”
“Even if anyone was around, I’d doubt that they’d complain or try to stop you,” he replies, leading me up a large staircase. He guides me through a short maze of hallways and staircases, until we reach a large wooden door at the end of one of them. Rhydian pulls open the door and gestures for me to step inside.
Suddenly feeling much more conscious of my nudity when it's me walking in front, I slip in to the room quickly, finding myself taken aback by the way the space has been decorated. There are candles scattered throughout the room, and I breathe in, smelling that incense is burning alongside them. There's a large window, which helps illuminate the space from the moonlight. At the centre of the room, hanging from the ceiling, is quite possibly the largest bed I've ever seen. I feel my stomach flip.
Rhydian steps into the room after me, quietly closing the door behind us. He must notice how nervous I am, as he gently takes one of my hands and asks, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Darren knows about this part, right?” I ask, expecting a yes, but needing to be sure. I'd figured this would be necessary to make the marriage binding, but I tried not to think too much about it. The rare moments it had crossed my mind, I’d quickly dismissed the intimidating yet tempting thoughts.
“He does.”
“And he was... okay with it?”
“He understood. Plus, he saw the benefit of you getting some more of your power back,” Rhydian answers, surprising me with the mention of getting my magic back. Darren seeing any benefit in this other than the necessity of saving my life feels strange.
“Then yes, I want to do this,” I answer, feeling heat creep into my cheeks, before I mutter more to myself than him, “Goddess, why is this so awkward?”
“It doesn’t have to be awkward.” Using our linked hands to pull me closer, Rhydian then tilts my head up to look at him for a moment, stroking his thumb lightly across my lower lip. He leans down, his lips brushing lightly against mine at first, but quickly heating up as we continue to kiss. I rest my hands on his shoulders; his bare skin feels hot underneath my cool fingers.
I don’t even realise we’re moving backward until I’m against a wall and being lifted, my legs automatically wrapping around his waist. The part of my magic that’s trapped inside of him is practically calling out to me as it pulls me to him.
“Bed, now,” I mumble between kisses.
He presses a kiss to my neck, where the small scar remains from my vampire attack, as he carries me over, before dropping me down onto the sheets. The sheets are soft and silky at my back, and the bed rocks slightly from my movements as I wriggle a little further up it to make room.
The nervousness returns as I stare up at Rhydian as he descends onto the bed. Despite how much a part of me wants to do this, another little nagging voice in the back of my brain keeps pulling me from the moment.
“I can’t do this if you’re uncomfortable, Kayla,” he says quietly, brushing a hand through his dark hair, messing it up even further. Somehow, it still looks sexy as hell.
“It’s not you,” I offer apologetically, before looking away, staring at the wall to the left of the huge bed. “I just…”
“You feel like you’re doing something wrong, even though he said it was okay?” he finishes for me when I trail off. I nod, but then bite my lip, realising that’s not entirely true.
“Kind of,” I amend.
“Kind of?” He raises an eyebrow at me questioningly.
“Doing this doesn’t feel wrong—I just don’t want to hurt him. There’s this nagging worry in the back of my brain that he won’t forgive either us for doing this.”
“Surprisingly, I find myself agreeing with you. He couldn’t have been a shitty friend like everyone else, so that I could just enjoy this, could he?” Rhydian groans, before suddenly standing back up. “Wait here, sweetheart. I have a great idea that’ll solve our problem.”
Before I can object, he’s phased away, leaving me alone in the candlelit room to wonder what the hell he’s getting up to.
* * *
I hear movement from behind me and know that Rhydian is finally back. I slowly turn over to find out where he's been. “What took you so— my words cut off as I realise that he didn’t come back alone. Though Rhydian hasn’t elected to put on any clothes since he left, he’s returned with Darren in tow.
“This is your solution?” I ask Rhydian, avoiding Darren’s gaze for the moment as I sit up. Bringing him here and making the situation a thousand times more awkward is supposed to help, how?
“If you give it a chance, I think you’ll find it’s a good one,” he replies, before moving to come sit on the far edge of the bed.
“And what exactly is your solution?”
“Talk to him. Tell him what you told me,” Rhydian answers, as if it’s really that simple, while Darren sits himself down on the bed beside me.
May as well give it a shot…
I take a deep breath, before finally turning to meet Darren’s eyes. “I just don’t believe that you’re really okay with this, and I’m scared that you won’t forgive me.”
“Why would I say that I am, if I’m not? I’ve never been anything but honest with you when it comes to us.”
“This isn’t exactly a normal relationship problem though, is it?” I point out.
“With you, nothing’s normal,” Rhydian mutters quietly, miming zipping his lips when Darren shoots him an annoyed look.
“Look, you doing this to save yourselves from Rhydian’s family, and to regain your magic, won’t change things between us. You have to do this, but I refuse to let it ruin what we have.”
“But what if it’s more than that?” I blurt, feeling my face flush as I look away, unable to meet either of their eyes. Why is this so damn complicated?
“What do you mean?” Darren asks quietly.
“What if the sex meant more to me than getting my magic back, or saving us from Rhydian’s father?” I whisper, hardly believing the words coming out of my mouth. I avoid Rhydian’s gaze, but I can feel his beautiful green eyes burning into me regardless.
“Are you saying you have feelings for Rhydian?” Darren asks, his tone changing.
“No. Maybe? I guess so...” I stumble over the words. “I can’t explain what it is I feel for him, but it’s not what I feel for you, Darren. I swear,” I plead, reaching out for him. My eyes meet Rhydian’s by accident as Darren moves back out of my grasp. I expected him to look smug, or pleased at least by my admission, but instead Rhydian looks pained.
“What’s the problem then?” Darren asks, pulling my attention back to him. From the way he’s looking between us, my shared look with Rhydian didn’t go unnoticed. Shit. “Kayla!” Darren snaps from frustration when I don’t answer.
“I’m worried that what I feel will be changed by sleeping with him, okay?!” I snap back, my heart pounding so hard in my chest it hurts. “I’m worried if I sleep with him, my feelings will grow. That I'll go from caring about him to... I’m worried that you won’t be able to forgive those feelings, and that you’ll leave me. Are you happy now?”
“Of course I’m not happy, Kayla. You
’re in danger and I can’t fix it.” He grabs my hand and pulls me to him, enfolding his arms around me. He holds me so tightly, it’s like he’s afraid of letting go. I wrap my arms around him too, taking comfort from his embrace. He pulls back and looks down at me, his gaze is so serious it worries me.
“What are you thinking?” I whisper nervously.
“Whatever your feelings for him are, they don’t cancel out ours. It doesn’t change anything, I’m still okay with this if you are. We can figure everything else out once your lives aren’t at risk.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, still uncertain.
“You can tell her it’s fine till you’re blue in the face, and she won’t believe you. You have to show her,” Rhydian cuts in before Darren can answer.
“I’m sure,” he answers regardless, an apprehensive look in his eyes, as if he’s the one worried about what I might think of him, rather than the other way around. “But maybe he’s right.”
I watch in a dazed silence as Darren pulls his shirt off over his head, throwing it down onto the floor. He places a hand at the back of my head, and pulls me in for a heated kiss, his fingers tangling into my hair. I kiss him back, and feel my skin flush all over, exceedingly aware of Rhydian watching us.
Is what I think is going on really happening? And if it is, where the fuck does everything go?
My thoughts are cut off as Darren pulls back and turns slightly to look behind him. Rhydian must have used my moment of distraction to move closer, but instead of touching me, he grabs Darren’s shoulder roughly and drags him into a kiss.
I watch on in surprise as they continue to kiss. Rhydian’s hand grips into Darren’s hair, as the shifter clutches his shoulders back, his nails digging into his skin. It’s exhilarating to watch, and I notice how familiar they both seem with what they’re doing to each other.
