9. Ra

Chapter 9

Ra

If Ra had thought the events of the night before would change anything, he was sorely mistaken. When he woke the next morning, the living area was just as quiet and empty as it had ever been. The limestone walls absorbing any noise he made only rubbed salt in the wound. The way Mica had sped to Kaia's rescue and sworn to destroy her attacker might have crumbled the last of Ra's resistence to the draw between them, but it clearly hadn't made any difference to Mica's feelings. Not that he was surprised. No, the only surprising thing was how badly he was falling for the elemental lord now that he couldn't make himself hate him anymore. He was right back where he'd been before it had all gone wrong—pining and avoiding even thinking the L word because it was all too impossible.

Unable to face another day of oppressive silence, Ra keyed up one of his playlists from The Crypt nightclub back home, popped in his earbuds, and headed out to the deepest, darkest section of the caves he could find. Somewhere it wouldn't be so obvious that there weren't enough people living here, and that there was one person whose very noticeable absence in particular was a constant annoyance under his skin.

The walk to the chamber that was one of the main hubs of the cave system was familiar by now, but the chamber itself still took his breath away.

Looking over the half-formed map from his previous days' efforts, he chose one of the larger tunnels heading into the depths, partly because it was easily accessible and he didn't have the patience to scramble down rock walls and partly because he felt strangely drawn toward it. It was the only passageway that wasn't already lit with softly glowing walls until he reached it and a zap like a static charge spread across his skin as he passed into the dimly lit space.

The warning shock gave him pause for a moment before warmth bloomed beneath his fingers as he trailed his hand along the stone wall of the wide tunnel. Whatever had caused it, the stronghold was fine with his presence there. Releasing the drone from his other hand, he set it to fly on autopilot a few feet behind him, following the signal from his phone as it scanned their surroundings with a grid of red light.

Lost in the meditative nature of the passages, he was caught by surprise when a voice called out to him from behind.

"Sir!"

Pausing his music, he turned to face the concerned-looking scout. "Yes?"

"Did Lord Mica give you permission to go to the council chamber?"

Huh. Is that where this tunnel led? That meant he was heading right to the source of the worst damage to the sentience. He knew the contagion that had ripped it apart had formed just outside the council chamber where Hel had been kidnapped.

"Yes, of course," he said. Mica hadn't told him he wasn't allowed anywhere in particular. That was basically permission, wasn't it?

"There's a ban on non-essential travel in this section of the tunnels. You shouldn't have been able to even get through," the scout said, looking dubious.

Huh. That must have been what that zap was. Yay for Earthshine not giving a shit about rules.

"I'm helping survey for repairs," he said, gesturing to the drone softly whirring between them.

The scout looked confused, probably because surveying was usually redundant when the caves were a sentient being. Pressing a hand to his ear with a glowing finger, the scout made contact with someone. "I have the human here inside the travel ban area," he said.

Whatever was said in reply had his brow furrowing as he flashed Ra a concerned look. "As you wish, seneschal."

Ra raised an eyebrow in question and the scout waved him on his way before heading back up out of the tunnel. A reckless smile twitched on his lips as he turned his music back on. If Wren was happy for him to be here, it probably meant he was doing something forbidden or dangerous or both. He said a silent thank you to the seneschal who definitely had it in for him. Wren's willingness to let him proceed against the scout's instincts had let him know he must be heading in the right direction. He just had no idea toward what. Maybe he'd finally make some damn progress. The sooner he fixed this for Mica, the sooner he could stop feeling so damn awful about the whole extortion thing. The guilt was a searing poker in his gut now he no longer had his anger to hide behind.

The slowly descending tunnel was wide enough that even Mica could've extended his impressive wingspan and not brushed either side. The further he went, the more crystalline minerals ribboned through the limestone, flashing like a heartbeat. His heartbeat. Smiling, he reached out once more to stroke the stronghold.

"Hey, that's my trick, Earthshine. I used to do that with Bast in the club—match the rhythm of the music to his heartbeat," Ra teased.

A vibration beneath his feet rumbled like a growl, unbalancing him for a moment and a scattering of stones dropped on his shoulders.

"Sheesh. Don't get jealous. Bast's like a brother to me, not anything else. You're as bad as Mica," Ra murmured.

The rock gave one last jolt before settling down again like nothing had happened, the flashes of light a little faster now thanks to the adrenaline that had his heart pumping harder. Shaking his head, Ra sped up until he came to a towering entryway.

The doors swung open as he approached, revealing a chamber so vast that it was open to the sky above at the peak of its curving ceiling, despite how deep within the earth he must now be. Stalactites had formed thick columns surrounding the council table in an unnaturally perfect circle.

The table itself and all its chairs appeared to have grown from solid mineral rock. Not the limestone that abounded in the cave, but glittering layers of the crystalline mica the Earth Lord was named for. Of course. The elemental lords were all about the branding after all. Reaching up, Ra touched the matching mineral collar around his neck, stroking the smooth, warm surface. A different sort of brand.

The dangling bioluminescent strands of light draping from the ceiling's surface refracted off the latticework of the table's structure to make it appear lit from within even as it sent rainbows scattering across the space. The table, the light, and the columns were the only use of the vast space. Everything else was cloaked in dramatic darkness. This was the heart of the stronghold. Its core. A womblike space from which its life had grown.

Lying down on the floor, Ra spread his arms and legs wide, staring up at the distant patch of blue sky. The light wasn't strong enough to penetrate down here, doing nothing to detract from the strands of flaring magic that were now racing in sparks of colour like fireworks in time to the music still playing in his ears.

He didn't know how long he lay there just existing with the stronghold, basking in its presence, despite the fact he couldn't communicate with it. It wasn't until the lights flashed brighter and lost rhythm with his music that he was jerked from his reverie. Pausing his playlist, he sat up cross-legged and tilted his head as he watched the change. His dance tracks had been fast-paced and heavy on the bass, matching the earlier explosive display. But now the colours shifted like flowing water, pulsing to a slower beat. A swirl of sparks skittered from the wall to illuminate the tunnel he'd just come from.

"Alright, Earthshine. Show me what you got," he murmured, pocketing his earbuds and getting to his feet.

To the right of the entryway, the tunnel that circumnavigated the outside of the chamber was blocked by a collection of rubble where it had collapsed. He knew from Bast's reports at the time that this must be where he and Mica had contained the contagion after it ripped through the stronghold, making a swathe of its essence simply cease to exist.

That wasn't where the light and the strange tug deep in his soul was taking him though. The sparks dancing across the tunnel wall were swirling around to the left, leading him to a much smaller teak door set in an intricately carved arch of stone formed to look like a wyrm twining around its edge.

For once, it didn't swing open automatically as he neared but as he reached out half mesmerised by the magic dancing through the space, the wood gave way easily. Stepping into a short curving shadowy corridor, he saw the tell-tale warm flicker of a fireplace ahead. Exquisite notes reverberated in the air. The door must have some sort of magical sound barrier because there hadn't been any sense of the music until he'd stepped through.

Tilting his head, he paused and simply listened to the haunting, intricate melody. It was a piano, or some similar elemental equivalent, being played by someone extracting raw emotion from its keys. Someone whose music was already etched in his soul from years of late phone calls and stolen absent moments. It was hope and pain, comfort and heartbreak.

It was beautiful.

As he stepped into the limestone chamber and took in the picture before him, he was as overwhelmed by the beauty of the elemental sitting at the piano as he was by the beauty of the music. Mica was leaning over the keys, lost in his playing. His wings sparked with the copper of his power where they draped behind him and magical contrails drifted through the air to coalesce around the piano, making it appear constructed of pure warmth and light. His muscled thigh was on full display, testing the bounds of his tailored pants as his foot pressed to the pedals to stretch and dampen the notes to his will. For once, the sleeves of his crisp white shirt were rolled up to the elbows and Ra watched entranced as strong hands danced across the keys, teasing forth the melodies and harmonies effortlessly.

Ra swallowed hard as he watched, fighting the urge to straddle the Earth Lord and make him dance those fingers over his skin instead. To invite him to play his body with the same enthralled dedication as he played the instrument. Forcing his gaze up further, Ra took in Mica's elegant profile—the commanding angle of his jaw with its perfectly trimmed beard he wished he wasn't desperate to feel against him, high cheekbones a sculptor would have been hard-pressed to make more attractive, and eyes closed in reverie that he longed to see turned his way so he could drown in their blue-green depths like he had before it had all gone wrong. Back when Mica used to admire his cunning instead of despising it. When he used to whisper on their phone calls that he wished the family he'd lost had had a tenth of Ra's loyalty and devotion. When he would blush at Ra's teasing flirtations instead of fume.

Bast used to ask him what it was that drew him to Mica. His chosen brother thought it was a crush. That Mica was just another conquest of many. A new challenge that appealed because Ra could mess up the too neat Earth Lord and turn his staid countenance into something softer—the attraction of opposites. And maybe that was how it had started. He liked being the only one to crack through the ruling persona Mica wore like armour.

But somewhere along the way, he'd found a thousand tiny things they had in common that together had started to feel like something more—the music they shared, the complex feelings for their families who had passed and the determined way they found new family to fill the gap, the fascination with and respectful debate of world power structures that had taught both of them so much, even when they came at the issues from different places.

Why did the Earth Lord have to be so damn honourable? Ra couldn't hold onto his anger now he understood what was behind Mica's actions and the weight of responsibility dragging at his wings. He understood hard choices. Had advised Bast to make similar ones time and again when the need for ruthlessness outweighed all other considerations. Mica had done what he thought was necessary to protect the people he was responsible for and Ra could hardly fault him for that when it was one of the things he most admired about him. If even Hel could forgive the Earth Lord, he could as well.

Not that it would make any difference after what he'd done to manipulate Mica. There was no coming back from that, but perhaps he could steal a few more memories while he was living in the stronghold. Something to look back on in the long lonely decades that loomed ahead. And he could make Mica safe before he left, just like Mica was keeping Kaia safe. If Ra found a way to heal the stronghold, the elemental would have the foundation he needed to recover. He couldn't even pretend to himself that it was about assuaging his guilt or repaying a debt. The truth was, he'd do anything for this man. The thought was terrifying.

A pause in the music jolted him from his ruminations and Ra drew in a sharp breath as Mica turned his head and stared at him, the copper ring around his pupils glowing even brighter than usual.

"How long have you been standing there?" Mica asked, his voice rasping as if he hadn't used it in days.

Ra stepped closer, unable to fight the draw between them. "I don't even know. I was lost in your playing," he admitted.

"Come here," Mica growled.

"Why?" Ra asked, already closing the distance between them. Knowing it was too late to save himself.

"Because I told you to," Mica said, reaching out to grab his wrist and pull him closer.

Caught by surprise by the move, Ra fell into his lap before he could do anything to recover. Fuck if he knew what was going on, but there was no way he was going to let this opportunity pass him by. It would hurt like hell to let Mica touch him when the elemental was sure to continue rejecting him, but he deserved the pain after what he'd done.

Shifting his weight, Ra moved until he was straddling Mica on the piano bench, his knees pressing against the sensitive inner surface of the elemental's wings and his arms looped around his neck. It still wasn't close enough. A roll of his hips aligned them perfectly so their lower bodies were pressed as close as possible, the hard ridge of Mica's erection pressing against his own in a way that made his eyes roll back in pleasure.

"Fuck. Why can't I resist you?" Mica murmured against the skin of his neck, using his teeth to nip just above the mica collar that was like a warm hug against his skin.

Ra didn't bother answering the question, too lost in his pleasure as he ground against the elemental and unwilling to say something that might break the moment. Mica growled in frustration as Ra's shirt blocked the progress of his kisses down his chest.

"Take it off," Mica ordered.

Leaning back and arching his body so he could rest against the piano without hitting the keys, Ra held Mica's gaze as he unbuttoned his shirt. The Earth Lord's large hands dropped to his hips and gripped hard enough to bruise as he worked, urging him to keep grinding against him. Ra moaned at the new shock of pleasure through him, his hands shaking almost too much to finish what he was doing. As soon as the last button slipped free, Mica was on him, pushing the fabric partway down his arms and gripping it tight with one hand behind Ra to keep his wrists trapped.

Fuck. That shouldn't feel so good. He knew Mica hated him. Knew there was no way he should make himself vulnerable to this elemental who no longer respected him. There was no future possible between them with the way he'd threatened the Earth Lord to get his way. Not for the first time, he wished he could explain the full context of his actions when he'd taken control of the city's food supply. He'd sworn to keep his silence as part of the deal, though. And he never broke a promise, especially when it could mean the difference between whether a father got to go home to his children or was lost to them forever. All that faded into background noise with Mica's magic skittering across his skin and Mica's lips sucking his nipple hard into his mouth.

Closing his eyes, Ra stopped fighting against Mica's hold and let himself sink into the sensations he was feeling. A hand cupped his jaw, tipping his head down from where it had fallen back in pleasure before grasping just tight enough onto his throat below the mica of his collar that he could feel the slight restriction on his blood flow. Moaning again as his mind floated in bliss, Ra tried to surge forward and claim Mica's mouth but the Earth Lord held him back.

"No kisses. I'm not doing that with you," Mica growled, his hand trailing down Ra's torso to tug at the button of his pants.

Ra stiffened in his hold, the words pulling him back from the fantasy he'd been wilfully losing himself in as the fractures in his damaged heart stretched wider.

"Stop," he whispered, hating himself for the weakness he could hear in his voice.

Why couldn't he have stayed angry at Mica a little longer? Long enough to be willing to take the hate-sex the Earth Lord was offering instead of feeling nauseous at the thought. Mica's hand dropped away as soon as he spoke and he couldn't help but mourn the loss.

"I thought you were all about taking your pleasure wherever you find it?" Mica asked, voice carefully neutral.

He wasn't wrong. Ra was renowned for his playboy ways and it was frankly outrageous that as long as they'd been flirting with each other, the most that had ever passed between them was a single kiss in a stolen moment. A kiss that would apparently never be repeated.

"I have standards, asshole. I don't stick my dick in just anyone, unlike some people. Will you try and control the new Air Lady with your cock like you did the last?" Ra snapped back, heartache making him cruel.

He needed to force Mica to put distance between them because fuck if he could make himself do it. Ra knew Mica regretted his relationship with the now deceased Lady of Air, Aliya. He also knew Mica never would have tried seducing her if he hadn't thought it might save the world from a little of her torture and cruelty.

"If anyone is sticking their dick somewhere, it would be me," Mica snapped, finally releasing his grip that had been holding Ra's arms behind him.

Ra rolled his eyes at Mica's posturing. "Whatever," he said, starting to shrug his shirt back on.

Before he could get it past his elbows, Mica's face dropped into a scowl and the Earth Lord reached out to grip his left biceps tight enough to make him wince.

"I can feel his magic in you. I don't like it," Mica rasped, his thumb digging into the black lines of the wings Bast's power had etched into Ra's skin as if he could wipe away the mark that bound them together if he pressed hard enough.

"Tough shit. He's my brother. And that mark will keep me alive to protect him for centuries to come," Ra said.

"You're mine . Not his," Mica growled.

Ra raised an eyebrow, ignoring the flare of false hope the words sparked. Mica didn't mean it. He'd kick Ra out on his ass as soon as the stronghold was better.

"For now, maybe. Let go of me," he said.

Mica's nostrils flared and the sensation of his power grew thicker in the air around them like an impending earthquake. "I can't," he admitted.

Ra blew out a breath in frustration. "Why the fuck not? You're acting like we're mates or something."

Mica glanced away, refusing to meet his eyes, and Ra's mouth dropped open in shock. "Wait. What?!"

"It doesn't matter," Mica mumbled.

Ra felt the words like a dagger to the heart. "What do you mean it doesn't matter?" he all but yelled.

"Plenty of people ignore the drive to mate with someone. Not everyone is as keen as your brother to bare every emotion to someone and create a walking weakness that could kill them," Mica said.

Ra frowned, still trying to process the bombshell. "I thought humans didn't have the right kind of magic for the bond."

Mica shrugged. "Bastion's magic has been running through your veins for decades. Apparently, that has altered you enough."

"Enough that you can feel the potential for a mating bond between us?" Ra checked.

"Yes."

"How common is that kind of potential?" he asked.

Mica cleared his throat. "The bond can be formed between any two elementals with sufficient magic to make it take hold."

"That's not what I asked. How common is it to feel driven to form a mating bond with someone?"

"Most elementals never feel the drive," Mica said, still sounding evasive.

Ra tilted his head and tried to read the emotions the Earth Lord was doing his best to hide from his face. "Have you ever felt it before?"

"No."

"Will you ever feel it again with someone else?"

"Unlikely."

Ra sighed, wishing he had a hand free to force Mica to look at him. "So, it's like a fated mates thing?"

Mica snorted. "There's no such thing as an inevitable fate. Like I said, most elementals ignore it. The bond is beyond invasive. It's not something most would choose to subject themselves to."

Ra nodded. "But that's why you're acting the way you do. Why you're so possessive, despite the fact you hate me."

"My instincts sometimes get the better of me. It's just one more way you're a danger to my people. I can't keep them safe when I'm distracted by you," Mica said.

Guilt was a leaden feeling inside him despite knowing Mica's distraction wasn't his fault. He didn't want to make Mica weaker.

"Bast's mark on me distracts you?"

"Incessantly," Mica said. "It's like a mosquito bite on my fucking soul that I can't scratch."

"Okay. Replace it with yours then," Ra said. Knowing it was a terrible idea. Knowing that anything deepening this connection between them would be exquisite torture, but unable to stop himself from offering this small relief to the elemental he'd been halfway in love with before they smashed it all down. The elemental he no longer hated. Leaving him right back where he'd been before it all went wrong.

"What?!" Mica asked, head finally snapping back to stare at him in incredulity.

Ra's lips quirked in a half-smile, drinking in the return of Mica's attention like it was water on the parched desert of his soul. Fuck. He was so screwed, and not in a good way.

"I don't want you bitching at me about being distracted for three years. So replace the mark if it will help," he said, giving them both the out of pretending this was insignificant.

"Always so reckless," Mica murmured. Raw possession flared in the elemental's eyes and he dragged Ra into a full-body embrace that left no space between them. "Are you sure?" Mica asked, his nose pressed into the bare skin of Ra's neck like he could breathe in his soul and keep it trapped inside his lungs if he only tried hard enough.

"Yes. Bast can replace it when I get home," Ra said, not at all sure that was true.

Mica growled and sucked hard on the delicate skin of his neck, marking him. "Over my dead body," he said.

Before Ra could reply, Mica's wings wrapped tight around them and the sensation of Mica's vast power became overwhelming as he was wrapped in a veil of softest copper. A swathe of tingling energy radiated from the point where Mica's hand still wrapped tight around his biceps stretching down past his wrist and up his neck to the indentation beneath his ear.

He'd been bleeding out on the floor of Soul Tower when Bast had placed his mark on him almost thirty years earlier and his memories of what happened before he regained consciousness with the connection in place were fuzzy at best.

This time, he could feel every grain of magic singing through his body, pushing Bast's familiar cool soulweaving power out and replacing it with something that felt like the depths of the earth, somehow both grounding and hot like its core, stoking his desire.

The connection settled with an almost painful snap and Ra instantly realised what a mistake this had been. He'd forgotten, or perhaps wilfully ignored, his conversation with Hel before she'd mated Bast when this was the only kind of connection the two of them had. She'd described it as visceral, like a part of Bast was inside her all the time, and he'd been confused because it was such a sharp contrast to his own connection to his brother, which was something he could focus on or ignore as he wished. He and Bast could sense each other's heartbeats and breaths if they tried, but their emotions only registered if they were extreme.

This new connection with Mica was totally different from the one he'd had with his brother. He should have realised the potential for a mating bond between them would have that effect on it. Mica's heartbeat was an elevated rhythm inside his chest that his own now kept time with. The two of them gasped a breath in synchrony and he could feel the thrum of Mica's desire for him as if it were his own. He could also feel the resentment and bitter anger the man still held for him like an infected wound tainting everything else.

Which meant … Fuck!

Eyes widening, Ra scrambled to block his emotions from the connection as best he could, but one glance at the shock on Mica's face told him he'd been too late. The last thing he needed was for the Earth Lord to realise Ra didn't hate him anymore and that in the absence of that hate, the love that had been growing between them was blooming on his side at least.

He was unable to avoid feeling the chaos of Mica's emotions sweep over him, but watching them play out on his beautiful face was too much. Ra's body stiffened where he still straddled the elemental and he tilted his chin down to avoid Mica's too discerning gaze.

As his gaze locked onto his arm, he realised the Earth Lord had gone just as overboard as Bast had with Hel when he formed the new mark there. Ra now had a whole sleeve of intricate sparking copper feathers stretching from the knuckle of his ring finger up his entire arm and he was certain it extended up to that point under his ear where he'd felt Mica's power. It was not subtle and it wouldn't be hidden by his clothing unless he took to wearing gloves and a scarf. If it hadn't been for the unexpected invasive sense they now had of each other, he would have been entranced by the mesmerising way the mark shifted on his skin like the feathers were ruffling.

Anger flared inside him at what Mica had done despite the fact he'd asked for it. The elemental must have realised how his mark would take. What the fuck had he been thinking?

"Just as well you didn't kiss me. Wouldn't want to get too intimate," Ra sneered, hating that the bitterness he'd tried to hide at Mica's earlier rejection may as well be framed in neon lights now.