22. Bargaining

Ibecame aware I was dreaming when a strange light filtered around me. The trees differed from those I had become used to; the ones surrounding the Sweetwater compound. These were taller, thicker, darker, imposing. They whispered their secrets in languages I had never heard before.

Sounds assaulted me from every direction, making me wish for human hearing. The trees, the wind, birds, animals, all called out to me as I walked the path to my unknown destination.

There was an air of promise, or perhaps threat, as I wandered my way through the darkness, my way only illuminated by the light of the full moon and a blanket of bright stars.

Where I was going, I did not know, or even care. All I knew was I had to keep moving. To stay still was to perish. That I felt in my bones. Stillness was stagnation. Ennui was death. It was true of all elves. When a malaise came over an elf, an apathy they could not shake, they became disconnected from nature, from life, and slowly faded into nothing. There was no promise of such a death returning their soul to the earth or our nameless goddess. It was just an end.

My heart had a home. He was calling to me. Axel was the light of the moon, calling me to return to him soon. Through the dream, I felt our connection and his fear. The condition of my body, the distance of my soul, had him scared I would not return.

Nothing would stop me. I would be by his side soon.

Owls hooted their warning. My pace was too slow. I needed to draw every ounce of strength I had to make it to the end of this makeshift road.

Picking up the pace, I ran until it felt like my feet were bleeding, then ran some more. With every breath I took, I got closer to my destination.

There, at the end of the path and my stamina, I paused before the massive tree. It loomed above me, blotting out the light of the moon and draping it in shadows.

Eyes.

Millions of eyes looked at me from every species of owl I had ever seen, and more I had not. They all focused their gaze on me, judging me. They looked into my heart and held my future in their wickedly sharp talons.

“Please, I just want to be with him!” For Axel, I would go to my knees and beg.

“Who?” they asked in one voice, feminine. Hers. My goddess was here.

“Axel Sweetwater. The shifter who owns my heart.”

“Why?” Shudders worked down my spine, hearing them speak.

“The Luna. Fate. Whatever you want to call it. As soon as we met, there was a connection I could not shake, not that I wanted to. I love Axel.”

“Choose.”

I got to my knees then, sinking my hands into the dirt. “I choose a life with Axel Sweetwater. A life giving him the happiness he deserves even if this means my own life is shorter. Living without him would be no life at all.”

“Done.”

As one, they rushed me. Wings, talons, sharp beaks brushed me, tore into me, making me something else.

The noises in the room were extremely loud. Far beyond what my elf ears could take. I winced, setting off a chain reaction.

Everyone quieted, giving me immediate relief. Then my arms were with filled my Axel. My shifter lover smelled of distress and fear as he squeezed me tightly.

“I didn’t think you were ever going to wake up.” His tears were warm on my chilled skin.

Wrapping my arms around him, I returned the embrace. “Nothing can keep us apart.”

“That is untrue.”

“Shut it, ívarr,” Chase barked in an uncharacteristically harsh tone. My friend snapped his mouth shut, chastised. “We are all going to leave you alone to talk as soon as ívarr and Teagan have checked you over, T. Glad to have you back with us.”

Chase’s eyes were expressing a warning I didn’t understand. I was too tired to focus and just wanted to hold Axel.

There was this feeling of doom inside me, but I waited until I had gone through the necessary checks before I voiced them to Axel.

“What happened?”

“It can wait, T. I only just got you back. We thought you were going to die.” He snuggled closer, his bare skin warm against my body. He had helped me bathe after the others had left, though he had left my hair loose, as he preferred it that way.

“Axel, please… I need to know.”

He sighed against me. “You’re going to be angry with me, but you need to know I would have done anything to save you.”

“I didn’t need saving, Axel. My energy was only low from the healing. I gave too much.”

His patient eyes met mine. “That was true, at first, anyways. The others helped replenish your energy some. Then you just wouldn’t wake and we wondered if there was something else going on. We decided we needed a Seer.”

A pit of dread formed in my stomach. “No.”

“I’m sorry. They said she had a direct line to your goddess and could help. Before I knew it, she was on her way.”

“She came here?” I straightened, worming free of Axel’s grip. I looked around our modest home and saw it from her eyes. For a brief moment, I felt a sense of shame in the home I had made with Axel, before anger came flooding in that she had come to our home and made me feel such a way. Not only that, she had seen me so vulnerable.

“Yeah, and just in time. I don’t know what was happening to you wherever you were, but it was bad, T.” Axel kissed me, his lips lingering, his eyes closing as if even the memory pained him.

“I can only assume this help came at a price,” I said once Axel moved away. Wrapping myself around him, I tried to assure him I understood, though I would not have made the same decision in his position.

Axel winced. “I had no choice.”

So it was very bad. What could they have asked him for?

“I’m sure it felt that way, yet I would not have left you alone. Somehow I would have found a way.”

“T, you were going gray on the bed, hardly breathing. I thought you were going to die and your mom was already on her way when she made the deal.”

“What deal?”

“We only get a year together before you have to go home and make an heir.”

“No.”

“It’s what the parliament demanded. We don’t get to pick.”

“They don’t get to dictate my life for me. I choose you. I love you. Our future is not theirs to decide.”

“I love you too, which is why I agreed. You alive somewhere else is better than you dead and gone. I couldn’t take it. You were fading and…” Axel broke into deep, heaving sobs.

“Shh dear one. They will not take me. I am yours forever. They just don’t know it yet.”

Axel eventually wore himself out by enthusiastically showing me how we would spend our year, by riding my cock until he came and then sucking me down.

Quite the homecoming.

Once I was assured he was in a deep sleep, I left our home and went to the lake, where I knew ívarr would be waiting for me.

“How is he?”

Long gone was the elf who did not believe in my relationship. He was now a staunch supporter. I knew I could get him onto my side, especially since I believed he had a connection with the witch/midwife, Michaella, and would want to be in Sweetwater for the long term.

“Exhausted. Guilty, though he is not at fault—neither of you are.”

“It was an impossible situation. We truly feared for your life and Axel only went to your mother for answers, not the aid she gave.”

“Do you believe there is a way out of this fool’s bargain?”

“Undoubtedly. Especially since you are the one paying the price, not Axel. You did not agree to the terms set, so how can you be made to abide by them?”

“So you will help me fight, when the time comes?”

“You have my sword and my wit, should you need either.”

“I fear we will need both before it is done. Axel… we cannot be parted. I do not think the court understands the depth of our bond.”

“It is only just something I have come to recognize for myself,” he mused. I watched him pace along the water’s edge. “The bond you share has to be witnessed to grasp it. I saw, when you were lost to your dreams, the tether between you. With faith and time, Axel could have done what your mother did. He just did not see it. We were fools to suggest he speak to the queen. I should have put a stop to it. I am sorry.”

“You know this could lead to war?”

“Why do you think I offered my sword first? Those vultures in parliament have been looking for a way to exert more control over our queen. Using you is just the first in their moves to do so.”

“I’m grateful for your friendship. I just hope Mother understands.”

“She will. I think the love Axel had for you moved her. You should return to your wolf, my prince.”

“Thank you, ívarr. Pass on my thanks to Teagan, too.”

“Our cousin wants you to know she will also fight when needed. I think Axel’s brother impressed her today. It is a shame he does not wish for a romantic or sexual relationship, I think she would have liked to try one with him.”

He was so serious, I couldn’t help my laugh. He smiled at me, a true smile that stretched across his handsome face.

“I didn’t know Chase had confided in you.”

“Chase wondered if the goddess took their preferences in mind when giving or not giving, in his case, the gene to change designations. He told me then about being aroace. Then he had to explain those terms. It was an enlightening conversation.”

We stood there a moment longer. “All will be well, prince. There is too much here that science cannot explain to be anything more than the work of our goddess, or perhaps The Luna.”

I clapped him on the shoulder as I turned to head home. “Something tells me you’re right.”