Chapter 57

Dessa opened her eyes to the hearth in front of her, the fire nothing more than embers now as the early morning light filtered in through the windows. Elys was pressed up against her back, one arm under her head, their fingers intertwined. His other arm draped around her waist, fingers brushing along the smooth skin of her stomach to let her know he was awake. They were still naked, though the blanket covered them from the waist down. Luckily, her ward had stayed up throughout the night, which was a good thing since they'd made love two more times before sleep finally pulled them under. It dissipated as soon as she woke, though the locked door would still give them a little bit of privacy.

Privacy that was instantly shattered by the sound of the lock being undone with magic, then Milena's cheery voice shouting as she barged in. "Good morning, best friend! Now, get that cute butt out of bed and...oh, my gods!"

Cracking one eye open, Dessa lifted her head from Elys's arm. "Good morning...now, get out."

Milena was staring at them still tangled together, hands slapped over her mouth. "Oh, my gods!"

Elys wasn't making it any better, chuckling in Dessa's ear as his fingers dipped lower along her stomach. "Morning, Milena."

"You're not helping, idiot," she growled out, then reached above her head, hand curling around one of the pillows and hurled it at her. "Get out!"

The pillow to the face didn't even faze her. "I knew it! Eamon, you owe me five hundred gold coins! I'm so glad Kalla gave me that advice!" she called out as she rushed back out.

Milena all but slammed the door behind her, still yelling about a bet she'd won, as Dessa heaved a sigh. Elys chuckled again, kissing beneath her ear as his fingers trailed back up her stomach.

"She's going to be a nightmare now," Dessa groaned, covering her face with her hand.

"What happened to wanting to hear her say I told you so?"

"Not when she walked in on us!"

"We weren't doing anything."

"Your hand placement would say otherwise." That hand drifting down again before she stopped it. "Don't you dare."

Elys hummed in her ear. "You sure you don't want me to?"

Dessa wrapped her fingers around his wrist. "If we want to get going to Arloerin, then yes, I'm sure. Or else I'll lock you in these rooms with me for a few days."

He hummed again, kissing the side of her neck, fingertips still gliding along her skin. "Well, I certainly wouldn't mind it."

She shifted to look at him over her shoulder to see him smiling at her. Moving to lay on her back, her body was pleasantly sore. She reached up and brushed her fingers along the scruff of his jaw, smiling back. "Good morning, Seer."

Elys leaned forward, brushing a kiss against her cheek, tightening his hold on her again. "Good morning, Dessa Jai."

Dessa snuggled against Elys's chest again, head tucked against his shoulder as she trailed her hand along the tattoo of their family's names along his forearm. They stayed quiet, watching as she brushed against the blank space between Dessa's and Lenora's names.

"There's room for other names here," she finally whispered, leaning back to glance up at him. "Does that mean I'm getting a few more siblings in the future?"

"Maybe," Elys grinned. "It's not going to be for a little while, though. Your parents deserve a break after raising you and Lenora...especially since your next baby sister and baby brother are going to be hellions just as you two were. And they'll be born just two years apart. Lyv and Jai are going to be exhausted."

Even if he hadn't told her when, just the very thought of having another baby sister and baby brother had excitement bubbling up inside her. Then, when she saw the space under her own name on his arm, more intricate than the others, she instantly knew who would be there. She peeked up at him from beneath her lashes to find him smiling again.

"And as for us," he began, smoothing his hand down her spine. "Well, we're going to wait because we want to keep each other to ourselves for a little while." He leaned forward, kissing the hollow beneath her ear. "You'll be a wonderful mother, though, and I can't wait to see you with our first son. He's going to love his mother just as much as I do, roll his eyes at his baby sisters antics, and annoy them when him and his brother, who will be born a few years after he is, are as fiercely protective as I am."

Oh, gods. Just the thought of a little boy who looked exactly like Elys but with a Deverell silver streak in his dark hair...

"You can't just spring that on a female, you know," she choked out.

Elys hummed against her neck. "You want to see a vision I've been having for weeks now?"

"Do you even have to ask me?"

Their mating bond allowed him to show her the vision he'd probably seen dozens of times before then. Dessa closed her eyes as the images appeared in her mind, twisting to be seen from her prospective.

Everything was so light with sun streaming into the bedroom she was standing in. A small bed just the right size for a toddler was along one wall between two floor-to-ceiling windows on either side. A toy chest was open in one corner, stuffed animals scattered along the plush rug, and picture books were opened on the floor, having been taken down from the bookcase.

A warm breeze had Dessa looking toward the open balcony doors. The view was one she didn't recognize, though she knew she was still in Ayveri. It looked close to the area behind the Branvon Estate, especially since it was roomy enough for the dragons, who were flying around in the distance, their happy roars echoing around them.

But it was the male standing there, looking out, that had Dessa pausing. Elys looked a few years older, though the immortal aging of being Fae didn't allow for Dessa to gauge how old he was at this point. Mother above, he still as handsome as ever, though. As he stood in the balcony doorway, the only thing he had on was a pair of loose-fitting, black pajama pants, his chest bare, hair brushed back as he ran his fingers through it multiple times already.

It was who he had in his arms that not only had her pausing then, but her heart stopping all together. A little boy, no more than two, was trying to twist in his father's hold, pointing outside at the dragons that flew overhead. As he babbled on, he clutched Dessa's own stuffed black and red dragon in his chubby hand. Elys was talking with him, brushing his dark hair, the same color as his, back as he leaned in to kiss the side of his head. When they turned toward her, Dessa was able to see the Deverell silver streak on the boy's temple.

Then she was able to see her son clearly...and he looked identical to his father save for the scars and tattoos. Dessa could see herself in his features, though, too. The slight upturn of his eyes, eyes that were her same sapphire blue she shared with her father. His smile was all Elys, though, especially when those eyes lit up at the sight of her and he yelled Momma! Elys put him down on his feet before he stumbled toward her, his dragon still clutched in his hand.

Before she could even touch him, the vision ended, but Elys's face reappeared a few inches away from hers on the pillow. He was smiling softly, reaching up to brush the tears that suddenly welled up in her eyes.

"Oh, gods, he's so beautiful!"

Elys cradled her face in his hands, leaning forward to kiss her softly. "Right? And from what I've seen, he's not only handsome, but wickedly smart, can use a sword and dagger probably better than the both of us, and gives us all a run for our money with being mischievous. Kalla and Cleo are going to absolutely love him because of it. Not to mention Jai and Gideon, who will be the instigators for a lot of it since they blame all of us for giving them gray hairs."

Dessa burst out laughing as Elys shifted to pull her on top of him. Both of his hands smoothed down her spine then, gripping her backside lightly, before continuing down her legs to make her straddle him.

"What do we name him?" she asked him then, her curiosity getting the best of her.

Elys looked down at the space under her name on his arm, then sent a vision to her of the name tattooed there in the future.

Alek. After his father Alekos.

Dessa smiled down at him, brushing her fingers along his cheek, and then leaned down to kiss him softly. "It's perfect, he's perfect...and I can't wait," she whispered to him. "But I have to agree with you. I want to wait and keep you to myself for a little while."

"You do, huh?"

"Mm."

Elys leaned up and kissed her again, hand tangling in her hair.

She quirked an eyebrow when they pulled apart, giving him a mischievous smile as she stood up from their makeshift bed and grabbed her robe to slip on. "We need to get up and shower...want to join me?" she asked as she sauntered toward her bedroom door.

A low hum sounded from his throat as he watched the sway of her hips. "Your tonic's good for a month just like mine is, right?"

"Yep, so are you coming or not...?"

Just as she passed through the doorway, she looked back at him over her shoulder to see him sitting up.

But he was frozen, face blank, and eyes completely white as he stared ahead of him, trapped in a vision that suddenly came on.

"Elys?"

It had been a while since she'd seen him like this, completely lost to the world around him as he watched the future play out in his mind. This time, with their bond between them, she could make out a little bit of what he saw. To her, there were only flashes of darkness, a deep chuckle that reverberated around them. It didn't take her long to realize what he was seeing.

Because it was the nightmare she'd had over and over again, the one of her, Cleo, and another female fighting a darkness unlike ever before. And Elys, trying to slow time around them to give them enough of it but not being successful. A deep laugh...then a pained shout from Elys as he was ripped away from them. This time, though, as she watched it play out, the future he'd shown her completed shredded in the wind. She knew she wasn't seeing everything he was, but she saw enough for fear to grip her heart in a way she'd never felt before.

Elys gasped as soon as it ended, breath coming in pants, and held his head in his hands.

"Hey," Dessa whispered, immediately back at his side after belting her robe, trying to coax his face upward to look at him. "What was that?"

His fingers immediately wrapped around her wrists, yanking her away. "Get your hands off me."

Her hands dropped to her sides as if he burned her instead of the other way around. "What happened?"

"Nothing," he growled out, pushing up to stand. He grabbed his pajama pants and quickly pulled them on. "This should have never happened. I shouldn't have given in. We shouldn't have given in, not when..."

But all Dessa was hearing was how everything between them shouldn't have happened. "What...what do you mean?"

Elys angrily ran his fingers through his hair. "This isn't happening again, Des. I can't risk it...I won't risk it."

She couldn't speak, not with the lump that clogged her throat, the fresh tears that spilled down her cheeks. Ones he saw and wasn't even fazed by, even though he'd wiped them away before. Kissed them away, too. Now, his sneer was anything but loving.

He wasn't her Elys at all. Not anymore.

Not when he grabbed hold of that mating bond between them, finding it unable to be broken, and yet still managing to practically choke it into silence.

A silence she couldn't bear.

The next sound she made came out in a whimper. "Elys..."

"No," he growled. But when he looked at her, his eyes were filled with tears just as hers were. "There's a reason the Seer of Ikreus never finds their mate."

"What else did you see?"

"Pack up. We need to go..."

It wasn't just her pain that had her shouting out, but her anger at him, too. "Godsdammit, what did you see?" she yelled as a pulse of magic shook the room around them.

Elys couldn't hide his surprise at her outburst, but somehow managed to answer. "Nothing."

"Don't you dare lie to me, Seer..."

He swallowed hard, shaking his head as he reached behind him to open the door. "I'm not, Dessa Jai. I see nothing."

***

Milena came in an hour later, hand slapped over her eyes, a wide grin on her face. "If I see any more nakedness, I don't even think I'd be mad, especially when you two finally..."

But as soon as she saw the blankets and pillows were picked up, the sitting room spotless, and Dessa was sitting on the edge of the bed in her bedroom fully dressed, she knew something was wrong.

"Des?" she hesitated as she quietly stepped into the room.

"One night," Dessa whispered, staring blankly ahead. "And he already doesn't want it, doesn't want me. I don't understand what happened. Everything was...perfect...then he had a vision...and he all but ran out, choking our bond and shoving it so far down I can barely feel it, feel him on the other side."

Milena sat down beside her and reached over to grasp her hand tight, her other hand going to her face to wipe away her tears. "He didn't say anything about what he saw?"

Dessa swallowed hard, squeezing her eyes closed as her tears continued to fall. "He said he saw...nothing. What does that mean? He showed me a glimpse of what we'd have in the future, what he said he's been seeing over the past few weeks. I don't know what changed and he won't tell me. All he said was there was a reason Seers don't find their mates."

"Both of you can't honestly believe that," she said to try and comfort her. "Elys has loved you for practically all your lives, but over these few months he's been home we've all gotten to witness him falling in love with you. Yeah, we all knew you were mates, but it was still beautiful to witness, you know?"

"What?" she choked out, finally looking over at her best friend.

Milena's smile reappeared as she brushed away her tears again. "You know Elys and his rambles. He didn't exactly keep you a secret when he was little. Everyone knew where you two would end up."

"Even Momma and Daddy?"

This time, she snorted. "Especially them. They were the first to know. They all constantly tease him, especially since they've been home now. I love teasing him...and now I'm going to tease the shit out of you, too!"

"That's going to be difficult for you now that..."

"I'm going to smack you first and then I'm going to find Elys and smack him, too. You both need it. Because guess what? You love each other more than anything and you have a mating bond to prove it. Once it's complete, it won't be broken, Des. I promise. There's only one way for that to happen – death – but even Elys hasn't seen that. You're supposed to be together, have a bunch of babies, and grow old with each other. You know that and I'm pretty damn sure he's shown a little bit of it to you, too."

The beautiful little face of their son immediately came to mind, the way he yelled Momma happily as Elys smiled at her when they turned.

Dessa sniffed and held Milena's hand tight. "I need to talk to him again."

"Damn right, you do. And if you want me there, I can smack some sense into him again if you need me to," she grinned, standing up and pulling Dessa up with her. Milena grabbed her bag for her, putting it across her shoulders, then yanked her in for a tight hug. With the grimoire so close to her, Dessa could feel the draw toward it, even buried in her bag. "You know I'm always here for you, Dessa. Best friend, practically your sister, one day officially your aunt..."

"And you know I hate it when you call yourself that," she managed to smile.

Milena's laugh lit up the entire room, easing and calming her in only the way her best friend could as she pulled back, then pressed her forehead against hers. "I do...and yet I still love annoying you with it."

Dessa and Milena slowly made their way back downstairs and out onto the back patio. Mik, Allel, and Aila were there and talking to Eamon and Archer, both of them ready to head out. Elys, though, was nowhere in sight. Dessa swallowed, trying to keep her eyes from swimming with tears again, but gently touched along her end of their mating bond. Just like Milena said, there was no way he could unbind them, but he was still attempting to cut her off in any way he could. She could barely feel his presence, but he was still there. Even if she couldn't get much from him, could he still hear and feel her? Hear her whispered I love you and feel every bit of those words that swelled in her heart?

Even if his words and actions had been said and done to intentionally hurt her, to push her away, she wasn't going to go quietly.

As soon as Mik, Allel, Aila, Eamon, and Archer turned to watch their approach, they knew. There was no hiding how her and Elys's scents had intertwined so completely in a way only for mates bound by a completed bond.

Eamon was the first one to narrow his eyes as he looked at her face. "I knew I had to kick his ass for some reason this morning."

"Eamon, you knew what would happen when we..."

He cut her off with a quick shake of his head. "No, not because of that. To that, I say finally. I'm pissed at him now for already making you upset."

Archer crossed his arms over his chest. "That makes two of us."

"Gods, you males are overprotective."

"Of course, we are, especially with you two," Eamon told her, gesturing to both her and Milena.

"We don't have time to talk about this, you know. Aren't we supposed to be heading to Arloerin for a reason? We need to get going..."

Dessa felt Elys before she even saw him, just as she could whenever he was anywhere close. She whirled around as soon as she felt his panic, his hurriedness. Though she'd gotten so used to the Elys that was always smiling, always laughing with her, this one strode forward with the same grace and deadliness as he had that first day he'd been back home. Even wore the same leather armor, his sword on his back.

Elys stifling hold on their bond wavered as soon as she locked eyes with him.

"What's wrong?" Dessa demanded. Though she would have loved to have an explanation for what happened earlier that morning, he'd seen something else more pressing that needed weapons.

"We have to go. Now," he told them, eyes shifting from her to Milena, Eamon, Archer, and then back to her. "Arloerin...what I saw before we left...it's starting."

Almost immediately, she felt her magic spark to life inside her as he closed the distance between them.

"Where do I need to put us out at?" she asked, her sword glimmering on her back and dagger on her leg as she magicked them from inside her bag.

Milena, Eamon, and Archer were doing the same.

"The market square. That's where every vision I've had about this converges. I can't tell exactly what we'll be getting into, but we're going to need both blades and magic."