A court of Night and Fire

bonding time

Asterin POV

The moment we land, Rhys appears with Cass. Ash growls but before he can react, Rhys winnows the three of them away. I chuckle slightly. Rhys and Cass are about to get their asses beaten. Nyx appears next to me and I pull him into a tight hug. Something snaps into place and the two of us stagger backwards, eyes wide and panting. "what..." Nyx pants "the hell was that?" 

That was a bond. But I have a mate. So, what- Oh. Oh wow. Shit. Wow. Just wow. Nyx sees the realisation dawn across my face. "I need a knife" I say quietly. Nyx plucks one from thin air and hands it to me with a questioning look. "get Feyre" I say again, not quite believing what I'm feeling. If I'm right... Feyre appears beside us, looking confused "are you okay?" she asks and we nod, Nyx still looking at me questioningly. "shield us" I say to Feyre. She looks surprised but does as I asked. 

I take Nyx's hand and slice open his palm. He doesn't remove it, just frowns at me as I slice open mine. "please don't kill me" Is all I say before joining our hands and allowing our blood to mix. I immediately feel the rush of power from Nyx. We're joined by blood and soul. I close my eyes, feeling the mix of our powers. I release it fractionally and flames explode, engulfing us. They're black and grey. I recognise it for something my mother talked of once. Shadow fire. A fraction of the power. Not even that. It was a drop in an ocean. I change the balance of power slightly, and the flames turn black as night, stars twinkling in the heart of them. The flames surrounded us, pushing at the shield. I pushed the power between us back, splitting it carefully. 

My father and my mother taught me a lot about their bond. I release Nyx's hand and the flames disappear. We're both stood there gaping at each other. "carranam" I manage to say "we're carranam" I explained to them both what carranam were a while ago. The reality of this dawns on him. "carranam" he whispers. I turn to see Feyre watching the two of us, looking amused. She drops the shield and we walk over to her. I can't stop thinking. I have a mate. And now I have a carranam. I wonder how Ash will react?

Nyx POV

We're carranam. Carranam. It's a bond as close as mates. That is interesting. My mother looks at the two of us, smiling at us. "so you two are carranam?" she asks and we nod. This is a little perplexing, I admit down the bond between us. I know. "well, congratulations!" she says, pulling the two of us into a hug. "I hate to disrupt this, but Magda wanted to see you, Asterin." Asterin nods and they winnow away.

What did happen when Az took you after the rite? I ask, walking back up to the house. The pain lessened slightly but it hadn't healed and was still bleeding. Az took me to Magda who healed it and finished the job from the magic in the monolith. Apparently, the blade did actually pierce my heart as well as my lung.
Well, at least your still alive
I know, there is that. How would you cope without me?
I don't think I could. I don't think Ash could either.
Oh... well, at some point you may have to. This changes a lot. If I can find a way to go between, I will.
There's silence for a moment. I don't really want to think about that.
Me neither. What did you do with Ash?
Well, after our little... time alone, I got Rhys and Cass to take him up to the training ring. With the state he was in, I almost feel sorry for them.

After about twenty minutes, Asterin returned with the all clear from Magda. I still couldn't quite wrap my head around the fact that we were carranam. I winnowed us up to the training ring. It was time to tell Ash. We were greeted by the sight of Rhys Cass and Az all looking rather exhausted. Ash looked... well he may have looked proud. He spun around when he scented Asterin and flung himself at her. She laughed "alright, alright. You literally had to cope for an hour without me" she says and he gives her a grin "it was an hour too long" Asterin rolls her eyes and mutters something about territorial fae bastards.

"well, Ash, we have some rather interesting news" Asterin began. She pulls away from him and turned to me "Nyx and I are carranam" There's silence for a moment as he processes this. He laughs "well, now you have to put up with the two of us for eternity" I smirk. "okay, well, now that's all over and done with, I would rather like some sleep" Asterin says and Ash grins "sorry, love, but between me and Nyx, I don't think you'll get much" Ash says and I raise my eyebrows slightly but grin mischievously at him. Asterin rolls her eyes "yeah, yeah. You can do what you want with me, but only if I get a decent sleep first. I value sleep more than life and that damn rite screwed up my sleep schedule. Not to mention that I got stabbed and I didn't particularly get much sleep last night" she says, looking to Ash at the last part.

My father, Cass and Az are watching us, smiling and talking quietly to each other. I think they're glad to have a break from Ash. "There's a cabin in the mountains that we can use. Rhys, Cass and Az had one they used a lot so my father gave us another one. Me and Ash spent a lot of time up there in summer and winter months." I say and Ash and Asterin nods in agreement "but first" Ash says "there's something we need to do"