Siren | Caden Archeron

Chapter Fourteen

if there were any more left of me, i'd give it to you

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The rest of day one passed restlessly. The family had gathered again, this time for dinner in the House of Wind and Stella gripped Caden's hand tightly as Nyx announced Tessa had found Callisto. His breath rushed out of him in relief as he sagged in his chair.

"How do you know for sure?" He asked, looking at his cousin desperately; his parents doing the same.

Nyx shrugged, a smile on his face. "She's sending a feeling of excitement down the bond. There's nothing else she could be this happy about."

Nesta broke out the wine after that and they celebrated their relief with a few drinks. "Told you they'd be fine." She nudged Caden with her shoulder. "Callisto's tough." He pulled her close, his wing wrapping around her side as he finally relaxed a little, no distraction required.

"I'm kind of jealous." Stella said suddenly, halfway through their dinner, drawing the attention of the table. "It must be nice to be able to feel her moods." She looked at Nyx.

"It is." He confirmed. "I always know if she's safe or not." She supposed being in the position he was in, that would be reassuring.

"Caden can find me if we're in the same city." She grumbled. "I can barely feel him at all." She was still a little put out by it.

"It'll probably strengthen when you bond properly," Nesta offered. "It did for us." Stella perked up at that.

"Does it really annoy you that much?" Caden asked and Stella nodded emphatically.

"Yes!" She protested. "Because you can read me like a book and half the time I have no idea what you're thinking. It's unfair." She was not pouting. She wasn't.

"I can tell you it's either one of two things," Nyx joked and Caden glared at him across the table.

Stella grinned, leaning forward to high five him. "Ohh, so I'm not actually missing anything?" She snickered, "good to know."

"I think I liked it better when you were scared of him," Caden muttered, not at all serious.

"Come on," Nyx ribbed him. "I'm basically your older brother. It's my responsibility to help her give you a hard time." He smiled.

Stella pushed herself up to kiss Caden on the cheek. She knew he didn't mean it, just like he knew she was only joking—maybe they didn't need that stronger bond after all.

"I actually don't know that much about mating bonds." She said conversationally. "I mean, no one expects to actually get one, right?" As she looked around the table she realised no, they didn't know.

"I didn't." Cassian offered. "It was five hundred years before I met Nes, so I really wasn't expecting anything." He shrugged.

"We didn't know anything about them until they were upon us basically," Feyre said apologetically.

"It was kind of like a bedtime story to us." Stella explained. "Like, everyone knows it's a real thing, but I don't think there's any bonded pairs in the Hewn City." She mentioned. "Do you think you guys got lucky because of your origins?" She asked Feyre, before her head turned to Caden; "like with your powers?"

"Maybe." He mused, understanding her question easily. "That is an interesting idea."

"You mean...because of the cauldron?" Nyx asked curiously, looking between them.