A Court of Heritance and Destiny

Chapter 4 Ikarad

Etera was sleeping next to him, and life could not be better.

Ikarad took in the scents in the room, it felt like home again, the time apart had made the scents fade. But now Eteras warm forest filled the space again, he looked down on her sleeping in his arms.

He was sure they had only left the bedroom a handful of times in the last weeks, and he was sure he had not even had clothes on since that first night. Not that Ikarad would complain. He had needed this frency, not caring where to start or end. Etera moved in his arms, rolling over so he saw her scared back.

The twisted skin started below her neck, grew worse around her shoulder blades and out on her arms, to fade out just before the small of her back. Even after all this time he still didn't know the full story of her life before that day in the snow. He knew that she had lived in a cage, that her tormentors had controlled every part of her life. Ikarad placed his hand over them, feeling the ruff and dry edges that gathered at certain points, places where her skin grew thick and stiff.

Slowly Ikarad bent over, kissing the skin. She was the strongest female he knew, the things she had experienced and moved away from, the things she had placed behind her...

"Morning..." Her voice made him smile, tired and groggy, but still clear.

"Morning..." He continued to kiss her back. "Slept well?" She always did, that was one thing he envied her, that she seemed to always be able to sleep. Going so far to once finding her sleeping in the stairs to the second floor after a long mission.

"Mmmh..." Etera turned, and her green eyes with the vertical pupil glimmered in the morning light. "Did you?"

"Yes..." He buried his head between her breasts, savouring the feeling of her body near his. "Yes I did..."

"Good..." Etera let out a breath and her hand found the back of his head, "Dinner at the estate tonight?"

"No need to stress it..." Two weeks had gone by fast.

"No, just as a reminder..." Ikarad looked up at her, seeing how she was holding her gaze fixed at the ceiling.

"Etera?" He moved up, seeing how she was deep in thought. "What is it?"

"I was just thinking about what the camp lord said..."

"Azriel is on it." He stopped her. "Don't think about it, just relax..."

"I am bad at relaxing."

"I know, I need to look you up in a room and have sex with you for days on end for you to do it." Ikarad laughed, seeing how Etera swatted her head against him. "It is true!"

"I am just very dedicated to this court and my duties!" She sat up, her hands once again coming around him. "And so should you."

"I am... but I am also very happy to just be with my mate." he kissed her, long and deep, but with no need to take it any further this morning. "I am a simple male, I don't need much in life."

"We can debate the meaning of 'much' later on." Etera hooked her leg around his hips and flipped them around. Ikarad rested his hands on her thighs, slowly moving them up to her waist.

"Can I dream?" He asked, hoping to talk about something they both hid from the rest of the family.

"Yes..."

"I have one wish..." He continued to stroke around her waist. "That we could be parents, you and me, that we could have that happiness too."

"I do too..." Etera came down over him, resting her head on his chest. "I love missions, but everytime I just hope..." Ikarad just wrapped her arms around her, they had wished for this for thirty years now, with no luck. And it was difficult. She was a Shifter, in theory she belonged in the same space as Illyrians, not High or lesser fae, but something else. Her abilities meant that her scent might never fully change to reveal a pregnancy, but they also made her almost immune to potions and tonics. Including contraceptives, Ikarad had been the one to take it for them, but stopped once Madja explained that with the damage to Etera's body, her unique powers, together with Ikarads mix of blood. It might not ever be a child in their future. So they hoped and dreamed, benign The Mother for a chance. Before every mission Etera did a test, dragging a drop of her blood over a sheet of paper, to see if she was expecting or not. In the thirty years of hoping, all results had been negative.