Threads of Fate

Chapter 21 ~ A Summarization

    Tissaia could almost see Azael's mind turning over this new information as his eyes remained wide and his mouth moved, but struggled to form words. The corner of her lips curled into a smirk when she saw the pointed tips of his ears turn red. She didn't even have to ask for the specifics of what he might have seen. His face told her enough. But her amusement at his embarrassment wasn't enough to erase her anger and indignation from earlier.

    At last, Azael found his voice. "They're not just together...they're mates?"

    She understood his astonishment at the revelation. Mates weren't unheard of, but they also weren't common. A mating bond could only be formed by one with god-blood. It was a gift that was carried through the bloodlines, first given by Nepenthe to her four wards so they could bind themselves to their loved ones forever.

    The bond transcended even death, keeping the pairs' souls bound together from the mortal realm to the Eternal Haven, or even to Hel. And its power was visible in life as well. She had heard that a bond could even be formed with Humans, and the binding of a Human's blood with a Fae's could extend their life by centuries, although it also drastically shortened the Fae's.

    But she had seen the bond firsthand between Kaius and Talarion. Their overwhelming need to protect each other and be near the other. The way they seemed to know what the other was thinking or feeling without them having to say anything. But it had always been like that for them, even before Kaius used his god-blood birthright to bind them.

    "They've been mated for about two centuries," Tissaia said. "They've kept it a secret from everyone but me."

    "Why?"

    "Why do you think?"

    Azael just watched her blankly, so she sighed and began a much more detailed account of the past than she thought he was owed, but if he was going to know, he might as well understand. At least if he comprehended the seriousness of why their relationship had to be a secret, maybe she could trust him not to reveal them to their father.

    She began with her brother's history before they had met Kaius, as it had shaped her brother's dire need for secrecy, and to protect him. Talarion had been with a few different females before meeting the only person he claimed to have actually been in love with before Kaius. A golden-haired male named Erel. He had been a Shifter employed by their family to work in the stable, as he was exceptionally gifted with animals.

    It was in the stables that they had met, when Talarion hid there after a particularly brutal training session, in which he had done something to upset their father. As she understood it, Erel had found him there and he had agreed to the male's insistence to help him clean himself up and treat his wounds. That had led to them confessing their mutual attraction to one another, and they began seeing each other in secret.

    Not even she had known about it for the months that their relationship carried on, but she later learned when she stumbled across her father speaking with Talarion's mentors. He had discovered the truth about him and Erel, and was preparing to take measures to teach his son a lesson, as Roshan had said himself.

    Tissaia hadn't heard what his full plans were, but she gathered enough. She had gone straight to her brother to warn him and was present when Talarion had pleaded with Erel to leave Lochren. It was one of the rare times she had seen her brother cry, and that display of emotion was what had persuaded his lover to obey.

    When they returned home after making sure Erel successfully got out of the city, they had been met with their father's fury. Tissaia left out the gory details, not wanting Azael to ask any more difficult questions she didn't care to explain, but she saw the memories with vivid clarity.