Captive

41 // Patron

I walked into Damien's room the following day to find his doctors restraining him to the bed. He was grumbling something, and looked red in the face. 

"What's going on?" My eyes darted around the room, and honestly I didn't know if I wanted to know the answer, but the words left my mouth before I could stop them. 

"We need to launch that attack now, Lyon. Before they have time to build their defenses." 

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. He was as impatient as usual. Lyon emerged from behind the doctors, and I set myself on the other side of the bed, dipping into the silk sheets. 

"You need to rest, Damien, before you rip your stitches open and get blood on my freshly cleaned carpet," Lyon shot him a sarcastic smile. 

I felt Damien's tense mood, and just as I felt him about to lunge forward and most likely cut off all of Lyon's circulation, I rested my hand in his. 

"So, what's the plan?" 

They both looked to me with a slight tinge of alarm. Under normal circumstances, I would be the pacifist. It's what I'm good at, being human and all. On the other hand, Alessia had yet to leave her room since the incident happened. Ace was having a royal funeral within the next coming days, and I couldn't bear to think of how broken she would be. The mate she should have been with took the mate that was chosen for her. Where would she be now? 

"Go check on Alessia, Cy." Damien could nearly read my mind, and I sighed as I pressed a light kiss against his temple before rising from the bed. 

When I first entered her room, I thought it was empty. The thick curtains were drawn, and the room looked untouched entirely, except for the bed. There was a hiccuping mass in the middle of it, and I could bet that it was accompanied by mascara-stained silk sheets. 

I didn't call out her name, I didn't pet her back and tell her that it would be okay. It wouldn't be okay. She lost her soul mate, forever. I crawled under the sheets with her and held her against my chest. The muffled sniffles turned into full blown sobs, and she shook against me. 

"Why," I murmured to the Moon Goddess. "She doesn't deserve this," 

My gaze was turned in shock when I saw her appear by the window once more. Did all Lunas get this level of frequency? Or was me throwing the werewolf world into a whirlwind war making her a regular customer of mine?  She was looking down, her head hung. When you think about Gods, you don't think about them mourning. You don't think about them being sad. What kind of God would have the time? Especially one like her, especially the one that creates love for others for all of eternity. 

"I know she doesn't, Luna," she whispered back. 

I couldn't help but look to her with pleading eyes. We both knew that she deserved better, but what options were left? Re-mate her to Xander? He would be dead in two week's time. Alessia was going to be alone. 

She walked over, her gown billowing in a wind that didn't exist. She kneeled on the bed beside Alessia and I, and she sighed. 

Alessia perked up, taking in a sharp breath as she looked at the Moon Goddess. She could feel her, she had made herself apparent to her. 

"Cyan..." she murmured. 

"You're not insane, Less," I encouraged. 

"You're the only one who should be able to see her though, unless--" 

"You're not dead," the Moon Goddess assured. "You are a Patron of the Moon Goddess." 

"W-what does that mean?" She continued to struggle to wipe the tears from her eyes. 

"It means you're a guardian to me. You carry out the acts and wishes that I cannot perform from my own realm to bring mated couples together." 

Alessia looked nervously to me. Condemned to a life of watching others find happiness, but having to live out the heartbreak of her own lack thereof? 

"I know exactly what you're thinking. In exchange for this service of your mortal life, I can give you this," The Moon Goddess rested her hands over Alessia's heart. She breathed out like she got the wind knocked out of her, and I couldn't help but hold my breath. 

"It....it's gone," she murmured. 

"What's gone?" I looked nervously between the two of them. 

"When mates find one another, and one of the mates is killed, I take the other one and make them a patron. They carry out my duties in the mortal realm, and in return, I remove their heartbreak. Her memories with Ace are like a story she read. She can revisit them, but she will feel nothing but joy if she does." 

"You took away her pain," I murmured. 

"I gave her a second purpose. Her first obligation was to her mate, but Ace is gone now." 

"If you don't save them, if you don't give them this life, what normally happens?" 

"Their heartbreak most often drives them to suicide or madness." 

I couldn't decide what I would have preferred more. Standing on that altar, watching Damien double over, I was sure that it was over. I thought that I was going to be on my own again. So if I had to choose between remembering forever and ridding myself back to ignorance, I don't know which I would choose. I was happy Alessia didn't have a choice. With the war that was going to break out, I couldn't bear to lose her too.