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Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeFor a moment as they passed through the reef, Thaelen could almost pretend that he was returning from a raid, and that the past few weeks had not occurred at all. The curve of sand was thick with blood slaves fishing, and the water occupied by the familiar fleet of ships. However, amongst the human slaves, he could see the sun catching on armour and swords, and in the fields beyond the sand-dunes, tents and campfires burned – evidence of the army that awaited his return.“I never knew that the world looked so beautiful to vampires,” Sigrid said with a blissful sigh as she joined him. “The colors so bright, the details so crisp… It is no wonder you are the way you are, Thaelen, for you see the world so differently to us.”“You are us, now, Sigrid,” he replied amused, looking down and ruffling her hair.She laughed. “I will get used to it eventually.”“And learn to feed with some decorum,” he teased, pulling his sleeve over the heel of his hand in
Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen woke with Gera pressed tight to his chest. The human had massaged and fed Thaelen, and then slept contentedly at his side. Thaelen had fed heavily from Gera in the hopes that between the blood loss and lack of privacy, the human would not find the lack of sex remarkable and Gera did not stir as Thaelen eased himself free of his embrace and tiptoed out of the tent.He was not surprised to find Egren feeding on a blood slave outside and nodded his greeting to her. “Do not interrupt your meal,” he told her. “I will go to the beach to bathe and return anon.”His path through the stronghold was heralded by greetings and offers of company however he declined them, needing to spend some time alone with his thoughts and his grief. The sand was spotted with camp sites, smouldering fires ringed by sleeping vampires and blood slaves, and the debris of their belongings.He stripped to his skin, leaving his clothes in the sand, and plunged into the wa
Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeAs Beupraxia was returned to the cage, sobbing and clutching her face, Thaelen was not surprised to see that Lord Hod watched with narrowed assessing eyes. He turned back to Beupraxia. “Look at me,” he said leaning against the bars. “Look at me,” he repeated when she refused. “You know I expect obedience,” he warned her.She lifted her tear-stained face. He had healed the brands on her cheeks himself, so he knew that she was not in pain. “This,” he gestured to his face. “This does not matter if what is in here,” he touched his chest. “Is hideous. And this,” he gestured to his face again. “Does not matter, if what is here, is beautiful. We are more than our faces, our bodies, and what people think is beautiful to see. You can view this as an ending or an opportunity. Is it not too late to reform what is in the inside.”He held her eyes for a moment before straightening. “I will be back with Gera tonight,” he told her. “You have today to consider h
Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen burst into the tent to find Isolte supporting Meguitte’s head whilst Caerin soaked cloth in a bowl.Sigrid licked a wound on her wrist closed, turning to face him. “It is not good,” she told him grimly. “I gave her blood not knowing how long it would take Gera to find you, but my blood does not have your potency.”“What is wrong?” Thaelen took Isolte’s place and accepted the athame that Gera brought him, slicing over his wrist and placing it at the witch’s mouth. She was unconscious, and he could feel the heat of her fever, smell the sharp stench of illness on her sweat.“I do not know,” Sigrid told him, shaking her head.“I think I do,” Isolte offered hesitantly. “I have seen mothers take suddenly like this, without warning, after hard births. The midwives say that it is an infection inside that spreads so quickly.” She shook her head to indicate that such cases were lost.“No,” Thaelen shook his head in disagreement. “I refuse to let it
Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeGera continued to hover until Sigrid returned with Egren. After a time the healer, Caerin and Isolte entered, the tent becoming very crowded around the hearth, and Thaelen felt the sweat running down his ribs. Sigrid took Caerin and Gera out with her, leaving Isolte to assist the healer with his broth, and Egren guarding Thaelen.Ayren left the tent flap open, letting in a breeze that pulled the stuffiness out of the canvas.As his stomach distended with blood and his head lightened from blood loss, Thaelen napped at Meguitte’s side, ignoring the healer and Isolte as they tended to her, feeding her the broth and changing the rags and her clothing when she soiled herself, bathing her to cool her as her fever spiked.He woke to Gera washing his face and hands, the human blushing as Thaelen looked at him in confusion. “I did not mean to wake you, Thaelen. You are just… covered in blood.”“Thank you,” Thaelen felt ill. For the first time in his life,
Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeHeath and Cameron were gone for a very long time. Long enough that Rhett had time to cry his self-pity out and pull himself together to face his mates when they returned. He washed his face in the sink and packed away all signs of Aislen’s imprisonment from his bedroom, before brushing his hair back into a pony-tail and inspecting himself in the mirror. It was ridiculous, he thought, to dress up to fight with his mates, but after he’d changed his top and added some jewellery and a leather jacket, he felt better equipped to defy Heath.In the spirit of defiance, he poured himself a glass of wine and took it and a smoke out onto the balcony, leaning against the handrail and looking over the river, listening for wolf howls. He was three quarters of a bottle down by the time that he saw his mates in wolf-form streak through the grasses on the other side of the river and plunge into the water. They shifted as they reached the bank, with Heath leading, and wal
Havermouth, Three Weeks agoThe car ride was silent, which was not helped by Rhett turning off the stereo. Cameron sat in the middle back seat looking between his two mates, trying to decide how bad things were. Bad, he sighed and leaned back in the seat, his chin to his chest. Things were f-ked as f-ked could get, with Heath’s attention focused inwards no doubt turning lawyer-y things over in his head and mentally preparing to fight, whilst a storm cloud of depression had settled over Rhett as he prepared to lose.“When we get there,” Heath said eventually. “I will do the talking.”Rhett blew out his breath. “What’s new?”“We wouldn’t be in this situation if you hadn’t let her go,” Heath growled.“Whose idea was it to abduct, hold her prisoner and tattoo her?” Rhett’s voice was dark and the look that he slid to Heath accusatory.“You agreed to it,” Heath’s lip curled, and his eyes were dangerous.“I was f-king desperate, and you took…” Rhett trailed off shaking his head.“I what?” He
Havermouth, Three Weeks Before“She doesn’t want you.” Abigail’s words sat heavily on the air.Cameron couldn’t resist flicking his eyes to Rhett. Aislen didn’t want Heath and Cameron, but she wanted Rhett. She couldn’t have him though, not whilst he was part of the Triquetra. For the first time, Cameron felt fear grip his heart icily. What if Rhett chose Aislen? Would he reject the Triquetra, would he reject Cameron and Heath, in order to have her?Would Cameron if he were Rhett? He wondered. The thought had never crossed his mind before, but once it was there, it lodged deep. He pictured walking around Havermouth hand in hand with Aislen as they had done years before, just like everyone else, just a boy and a girl in love… He had never been able to walk around Havermouth like that with Rhett or Heath, and probably never would, he thought sadly.He looked at Heath and Rhett next to him. Heath had been part of Cameron’s life since childhood and Rhett… Rhett was Rhett. He remembered ho