We sit, watching the stars in the now-dark sky, and the fire, and occasionally chatting. I remember watching over my basilica, near the ocean, before the wars. The light pollution from the town, then bustling city, then huge metropolis, slowlyblocked out the starlight in a way that to me, had been almost slow-motion. It had been painful, to watch it happen, to lose the ability to see all but our central Goddess.
I can’t say that I disagree with our species’ decision to take control of the governments of our world. The humans were killing the Earth, killing our Goddesses. But now, looking at Fern, I wonder if we went about it all wrong.
After the wine brewing conversation drifted off, we all just settled in and enjoyed the fire, and the stars, and the sound of the late season insects and animals.
Peaceful. It feels peaceful.
Arch shifts in his chair and clears his throat, and mine tightens as well.This cannot be good.
“Bride,” he starts stiffly, “You must know you are owed a punishment for your escape.”
She cups her empty wine glass and looks at him evenly but silently.
“And yet,” Arch continues, tail wrapped nervously around his calf, “I find I must first apologize.”
Ben coughs on his wine.
Ben’s shocked eyes meet mine. I raise my eyebrows in a gesture of ‘who the fuck knows.’
“When we... found you, and brought you home, I actedexceedinglypoorly. You were, understandably, traumatized. I should not have... well.That.” He leans back and runs a hand through his messy black hair, sighing. “I was distraught. Not in the same manner of you, of course. But seeing you, well, nothelpless, but certainly in harm’s way, when you are meant to be under my,our, protection... it did something to me. So I apologize.”
Fern tucks her shiny hair behind one ear. “Yes, having your property sullied was surely worrisome.”
Fuck.
Silence except for the crackling of the fire.
Arch’s face is twisted but I cannot read it. “You are not our property, Fern! You are to be our wife, our trusted center! A beloved member of our chime!”
Ben’s mouth is hanging open, and I’m stunned too, at Arch’s outburst, at his blunt words. But Fern’s face is ice.
“If I’mnotyour property, I can leave.”
“When your contract is up,” Arch says as calmly as possible through gritted teeth.
“I am owed no punishment.IfI am not your property.”
Arch’s eyes narrow. “No, that’s bullshit word games, little one, and I won’t be playing them. I punish both Ben and Theo, and they would have givenmeconsequences last night, if I had crossed a line. And you, by running away, by endangering yourself, and any babe of ours you might even now be carrying, crossed a line. So you will be punished.”
He crosses his arms, wings fanning open, looking imposing.
She leans back, glaring.
“But,” Arch says unexpectedly, “I will allow you some choice of your punishment.”
Ben’s eyes meet mine again and again, I shrug. I have no idea what the stones is going on with Archibald lately but I’d hazard a guess that our little bride has him wrapped around his finger and he’s struggling to come to terms with that.
She already has Ben and me, I know that for certain.
“First, would you prefer it tonight or after we wake tomorrow?”
Her eyes narrow. “Now,” she answers flatly.
He nods. “Good. And would you rather show us how you prefer to be touched, or for one of us to fuck you in the air?”
“Whyexactlywould I be complicit in my own debasement?” She arches an eyebrow.
Terrible little beast.
