Page 40 of Keeper of All

Chapter Twenty-One

Ekon

On the jet, relaxing in one of the plush leather seats as they taxied down the runway, Ekon shut his eyes against how everything felt like floating through water.

Mao sat on the seat next to him, and he felt his watchful gaze on him even with his eyes closed. Their bond hummed with concerns and questions about why Ekon felt like a shadow of his former self. And with that came the image of the eternal fae becoming no more and mocking the claim of eternal status. He kept that image and thought to himself not wanting to worry Mao any more than he was.

For some reason, he had hoped that Mao’s return with the journal, even with the cryptic message, would somehow make him feel less drained.

It didn’t happen.

They had talked for hours with Mao’s family after his return, and everyone put their opinion forward about what Featherman meant. He’d explained the things he’d said about seeking answers and the ancient magic he needed. This jibed with Mao’s recanting of his encounter.

So here they were back on the jet that Alexi had sent at their request because no matter what they surmised, they still didn’t have the answers. He’d done more reading and had gone through two-thirds of the first journal. He did wonder if contact with the pages, despite using a cloth barrier, was also part of his energy drain.

All that pain between the pages, the acceptance of other souls after death, it must have been a very heavy burden. How would the fae have felt to have those files taken by Kelvin? Did he write about that?

“The seatbelt sign is off, do you want to use the cabin bed to sleep?”

Mao’s question roused him from his thoughts, and he opened his eyes, giving a serene smile. “I’m fine here for now. I was just thinking about doing some more reading. I was thinking about Kelvin when he took the files from the bunker…” He sat forward, sighing heavily at how much effort it took.

“Carry on with your thought process,” Mao encouraged, eyes narrowing.

“Did our guy write about it? He saw himself as a kind of protector for those lost and damaged souls. Would it make sense he’ll feel the loss?” He titled his head and rested it on his fist. Hair fell into his eyes, so he swept it back with the other hand, tucking it behind his ear.

Mao's brows drew together, creating a deep furrow. “Keep going.”

“If that was the case, and he felt that loss, could that have caused him to…” He sucked in a breath, and as he exhaled, he murmured, “die?”

“Fuck,” Mao ground out, and with it came a wave of concern he wasn’t able to hold back from Ekon.

His sentiments too. “Then if that is what’s happening to me, or something similar, then what we’ve done could be why”—he waved a hand up his body—“I’m feeling like I’m clutching at water and seeing it slip through my fingers… just like the eternal fae was in the end.”

The following silence was deafening, both in the plane and his mind. It was like their bond had was severed. “I could be wrong, and it is all hypothetical right now…” Their gazes locked, and he felt a rush of fear so intense it stole his breath.

“But with what you saw of the record keeper…”

“Yes,” Ekon whispered, a tear slipping free down his cheek at what that could mean for both of them.

I’m sorry.

Never be sorry, I’m not. You are my most treasured life moment—our mating. You’ll be my mate for however long the Fates deem it, and I will value it as the gift it is. “The krakens are ancient,” Mao said aloud. “There are no other ones I know of, and heck we only know about Alexi and his brothers because of my brother, Ben. If there are others, then let's hope they know about them too.”

He released his seatbelt and came up; he parted Ekon’s thighs then knelt between them to cup his jaw and moved in to capture his lips in a sweet kiss. “We’ll wait and see what they think about your magic.” Another soft kiss. “If you are up to reading more of the journal, then let’s do that. We have hours to kill.”

He nodded slowly, then pressed closer to offer his lips for more of those sweet kisses. Mao’s eyes revealed passion as he angled Ekon’s head, his lips light and teasing, making Ekon moan in complaint, parting his to deepen the kiss. He didn’t use anything other than his lips and tongue to drive Ekon into the world of dreamy pleasure. The kiss was a whisper of blessings, each and every one of the cells fizzed with the joy of it until he was no more than a puddle of fizz in the seat. There was desire, it just wasn’t raging hot, it was a beautifully dreamy world Mao created where there was no rush to reach an end goal, because the kisses were everything and nothing else mattered.

He wasn’t sure how long they kissed for before there was a discreet cough behind Mao. Ekon’s lips were super sensitive as he licked at them when Mao turned and looked at the steward who was ringing his hands.

Mao muttered something even Ekon didn’t catch before he demanded, “What do you want?”

The man was not the one that had been on the jet before, and his pale completion and red hair made it easy to see the color flood his cheeks. “Sorry to interrupt but the captain has put the seatbelt sign back on because of turbulence.”

Ekon chuckled at how they both thought the same thing. What turbulence?

“Okay.” Mao rolled his eyes. Pushing up and returning to his seat and buckling up.

Ekon reached for the pair of cotton gloves Mao’s mom had given him and slipped them on before picking up the bag holding the journals. He slipped out the top one and lifted the arm rest to pull out the foldaway table. Once in front of him, he laid out the journal. Opening the page, he’d put the feather he’d found inside it and had used as a bookmark, to the side.