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He shrugs. “This was just before the destruction of our world.” He speaks so quickly with his hands, I can’t keep up. I look at Dusk, who translates. “The king was as charming as ever, so it was logical for us to think she chose him, loved him, wanted him. There was nothing in our father's behaviors that seemed strange. And he had never seemed interested in having more power than he already had, so we didn't think anything of the prophecy.”
“But Onyx asked if we truly thought all Shenra cared about was a title and power. In truth, we'd never seen her that way. We argued that perhaps her parents pressured her to make him her husband, but again, Onyx didn't feel she could be pressured to do that. She was... soft spoken and often submissive, but she could be a lion when she needed to be. So her complete betrayal didn’t sit right with him. He had faith in her feelings, in his own. Faith that we didn't have, perhaps because the man who had taken our love was our own father.” Phantom stares down at the fire for a second before he looks at me. “Then Onyx found her body a couple of weeks later in the moat. At least, what we thought was her body. It was... difficult to tell by then, but she had white hair, and a cream gown similar to the type she slept in.”
Dusk whispers, “But still, we couldn’t believe our father could do that. I know that makes us sound like fools, but it seemed more likely that rather than return home in shame, she... well, she made a rash decision.”
“We didn’t know for certain that it was her at all though,” Onyx emphasizes with his hand and looks at Phantom. “We'd sent word to her family, but we hadn't received word back yet if she'd made it to her home.”
I'm trying to process all of this, but it's hard. All three of them have stopped though, and they're looking at me, so I try to sort my thoughts appropriately. "It makes sense. I mean, if you accused your father of something awful, then learned she'd just gone home, it'd be terrible. And you'd all already lost your mother; it's normal that you wouldn't want to lose your only other living family member." I clench my arms. "I did the same kind of thing with my mother. I-I, well, I sometimes forgave things that I shouldn't have, or pretended my mom was someone different, even though all logic said exactly who she was. A child's need to be loved by a parent is strong."
The men exchange a look, and then Dusk stares back at me, overwhelming emotion in his eyes. "We never saw it that way. Just felt like we were fools."
Onys signs, "And maybe I wasn't understanding enough because I'd never had that bond with a parent."
Unable to stop myself, I reach out and squeeze Onyx's hand. His eyes widen in surprise for a moment before I let go, and he turns away from me again.
"And killing your woman was what led to all of this?" Rayne asks, frowning.
"I wish," Dusk mutters, shaking his head.
“We didn’t believe Onyx when he tried to show us his 'proof' that father had murdered her. We got into a fight, something we never do, and he went off alone to drink because we’d wounded him to his core. We chose our father over him, and I think it made him feel like... he wasn't part of our family, even though we're brothers in all ways except blood.” Phantom’s breath shudders out of him, and I appreciate the pain they're in to tell us this story.
“At the tavern, I overheard someone say that the king was engaging in some dangerous magic,” Onyx signs as Dusk speaks his words aloud. “Surprised, I went around town, listening to every shred of gossip I could acquire. Everyone in town was afraid, and everyone had a different story. Some had seen the king in the forest, talking to trolls or rot monkeys. Others said the king was seen in graveyards, digging up bones. Some said he’d gone to the sacred cliff, the only connection to the moonstone, and a place that's forbidden, and they worried about why. All things that are the signs of a madman. A man up to no good. So, I again returned home and warned them.”
Phantom’s breaths become shallower. “We thought our father had lost his mind. Not that he was up to trouble, but that it was connected to our mother, and then there was the fact that his young bride was lost to him. Perhaps he realized that a man cannot fall in love again after losing his mate. Perhaps it was guilt for even trying. We weren't sure, but we thought he just needed our help.”
Dusk’s eyes are dark with guilt. Shame. Sadness. "We were wrong."
"Our foolishness cost us everything, cost our people everything," Phantom murmurs.
“I can’t.” Dusk suddenly pushes to his feet and walks to the entrance to the cave, standing silhouetted in the dim light of night outside. Even from where I sit, I can feel his emotion, feel how deeply he's trying to make it through this story, even though he's overwhelmed with the memories. And I want to go to him, to wrap my arms around him, but there's a sense that they aren't done, that there's more to say, so I stay seated, feeling on edge.
Phantom continues more slowly. "Our fathermighthave lost his mind, but hewasabsolutely dangerous. He took the moon stone. He plunged our world into a darkness that spread across the land like a plague. We faced off with him. Dusk had... had a chance to kill him, but he didn't. Some part of us both thought he could still be saved, that deep down the man who still loved us as kids was inside of him." Phantom rubs his face again and Onyx reaches over, squeezing his shoulder for a long moment before Phantom presses on. "We made a mistake. My father tried to kill me and Onyx took the blow, losing his hearing in the incident. We barely got out alive with some of our men. We thought in coming to this world maybe we’d have a chance to figure out what was happening and then come back to save our people, but we quickly realized that we couldn't win this war. That all we could do was keep the earth alive as long as possible. There was... a brief time when we thought we could enlist the help of others here, but that was quickly proved to be foolish thinking."
Onyx begins signing after a quiet moment, and Phantom's voice carries his sad words. "And then we saw you, our mate, and we still weren't sure. We knew once we felt the connection with you that our father would feel it too. He might not understand it, but he'd track it down, find you, and either take you for himself or kill you. So, we had to take you with us. We were... defeated, to say the least. Not even really thinking about the prophecy. But, once we met you, then it was all we could think about."
The look in Onyx's eyes says something entirely different. Not that they were only thinking about the prophecy, but that they were thinking about me.
I feel my cheeks heat once more and try to pretend not to notice.
Phantom stares at his brother’s back for a long minute then glances at me. “In our culture, the father can’t have our mate once we’ve bonded with her, of course, which wasn't something we thought would be a problem. We naturally assumed our mate would... would want us too.”
Ouch.
From the doorway, as if he’s speaking to the night, Dusk continues, “It’s the bond of mates that stops him, from what we understand. It’s physical. He won’t be able to take you or claim you. We don't know if it'll be enough to actually win this war and save our world, but it's the only hope we have.” He sighs again. “That's why we need to do this. Not just because we love you and feel compelled by this connection, but because we want to keep you safe. And what’s more, we feel we owe it to our people to see if this prophecy can save them. Not that you do. You owe us nothing.”
So much pressure.Not from them specifically, but my heart is weighted with it.
“What is it exactly? The mate bond between shadow beasts?” Maybe if I know what has to happen, I can accept it, or at least understand it.
Dusk turns and shrugs. Phantom shakes his head. But across from me, Onyx begins to sign, “We each have to have sex with you.”
"S-sex?" I stutter.That's all?
He continues signing, "It's more than just the physical act of making love."
Rayne stands and turns away because there’s nowhere for him to go in the night that is safe for a fae in a shadow beast’s body or certainly he would get out, but he’s heard enough. I know deep down he knew this was coming. Eventually, sex would be on the table if he shared me with them. But I think knowing it and hearing it are two completely different things.
Onyx continues, his gaze locked onto mine. “You have to take us into your heart.”Whatever that means.
