AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It does. Your mate becomes your purpose. Even on your worst day, you feel a drive to make sure they’ve had enough to eat and drink. You feel a desire to spend time with them and experience things together. Having a mate enriches your life enough to protect against immis entirely.”
“Maybe a lot of the fae will start taking mates now that they don’t have any more wars to fight, then,”I murmured.
“Maybe the wars were started in an effort to avoid immis without taking a mate in the first place,”Bright countered.
I wondered if she had a point.
“Would it be terrible if I grew my own plants from the leaves Dirue gave me? I don’t want to take her place or make her lose her mind, but I don’t want to be reliant on her plants either.”
Bright chuffed.“No. I wouldn’t want to return to her in a few weeks when those run out either. She only put four in there.”
My lips curved upward.
We neared the castle, and I reached out to Kierden.“Are you ready for me to look at the bodies?”
He and the elves had exhausted their ideas, so he was finally ready to take the “risk” of having me see if I could sense anything. It was unlikely, but my magic was unique so there was always some small chance it would work.
He sighed.“Unfortunately. They’re frozen, and I’ve covered them with sheets; if there are any plants, you should be able to sense them without seeing them, right?”
“I think so.”
“We’ll find out, then.”
I didn’t want to see the bodies unless I had to, so I was grateful that he covered them.
When we reached the castle, I slipped off Bright’s back, and she led me through a maze of hallways.
Bright didn’t want to go in with the bodies, so when we reached the room and found Death already sitting outside the doors, the two of them decided to slip into the jungle together for a few hours. She still hadn’t admitted that she was in love with him, but everyone knew, including Death. He wasn’t sure why she still wouldn’t mate with him, but he was getting closer to refusing her “no” every day, just like she wanted him to.
The room was much emptier than I’d expected. There were no elves in sight; it was just Kierden and a few other fae I didn’t know. On one side of the space, there were a few long desks. On the other side, there were two tables set up parallel to each other, holding two bodies hidden beneath sheets.
I could see the bright golden glow of their bond showing through the fabric covering them.
“Their bond is still glowing?”I asked Kierden mentally, not wanting to disturb the grim silence in the room.
“A sealed mate bond doesn’t break with death, little human. The magic of it holds through every world and every life that follows.”
My throat swelled with emotion.
He’d told me that before, but it never occurred to me that a bond could be so eternal that the glow of it didn’t vanish.
What had happened to them was horrible, but at least they were still together, permanently.
Kierden stepped up to me, his hand landing on my lower back as he waited for me to decide whether I was going to approach them or not.
I let out a slow breath, and finally walked over to the tables. Despite the nausea in my stomach, I was there for a purpose.
“Do you feel anything?” Kierden asked me quietly, as we stood between the fae. I assumed he’d spoken aloud for everyone else’s sake.
“Give me a minute,” I murmured.
Closing my eyes, I focused on my magic. I was usually surrounded by so many plants that I had never bothered with trying to find them individually.
As I followed the energy of my magic, I could feel the life in the walls and floors of the room, along with every other inch of the tree that made up the castle. Whoever created it had done so with extreme care, making sure not to hurt the tree in the slightest, and had put magic into place to prevent its growth from contorting the castle’s shape. My magic had rejuvenated the tree, strengthening it without affecting the shape or size of it.
It took a few minutes for me to guide my mind through the massive flow of my power. Navigating through it as I tried to pinpoint smaller bits of growth felt like running uphill.
I felt the vines and flowers, growing over the walls inside the castle.
