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Chapter 26

       Soft rays of morning light were beaming across my closed eyes. I didn't want to wake up. I just wanted to snuggle closer to the warmth radiating against my side. Gentle fingertips reached up and smoothed the fallen pieces of hair away from my face.

       "I know you're awake."

       No, I wasn't. I was still sleeping, still enjoying the quiet emptiness of the dream world before I had to enter the crazy, chaotic, and mind-boggling reality.

       I made an odd, sleepy noise at the back of my throat and curled closer to the warmth. It was so nice, such a reprieve from the cold, darkness of my room. A dark chuckle washed slowly over me, and those soft fingertips traced teasingly down my arm.

       He didn't say anything else, but I knew he was patiently waiting for my mind to clear of its grogginess. I blinked tiredly up at the large warmth hovering beside me, my lips parted in a yawn.

       "I'm sleepy." I murmured before closing my eyes again and pressing myself against his warm chest. He let out another low laugh, but his large hand was reaching up and rubbing gently over my hair anyway.

       It had been the first night I had slept completely through, besides the time I slept beside him, in as long as I could remember. I didn't want it to end. Although, I knew if my mind wasn't so fuzzy I wouldn't be pressing against him like I was.

       "I would hold you against me like this for an eternity if I could. But there are things I must do today." He murmured against the top of my hair, his calloused hand soft as it rubbed gently over my back.

       My eyes blinked open again, my heart quickening in my chest. I was practically clinging to the King in my sleeping state, my fingers curled into fists against his strong chest. My eyes focused, the grogginess left my brain, and then I jerked away from him with a horrified, burning blush rising to my cheeks.

       "I-I'm so sorry!" I squeaked and tried to pull completely away from him, but his large hand snapped out and caught my upper arm before I could get very far. I gaped up at him, at the bright blue eyes narrowed in a disgruntled manner. My blush didn't ease.

       "Do not be sorry for clinging to me, Emrie. I am your mate, you are allowed to." His tone was hard, his voice low, even though it only made more heat rise to my neck.

       "I-I..." I stammered as he pulled me slowly back into him, his large, hard arms wrapping around me like a thick muscled blanket. So much for those things he needed to do.

       His tone eased as his warm lips rubbed gently along my forehead. The soft, surprising touch made my eyes widen. He's never really been this... touchy, before.

       "Such a shy little thing you are." He teased softly against my skin, his strong fingers winding gently into my messy hair.

       I remained quiet. I was too busy trying to keep my breathing calm. He was so close- and smelled so good. Like- like the snow after it had just freshly fallen. It made my head spin.

       "You are so different from the females of my kind." He started quietly, his breath hot as it tickled my skin. "They are used to the brutish mannerisms and behaviors of the males. Sometimes I forget that I have to be far more gentle with you." His tone was soft as his strong fingers rubbed gently at my head through my hair, his other arm holding me strongly to him.

       "Mates are the most important aspect to my people." He continued lowly, his voice almost sad as it filled the quiet room. "Our god gave up a piece of his own soul to bring them into existence. To disregard one's other half is the highest form of betrayal to what we are."

       "Why are you telling me this, North?" I mumbled against his bare chest, my hands pressed flatly against its hard ridges and lines.

       He let out a heavy sigh before his fingers in my hair tightened. "I want to lie and say it's to make you feel better. To make up for avoiding you for months- but, in reality, it's to make myself feel better."

       I pulled slowly away from him, a frown tugging at my lips. His blue eyes were gazing down at me in such a sad concentration that it tore at my heart. "What do you mean?"

       "I told you before that it is not normal for my kind to be parted once they found their mate, that it has never actually been done. And yet, I forced us apart for months. It was to protect you, but still. I was betraying every instinct in me, everything holy law inside of me. I won't say I regret the decision, but I hate myself for making it."

       A dark lock of his hair had fallen across his forehead, and my hand was reaching up to brush it away before I could tell myself not to. His blue eyes stayed locked on my gaze the entire time.

       "I know that you felt that way- I just don't really know why. You hardly ever tell me anything." My voice was practically a whisper, despite the silence in the room, my brow creasing at the frown that flashed across his.

       His seemed to be alight, like the sunrays from the window falling over the carpeted floor. "I know, and for that I am sorry. But you must understand that I do everything for a reason, and hardly regret my actions. I do not tell you things, because it is not yet time for you to know."

       My frown grew into a scowl at his words, and it was all I could do not to visibly struck his bulging arm- it looked like a perfect target.

       "That does not mean that I enjoy it, Emrie. I hate seeing that saddened look in your eyes, especially when you realize there are only more secrets being kept from you."

       I didn't like the sorrowful look that crossed his handsome face, but his words pulled me in two completely opposite ways. I wanted to be mad at him, to demand he tell me what was actually going on and what all those secrets were.

       While the other part, the one desperately tied to him, wanted me to respect his decision- to have faith that he would tell me everything when he believed the time to be right.

       I let out a heavy sigh and allowed my fingers to just barely trace his sharp jaw. "Do not let that time be too long." I muttered even though I knew there was no replacing that hardened look in his eyes. He was so set in his own mind-set that it was practically impossible to persuade him against something he believed in.

       Sadly, I admired that.

       He didn't say anything else, just sort-of held my gaze in that solid, unwavering stare that we so often shared. There was silence for a few long, pleasant minutes, before he finally glanced away- a small sigh leaving his lips.

       "It is growing closer to mid-day, and there truly are matters I must attend to." His voice was a dark mutter as his blue eyes watched the sun through the glass window.

       I tried to keep the unpleasant scowl from my face as he flipped over the bed's covers and stood to his feet. North and I never got to talk like this, never got to be like this.

       He was always so closed off and stony. This was an abnormal moment that I wasn't ready to end- despite the turmoil my thoughts were in.

       "Aeyron wishes to take you into town again, to make up for yesterday." He announced casually as he began walking towards the small, wooden, door at the back of the room.

       I couldn't stop my gaze from following the hard plains and muscles of his back as he moved. He was just so... yummy. The thought actually made me want to blush. There was honestly no other word to describe him in such a simple manner. The sight of him shirtless made my mouth water.

       "When did you talk to him?"

       He stopped just outside of the door and shot me a smile, his tan fingers reaching up to press against his temple.

       "Oh..." Remembering his whole mind-trick-thing would take some getting used to.

       "I am going to have a servant draw me a bath, would you like one as well?"

       His question was innocent enough, but just hearing the words 'bath and him' in the same sentence made heat rise to my cheeks. "U-Um no, thank you. I will have one later."

       He shot me a smile, either oblivious to the red staining my face, or didn't care. I was honestly happy with either option.

       "Very well. I will see you this afternoon, Emrie."

       "S-see you..." I waved awkwardly after him, my other hand clenching nervously at the bed spread as he disappeared behind the door.

       Now what?

-&-

       "I do not know how you stay so fit with all the junk you inhale." I commented as Aeyron stuffed his face with yet another mini cake. He shot me a wide, desert filled, smile.

       I cringed.

       "I have a vigorous training regime. Don't you worry, my lady." Then he paused, ate another caramelized candy before winking at me. "And wolf-bornes have a metabolism that puts the Triathlon runners to shame."

       That was definitely more believable. I was with the General almost every hour of the day, and I have not once seen him in any sort of exercising form. He was either bragging about beating me in chess, or stuffing his face. The male was beyond obsessed with food.

       I couldn't help the small laugh that pulled from my lips, and began to roll my eyes as he started to bicker with a stand's owner over a price for a bag of sweet-taffy-like candy- when a dark flash of green caught my eyes. My brows furrowed curiously.

       That looked like Mae's cloak...

       Then I saw her, just out of the corner of my gaze. The familiar color of her winter cloak disappearing around a bustling stand. I frowned. What in the world was Mae doing up here? I turned away from the squabbling Aeyron and store keeper- a flash of large, frightening, hazel eyes drawing my attention.

       "Mae?" I called out to the distant figure, but only received a few odd glances from the wolf-bornes around me. I ignored them and hurried after the brief image of my friend.

       "Mae?" I called again once I rounded the corner I saw she had disappeared behind. My steps faltered and I frowned. There was no one there- just an empty alley.

       I sighed and shook my head. Being around all the craziness at the castle was really starting to get to me- "Ah!" I squealed when a thin, tight grip suddenly wrapped around my wrist. I whirled around, ready to slap the culprit silly, when my eyes landed on a rather horrid looking Mae.

       Dark blue circles outlined her sunken in eyes, her cheeks pale and skin clammy as if she hadn't seen the sun in weeks. And she was thin- skinner than I had ever seen her before in our entire life. My breathing hitched in my throat.

       Dear lord-

       "Mae? What happened to you?" I tried to keep my voice soft and gentle as the beyond frightened girl grasped desperately at my wrist.

       "Emrie." She wheezed, her breathing hard as her balance staggered. "They lied to you- the Elders. W-we all did. I didn't know until we returned from the Lower Kingdom, but I've been lying to you too." She spoke hastily as she shot nervous glances behind her shoulder, like she was afraid someone was after her.

       "What are you talking about?" My eyebrows were scrunched together in confusion, my hands gripping tightly onto her thin arms as she flinched uneasily in front of me every couple of seconds. I shook my head.

       "You're not making any sense-"

       "There's something you need to see." She spoke over me like I hadn't even bothered to open my mouth, her dark, hazel, eyes almost hollow as she let go of my wrist. My stomach twisted uneasily.

       "I don't understand what is going on. What do you mean you have all been lying to me-"

       She didn't let me finish, and before I could realize what she was doing- her small fingers were pressing harshly into my temples. I jerked against her hold, my eyes wide at the odd action- until the world around me disappeared, and was replaced by the one inside of my best friend's head.

       I gasped.

       Craters as wide as the King's castle littered the ground, thousands of them. All dark, deep holes in the lower grounds of the world. People laid inside of them, one person for each crater- for hundreds, and hundreds of leagues.

       Then Mae's mind flashed elsewhere to cave, a murky cave hidden deep within the base of the King's Mountain- a mountain that had yet to be inhabited by anything besides its animals. A box rested at the end of the long tunnel-like cavern, a glass box where no light seemed to escape or enter.

       "How long ago was this?" My mind asked no one in particular as Mae's stepped closer to the coffin-like glass box. This cave was a tomb, a tomb buried deep within the Mountain.

       "Long before any shifter or human walked the expanse of the North."

       I wasn't expecting her voice to answer- much less respond in my mind. The feeling was odd. I had never before shared my subconscious with anyone- that I was aware of at least.

       "Why are you showing me this? How are you doing this?"

       "You have to see. You have to know." She repeated solemnly, both sad, and distant- but persistent. This was not the Mae I knew. What had happened to her?

       She drew my mind's eye closer to the glass coffin, closer than I would have ever liked. I didn't want to be anywhere near it- anywhere near the cave and this part of the Mountain.

       I didn't want to believe any of it. Didn't want to believe there was cavern-like tombs buried deep at the base of the Mountain, or that Mae looked as if she were on her death bed and had an ability to enter people's mind at will.

       It was all becoming too surreal- too unfamiliar.

       Still, she drew me closer to the coffin- closer to whomever was lying dead inside. Why did I have to see this? Why was it so important to her? Torches suddenly flickered to life around the small room that had been carved into the cavern, and the glass of the box reflected its orange light- and the person lying inside.

        "No..." I heard myself both say out loud and in my mind. I tried to take a step away from her in horror, my eyes wide in surprise, but her grip only tightened and she held me firmly in place.

       "Emrie-"

       "No!" I gasped and jerked against her grip, my mind trying to desperately push against hers. "It's not true! You're lying! T-This is a trick!"

       "No it's not!" Mae blinked and then we were suddenly standing in the abandoned alley once again, her sick appearance only worsening as I tried to wrench myself away from her.

       "It has to be! That's impossible!" I didn't realize there were tears streaming down my cheeks until the water was dripping off my chin.

       "It's true, Emrie! You have to believe me!" She was crying as well, but her tears seemed to be more out of fear than anything else.

       "Emrie?" I heard Aeyron call for me just a few yards away from the tunnel, a certain degree of worry lining his tone. I was more than happy to hear his voice. I wanted to feel horrid for wishing to be rid of her, but this was all too insane.

       "Aeyron-!"

       "Em, please. You must know. They found you first when you fell- the Elders of old. They knew who you were- who you are. They spelled and trapped you in that coffin to keep you from him. It's always been about power, Emrie-"

       "There you are."

       It wasn't Aeyron who interrupted her, but the strong, powerful voice of the King sounding behind me. My heart hammered in my throat as I stepped hurriedly away from the deranged Mae.

       Her hazel eyes widened in horror at the large male suddenly behind me, the pupils of them changing drastically between her animal's and hers. My own gaze widened in surprised at the male suddenly behind her- the one who looked rather murderous.

       "Seize the Underling, Aeyron."

       "No! Don't hurt her!" I cried at the large wolf-borne, and tried to hurry in front of her like a protective wall- but North's thick arm was circling around my waist and pinning my back against his thick chest before I had the chance.

       "No please! She's my friend!"

       Deranged or not, I still loved her like family. Even if she thought I had been stuck in a box for hundreds of years. Thinking I was some reincarnation of a star was one thing, but believing I had been spelled asleep in some coffin? No, that was beyond impossible.

       Aeyron paused behind her, his large hands gripping tightly onto her thin upper arms. His brown eyes flickered between mine and the King's in question, but it was Mae who made the decision. My breathing hitched in surprise at the small smile she gave me.

       "No, it's alright. I would rather be imprisoned and die here than suffer anymore from them."

       I didn't have to guess who the 'them' was. The Elders. She was terrified of them- they had done this to her. I could tell from her eyes. But why? Why would they hurt her so?

       Eirik was quiet behind me, his chest hard as it pressed against my back. His arms tightened around my waist as he pulled me closer to him. "To whom are you referring?" He finally growled, his voice gruff as it filled the tense air surrounding the alley.

       "T-The Elders of our town." Mae seemed scared, but nothing as bad as the first time we trespassed his territory. It was like she no longer really cared what happened to her. That thought tugged at my chest. "They were upset that Lei and I let her go to you. They feared your connection to him- so they punished us."

       My head was beginning to throb. None of this was making any sense. The Elders were mad that I was with the King now? Why? Because they couldn't study my power anymore? And they hurt Mae because of it? This was ridiculous.

       Then again, if she truly thought their ancestors had locked me in a box for hundreds of years I understood why she would fear them. Especially if that had punished her for some ridiculous reason.

       But even that seemed so out of reality. And yet, the King still stiffened behind me- as if some part of him actually believed her.

       "Tell me, feline, why risk your life by coming here to speak to my mate?"

       Mae eyes flickered between mine and the King's, her sunken in cheeks appearing more hollow than ever before. "Emrie needs to know the truth. She has a right to."

       "This seems far from the blasted truth-" I started to snap, but the King interrupted me before I could finish.

       "Aeyron, take the Underling to the infirmary. I want her as healed as possible for further questioning."

       "Questioning?" I gaped at the word, and tried to turn to glare up at him, but his tight grip on my waist wouldn't let me.

       "Yes, my lord." Aeyron nodded, and with one last wink my way, he and Mae were gone. I was left staring at their empty spaces. I blinked, and then felt anger boil in my stomach.

       "What is going on, North? And don't you dare lie to me." I tried to keep my voice as firm as possible, but he was caressing my hip gently and forcing my mind to spiral easing that anger so ever-slowly away.

       "I am just as clueless as you."

       "I said don't lie."

       He hunched slightly over me, until his large body was practically cradling my smaller one to his chest. "I was very worried about you, you know? When Aeyron told me you had suddenly disappeared." He murmured into my ear, and despite the nerves shooting through me at his close proximity, I tried to keep my resolve steely.

       He sighed into my ear. "It would appear, that these Elder of yours had been lying to you more than I ever have."

       "She thinks I was trapped in a box beneath the Mountain long before anyone ever lived here." I grumbled as he practically squished me to his chest.

       He had been acting so odd lately- so much more intimate. Part of me wanted to relish in it, to hold onto him as tightly as I could. The other part, the saner part, didn't know what to make of the sudden change.

       He tensed behind me once again. His heading bowing until his lips were just a fraction away from the skin of my throat.

       "Asleep for hundreds of years, right beneath the nose." His voice was almost a harsh growl against my skin, his breath hot as it fanned my neck. The feeling sent a surge of nerves flutters throughout my entire being.

       "Y-You believe her?" I stammered as his lips barely brushed against the skin of my neck. The touch sent electricity through my entire body.

       "I am not sure, but I do believe it is time I made a personal visit to this village of yours. 

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     I hope you all enjoyed! Things are getting interesting!