Chapter 220 Cosmic errors and warring gods

Chapter 220 Cosmic errors and warring gods
DAINE

I stirred awake, and the relief was instant. I could finally tell them. Hale might not like it, but the other two would.

My eyes still closed, I reached a hand out and hit a naked body.

It was not as warm as my wife's, nor as soft. But it was perfect, it belonged to me, with me. I curled my hand and tugged the body into me. Lillies. The smell of it filled my lungs, that whimsical signature fragrance of my queen which my eternal rival somehow happened to reincarnate with.

I buried my nose in his soft velvet hair as I opened my eyes at last. The world’s most beautiful eyes were staring at me, unusually soft and vulnerable.

“Your beauty is heart aching.” I pressed my lips to his forehead, stroking his hair. A red flush spread from his cheeks to the bridge of his nose, just like Lys.

I reached back to beat around the bed, even though I had seen her walk out the door sometime ago. I glanced over my shoulder to find Hale missing as well.

“Do you know when Hale left?” I murmured gently in Finn’s ear, still stroking his body. He stiffened, and jerked up to look over my shoulder.

“Where is Lys?”

“In the garden, I assume. She sneaked out at dawn.” I responded, remembering the silk robe belted neatly around her waist, and that tumble of blood-red wavy hair that fell all the way down to her waist as she melted out of the bedroom.

Finn relaxed then, “They are probably out racing each other, or…” his face turned dark, the corner of his eyes crinkling like he was in physical pain. I propped my head on my elbow to watch him. I have seen this jealousy on my wife’s face, on Hale’s face, even though he fought hard to control it most of the time. And now, Finn.

Could they see it on mine too?

“Or what?” I leaned down to press kisses onto his shoulder, brushing my hand down his belly to his stiffening erection under the sheets.

His jaw started to work as he stared down at the sheets, following the movement of my hand under it. I gripped his shaft, and he gasped, thrusting up a little.

“Or what, beautiful boy?”

Those long lashes kissed his brow bones as he batted his lashes to gaze up at me. His lips were slack, soft, soft lips that were practically begging to be kissed.

“Do you suspect they snuck out like you both did last night?” I moved my lips to his chest, heating my tongue and licking my way downwards. “What do you think he is doing to her right now?”

“Fuck, Daine,” he groaned now, his body twitching under me as I pushed the sheets down, nibbling on his happy trail. I halted, and pulled away. His tiny noises of disappointment were amusing.

“Did you give her the necklace?” I asked said with a grave tone, and his face fell. He bit his lip hard and looked away.

“Finn?”

“Yes,” he snapped, still not looking at me. “I promised myself never to do that to her again. Lie to her at your request and...”

I scoffed, rolling on my back to stare at the ceiling. I would do anything to keep my wife safe, even if it meant making her little boyfriend give her a sense-pendant. Because she would never take it off. I had seen how she kept every gift she got from him close. I never read their thoughts with consent, so that will have to do.

“You are hurting her.” Finn turned to me then, his eyes hot and accusatory. “You really cannot do this to her, I won’t…”

I placed my hand on his abs and turned on my side to stare at him. “You won’t allow it. Will you take her away from me?” I whispered softly, amused.

But my beautiful, hotheaded lover did not find it funny, that pout already settling on his face. “Yes. I'm gonna take her away from you if tis the only way to make sure she's not hurt again.”

He had not had long to cement his new posh speaking, and mostly slipped back into his normal accent whenever he was pissed, like I had noticed yesterday. And I found this very endearing.

I swooped down and covered his lips with mine. He resisted for the first few seconds, and then he melted, pressing himself into me as he groaned low in his throat.

I pulled away to stare in his eyes, still caressing his hair. “I love her.” He started to speak, but I shook my head once. He went silent. “I loved that woman enough to do evil things in the past. I love her enough to die for her, and…”

I turned and rolled out of bed. “I love her enough to live for her.”

Silence fell in the room, and I walked to the bathroom, giving him time to think about what I had just said.

In the last few months, I have watched my wife wilt every day. She hid it behind her little smile, but I saw the light in her eyes dim each morning.

She walked around as if she was already grieving me, staring at objects with mournful appreciation like that was the last time she would see them before her world altered.

It killed me. And sometimes I wished she had not regained her memories. If she hadn’t, she would not have remembered our love, or felt the blow of my possible death so strongly.

“What do you mean?” Finn was lying on his side now, his brows furrowed in confusion as he watched me walk out of the bathroom and head for the closet.

I pulled on a pair of lounge pants, a tank top and left my hair down because I wanted to enjoy watching her bite her lip at the sight of my hair.

“I have no plans to give up my immortality anymore.” I halted before the bed, and Finn flew off it.

His eyes were wide, his jaw hanging. Then he swallowed hard, and straightened. “This would be a really bad joke.”

I smirked, and turned away from the rising sun filtering in through the French windows, casting gold rays on the dark wood floor and lighting up the room like a brilliant florescent. It was going to be another scorching day. “It’s not a joke, sweetheart.”

“What's your plan? The Ascendant ritual is just six months away, and there is Aionis.”

I reached the Chesterfield sofa and picked my phone up. “Fight.” I turned, and crossed the room in his direction again as he hurried around to get dressed. "It's been long overdue. I will go up against the Firstborns if they don't back off."

Finn paused, gaping at me. I was about to declare war on my peers, elemental gods.

I tapped my phone awake, and navigated to images from an old book in my vault that I dug out. “Dying was a coward’s choice," I said as I watched him scan the archaic texts. "The easy way out. I have no plans to lose my wife. And it’s cruel to let her lose me.”

“Talk about timing.” Finn cursed, and handed the phone back to me so he could tug one of my shirts on. Warmth spread round my chest at the sight. “How long have you been planning this? Why did you not say so earlier?”

“I only finalized my plan recently. And I was not going to divert attention from her birthday.” I looked around the bedroom now, feeling their absence like a thorn in my heel. “The plan was to break the news to you all this morning.” I turned back to find him frowning.

“What is wrong, Finn?”

He looked up now, fully dressed. He started to speak, and stopped. I tilted my head.

“She is… Something is wrong, Daine.” He looked around the bedroom. “She said something last night that did not make sense.”

I stared at him, waiting.

“I... I felt this thin wall between us last night, kinda like a hall she would not grant me access to.”

My eyes caught something strange over his shoulder. I turned away from him, heading for her nightstand. “She has a plan that only Hale seems to know about,” I responded.

It had not taken me long to realize she was hiding something. Especially after she went to his office. Watching them interact with each other yesterday only confirmed it. They had a plan running in the background, and the knowledge that they had both been vocal about never letting me die, at least in peace, was the answer to the puzzle.

Those two planned to sabotage my plan of giving up my immortality. Not that it mattered now anyway, as I had no plans to…

“Daine,” Finn called in alarm. “Daine, are you OK?”

I stared at the note, penned in carefully on the notepad that we often wrote what we needed around the house so the Ashbounds could get them.

We only used this notepad in the morning, so she must have written this sometime yesterday morning or afternoon. Confident that I would not see it till this morning.

I had hoped to love you for a thousand years. But five hundred years is not so bad. Try not to play god this time, will you? If that cruel cosmic error brings me back, I promise to come right back to you. You are, and always will be, first choice.

Xoxo Nymphaea.