Page 15 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

Garrik’s eyes fluttered closed and didn’t open. Not for a long while.

They hadto be riding in circles.

Camp had to be somewhere nearby.It had to be. Each hour, the glow casting off Alynthia brightened. The white-capped mountain peaks swelled against the star-gilded night sky. A hint of firesite smoke lingered in the air.

Garrik’s breathing had evened. That High Fae blood coursing through his veins seemed to be slowly working. The paleness in his skin had somewhat returned to its tanned hue, and his abdomen felt warm against her back, surely from the burns.

After hours of listening to his quiet suffering, of feeling his unusual heartbeat against her back, realization crawled in. Garrik had gone into the forest, to Kerimkhar, and had come out without any inkling of success.

“You haven’t told me what happened with Kerimkhar.”

His abdomen twitched against her back as he hoarsely rasped, “Forgive me, I was attempting to keep my insides … inside.”

“How entirely selfish of you,” Alora teased and threw a roguish grin over her shoulder, meeting weakened silver orbs.

Garrik’s frigid words melted into her neck as he answered, “The debt was traded. The grandmother is free.”

“How?”

Garrik’s eyes closed. “Can we talk about something else?” His lips formed a thin line.

Alora’s face twisted into something akin to disappointment. Despite it, she obliged him. “Tell me more about your mother?”

His smile returned. “What would you like to know?”

She pondered a moment. “Why did she stay with Magnelis?”

Garrik was silent for a few breaths, as if lost in thought. The sound of Ghost’s steps surrounded them before he speculated, “Love does wonders on the mind, I suppose. She loved him—thought she could … restore who he once was.” By his stuttering breath, Alora opened her mouth to tell him to rest, but he added,“Though my mother was wiser than anyone I knew, I thought her somewhat a fool for harboring such emotions.”

His voice fell quiet, airy. “She thought they were mates.” Scoffing a laugh. “Bonded for life, though they never performed the sacred marriage offering to the Celestials. Still, she felt in her heart that she belonged with him, and no amount of darkness should cause her to leave.”

“Sacred marriage offering?” Alora’s brows pinched. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“It is not common. The idea that the stars hold the highest regard for two beings over the rest of the realm is not something taken lightly by most. The High King never honored Maker of the Skies or His stars, so Magnelis asked my mother not to partake in the offering. It was sufficient for them to believe them simply to be mates.” Garrik ground his teeth. Then added, “I wish she would have. Perhaps our lives would have been much different.”

Alora shifted on Ghost, pulling Garrik’s arms around her tight. “What is the offering?”

“Every kingdom is different. Some use the earth. Others burn flesh or use a strike of energy. Zyllyryon’s is wholly intimate. Washing by water. An act of service to your hopeful mate to say, ‘I am binding myself to you as your servant by humbling myself.’”

Garrik shivered. Alora willed her skin warmer, drawing out his sound of contentment.

He continued, “It does not need to be the entire body. Simply a cleansing by cloth against one’s skin is sufficient if that is all they can offer. Then, when both have washed each other and seek the stars’ approval, they wait.”

“They … wait,” she repeated.

“Mates become marked, but it can take hours, days, even weeks until the mark appears, identical to their mates. Each mark is unique. No one in the realm has one the same.”

“Have you ever seen true mates?”

His smile brightened, much like the stars. “Yes.”

“It’s truly real? Mates are real?” She twisted to look at him and caused him to wince.

Ignoring her apology, Garrik retorted, “Is it truly that far-fetched to believe so? To believe that someone who does not complete you but inspires you to be more than you thought you could be. Who allows you to fall because they know you can catch yourself but still stand near in case you need them. And you will always need them. Someone who gives you strength when you do not possess any. Your equal in every way who loves you with undying conviction, with unconditional heart. That you are nearly incapable of breathing when they are not near. A bond that leaves you utterly in shambles with yourself because the person you thought you were was so irrevocably changed through their eyes that you became exactly who you always wanted to be—and could not be withoutthem. Someone who can steal your nightmares and replace them with dreams.”

Alora gripped Ghost’s mane tight.

She’d heard stories about how truly rare it was to find faeries with a mate mark. She’d never crossed the path of one before. Her world was full of myths and legends. And to dream that the stars fated perfect matches was merely for youngling stories.

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