Page 58 of Heart Cradle
“I’ve been handling things. Planning and protecting. Deciding without asking. It wasn’t meant to take anything from you, but it did. And for that, I’m so sorry.” He sat back on his heels, hands open between them. “I love you. I do. But love without respect and choice isn’t love, it’s control. And I see now that I’ve made you feel like a possession instead of a partner.”
His voice caught, but he pressed on, honest, raw. “You’re not a passenger in this. You’re not mine to manage. You’re Maeve. The most determined, intelligent, composed and authentic person I’ve ever known. I made you feel like you didn’t have a say in your own life.”
He swallowed, throat thick, pleading for his emotions to settle. “If you need space, you’ll have it. If you want to go back to Earth to clear your head, I’ll take you. If you want to leave altogether, I will not stop you. The separation wont hurt as we’re now bonded. I will grieve, yes, but I will not stand in your way.”
She didn’t respond, just looked at him, the cogs of her mind whirring.
“I didn’t understand how different this experience has been for you and I am sorry. My culture and traditions are so different from yours and I just didn’t think how intensely unfamiliar this would be for you.” He dared to reach out, just a fraction, fingers ghosting the floor between them. “You choose what is right for you, and I will back that choice. No matter what it is, I swear.”
She stilled, and for a long, fragile moment. “Please don’t send me away, Eiran,” Maeve whispered, as a single, fat tear slipped down her cheek.
Eiran barely moved, voice cracking under the weight of it all. “May I?” he whispered, hand hovering near her face.
She nodded and he reached up with care, brushing his thumb along her cheekbone to catch the tear, and in that single action, something altered. There was a current between them, like lightning braided with lace and the Chain ignited. Not with fire, but with a blinding, searing light of memory and magic, white at the core and edged in gold. The air around them shimmered, thick with power, and a pulse rolled outward from the point of contact between them, a soundless shockwave thudding through the room like a heartbeat made of thunder and fate.
Golden runes and sigils flared along the length of the Chain, some ancient, others Eiran had never seen before, of promise, sacrifice, and sovereignty. They glowed like tiny roiling suns, then lifted from the metal, untethering, dancing free in the air like leaves on an invisible current. They spun around her body, faster and faster, tracing constellations on the walls, casting flashes of light and shadow across Eiran’s stunned face. The temperature spiked, with heat and intensity. The air felt pressurised, vibrating with something holy, watchful, as if the gods themselves were bearing witness.
“Maeve!” Eiran shouted, lunging as her body arched backwards with a strangled cry, eyes wide and limbs locked.
She convulsed, caught in the grip of something too ancient, too enormous to name. She hovered, suspended midair, and the Chain unfurled itself, unravelling from her wrist in molten bands of gold, not dissolving, but transforming. It coiled up her arm, across her collarbone, around her throat and down her back, fusing to her skin like a second spine. A circuit of divinity, a living artefact. Sigils then appeared on her skin, blazing gold, edged in deep violet and glowing red. They were etched into her like sacred ink, markings of her fight, her choices and her survival. They crowned her shoulders like pauldrons, spiralled over her ribs in patterns that shimmeredand shifted, wrapped down her spine, ancient scripture etched by gods who remembered everything.
The runes and sigils moved, they were alive, in synchrony with her pulse, with the energy surging through her body. Her hair lifted as though underwater, threaded with strands of light and her mouth opened, but no sound came. Her fingers splayed, and for a brief instant, Eiran saw lightning ripple beneath her skin, coursing along her veins like molten power. Her bones glowed faintly, her body was a vessel, not breaking, but becoming.
Eiran could only stare, hands half-raised in reverence and terror. His mate, his love. She was becoming fae before his eyes, forged not by bloodline, but by will, magic, and pain already endured. She convulsed once more, glowing brighter, her body wracked with energy that poured from within like a dam breaking.
“No, no, no! Maeve!” He scrambled, gathering her into his arms as her limbs trembled. “Stay with me, please. Look at me, love.”
The runes and sigils returned to the Chain and Maeve’s body slackened against his, she blinked slowly, dazed and her eyes were changed. Still hazel, but now deeper, luminous, and flecked with amber. She was glowing faintly, her skin kissed with iridescence, her form subtly altered, taller, more intense and stronger, as though power now hummed just beneath the surface of her.
Fae.
“Oh, gods,” Eiran breathed, utterly undone. “You’re here… you’re you. I love you. I’m so sorry, my love. So, so sorry.”
Her eyelids fluttered, and she sagged, her strength gone. He caught her, cradling her carefully against his chest and laid her on the bed as though she were made of starlight and spun sugar.
“You are magnificent,” he whispered, smoothing her hair back.
She smiled weakly.
“All right,” he whispered again, voice raw. “All right, love. Rest. I’ll get help. You’re safe.”
She was already drifting as Eiran stayed with her, hand on her heart, matching its rhythm with his own and the door slammed open. Soren burst in, breathless, his presence crackling with concern. “What in the fuck was that?” he demanded.
“She awakened,” Eiran said hoarsely. “The Chain, it ignited and then she collapsed and she hasn’t moved.”
Soren froze for a second, eyes locked on Maeve. Then he turned on his heel. “I’m going for Aeilanna. Healers. Magicers. Anyone breathing.”
Seconds later, Fenric appeared in the doorway, wild-eyed and shirt untucked. “What in the ten hells just… Eiran?”
“She’s awakened.” Eiran was still kneeling beside the bed. “I didn’t mean for this… I didn’t know.”
“Whoa, whoa.” Fenric crossed the room and crouched beside him. “All right. Breathe! You’re not exactly new to magic, but this had a blast radius. That’s not your fault, Eiran.”
Eiran looked over at him helplessly. “She wasn’t supposed to…”
Fenric reached out and squeezed his shoulder gently. “She’s tougher than she looks. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think she’s even tougher than you think she is.”
Eiran gave a breathless, pained laugh. “That’s not comforting, Fen.”
