updating on ao3 before all other platforms. also accepting graphic submissions for characters & chapters. Vír; Hyunjin ---------- Lyire; Felix --------- Hino; Bang Chan ------- others to be announced.
"Again!" Hino shouted with authority. They'd been at this for hours.
Lyire took a moment to collect himself and pushed his hair back. With practiced motion he spit in his hands and rubbed them together. In one long, fluid motion, he lunged low and spread his hands apart, each taking a distinct path. Wind surged from his right hand, while dark, curling black smoke billowed from his left. His arms moved in a seamless, fluid dance, as if he were orchestrating the very elements themselves. A conductor of a symphony.
Hino, with his hands clasped behind his back, paced back and forth like a stern sergeant overseeing his troops. But there were no troops here, only Lyire and himself in this transformed training room, which had once served as a prison.
"Nice," he coached. Still pacing up and down, back and forth.
Lyire looked different. Stronger. His hair was different. The sides now cropped short and black. A long white mullet fell down his head. He looked dangerous, though the gentle freckles on his face still gave him a trace of that youthful air. He laughed and shook his hands out, the elements fading away quickly.
"I don't understand why we can't just tell her. I don't like that we're lying to her. That he's lying to her... He thinks he loves her and she's happy now so... fine. I can deal with that. But if the day ever comes when she tries to leave him... I don't want to think about it," Lyire left his lunging stance and laid down on his back, exhausted. Everything about him was different, his voice otherworldly deep now. He wiped his hands on his pants. He was dressed in fighting leathers on the bottom and a billowing white shirt on top tucked in. Hino was wearing similar pants but across his chest nothing but bandages where the chains had been restraining him. Two wrapped across his muscular abs, one going up his shoulder. The markings on his neck still raw from where he pulled the last of the chains out himself.
Extending a muscular arm down, Hino reached for his new friend to assist him up. Lyire grabbed it weakly and Hino heaved him to his feet with ease, wiping dirt from his shoulders. "Hence why we train. If we go up there now and demand her, you know what he'll do... Don't be naïve. He's your friend but you know he gave himself over to his father's element years ago. You say he's better now... What do you think would happen if we march on him and demand to take the Lightningcaller from him? They'd both fight like hell."
The hair on Lyire's arms stood up. It was true. He warned him over and over again not to confuse the bonded elements for a mating bond. Making someone love you is not the same as loving someone freely.
Vír never believed the story of his parents... How his father forced his mother to love him, to be with him. Not even when it came out of Eirene's mouth did he believe it. "I don't even know if he's my friend anymore, I don't even know who he is. You said he knows about you right? And yet he's here with her and you're here with me. I'm thankful that he's found himself again, I never wanted to lose him... It just scares me..." Lyire was speaking to no one at this point, as Hino returned his hands clasped behind his back and approached the roaring fire, lost in it's flames for a moment.
He'd only seen and felt her there three times before. All three times nearly killed him. He was honestly thankful to be chained in that first moment. The first time he caught a glimpse he was trapped down here begging for help and he saw her, a vision in the flames. Her long, beautiful legs draped over his small shoulders, his slimy gray head between them.
The second time he thought he was dreaming. He felt a hand on him, heard her voice. How she managed to find him down here in her dreams he'll never understand.
The third time he rather enjoyed the view for a moment as she stood before him, her back to him, wearing very little of his favorite color. When she dropped that blanket... A delicious vision. The fire within Hino burned for a moment. It was only when he sauntered into view and ruined it... Lyire repurpose the chains Ravi left behind to restrain him. Chained him to the bed, walls, anything to keep him from lunging through the flames and breaking his treaty Vír to stay out of his lands until he's invited in. He always tried to blink the visions away, begging to close his mind. No matter how hard he tried to escape it there was no answer. The moment he closed his eyes all he saw was red lights. The flames behind his eyes. The vision of her holding onto his greasy hair staring into the fire. Pain and pleasure in her eyes, on her lips.
Today's vision, though still unwanted, needed no restraining.
There she was, sitting in the mortal world in front of a homey fire. The child on her lap laughing, holding her tight. Hino could see Vír lurking like a looming shadow behind her, but when he saw her face filled with laughter and happiness... Nothing else mattered. He blinked a few times and the vision faded too quickly.
He kept a candle burning in every sconce, every hearth. Matches struck like a nervous tick every few minutes, watching the flame travel down the small stick. If the flames blew his way- he would run to her.
The loud bang on the cellar door midday startled those left at the home for wanderers. Violet was deep in a book in front of a small fire while a chicken roasted over it, it's tantalizing scent filling the small hole in the ground. Paarth pushed aside some crayons and toys to stand up from the large leather chair and go to the loud thud at the cellar door. By the time he reached the door to open it to the mud room, he had to hold onto the door frame to keep from falling over.
Unbelievable. Eirene stood there, one boot off, and the other being partially removed, frozen. The radiant smile swiftly spreading across Paarth's face was an epitome of unadulterated joy as he fell forward into an embrace, nearly knocking Eirene over if it weren't for the tall man standing behind her, keeping her upright. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she held him tight, breathing in his warm familiar scent. She could feel her face wet with tears but didn't care as they stood there hugging and crying for a good long minute.
"Are you real? Is this real? Look at you, look at your hair," He somehow managed to pulled himself from her, not even processing that he was crying too. His hands were in her hair in an all too familiar way that made Vír cough with agitation. "Who is that?" She knew he meant it a whisper but their excellent eternal hearing had Vír leaning over putting his hand between them for a greeting.
"My name is Vír, hello," His hand went untouched as Eirene pushed it down tenderly and was pulled inside the large living room.
"Violet! Beck! Everyone!" Paarth was nearly screaming, still holding her hand tightly. He kept turning to look at her, as if she was going to vanish right before his eyes. She kept her movements very calculated. She was in full control of her magic but she was now so used to sending sparks for pleasure that she often had to check herself.
All hope of that left as a small head lifted up from the floor and Eirene dropped to her knees, tears flowing. She took a deep breath as she put her arms out and let the tears rock her shoulders as Violet screamed-piercing the loud chatter that was beginning in the room as she leapt across books and toys to get at her sister.
She crashed into her hard, almost sending Eirene back. She was so big, so much bigger than when she left. She breathed in the scent of her shampoo and stroked her soft hair as she held her sister in her embrace. "I knew you'd come back, I knew it," She kept saying through broken sobs. "I told Paarth you'd never leave us. He didn't believe me but you're here you're really here," Her arms wrapped around Eirene's neck and grated Eirene a moment to look at Beck across the room who had just dropped a dish on the floor, hearing it shatter snapped Violet away. She peeled herself off of Eirene and ran to her mother's legs, her head now reaching her hips. "She came back for us! I told you!"
Emotions rocked through Beck and shaking, she took a step backward in disbelief, searching for a wall behind her. Her heart bounded wildly in her chest. Her face went white and Vír had seen Eirene faint enough times that he knew what was coming next.
With lightning fast speed Vír sprung into action. With a strong hand he put his arm out and pushed Paarth aside as he ran to catch Beck before she fell.
Carrying her with ease, he set her in the large soft leather chair by the fire as Paarth pulled up chairs for the remaining family members. In the midst of the chaos, Violet clung to Eirene's legs and arms whatever she could grab. Vír opted to sit toward the back, just behind Eirene. Vír watched her closely and she could feel his eyes tracing her every movement and a low rumble of emotion stirring within him meant just for her.
She began to tell her story. Paarth sat close, perhaps too close for Vír's comfort, avidly absorbing every word. Still unable to process the fact that after almost a year, here she was. When Eirene got to the part about Vír saving her, Paarth was the only one who looked skeptical.
Her eyes were different. She smelled different. Her hair was different. Everything about her looked and felt like a new person, he thought to himself. Don't think he didn't notice the marks on the palms of her hands. She kept them pressed to her thighs or around Violet, but Paarth didn't miss a thing. He would hardly recognize her if not for that smile, that laugh. As rare as it once was it was saved almost exclusively for Violet and himself. Now she shared it with everyone here, including the man watching her closely.
The majority of the day passed in rushed conversation, updates. Details about the new and mostly normal world they lived in. Eirene drank it all in. Beck insisted they stay for dinner, and Paarth nominated himself and Eirene to go to the market to grab things for her favorite dinner, despite the chicken already on the fire.
Beck's unrelenting stream of questions was purposefully meant to keep Vír behind with her as the two of them left. With Eirene absent, Violet gravitated toward him, seeking refuge in his lap, her small frame nestled against his. It was a scene that tugged at his heartstrings, as the warmth of belonging to a family, not tied by blood but rather by a shared bond, slowly but surely encircled him. This chosen bond possessed a strength that had surpassed the ties of his past, his connection with his own father.
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Walking to the market in the sunshine was a bit of a fever dream, surreal. Eirene couldn't help but notice how Paarth's skin had darkened and tanned under the sun's care. The outdoor life had made him stronger, more muscular than he had been. An appearance that took her by surprise. Together they walked down the streets, laughing and chatting with people along the way. They stopped to examine some of the potatoes in the market and Paarth tossed one to her to put in her basket. "You're not staying," Not a question. The words hung heavy in the air.
She continued to pick through the produce before her, looking for ingredients for her favorite soup. Despite the warm sun, Eirene still found comfort in her favorite soup. Her voice was soft, "No. I'll be going back, but I can visit. And I will. A lot," Her body swayed into him, nudging him with her shoulders. This small affection reminded her of the old days. Crazy how only a year can pass and times can feel completely different. The motion almost causing her to time travel for a moment in memory.
"So," he said idly, finding the words difficult to say. "This guy. Vír," He put emphasis on his name. "What does that mean? For us?"
The look in his eyes told her that perhaps their relationship meant something more to him than she realized. His hand found her face, pushing her unruly hair back and tucking it behind her ear. He fixed his eyes on hers, searching for understanding.
"Paarth, I—I don't know what to say," Blushing, she put the carrots she was holding in her basket and looked down. He was leaning in, his hand guiding her face to his, and their lips met in a soft, tender kiss that held a whisper of what used to be. Her heart ached for a moment, the memory of his taste, his touch, sweeping over her like a bittersweet wave. But the contact was fleeting, and her fingers, trembling with the vulnerability, pressed against his chest, pushing him away.
"I missed you, Eirene. I thought you were dead," his voice quivered. "Do you know what that was like? I felt like half alive... All I could do to feel something was to follow the path you made to the woods... When the sun came out, all I wished to do was to see your face basking in the sun. I felt like the clouds parted because you left. The gods sad consolation prize for taking you from us. And now you're here, but you aren't really here are you? You're different. This guy..." Eirene took a step back from him, creating physical space between them now. "He watches you like he owns you, like you're his property. I don't like it,"
"He loves me," It hurt her to see him upset. Tears fell quietly down his face, his heart was breaking right in front of her.
"That's not love," a cruel laugh broke free from his lips. He took the basket from her hands and set it down on the stalls next to them. He held her by the shoulders and pleaded. "That's ownership. This is love. It's as easy as breathing for me to love you. Even when you were gone I felt you here," he raised a tanned callused hand to his heart. "Come home to us, please,"
She pushed his other hand off of her shoulder and picked the basket back up, taking yet another step away. "Paarth, I do love you. You know that. But this was never about love and you know it, it was about feeling something, anything. Love can change. I love you like another part of myself, my truest friend in life. But Vír... it's like a force of nature. I can't help it,"
"I can tell," he said under his breath. Turning on his heel he began walking through the dry stone streets back to their home, leaving Eirene in the market feeling heart broken.
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Vír was just finished admiring all of Violets colorful drawings when Paarth's abrupt entrance sent the soud sound of slamming doors through the home. Alarms went off in Vír's head immediately. Politely excusing himself from Violets room, he met Paarth in the doorway between the bedrooms and main living area. "Hey, where's is Eirene? Is everything-" his voice stopped abruptly. His eyes fell dark and narrowed, taking Paarth in. His smell, the flush on his face. His head slowly cocked to a side, the lone piece of gray hair falling further in his eyes. "What did you do?" His voice a low growl. He could feel the stone floor vibrate slightly with his anger. Paarth felt it too. He looked at Vír, eyeing him up like a shark ready to eat its prey.
Paarth's fist flew hard and fast at Vír's face yet Vír dodged it like a drunken dancer. Gracefully but laced with arrogance. Nonchalantly, he was easily able to spin Paarth around, catching his hand as he swung at him and pinning it to his back. His other hand around his neck.
Breathe, he could hear Eirene's voice echoing tenderly in his head. He could feel her getting closer. He pushed Paarth forward and he fell to his knees.
Boots still on, Eirene lunged down the staircase and through the mud room, feeling Vír's vibrations within her and heard the rumble of clouds overhead. The sight of Paarth on the ground, struggling to get up, his hands pressing him up from the floor... Vír looked dangerous. Deadly. Possessive. She knew he could smell her on Paarth. The memory of his innocent yet desperate kiss. Rushing forward, she saw Violet cowering in the hallway, peering from her doorway with innocent curiosity.
"What the hell!" She shouted, running to Paarth first. Much to Vír's chagrin. But family was family, even if that family had kissed his mate. He allowed Paarth to rise. "Can you two control yourselves?" Beck had re-entered the room, and Eirene could tell from her expression that she had heard the commotion. She entered her daughter's room to provide comfort, leaving Eirene to mediate.
"Eirene, I think we've maybe over stayed our welcome. Perhaps we should leave and come back tomorrow," Vír's voice was void of all emotion as he spoke to her simply, attempting to reclaim control over the storm within.
"This is her home," Paarth stressed. "She can stay as long as she'd like. You on the other hand don't belong here. I think it's you who's overstayed your welcome." He stood behind Eirene, ever the peace keeper.
Violet's cry behind her door penetrated their ears, and Beck's glance to her a silent plea that urged Eirene to intervene. She pushed her daughter into her bedroom to comfort her.
"Enough, both of you. I think it's best we head out, I'll be back in a day or two and we can try to talk more, ok?" Eirene pushed past Vír and sent a tiny shock through him as she headed to Violets room.
In the dim light of her room Beck was on her knees talking to Violet who had already begun to calm down. "Hey Vi... It's okay. Paarth just missed me and didn't know how to handle it. That's all. But Vi, we're not gonna stay for dinner. I'm so, so sorry." She stressed. "I forgot I have some things to do at my new home so I'm going to head back tonight. Ok?" Violet wiped the last of her tears and came to hug Eirene. Eirene bit back tears of her own, trying to keep her lightning contained as she held her sister tightly. Beck simply pressed her lips together and nodded in understanding.
"Will you come back? For real? Promise me you won't leave like that again," her tiny voice shattered what little restraint Eirene still had and she pushed her off of her quickly as a few tears betrayed her.
"I'll always come back for you, little one," She pressed a tiny kiss to Violets forehead and her hair stood up slightly from the raised static electricity in the room. She pressed her hand to Becks arm and a static shock sparked them and they both laughed.
"Must be a storm coming," Beck smiled at her.
In the hallway Vír stood imposing over Paarth. He could hear them wrapping up in Violets room and he stepped forward with his signature swagger, a hand tucked inside the pocket of his leather jacket. He leaned in close to Paarth. "Kiss her again and it will be the last thing you do, do you understand me?" He hissed the words through gritted teeth. Paarth tried his best not to look intimidated by the animal like tone as he watched Eirene quietly leave Violets room and shut the door softly behind her. Her eyes fell to Vír and it was everything Paarth could do to not fall apart again right there. She slipped a hand around the small of his waist and pressed her shoulder into him.
"Come on, we should leave them," Her voice sounded so small and sad in this moment, it brought Vír back to his body for a second. "I'll be back when we've all had a chance to calm down, ok?" She looked over at Paarth. Leaving her lovers side she walked to him and wrapped him up in her arms. She could feel Vír go stiff behind them.
Paarth relished the moment and held on tight, breathing in her scent again. He put a hand in her hair and held her there for a moment. He whispered low in her ear, "It should be easy. It should feel like breathing. Love shouldn't hurt, not ever." His eyes opened to see Vír behind her, watching their every motion, storms rolling in his eyes.
One week after she'd awoken, they decided it was time. Eirene could finally visit Lyranth. Now that the power had chosen her it was much easier to control the rampant sparks that flew from her, when she wanted to Vír noted with delight.
Showering quickly, Eirene searched through her closet for something that didn't seem completely outrageous for someone in Lyranth to be wearing. The condition for her visiting, as per the Guardians, was that she not tell them what happened to her or about her powers. That she left and was found by Vír and has been staying with him until she was strong enough to get home to them. She'll then tell them that she'll visit but remain living with Vír, her partner.
She was beginning to give up hope when she found the outfit she ended up here in. Her wax coated jacket, shirt, pants, boots, and large brimmed rain cap. She opted to leave the jacket and cap here since the rain had ceased and let her curls go wild and free. She was hanging up her jacket again when a small piece of paper fell from the pocket.
A stick figure in a house. A gray cloud seemed to hover above her stick figure head.
She folded the photo back up and put it in her pocket as she headed downstairs.
Anything but ordinary, Vír was dressed handsomely this morning. He donned a bold ensemble that of course effortlessly commanded attention. A form-fitting, sleek black leather jacket, adorned with intricate silver zippers and studs, hugged his lean frame, drawing attention to his slender waist and strong muscles that lie beneath it. Beneath the jacket, he sported a fitted black turtleneck, the fabric accentuating the contours of his upper body. He opted for thight black slacks that were elegantly tailored to complement his long legs. His silver hair was partially pulled up so you could see more of his face, but one long piece fell in front of his eyes as the rest of it grazed his shoulders.
He didn't wait for her to come to him as he saw her coming down the stairs. He sauntered over to her and wrapped an arm around her waist before her feet even hit the floor. "Now I look incredibly underdressed," Eirene laughed and looked down at the two of them.
A soft kiss fell to her cheek and she sent a tiny spark through it for him. He leaned in, his voice low in her ear. "You look incredible. Less muddy but the picture of the woman I fell in love with that day."
"I seem to remember you had a very strong distaste for me when we first met, my rain cloud. Remember the whole brooding thing you did when I arrived? Or have you forgotten?" She teased as she descended the last stair and looked around at the first floor of their home. Still so empty without Lyire.
"I so badly wanted you to be the answer to my problems... And you were. In a much different way." His sly smile could crush Eirene's heart. "When Hino suggested he take you to his realm that day and teach you how to wield I thought about breaking every bone in his body. Twice." Possessive males.
"Why did he suggest that?"
"I assume just to mess with me, in addition to making it easier for my father to get at your magic. Plus- I was told my mother spent a great deal of her time down there. She was a prisoner in the domain of Fire and destruction under Hino's mother. Electrical fires and all that," he waved the notion away with his hand.
Eirene grabbed his hand and laced her fingers with his own. "Well, I want to get out of here and see my family. And then I want to see my other family and I want you to take me to see Lyire." She gave him a squeeze.
Vír looked down at their hands there and returned the squeeze gently. "I'm not sure if that's wise. Things are still... Difficult between Hino and myself. I'm not technically allowed in his domain,"
"Why aren't we allowed down there? Our friend is there," Eirene protested.
"I am not allowed down there. He has requested you visit as soon as possible. He and Lyire write daily about it." He avoided her eyes, still fixated on their hands. She sent a harsh spark through them and he pulled it away and met her eyes. "I'm sorry! I just wanted some time with you. Some time to have you all to myself. Some time to be normal with my mate," His eyes looked soft and she could see the gray clouds rolling behind them.
He used that word again. Eirene loved him and could feel this pull with her elements, was that being mated? She rolled her eyes. "As soon as we're finished in Lyranth I command you to take me to Hino's domain. I will talk to him and ask him to allow you in."
"We'll discuss this after," he leaned down and kissed her tenderly. He guided her out of the house and into the large field where they'd trained.
"Does it hurt?" She looked up at him, still hand in hand.
"No. Don’t let go of my hand," he gripped on tight and her knuckles went white around his as they stepped forward. A roar of rain, thunder, and a flash of lightning struck and the world went bright white for a moment.
And then yellow. And green.
She could smell trees, pine and cedar all around her. In the distance, a bird chirped and it's wings fluttered through the branches.
She blinked and she was in a forest. Around her she saw Amana and Zelenaya's work all around her. The forest was still recovering from a fire, but through charred tree trunks, flowers bloomed and sprouted. They'd been working over time. For Eirene.
In the distance through the trees she saw the rope bridge swinging in a gentle breeze, guiding her home. She looked at her love beside her and here he looked otherwordly beautiful. His dark eyes shining in the light, his gray hair blowing sofly in the wind. And the dappled sunlight hitting his cheeks... Eirene could cry.
He watched her take in the world around her. Not just because this was her home as she's never seen it before, but her new eternal senses amplifying everything. There would be time to discuss visiting Lyire and leaving him but for now, watching her blink in the sunlight... This was his life now. He would do anything to protect it. "Lead the way, my love." He outstretched his hand to her.
Her domain was much simpler than his. A small town, filled with people running about. A couple, sunbathing by a small lake that was not overflowing. Homes still had their drainage systems, people too skeptical that the storms would return. Eirene walked through the streets with Vír and were careful not to be seen- taking back alleyways that Eirene knew were not well travelled.
She came upon the small storm door with a canvas over hang and took a deep breath in as she glanced up at Vír one final time. He simply nodded and gave a comforting squeeze to her hand that seemed to say, I'm here with you, and she kicked the door with her boots twice.
Her muscles were so painfully sore, but the pain meant she was alive. As her eyes fluttered open she saw a vase of beautiful white roses and a long extinguished candle. She groaned and rolled over to her back. The bed next to her shifted and she heard a book close. Vír got out of bed and walked around the bed to Eirene's side, kneeling on the floor as he put his hand on her cheek.
His face was pale with dark purple circles around his eyes, like he hadn't slept in days. His eyes were already brimming with tears as he she blinked her eyes open further to take him in.
"An angel," she said quietly. Her love laughed and kissed her forehead.
"I'm so glad you're here," was all he said. He pushed his forehead to hers, a slight current between the two, but nothing like before. Perhaps she was still recovering her magic from her outburst with Ravi.
Ravi.
She struggled to push herself upright and pulled his face up with hers. He sat with her on the bed and pushed her wild hair back. "Be careful, love. You've been out for a while. Take it slow. Here," he handed her a glass of water from near the flowers and he smiled at them. "Yvonne has been replacing these every day so you'd have fresh flowers to take up to," he laughed. The smile didn't quite reach his eyes.
The cool glass felt good on her lips and she drank the glass dry. "What happened?" She didn't need to say more than that. He knew what she was asking.
"He's gone. The lightning leapt out of you, no one would have been able to control it..." He looked down at her hands and rubbed at the lightning bolts. The vibration of his rumble was there and her lightning answered back softly, a ghost of what it once was. He must have noticed too because he continued to massage his thumbs into her palms, hoping to feel that tug like before.
"I feel... normal," Eirene managed to say. "Maybe not normal," she spared a smirk. She noticed she could smell the flowers abnormally well. That she could see in the darkness better than before. That she could smell Vír like never before. "I think... it chose me?"
Vír pushed a soft kiss into her mouth. "I believe it did... Thank the gods for that or you'd probably be dead after that terrifying display," he laughed. "Let's get you up, showered, and some food in you."
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She bathed with some heavy assistance from Vír and carefully walked downstairs. The air was different in the house, though she chalked it up to her new powers. The house felt more still than normal. She saw Yvonne watching her as she walked around the house, prepping some food. Eirene sat at the table and Yvonne set two places.
"Is Lyire not joining us? I half expected him to be waiting outside the door when I woke up," Eirene began drinking some more water laid out of her. Something about the way Yvonne avoided her eyes told her something was wrong. Yvonne quickly turned her back and headed upstairs.
Lowering to his seat, Vír put his arm on her shoulders, no longer mindful of her sparks. "Things are going to be... different around here for a while," He was having trouble meeting her eyes too. Something was definitely wrong. Her breath began to pick up and Vír put his other hand on her chest over her heart. "He's fine, he's fine, calm down, love. Please," he pleaded her.
"Where is he?" Fear choking her words.
Vir put his forehead to hers again in a calming motion. "He's fine. He's alive but he's... Working through something at the moment," He pulled his head just far enough away to look her in her eyes. Now that the element chose her, Eirene's once brown eyes now shone with flecks of gold, like sparks that seemed to brighten when Vír was near. Now that her eyes were open again he almost never wanted to look away. "My father had stolen a power from someone. One of Hino's closest friends. Smoke. And when my father died, the Smoke had no home to go to, but instead of choosing a new wielder it went to Lyire... We think it was trying to save him after nearly killing him. He's in Hino's territory until he learns how to control it or expel it. Working with Hino to figure it out since the two powers are very... closely related,"
"Bonded elements," Eirene found the words it seemed Vír was dancing around.
He grinned through gritted teeth, seeming almost irritated by the words. "Yes, my love," was all he said as he pressed another soft kiss into her lips.
With her newly improved hearing, she swore she could hear a muffled sob of Yvonne from upstairs.
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For a day or so after Eirene awoke she spent a great deal of time with Yvonne, consoling her. The two of them, Lyire and herself, had fallen in love over the past few years. It was a quiet, soft love. A love that comes from knowing someone so well that you know them better than anyone else. She called it a silly love, because she wasn't his mate. They both knew that. But it was still love. Being away was a great heartache. She seemed to believe that he might return changed, though Eirene highly doubted that.
"You must think me silly, crying over some man who isn't even my mate when you almost lost your own mate just a week ago, I'm pathetic," Yvonne said through soft tears one evening.
Her own mate. The words sounded so weird coming from Yvonne's mouth it almost made Eirene cringe. She loved Vír and her magic loved Vír, but now that it was calm within her... it felt different. It felt like the love between two people, not some force of nature like it was before.
That didn't stop her from loving him. Or wanting him for that matter.
She still found herself desperate for his touch. Longing for his hands on her, moving like a master sculpture as he touched every inch of her body.
After consoling Yvonne, she longed to see Vír. To be with him. She went to her room and changed into some new underwear she'd found in her dresser. Apparently while she was out Yvonne found therapy in buying new clothes for her friend. She found a few different sets of lingerie but a red satin one called to her the most. It was bright against her fair skin and she slid his soft plush blanket over her shoulders and entered his study.
He looked up from his paperwork at his desk to see her standing in the door way, wrapped in a blanket. "My love what are you... Oh," His look of confusion melted into that sinful look as his eyes narrowed on her. She knew he could smell how badly she wanted him. Wanted to be with him, to find release in each other and in their elements. As he rose from his chair behind the desk he put his hands on either side, like a cat stalking it's prey. She walked toward the warm fireplace and dropped the blanket on the hearth in front of it. The warm flames licked at her back and sent goosebumps along her spine.
She stood there wrapped in red satin like a gift for him as her breasts grew heavy with ache and her nipples pushed hard on the satin bra. He drank her up slowly as he approached with his signature almost drunken like swagger. His piercing eyes not missing a single spot of her, looking at her very soul. He didn't lay a hand on her as he approached. She saw him pressed hard against his pants and he winched as he adjusted himself.
He slid his hands from her shoulders down her arm and she froze at the touch. Like a cat playing with his dinner. His hand went up and brushed against her nipple softly, the satin felt incredible as he touched her lightly. He slowly unbuttoned his white button up. As she reached to help him he batted her fingers away and flicked his fingers back and forth. "Ah-ah," he coaxed. "I'm going to take my time with this. I'm going to take my time as you claim me as yours, as I claim you as mine," his hands fell from the last button but still didn't touch her as he planted a kiss deep on her neck. She leaned into in and her mouth opened to a soft moan. She reached up and ran a finger down his bare chest, letting it drag low over his stiff manhood in his slacks. His head knocked back and a he suppressed a growl.
She undid the button on his pants, still not breaking eye contact with him. He slid them off easily and stood there in his underwear with her. They stood like this for a while, her mouth went dry thinking of all the ways she wanted him- needed him. He ran his fingers down the slopes of her breasts and finally palmed them as she arched into the touch.
Moving forward slowly she pressed herself against him, feeling him hard against her stomach. They lowered down to their knees in front of the fire as his hands found her hair and pulled her in for a kiss. There was a spark there- a delicious wonderful spark. Stinging his full lips she could feel the smile on his mouth as he continued to kiss her deeper and deeper. His hands worked expertly after showing such restraint, touching the slick warm satin between her legs. He slid his fingers under them and along her opening and pulled some wetness from there. Opening his lips he dipped his fingers in his mouth and tasted her. "I am going to devour you," he opened up her bra with a single hand and pulled it from her as he tossed it aside, into the flames of the fire.
Without missing a beat, he pulled off her underwear and they met the same fate in the flames. Vír pushed her legs apart and found his home there between her thighs. Her hands fell into his silver hair and he lapped her up bit by bit. His blood pounded through every inch of him as groaned with delight at her taste. He felt her tense up around his tongue as he did lightning bolt patterns along her, lightly sucking on the most sensitive spot at the top. Eirene ground against his tongue, working in time with the movement of her hips. "Now, please," she somehow managed to pant between each jolt of pleasure that rocked her to her core.
"Of course, my love," He said a silent tanks to the gods above- desperate to be inside of her. He lifted his head from between her legs and pushed his hair back out of his face. He pulled off his trunks and tossed them into the flames as well, the room smelling of cedar wood and burning fabric as the flames roared higher. Eirene sat up and he guided her on top of him.
Practically purring from want and need she felt the ground beneath them tremble with thunder as she gripped his hair and lowered herself slowly on top of him, inch by inch, gasping when she reached her limit. She'd missed this. The spark that was there shown brighter here now, her tattooed arms wrapping around his neck as she lifted up off of him and then quickly back down, moaning in his name in his ear and biting down with her teeth on his sensitive lobe. She ran her nails up the tattoo on his back and he groaned with pleasure. She pulled him out in one long slide and then fell back on top of him again, slamming to the hilt.
Looking down at where their bodies met was almost Vír's undoing, seeing the sparks and wetness fly as she lowered herself again and again on him. Reaching for her breasts he put his hands all over her as she fixed her hands in his silver gray hair, gripping tightly. She was about to come and she wanted him to go with her. She slammed her body into his and stared into the fire as she rode him. She felt the release barrel into him as he held himself in her tight, and she said his name somewhere between a moan and a scream. Riding him until every last drop of pleasure was wrung from him, she watched the flames go higher and higher. She closed her eyes and felt the warmth of the flames on Vír's back, her arms, her face.
Vír closed his eyes and held her atop him, breathing in their scent, feeling this connection between them, and tried not to lose himself in this incredible feeling.
From her peripheral vision she saw sparks flying with each pounding step down the halls. Any hand on her by any guard Hino had started to use his chains as a makeshift whip, fending off anyone who dared to block Eirene's path as she raced through the corridors.
The veins pulsed with that guided her through these halls of the manor like the fire guided her to Hino. She approached the large doors and blasted them open, the hinges smoking as they flung open loudly. Lyire lay slumped on the ground in front of her and she screamed, the sound ripping through her throat. Her eyes were clouded with tears but were frantic around the room... Vír.
He was on his knees in front of a man, black smoke pooling around them that smelled of charcoal and sulfur. Vír's silver gray hair wet with sweat as his head was nodded back, smoke leaving the man before him and entering his nose, mouth, his eyes. Hino must have said something but she didn't hear it. All she heard was the pounding of electricity between her ears, clouding her mind.
Reaching a hand out she harnessed the lightning's power, like Hino using his chains, crackling it like a whip around the man's throat. He gasped with shock and pleasure. Like father like son. She stormed forward, hand still outstretched. She could see Hino hunched over Lyire, trying to give him aid as best he could. In her electrical grasp Vír was freed from the shadows for a moment as he choked and grasped at his throat, crumpling forward trying to breathe.
Eirene closed the distance, her hand still outstretched. He had a strong brow line, like Vír. His eyes and hair a much darker gray than his sons. His features more masculine, unforgiving. Luckily Vír took his beauty from his mother. Ravi gasped at the magic at his throat and a smile slipped across his face. Any other man would be on their ass with that kind of hit. He must be used to it. She turned it up a notch, losing her grip on it further. Coughing, Vír attempted to stand behind her.
"I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting," His voice sounded too much like Vír. It made her deeply uncomfortable. Even as he strained to speak under the weight of her electricity, as she felt it ripping out of her skin and diving into him, he still had that calm and numb way of talking like his son. She tightened her grasp and he choked. He held his hands up in a yielding motion but Eirene did not pull back.
She maintained her grip, refusing to yield. Something within her chest surged upward, her voice a haunting blend of hers and another... It wasn't entirely her own; it was the magic's voice now, speaking through her.
"He needed a father," the alien voice in her was loud- too loud to be her own. "She gave every last drop of my lightning to protect him from you. She never loved you- she was never your mate," These words did more damage to Ravi than the lightning. His eyes winced with pain and fear at what the element was doing to Eirene. "She was just too scared to say no to you. Too scared of what you might do. And when she knew she was going to have Vír she knew she had to protect him from your wrath at all costs. When she knew she was dying she put every last drop of magic into him, hoping it would shield him. That I would shield him," lightning fell around her in sparks and Eirene could feel her curls rising in the static in the air. "You couldn't see when to stop, couldn't separate yourself from the thunder in your veins. You lost yourself in the storm, a foolish move." One hand holding the lightning whip to his throat, the other weaving strands of lightning into chains, affixing them his wrists as Hino's were on the floor beneath them.
She felt a warm breeze on her exposed shoulders and knew Lyire was alright, that he was there with her protecting her. Eirene came back into her body for just a moment but she saw every bit of agony and anger and heart ache on Ravi's face and wanted more of it. For her sake, for Vír's sake, and for the lightning's sake.
The bolts snaked up his arms and pulled him to his knees. She heard Vír behind her say "It's enough, it's okay my love," and as he reached out to touch her shoulder the volts of power rippling off of her sent him on his ass to the ground. Eirene gasped as she blinked her eyes shut, pulling back the power she'd loosed but was having trouble grounding herself. Losing herself in the element. She knew the element would yield to her once Ravi died- but his death wasn't her choice.
As Ravi's life began to fade in front of her her heart rate began to rise, trying to find some control of her power. These arms were strong, not flinching under her lightning's touch, and they held her firmly, restricting her movement. She blinked and could see Vír on the ground before hre. The lightning finally broke free from her hands and released Ravi. The arms around her didn't burn in her electricty, didn't flinch away from the rippling currents coming off of her.
"Come back to me," Hino's voice said in her ears.
She released her lightning in one soft sigh and slumped in Hino's arms.
With Thunderous being finished (new chapters always hit ao3 first, finish the series there or wait for the posts to be published here!) I began the second part of this three part series.
The second part of the series is finished as well so those updates will be daily, sometimes twice a day if the chapter is particularly short.
If you finished Thunderous, jump to Red Lights! Once all chapters from part one of the Ancient One's series I'll begin posting part two updates!
Summary: The three of them sneak their way into Hino's domain to help free him, hoping to spare Lyranth from further destruction and Eirene searches for Hino.
Their allies weren't ready. Zelenaya, Mother Nature incarnate, had just had her son and couldn't help them. Caelum thought it unwise to interfere with others territories. Mashe dares not tread where there could be darkness as she's the Radiant One. Essentially that left her sister, Kumi. When Vír reached out for help and her mate denied them he thought all hope was lost. Until he received a secret missive from her saying that she would help in any way possible, for she felt a connection to Hino and shared in the general distaste for Ravi.
When Kumi arrived in the manor she took a good look at Eirene for the first time since that day they all met in the very same room. She looked happy and yet sad as she watched her interact with Vír. Walking out to the field to travel to Hino's realm, she pulled Eirene back from the pack to speak with her quietly.
"So... You've made quite the difference here, Lightningcaller," Something in her voice was so comforting to Eirene. It made her feel at peace instantly.
Moving her braid from her shoulder to behind her back she smiled at her new friend. "So I see... But I don't think it was me. I think once you find that happiness is a choice you make every day it gets easier and easier to make that choice. I went through it too," she admitted to Kumi.
"For years. When I lost my family, I really lost myself. I mean I was so young with no one to give me that family comfort," Kumi's eyes watched Vír move forward. Pangs of the story ringing true in her mind for him as well. Eirene continued, "It took years of me choosing to live, every day. And then finding what I call my chosen family... Even then I was just going through the motions to keep them alive. It wasn't until my sister was born that I saw... hope. And it's not that Violet was my only reason for continuing on, but she reminded me that I had a choice. Continue to trudge through every day just living or to truly be alive for her sake and mine. I can't help but see that in him," Eirene looked at Vír as he reached the middle of the field and looked back to her. Her heart leaped into her chest and she knew in this moment there is nothing she wouldn't do for him, nothing he wouldn't do for her.
Kumi reached for Eirene's hand and turned over her palms to see where the lightning bolt tattoo begins. "You love him," she stated simply.
"I do," There wasn't even a second of hesitation.
"Then the Guardians will not stand in your way. If there comes a time when you need help, anything at all. Lyire will get you to me. You will always be welcome in the kingdom of stars." The approval of Kumi and the Gathering meant everything to Vír, you could see it by the beaming pride on his face. Momentarily forgetting about what was about to happen.
The four of them left the manor to slip into Hino's territory late that very evening. The best way to sneak in unseen is by cover of darkness. That's where Kumi came in, the Moon Light. She can use her control of the moon to dim it's light, and then pull the darkness over them like a cloak. She'd only remain in the realm until they were inside Hino's manor and then she'd have to depart for fear of Caelum finding her missing.
They walked quietly, using Lyire's control of the wind to cover any foot fall with the natural sounds around them.
Hino's territory was quite different from Vír's. As far as Eirene knew, the territory at Vír's consisted of the mansion, a very small town, and the forest where a few free elements lived and roamed. Hino's territory was a dark city with thin cobblestone streets, his home a dark mansion rising above it, it's windows warm and red with interior fire light.
Vibrations began in Eirene's body, a warning for her to stay away as they slipped up the stairs to the mansion silently. Every bit of magic inside her pulling her back, begging her to run. But she couldn't. If Beck hadn't helped her after her parents died, she wouldn't be here today. She had to repay that- to fight for someone that couldn't fight for themselves.
There were guards at most every entrance, Lyire as swift as the wind came behind one of them and held their breath controlling the air around them while Eirene laid a hand on him to stun him down for the time being.
Sliding the unconscious body inside and tucking it into a closet near the entrance, they saw their cloak of darkness fall, Kumi returning to her mate. Eirene smiled in silent thanks to her for even that small assistance. Here in the closet the three of them looked at each other through the darkness.
"I will sneak through and try to find Hino. You two go to Ravi and distract him, try to take him down if you can," Vír insisted she wear her rubber outfit, sans gloves. But if Ravi found her at all she wanted to be a deadly weapon. She wore a tight black tank top and shorts and kept her hair in a tight braid down her back. She would be a live wire if he touched her almost anywhere. The boys needed an extra layer of protection from her, opting for rubber fighting outfits. She felt absurd but ferociously powerful.
Vír pushed a curl that snuck free back into place. "I really must insist this is a terrible decision. Please let Lyire go with you. We don't know what Hino is playing at, he will be fine." The determined look in Eirene's eyes told him that she wasn't going to listen to his suggestion at all, even though every bit of magic in her veins wanted to go with him.
Lyire kept his ear to the door, listening for footfalls. "I think she can do it, and I think she could fry Hino to a crisp if he tried anything. He's wrapped in metal, I mean Ravi's not an idiot..." He put his hand on his friends shoulder. "Come on, I think it's time we deal with your daddy issues once and for all, don’t you?" Vír didn't let a smile free but nodded with his friend. They opened the door quietly and watched a guard continue their walk down the hallway before slipping out the door, Vír leaving a kiss on her forehead as he did.
In the closet here alone Eirene closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She wanted to test a theory she had. She pulled from her pocket a small pack of matches she brought from the manor. She struck the match as the small red light filled the room. She looked deeply into the fire and thought about Hino. Tried to imagine the flames becoming his hair, his eyes... In the fire she saw movement. The match was burning and the flame pulling toward the door, though no wind was there. She followed the direction the fire seemed to bend.
Slipping outside she walked quietly down the hall, careful not to be caught. She saw a number of guards headed down the direction her love and friend went and tried to push her worry down. If he were in danger she would feel it, hear it. Of that she was sure. Her magic was so attached to him it would not let her leave him when he needed the lightning the most.
The match began to hit her fingers and she let it burn until the very last bit, her fingers black with the ash as she rubbed it off on her thighs and continued following the path. She struck another and it blew her down another hallway. And another. And another. Until finally she reached a dark stair case with stone that she remembered from her nightmare but a few days prior. Continuing to strike matches and walk down the stairs Eirene listened carefully for any signs of life. She felt her magic try to leap out of her skin for a moment and knew that Vír was with Ravi right now. She tried to calm her magic, he'll be fine, she kept repeating. We'll free Hino and go to him. We'll be fine, she told herself.
She was approaching the last set of stairs when she heard the rustle of chains on stone and knew she was nearing.
The darkness gave way to a warm red light as she reached the bottom of the stairs and saw Hino's back to her, far more ravaged than before. He must have heard her footfall because he snapped around at her. The tiny flame in her hand exploded into sparks like a firework and she dropped the match on the stone, wiping the excess ash from her fingertips to her arm. His chains rattled as he lunged at her again, the large flames in the fireplace behind him growing hotter and hotter.
"Are you really here?" He looked at her with disbelief, his voice was rough and raw. His accent clipped the end of his words. Hushing him, she simply nodded her head yes and began to look around the room for anything that could free him. "I told you to stay away" This sounded almost like a threat and Eirene tried not to be afraid. Vír refused to tell her what he'd done in his past that made him such a monster, so untrustworthy. Eirene didn't know his history, but she didn't care in this moment. He was in need and everything in her told her it was her duty to help. She tried not to focus on her magic writhing under her skin as she helped him and finally shot a look up at him.
"I couldn't stay away-" The words felt weird coming out of her mouth. As if her lightning were trying to control her, keep the words in. But they kept spilling out. "I know what it's like to be left behind. I couldn't let that happen to you. Now freaking out for one second and let me help you." She looked around and found nothing. A stone room. Nothing but a large fireplace and the chains in the ground. Ground that could be broken.
His eyes were wild with anger as she inspected his chains, trying not to get too close. She felt her magic cripple her and she fell to her knees. Vír. The wind was knocked out of her and she gasped for air. He was hurt. Not down- but hurt. It was like she couldn't breathe. Hino fell to his knees in front of her, his face twisted in panic, eyes flying from her to the top of the stairs, terrified someone would be coming down.
"Lightningcaller you have to get up. Please, go. Please. I didn’t want this to happen. I'm so sorry... Go," in his warm red glow she could see the silver of tears lining his eyes. Fire incarnate weeping as he pushed her away.
"I can't," She stressed. She couldn't. Everything that was Eirene was determined to save him, everything in her that was the element was forcing her to leave, back seat driving her every thought and movement. She pushed herself back up using his shoulders to help her up. He burned hot but it didn't hurt her hands as she did so, even as her hands caressed the chains they did not burn.
Looking at the points from which the chains came from she knew what she had to do. They came from two points. One to his left, one to his right. Those held his hands in place. Then one behind him where it held his neck and chest. Not good.
He continued to try to free himself. His face looked angry and feral like her vision. "You have to trust me," she put her hands to his strong jaw and held his head in her hands. She felt his warmth in her hands and remembered the warm leather arms of her favorite chair back in Lyranth. It was warm and inviting and... home. It felt like home. Like the fire were always a friend there, watching her. Taking care of her. And she would do the same for it now. "Put your hands in your pockets and do not let go, it'll slow the current a little. I'm going to try to crack the chains free from the ground... But it might fry you in the process."
He reached his hands up to her wrists as she still held his face and she felt that static go up her arms again. Her magic wanted to pull her upstairs to her love, yet here she was saving the man that sold them out.
Eirene pulled her hands from his face as his still gripped her wrists. They stood an arm's length apart from each other and by the look in her eyes she wasn't going to leave this room without her. Dropping her wrists he slid his hands into his pockets. She didn't know what his clothes were made of but she hoped for his sake there was some wool in them to keep him from burning to a crisp. Pushing her hands out to her sides, she let the lightning travel from her shoulders, down her arms, and to her wrists. She flicked the lightning out from there to his hands first, both at the same time. She didn't dare look at him for fear her lightning would betray her aim. It struck true into the ground, at the root of the chains and she saw them snap at the base there. She pulled back and looked at him as his hands still bound in chains but free from restraint reached his neck and he pulled forward, toward her. He screamed loudly and she saw sparks forming where he was bound to the ground, the chains rubbing hard on the cement causing fire.
"Hino! Please you're going to kill yourself, please! Let me get the last-" He flung himself forward, using his whole body weight he pulled the last few chains from the ground with brute force along. The veins in his neck, his hands and arms bulging with power. He was strong, scary strong. She'd let herself fear this later. For now, his body slammed into hers as he whipped the chains around her, pulling her into his embrace. He smelled of palo santo and cedar and not at all like someone who was just electrocuted. Someone this frightening shouldn't smell this good.
He mumbled something to himself, Eirene's ears struggled to hear. Pulling back from the embrace he looked at her, his hands still firmly on her shoulders. Hino appeared as though he was going to say something else but as he opened his mouth Eirene screamed again, her magic ripping her apart from the inside, begging her to go help. She slumped again, this time she felt there was immediate danger. "Lightningcaller? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
"It's Vír..." She managed to say through choking breaths. It felt like the air was being pulled from her lungs. "Something's wrong- I have to..." She tried to stand, pulling on Hino for help.
"No fucking way. You're in pain you are not running toward the thing that is causing you pain. Are you insane? Ravi will smother you. I can't let you go up there."
Pushing his hands off of her shoulders she managed to stand up. Looking at him, he's been down here since the day he visited them. That, mixed with the fact that he's still dressed in long chains, she gathered she stood a good chance of outrunning him. He must have seen her calculating because he came up with the same conclusion. "Fine. Run." The clang of chains sounded as he pushed his red hair back and she went flying up the stairs, boots carrying her as fast as they could. She could hear him close behind. The sound of his chains in the stairwell like a warning bell.
“Explain what you saw again,” Lyire's agitated pacing had transformed the once serene living room into a whirl wind of restless energy. His lithe fingers were buried in his white hair and his voice deep again. A few weeks of normalcy- that’s all they had.
“I saw Hino. Or at least who I think was Hino," Eirene recounted the vision again. Her voice trembled, struggling to come to terms with what she saw. "He was a prisoner, with chains binding his arms to the floor and wrapped around his chest. He looked like he was screaming, trying to break free. He looked terrifying,” Eirene was still shaking from what she saw. Hino was so cocky and arrogant yet the last time she'd seen him he looked gentle and sad... And in her vision he looked utterly feral. Like he’d kill himself to get free.
Without hesitation, Vír immediately left to go speak to elder members of the Gathering to report what she’d seen in the fire.
“Do you know how you saw that? Have you ever seen anything like it before?” He stopped pacing and sat down with her, wrapping her up in his arms to calm her down. With voice while still low and deep, was still soft and caring.
“Never,” Eirene tried to control her fear. Not for fear of Lyranth. They learned that feeling all your emotions was good for them- but for herself.
Lyire was dead asleep when he heard her scream echo down the halls. Vír’s lips were still wet with her pleasure when he found them in the study. “When Vír is back hopefully we’ll have some answers. Until then do you want to lie down?”
“I don’t think I can. I don’t… do well when he’s gone,” she admitted almost embarrassed.
“I understand. Bonded elements make people feel crazy. Come on, you can at least try,” he stood up and offered her his hand. They walked up to her room and sat together by candlelight.
"You said 'bonded elements' earlier- what does that mean?" Eirene watched the flame of the candle burning next to her, scared of what she might see in it.
Lyire used his wind idly to crack open a window and let fresh air in. "We say 'elements' but we really mean anything that makes up the mortal world. Bonded elements are just that, two elements that pair perfectly together. Smoke and fire, pain and pleasure, the moon and stars, sun and the sky, thunder and lightning. Some are just meant to perfectly fit with the other."
Eirene didn't turn to face him, instead she remained entranced by the candle that remained a steady flame in the wind. "And that's different from finding your mate?" A question she has wanted to ask for a while now but it felt timid to ask Vír.
"Yes and no," He put his hand on her shoulder and rubbed it softly as her eyes began to feel heavy with sleep. "Often times bonded elements lead to a mating bond. Caelum and Kumi for instance. He is The Ethereal One and she is the Moon Light. They're perfectly matched for each other, have been for centuries. And their wielders before that were mates. Some are just lucky like that."
"Vír said that his father knew his mother was his mate long before she did, that she was resistant to it at first. How can that be? I mean, we find it almost impossible to be away from each other... How could she not know? How could she resist?"
"I think there's more to that story than even we know. Some people live side by side with the elements, some people are controlled by them, and demand control over their elements. It all depends..." Lyire leaned his head back on the head board, still mindlessly rubbing her shoulder. "It's important to know that you are not your lightning, I am not my wind, he is not his thunder. We're just conduits for them. We just keep them in balance. It's important you don't lose that. You get a say in what you feel, what you do. While the lightning is a wild element, you're still you."
Eirene pulled her gaze from the candle and she could fee that Vír was near again. She hadn't felt truly like herself in awhile now, but how could she? This had all happened so fast, she hasn't even been able to visit her home yet. She turned over to look at Lyire as he gazed down at her softly. "Do you think the lightning and I are compatible? Do you think it would ever choose me as it's wielder? I think that when it does my bond with Vír will fall into place, or so he seems to think. I just feel like it hasn't fully accepted me."
Lyire's back straightened up as he heard footsteps downstairs. "I think that the lightning cares for Vír, and it will do whatever it can to make him happy. If that means finally accepting you then I think that’s a real possibility. But I know you aren't mated fully right now because if you were Vír would already be in here with his hands snapping my neck for being in the same bed as you... Protective crazy ass mated partners" He laughed quietly and pushed himself up out of bed. Dropping a sweet kiss into her hair he headed out into the hallway, leaving the door cracked.
She could hear the two men talking quietly out in the hall and soon Vír entered the room silently. Eirene reached for him in the darkness, pulling him closer to her.
“Shhh, I’m home. Sleep. We’ll talk in the morning,” he stroked her curls lovingly.
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That night she dreamt of Hino. He was alone in a stone room, with metal chains wound tightly around his neck, wrists, and chest. They were searing white hot from his flames and the flames in the fireplace and were embedded somewhere deep in the ground. The chains sizzled with the sound of skin on heat as pulled and yanked at them, desperate to be free. His body bore telltale marks of days of struggle, where his skin was red and raw where the chains were. The red didn't look like welts from heat but from pulling and twisting to be free.
In the warm red light of the fire he screamed into the nothingness around him, an animal caged and going out of his mind. He faced away from her still but she knew nothing would be behind his eyes but his blazing anger. He slumped to his knees, chains clanging to the stone. The room was silent for a moment with the absence of his screaming. Hino‘s head was slumped down and Eirene yearned to reach out and comfort him. He sold them out... But no one deserves this. She longed to reach out and comfort the man who had betrayed them, a kindness that transcended the lines of loyalty. Her hand extended towards his broad, muscular shoulder. Hino's neck gradually arched to the side, as if he were instinctively leaning into the caress. His skin was hot, too hot. But it didn't hurt her. Through her dream she rested her hand there and hushed his screaming through the dream. His breath caught in his throat, which was ravaged from what might have been days of endless screaming.
This is a dream, Eirene thought to herself. But how could she dream this? He responded to her touch, to her voice.
“Hino?” Eirene asked quietly.
His flame red hair dropped again and she saw his shoulders shake. He was chuckling to himself. His silver hoop earrings dangled from his ears with the motion.
“Hino… can you hear me?” Such a stupid question. She was dreaming, lucid dreaming Paarth used to call it. When you can tell you’re dreaming while it’s happening.
"I don't know what it is you think you're doing but you cannot break me- I won't yield, Ravi." His voice was gruff and raw but his accent still had a lingering cockiness in it as his neck rolled away from Eirene's ghostly touch.
"It's Eirene- Hino, can you really hear me?" She pulled lightly on his shoulder, her fingers touching the white hot metal did nothing to her. She had to be dreaming.
He turned with the tug of her hand on his shoulder, slowly standing again. Eirene saw his eyes filled with anger one moment, ready to rip into Ravi. And the next with wild desperation, fear, and something else. "You're dreaming," he squeezed his eyes shut tight. For a moment Eirene thought he was her subconscious confirming what she believed, but he shook his head as his red hair tossed to the side and he chuckled. "I've gone fucking mad oh my god," laughing again. A beautiful yet unhinged sound, the words curling on his tongue.
"Where are you? You're hurt? How can I help? Hino I don't think we're dreaming please. It's me the Lightningcaller-" Her words spilling out or something she said must have snapped him out of it. His neck snapped up to actually see her for the first time and his eyes burned red hot as he lunged for her like an animal. His hands were still bound to the ground so she stepped back out of his reach as he screamed loudly. He yanked at the shackles around his hands as the one around his chest restrained him further.
"Run! Leave. Don't try to come back here- don't try to find me. Leave me alone, Lightningcaller. GO!" And the back of her eyelids went red.
__
She awoke with Vír asleep behind her. The candle in front of her still burned brightly, it should have burned out hours ago. She blew out the candle and let the darkness over take her and tried to shake her nightmare.
__
She awoke the next morning with Vír already awake next to her. She curled up tighter to him. “Don’t leave. Ever again,” she whispered into his chest.
“I know. I’m sorry love,” he kissed her messy hair and squeezed her tightly.
“Any news? What’s happening?” She kept the details of her nightmare to herself. She couldn't believe it herself, how would he?
“Sit up,” he freed her and slid himself upright. She did the same and he grabbed her hands, massaging her electricity into him.
“It’s… not ideal,” he continued, winching in pain at the tiny releases is sparks. “My father has captured Hino, taken his kingdom. He’s been trying to pull the fire from him,” Eirenes eyes met his and she saw the sadness in his. But she knew it was not sadness for Hino.
“Lyranth.”
“The last forest burned last night,” He closed his hands around hers.
Bile was rushing through her, and fast. She ran to the bathroom and released the acrid vomit from her body not once but twice. He rubbed her back as his magic hummed through her and she looked at him with tear filled eyes.
“What can we do?” She asked for both Lyranth and Hino. She knows he sold her out, but there was more to it than that and she knew it.
“Luckily while that was happening I had a lovely view of your-“ she elbowed him at the lazy smile he had for a second. “Well, luckily we were content and my rain was falling at the same time. I didn’t even have to think about it, it was just happening... Trying to heal. They lost most of the forest to the smoke and fire, but some still remains. They’re working on rebuilding the forest as we speak, and it didn’t reach the village.”
“What about Hino? It will happen again, right?” She asked. She shouldn’t care what happened to him but if it hurt her home she would end him herself.
“If he knows what’s good for him he died under my father's torture. My father probably wields fire against us now. We can deal with fire easily.” He assisted her as she stood up from the cold marble floor.
“I don't think he has it yet," She didn't dare explain further. "But can’t just let him die down there, continuing to burn Lyranth.” she protested. “We can’t just sit here waiting for the day he marches with an army into our home,” she saw the storm clouds roll in his eyes at those words. Our home.
“I’ve said I can’t deny you anything... What do you want to do?”
Day by day Vír and Eirene trained, Lyire joining them as well. They trained most of the day, only breaking for lunch.
They practiced accuracy, strength, speed, and control. If Ravi came for them, they would be ready. Eirene felt that Vír would pull the world apart if his father even attempted to take her from him.
In evenings Eirene and Vír trained in other ways. Talking to each other, honoring their emotions, being as open as possible, and finding release in each other as often as they could.
Lyire had taken to evening walks after dinner with Yvonne, or lounging on the opposite side of the mansion from them. Eirene was too smart to know this was just love, this was a force of nature. The elements in them entwined as much as they were. Sometimes Eirene wondered what it would be like to make love to him without feeling the elements pull them together. She struggled to see where the lightning ended and she began.
—
One evening, Eirene couldn’t sleep. Vír had taken to his study after dinner and drinks, continuing to write letters and call for aid against his father. Eirene could feel the need to be near him so strongly she pried herself from bed, dressed, and walked sleepily to the study. He was already watching the door before it even opened.
He cocked his head to the side and lifted an eyebrow. “And what are you doing out of bed? And in clothes I might add?” The smile that crept to his face was sticky sweet and Eirene wanted to kiss it right off of his face.
“I couldn’t sleep, do you mind if I keep your company?” She didn’t mean for it to sound like a tease, but the look that flashes on face made her realize how she sounded. “I didn’t mean like that, I was hoping to read while you work… If that’s not too distracting for you?” She asked, her own little challenge.
“I can’t deny you anything,” he nudged his head to the big leather chair in front of the fire and went back to his letters, stealing one more look at her before he did so.
She pulled a novel from the shelves and idly let her hand touch the glass globe as she passed to the chair. The leather was red hot from the fire but Eirene loved the feeling as she cozied up and opened the book.
She got maybe four pages in before she felt Vír approaching her. “I can smell you from here, love,” His hot breath in her ear made goosebumps go down her neck. “We have incredible control over our senses. That’s how Hino could smell that I’d claimed you that first night. That’s how I can tell how wet you are right now, just by being in my presence.”
He wasn’t wrong. It was an involuntary response every time she was near him. Her heart would pound, her energy would raise as the static in the air grew thick.
“Could I become like you? If I wanted? I’d be less of a target for your father, could put up more of a fight,” her words breathy as he began kissing down her neck, sliding a hand down the top of her shirt to lightly caress her nipple. The flames in the fire place rose higher with that teasing touch.
“The only ways a mortal like you could become an eternal wielder like us would be for the element to truly choose you... or for our mating bond to slip into place. It hasn’t fully yet but you feel it there don’t you? That thing between us? Like a thread you can pull to bring me to you? To bring me to my knees in front of you?” Vír twisted her nipple lightly and she let out a small gasp.
“Is that what this feeling is?” Her words a moan. She had never in her life felt a need like this before. It was like she had no control over it. The lightning’s needs becoming her own.
“Of course. Sometimes it’s instant. Sometimes it takes until you first make love to snap into place. Sometimes when you claim each other in the eyes of the Gathering. When your other half is in grave peril, sometimes even longer... I heard for my parents that my father knew long before my mother did, had to convince her of it first...” God his hands on her felt incredible. More, Eirene needed more.
He moved and knelt before her, between her and the fireplace. He pushed her knees apart and slid between them.
“Now, may I help you with your issue, my love?” His long white fingers caressing the dampness between her thighs, watching the darkness of where he made her underpants slick. His wicked smile could make her moan right there.
She smiled at him kneeling before her. “Who am I to deny you?”
That was all the permission he needed. He slid her underpants down and off in a swift motion. His blood rumbling with in him at the need to taste her again. The heat from the fireplace comforting and warming her to the core as he hoisted her legs over his shoulders and feasted on her expertly. She tried her best not to send volts of electricity through him but knew he delighted in the pain so when one fired off on his tongue as it licked at her core, he looked up at her and smiled wildly and cursed at her.
As he made diligent work of her pleasure, she put her hands in his hair as she came over and over again. In the final throws of it she looked into the flames of the fire and watched as they rose higher and higher, almost in synch with her climax.
In the flames she saw a figure. In a long sleeve white shirt, but the back had a large opening, wrapped in white hot metal chains, screaming to get free. She only saw the back of him but the man had red hair and was unmistakably Hino.
She screamed as she came, but it was not from pleasure, but terror.
Summary: Some heavy petting under the dinner table, Vír, Eirene, and Lyire discuss next steps in protecting her from Vír's father and what to do about Hino's betrayal.
That evening Eirene managed to get up and showered and eventually leave the bedroom. She walked timidly downstairs to where Lyire and Vír were laughing at the dinner table, the sound like music in the large marble hall.
Vír was wearing an all-white outfit Eirene hadn't seen before. All white might make someone look innocent, but this outfit did everything but that. It was a white blazer, tailored tight and cropped short exposing his taut midriff. From what she could see under the table his white pants were high waisted and tight, clinging to every curve of him. His perfect gray hair hung around his face, just grazing his shoulders and was parted down the center and tucked delicately behind his ears.
Lyire was in stark contrast, his typical light and airy clothes adopted a divergent approach, opting for a darker blue satin suit. It was extremely cut low with no under shirt almost like a smoking jacket. Elegant as opposed to the sinful suit Vír chose. The two of them a beautiful visual of feminine energy in extremely masculine wear.
Eirene had opted for far more comfortable and casual clothes, still in lounge mode from her energy expended yesterday. She wore soft light gray shorts, thin and short with a matching shirt.
She slid into the chair nearest Vír and he kissed her on the shoulder. She tasted of eucalyptus and fresh rain- like him- like him. The pull between the two of them could have been visible the way Lyire watched them move, like planets getting sucked up in each other's orbit.
“I hope you two know what you’re doing,” Lyire warned. “These elements aren’t controlled by anyone or anything. Make sure you aren’t losing yourselves in them… I can’t believe I’m the one killing the mood here,” his warning now overshadowed by his beautiful smile and laughter.
“So, what’s been going on? Fill me in. Have you heard from Ravi or Hino?” Eirene began filling her mouth with the delicious food in front of her and she saw that Vír was drinking wine with Lyire. A first, she noted. She poured herself a tall dark burgundy glass and drank deeply. She haven’t had alcohol since being here and this tasted sweet and juicy, impossibly delicious.
“We haven’t heard from either of them, thankfully. We contacted some of the Guardians and they are going to try to send people into Hino's territory to see what’s going on. Apparently my father has found a way to pull elements from other wielders and is looking to come collect yours,” Lyire looked at the two of them sitting across from him. “If he’s collecting elements, he could get out of control quickly. And who knows what it’s doing to the people he takes them from. There are rumors that he's already collected one and I can only assume he'll claim Hino's fire soon enough.”
“We’ll be ready if he comes,” Vír took a long sip of his wine, his already pink lips becoming darker from the stain of the berries. “We'll begin combat training tomorrow, one blast shouldn't drain you. We'll all work together to prepare ourselves. I know from experience what having more than one element can do to you, he’ll be mad by the time he reaches us. Plus he can't get into my territory without permission from myself, Lyire, or you now,” his purely male smile flashed at her in a way that silently said 'because you're mine' and Eirene rubbed her thighs together under the table, desperate for his friction from that look. How can she want him again already?
She knows he must have smelled it on her, because his hand slid silently over to her thigh, her skin tingling to the touch. He rubbed her high in small strokes with his thumb, sending with it a vibration that slid up her legs and at her very core. She dared a glance over to him as he and Lyire were sipping more wine together. As his mouth slowly left the wine glass he caught her glance. Every movement was like a dance with him, each cock of the head or lick of the lips an invitation.
“Have you heard from Hino?" She managed to say, while opening her legs slightly wider under the table. This was all so disrespectful to Lyire, and yet... No. She pulled her legs together and caught his hand between her thighs. The mention of Hino again made him pull his hand from her thighs as he reached gracefully for more bread on the table. She cleared her throat and continued, "Before you came out threating to split him apart he said he was going to fix this.” Eirene was already feeling the heat in her cheeks from the drink. She broke off a piece of warm bread to soak some of it up in her stomach.
The mention of Hino seemed to irritate Vír. “No one has seen or heard from him. We think he gave up his territory to my father all together in exchange. Probably out of guilt, or so the Gathering thinks. He’s probably hiding out like the coward he is.”
Something in Eirene‘s heart told her that it was not the case but the wine in her told her to shut up. She placed her hand on Vír’s thigh as he poured all three of them another glass and she saw his pants lift and tighten, simply from her touch and the current that accompanied it. At least this wild feeling was mutual.
“Is Lyranth doing better?” She felt so disconnected from everything there right now. She should have checked in the moment she awoke.
“Wonderfully, spare the sinister storm from a few days ago,” Lyire winced remembering the deluge of elements that probably hit her home.
“Once you’re feeling like you can control your excitement we could allow you to visit. You couldn’t stay, and you couldn’t touch anyone for obvious reasons. Do you think your heart could take it?”
“I’m not sure, I’m desperate to see my family again. I’m sure they’re worried but I don’t want to put them in danger especially with your father after us,” she said with a slight hiccup in her voice.
“We’ll take it day by day,” he smiled and placed a kiss on her forehead and a visible spark flew as he placed his lips on her forehead.
Together they walked inside and Eirene saw Lyire descending the stairs. He didn't even let her hair drip for a moment before he waved his hand and dried them both in an instant. Eirene left Vír's side and ran to Lyire and wrapped her arms around him. He pulled her tight and she could feel the wind tussling her curls. "Eirene, I had hoped Vír would tell you before any of this blew up," He took her face in his hands and smiled. "You saved my friend, in more ways than one. I owe you a large debt of gratitude. That does not change the fact that Ravi is waiting to get his hands on you and that we've put you in grave danger."
The wind pushing up on her back let her know that Lyire could see the strain that blast took out of her, propping her up like a crutch. "She needs to lie down, she's tapped,"
He swept her up in his arms and Vír carried her to his bedroom. Her head hit the pillow that it had only just left a few hours ago and exhaustion took over.
She slept for the rest of the day, and most of the following day as well. Vír never once left her side. She began to feel her magic move beneath her skin again. Lyire brought in food and water periodically, checking in. As she faded in and out of consciousness, she heard a lot of arguing between Lyire and Vír. And apologies, a lot of apologies.
Late the second day she stirred awake, soft light filtering in through the windows with the curtains drawn. There were gray clouds on the horizon, but the light pierced through the clouds enough to spill it's light into the room. Eirene's lightning under her skin begging her to move, to feel, to discharge all the built up magic inside her.
Vír was napping next to her, above the covers. He must have felt the vibrations within her because he didn't even open his eyes, he just pulled her into him. Wrapping an arm around her and resting it in her hair.
He opened his mouth to speak, to spill another apology that was already on his lips but Eirene moved her head up to kiss him. "Shh, I think it's my turn to talk now my rain cloud," she put a hand on his chest and he closed his eyes to the static touch. "I'm sorry that you were hurting so much. I've struggled with that feeling before myself. The feeling that the world is better off without you," silver began to line his eyes as a few sad drops of rain hit the glass. "But I have to tell you, I am so glad you're still here. With me." She kissed the tear drops off of his cheeks, each one leaving a soft buzz as the water touched her lips.
"You sound like Lyire," he laughed through his sadness. "He said something similar. But I can't help but feel like my desire to end things for Lyranth and myself have hurt you yet again," he closed his eyes remembering what happened the day that he tried 20 something years ago. The storm that stole her parents from her.
"You are not your depression. You are not your thunder or rain. You're Vír. You're alive. Your my rain cloud. Mine."
Vír slid his arm out from under her and used it to prop himself up. Eirene looked so beautiful in the soft light that diffused in the room. He could see spots on her nose and cheeks where freckles could peek through if allowed the luxury to be in the sunlight.
"I'm not just alive, I'm living. For the first time in my long, miserable existence. Thanks to you," He leaned down and took her face in his hand and kissed her. The kiss was slow and claiming. The rumble in his chest shook Eirene deeply as her lightning pushed back out, wanting her to touch him.
"I don't need to be your reason for living, but I'm thankful to be the reason you decide to begin again," She pulled him on top of her and felt the bright light crash into the room, clouds parting enough that the dark interior of the room was alight.
Nothing mattered outside, for now the pain of the days prior forgotten. She began to kiss him deeply, she felt her magic ache for need as much as she did. She felt his hand tighten in her hair as the other found her waist. She opened her mouth wide, inviting his tongue in. A moan passed between their mouths. This kisses grew deeper, more passionate. Eirene slid her hand down the front of his pants and he pressed himself into her touch but pulled his mouth from hers.
"Wait," he moaned, his voice husky with lust. He grabbed her hand from him and pushed it into the soft pillow under her head. "Let me apologize to you. I need to taste you".
Eirene's breasts ached and needed to be touched. She felt desperate for their bodies to collide more, to let this mutual discharge of elements and passion continue.
He lifted her shirt over her head and marveled at breasts, nipples hard to the cool air. He kissed down her neck, and let his teeth graze over them as he passed them, Eirene moaning to the feeling.
Vír pushed the covers down away from her and expertly pulled her pants off, leaving her entire body exposed to the sun. She began almost purring with the electricity and a need that pulsed through her entire being. He leaned down and kissed her bare stomach and looked up at her with those dark gray eyes. "I feel like I've lost control when I'm with you," he dropped another kiss, lower. "The moment when I close my eyes all I see is you. It feels like I couldn't leave you alone if I wanted to. I want to make you feel my love," another kiss planted lower on one of her hip bones.
Her hips moved up in a begging and pleading motion. Vír took that as a command and lifted her knees up, his hands cool on her thighs as he lowered his head between them.
Eirene wasn't ready for his mouth on her.
She felt him lapping up the wetness that he found there, growling with delight at his doing. He licked her quickly, a hard flick at the top of her that made her back arch even further, her hips rising to him as she yelped. He licked her opening again and this time paused and sucked on that top, most sensitive spot.
Eirene couldn't control herself as she shoved her fingers in his hair, it rising to meet the tension of the electricity pushing through it. Vír growled with pleasure at that pain and his tongue thanked her by doing a long slow sweep before driving his tongue into her, curling at the tip as if he could bring her closer to his mouth. She tasted sweet and warm, her body hot with the lightning pushing into him.
She moved her hips in time with his licking and sucking and cried out for him. He slowed down, painfully so, drawing out her pleasure in a teasing manor. His tongue continued to pump in and out of her but avoided her most sensitive spot. Eirene felt as if she might unravel at any moment. She was one touch away from crying and losing all control over his wicked, wicked mouth.
He felt her hands tighten in his hair, begging for more. And so he obliged. He continued to lick her, sliding his tongue inside her and finally flicking and pressing down hard with his mouth at that perfect spot, sliding fingers inside her to pull the rest of the release from her as he did so. She could feel his smile, his teeth nibbling down on her, even as his mouth continued to rip her over the edge.
He removed himself from her, leaving a kiss on her thigh as he did so. Eirene was still panting, limp with pleasure as he sat up and licked his soft pink lips that were shining with her orgasm.
She reached for him, seeing his arousal pressing hard into the front of his pants. Her fingers barely caressed him as she felt him twitch. He grabbed her wrist and gently pushed her hands away.
“No, I wanted to apologize to you. No expectations. You should go shower then come downstairs and see Lyire,” he adjusted himself in his trousers, she could see the shape of him perfectly outlined and her she salivated at the sight. “You taste amazing, love,” he purred as he helped her up and into the shower, her knees still weak.
Summary: Hino finally is granted a visit to the Thunderous ones domain and finds out what he and Eirene have been doing. Truth is told and Eirene is left broken.
Eirene showered quickly, Vír encouraging her to slow down for fear of shocking him further. She quickly wrapped herself in a towel and ran back to the bedroom. Tossing on her clothes from yesterday Vír tried to slow her down.
"Wait a second, we have company in the study you should wait until they leave. It's not safe," his voice laced with concern but Eirene was hearing none of it. Her wet, unruly hair continued to drip onto the carpet as she hurried towards the ajar study door, her heart pounding with anticipation. "Wait-", he called after her, a last plea.
With determined strides, she pushed the door open to the study and a tall, broad figure stood between her and the glass globe. The look on her face must have been wild because the figure turned around quickly and put his hand out and stepped back, his back pressed against the glass as if to keep her away from him.
"Lightningcaller? Are you okay? What happened?" Hino's words tumbled out in quick succession. His red hair looked disheveled today, very different from when she first saw him. Lyire stood near Vír's desk and called her name out, but her world was tunneling quickly. She needed to see with her own eyes. Without thinking twice she pushed Hino aside, and he didn't seem to mind the harsh shock that she sent through him as she pushed him. She pushed her hand against the cool glass and began shifting, searching desperately for Lyranth.
It was difficult. She'd never seen the sunlight before.
The town looked so different, the colors nothing like what she imagined. Tears hit the globe rapidly, and she could see the dry, heat lightning striking behind clouds in a blue sky. She pressed both hands to the globe, no one else in the room but her and this beautiful blue vision before her.
Vír's voice calling her name softly broke her from her trance, she could feel his presence as he entered the room, the invisible bond of his thunder pulling at her lightning.
She raised gaze and the crackling fire was going in the fireplace bathed her damp skin with its familiar warmth. The room seemed to burst with light spilling in from the large windows behind Vír's desk as the curtains were pulled back. She locked eyes with Lyire, tears glistening in his eyes, but he didn't look happy. Eirene squinted at the sharp rays, yearning within her to fully embrace those sunlit beams.
Vir stalked forward to Hino, like a storm rolling in over the hills. "What do you think you're doing here? I specifically said-" Lyire stepped forward between the two men, struggling to look Eirene in the eyes.
"I granted him access. We have a problem Vír," he looked at both of them.
"Eirene, I think you should leave," Vír leaned down to talk to her, strands of his still wet silver hair spilling onto his face. He pushed it back and stared her down like he was trying to give her a warning.
"I believe Eirene needs to hear this. I think both of you owe her an explanation. Now." Lyire's voice was angry, commanding. Deeper than usual, it almost didn't fit his frame.
Vír walked toward the desk and leaned against it, his hands resting behind him. "What is going on with you? Why are you here, Hino?"
"Ravi knows you no longer hold your mothers lightning. He knows you've passed it to a mortal. He plans to attack you now, without it protecting you, and to take Eirene and pry the magic from her. Dead or alive." Hino didn't even look at Eirene as he walked around the globe toward the Vír at the desk.
Vír shot up from the desk, his thunderous anger manifesting in the looming clouds that rolled in outside, graying the once blue skies.. "How did he find out? The Guardians swore their-"
"Hino told them," Lyire interjected, his look filled with with utter disgust. "Isn't that right? You didn't even meet her before you sold her out to Ravi."
"I believed I was doing Lyranth a favor. I thought I was doing you a favor by helping you end your miserable experience," he looked at Vír with pity and vitriol.
"I could end you," Vír approached Hino with swiftness, his hands reaching out for the red haired mans throat. Thunder roared outside and the blue sky completely faded. Erienes heart ached, she was feeling too many things at once. She felt like the room was beginning to spin.
"Judgement seems hypocritical coming from you, Vír," Lyire spat. Eirene had never seen the two friends so angry before. She needed answers, now.
"It's different now, Lyire." Vír pleaded, his body language transforming as he implored Lyire to calm down. The thunder still rolled outside, the pine trees in the distance began to sway and bend in the harsh wind. "I thought I wanted to die, I thought I wanted the magic gone... But it's different now. I can live, I can finally breathe," Vír's emotions were bubbling up to the surface in way neither of them had ever seen before. "You have to believe me, things are different now. We're-"
The water dripped from Eirene's hair to the carpet and Hino watched the droplet fall, the world in slow motion for a moment. His eyes slowly rose up and examined Eirene, then Vír. He turned his head to the side and seemed to choke on something. He raised his hand to his mouth and winched.
"I'm going to be sick," he turned and stalked away toward the fireplace. He wore a white long sleeve shirt but the back was cut out to reveal his strong tanned back. She saw the muscles tense there in anger. If Vír were a dancer, Hino were a fighter. No doubt about it.
"You and her?" Hino couldn't remove his hand from his nose and mouth. He seemed like he could pounce on Vír at any moment. He turned to him but still couldn't look at Eirene. She had nothing to be embarrassed about, she's a grown woman, but something about Hino's response made her feel guilty. She didn't understand why though. "I can't believe I didn't smell him on you at first but now-," He shouted. The fire in the fireplace rose, heat filling the room leaving goosebumps on Eirene's arms.
She slowly backed up against the door, staring at the three men in the room and all of a sudden feeling very exposed.
"Vír, tell Eirene the truth. You owe her that much now that you've put her life on the line here too," Lyire's eyes were filled with anger now. Eirene wanted to go to him, her soft kind friend turned harsh in this moment. Her gaze shifted to Vír who looked utterly devastated. His head tilting to the side as if to soften the blow of his friends words. His eyes pleaded with Eirene's in w a way that looked like an apology. This is was not going to be good.
"Tell her how once you lost your magic to her you saw it as an opportunity. Saw her as an opportunity. Tell her how you began testing her to see if she could harm you, because you wanted her to. Tell her how you were going to have her try to kill you to free you from that pain. Tell her how you were going to leave her alone to deal with your father, you miserable son of a-" Hino railed into him but Eirene didn't stay to hear the rest.
She fled the room, not even yeilding to the relentless tug of her magic as Vír pleaded for her to wait.
Eirene's hurred footsteps carried her down the hall and the stairs, pushing open the large glass doors to the garden violently. She burst out into the green field that was once drenched in warm sunlight and was now shadowed in gray, thunder storms rolling in. Rain fell from the heavens like tear drops. Breathing the cool rain filled air she felt like she could think again. So Hino had sold her out and now Vír's father, Ravi, was after her. After them. Her magic ached, she felt it curl inside of her body.
Vír planned on using her. Thankful that the lightning had leaped out and found her so he could sacrifice them both to his father. He could have told her. They talked about his father, they talked about his past. Was he embarrassed that his past was so... recent? That didn't matter to Eirene. But he should have made it clear that splitting his elements between the two of them would make her a target for his father too. Her mind and her magic told her to take some deep breaths and go back inside to speak with Vír. They were bonded. Maybe in the way that he described. Mated. She felt the sparks in her veins. That had to be what this was.
The downpour continued to cry upon her with relentless vigor, soaking her to the bone as she collapsed to her knees in the rain soaked field. She heard someone running to her, their breath heaving heavy after her. She didn't feel her magic wiggle to get free, she looked up to see Hino sprinting to her.
Drenched in water, his red hair falling dark and flat against his face as he shook the water away prowled toward her quickly. Steam sizzled off of him, his white shirt drenched and clinging to the contours of his body. Eriene lifted her eyes to find the window on the exterior of the manor where Vír's study is and through the heavy deluge she saw him framed in the window.
Hino, his hands radiating warmth, didn't extend an offer to help Eirene rise; instead, he lowered himself to the ground, the touch of his fingers under her chin gently coaxing her to meet his gaze. "I'm so sorry. I hadn't met you, I didn't know..." His fingers were hot on her chin, so hot she thought it might burn her, but it didn't hurt. "I have to leave, I'm not allowed here without their permission. But I-" his back tensed up and he growled under his breath. He dropped her chin and put his hands up in a yielding motion and glanced at the window that Eirene was looking. "I'm sorry. I'll fix this... I'm sorry", his voice breaking.
She saw a dark smoke gathering around his legs and he stood quickly. "If you need me, just call me, Lightningcaller," his words were teasing but his voice was sad. With two steps away from her she saw the black smoke filling the air around him more.
From across the field she could see Vír running to them. His storm ripping apart the sky in harsh booms. The ground beneath her shook in response. He was out of control with his anger and Eirene was scared for Hino. She stood and pushed herself between the two of them and extended her arms to either side.
"Enough!" She shouted, as two bolts of lightning flew from her hands creating a protective wall between the two of them. She couldn't even see Hino as he stepped further into the smoke and disappeared.
Her knees began to shake, the massive discharge doing a number on her. She fell to the ground once again, this time out of weakness.
Suddenly, Vír was with her. She felt his thunder slam into her at the same time she felt his body possessively clutching to her. He wrapped her up in a possessive embrace, his voice wild in her ear, begging forgiveness.
"I'm so sorry, I should have been honest with you. I should have listened to Hino's warnings. I'm a fool. I was so caught up in getting to know you and feeling this bond between us grow it was like I couldn't see or think about anything but you..." Vír cried, burying his face in her hair. His arms wrapped tenderly around her as she sparked and spasmed with light. She heard his suck in air through his teeth, she knew it was hurting him just to hold her but he didn't care. He pulled away from the embrace to kiss her cheeks, kissing peppering up and down her face, as if he was trying to cover every inch of it.
"Stop the rain," she managed to say.
"Hino sold you out," his voice going from heartbroken to angry in an instant. "He claims it was to save Lyranth from what was happening but that was a damn lie. I'm sure my father promised him my rain or something in exchange... As long as you're safe, as long as you're with me," Vír's voice was cold and unfeeling, his head tilted to the side.
"Please, just stop the rain. Calm down," and she began mirroring the kissing that he'd done to her, despite the tiny sparks flying. She kissed his cheeks, along his jaw, his full lips. She pushed her hands into his hair and latched on tight. "Please," she said softly into him. "Breathe, for me," she guided him. She heard a loud rumble in the sky and the loud waves of water outside slow. The beating rain on the glass came to a halt and she felt him shiver beneath her touch.
Eirene found herself in Vír's arms the following morning. No empty side of the bed. Eirene was still naked, the sticky sweet sensation of his pleasure and her own still between her thighs. The first this Eirene noticed was the absence of something... Pain. She felt a small vibration of lightning in her hands, but no painful ache. No constant reminder of the terrible power in her. She sat up and squeeze her muscles, looking to find a trigger, something there that would kick start that pain she'd grown accustomed to.
But found nothing.
Vír was laying on his stomach, his legs tangled up in the soft sheets, his back and shoulders exposed. She could see the tattoo on his back of the storm cloud, along with flecks of raw, red skin. Places where her sparks hit him last night. Clear lines down his back of red where her hands and nails slid down. She reached in to touch his back softly, no electricity flowing through her palms as she did so.
He rolled over onto his back and put a hand behind his head to prop himself up. He looked completely different. Nothing had changed physically about him of course. But his expression had changed. No longer cold and unfeeling, but his jaw clenched as he tried to suppress a smile. His eyes looking at Eirene as if he were seeing her for the first time, and allowing himself to enjoy the view. He surveyed her arms and dragged a finger along the currents marked there as her eyes closed to his touch. The magnets between the two of them pulling together in synch. His gaze followed his hand as it slid up and around her arm, across her shoulders and chest, and then slowly let his fingers fall down to her nipples.
Eirene's head fell back at his fingers on her, her breasts beginning to feel heavy and swollen with need for him again.
Through no small effort he removed his hand from her perfect breast and sat up with her, both of them propped against the wooden headboard. It felt as if they were in a different world for a moment, each gaze meeting with a new emotion. Joy, lust, need, comfort, love. Vír reached a hand out and touched her cheek.
A single, loud knock fell on the door. Eirene so startled that the spark that went through her caused Vír to pull his hand back in pain. He laughed, a jarring yet beautiful sound and cursed as he massaged here she stung him. He leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips and swaggered toward the door. He walked as if he were drunk on emotions, utterly lust filled. He grabbed a plush gray robe that was hanging off of the mirror and threw it on.
Eirene instinctively got up and went to his bathroom to freshen up and make herself scarce at whatever company was awaiting on the other side of the door.
The water felt cool on her cheeks and as she washed her face she felt no fear that the water of a bath would do any harm to her, however there was no tub in Vír's bathroom. Only the same large glass walled area with no shower head to be seen. She grabbed a spare robe from the bathroom and once she heard the door close loudly, reentered the bedroom.
"What's going on?" Eirene asked. "Is it Lyranth? What happened?" Suddenly the real world began to fade into view. Had she been right? Was their mutual release of emotions and magic good god Lyranth?
"Lyranth is fine, great even. We can go check on them in a moment. That was Lyire. I have... company waiting for me in the study," he prowled toward Eirene like an animal stalking it's prey. He pulled on the front of her robe and pulled him into her. Through the robe she could feel his cock twitch on her. She leaned in and kissed him deeply.
"Before we get carried away, I need to go back to my room and bathe. I smell... well, like sweat. And sex," she laughed.
"You smell like me," he growled into her mouth as he kissed again. He pulled back in confusion, "Wait, why do you have to go to your room for that?"
"You don't have a tub, and it looks like you don't have a proper shower. And it sounds like you have someone waiting for you," she added.
"Well they aren't welcome so I would rather enjoy making them wait," He placed his hands on her shoulders and spun her around, walking her toward the bathroom. Eirene pulled the tie on her robe open as they went. Vír closed the door behind them and she spun to see him, her magic aching just to see his face with life painted across it again.
"You are beautiful," His greedy gaze eating every inch of her up.
"You're smiling," she teased. She pulled the front of his robe open and he pushed hers off of her shoulders and onto the cold marble floor. "Still the question remains, why don't you have a bath tub?"
He gritted his teeth together and snarled as he shrugged off his own robe and kissed her deeply, pushing her into the cold glass door of his pseudo-shower. He pulled open the door next to her and dragged her in with him.
Slowly, rain began to fall from some clouds above them. Eirene laughed at loud out of surprise. The rain was hot on her skin and as he kissed her deeper the water pressure increased.
His gray hair fell wet around him and Eirene pulled herself away to look at him. This is what he was supposed to look like. Free from the thunder and storms and shining in the rain.
The lightning under her skin felt the pull of his magic and she was on him again feeling his long, stiff cock grinding into her. Her kisses across his neck got more and more desperate, each moan a plea. He pushed her against the wall and lifted her up with ease. With one swift pump he was inside her again and her head crashed back against the glass. The sparks that flew were softer than last nights and sit noticed that even in the water they didn't hurt Eirene, they never hurt her.
As she dug her nails into Vír's back she saw the sparks fly and ripple in the water, his back arching back, delighting in the pain. He groaned and pulled on her hair to bring her mouth back to his. He flipped her with ease around, her breasts pushed against the glass as he entered her again from behind. Her nipples crashed against the glass as he put his weight behind each perfect thrust. They could see what they were doing through the clear glass to the large mirror above the sink. He left one hand on her waist and placed the other on the wet glass beside her. She turned her head to the side to see him as he pushed into her again and again.
Eirene struggled with everything in her not to set the bathroom ablaze in lightning as he made her come again and again. She turned her head back to the mirror and caught his gaze there as he thrust into her. She didn’t take her eyes off of him as his head ripped back as he came, emptying himself in her fully. She spun around to look at him and he put his other hand on the glass, surrounding her in his muscular marble arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and latched into his hair. He pulled her in close under the hot rain water that hit them with strong pressure.
"I have something to tell you," he remained close to her, not daring break from her grip. He wrapped his arms around her waist tightly. "Try not to fry us both," Vír smiled wickedly.
"Lyire told me you could see the stars in Lyranth last night. That the clouds rolled away night."
After training that evening Eirene found herself at dinner with Lyire, Vír’s absence caused a strain on Eirene, her magic liked it better when he was near. Stupid needy thing.
"Where is he tonight?" She asked Lyire as they enjoyed their meal together. It was a delicious stew that Eirene had helped Yvonne prepare after their training session. The warm bread on the table smelled like home, like Becks cooking.
"He's shut up in his study, dealing with excess correspondence from other domains," Lyire didn't even look up from his food as he spoke.
"What's happening that he has to be shut up there for hours at a time?"
"He's been receiving letters from Hino as a request to meet with him. He says he has news about his father. He's been writing to Vír daily. But everyone writes to Vír about his father. Where he is, what he's doing, what he's asking people to do," Lyire cleared his throat and took a sip of his water.
"What is he asking them to do?" She tried to calm her curiosity within her. Any emotion should remain locked away.
"Hino won't give any information through his letters, he's requesting he be allowed entry here to speak in person, Vír won't allow it. The others say that Vír's father has taken up residence in Hinos court, that he's attempting to align himself with the Firestarter to wage war on his own son,"
"What do you think?" Eirene poked further.
Lyire put his fork and knife down and smiled at Eirenen from across the table. "I think Vír won't let Hino here because he wants to take you away and train you in his domain, and I think Vír realizing that having you around is making things better. I think he just can't admit it to himself... How have things been between you? I know he's not always the easiest to be around, especially given the circumstances." Lyire's white hair fell in his face and he pushed it back to reveal his fair skin and the freckles dappled across his face.
"This have been better, actually..." She paused to take another bite of the delicious meal that Yvonne prepared for them. "I'm getting better at controlling my emotions, though managing the pain is about the same. Does your wind ache you? You don't seem to have any trouble keeping your emotions in check."
"Wind is a much tamer element, and it is compatible to my temperament as a person. Usually when an element has found its match, you don't have to think consciously about things like that. They just happen naturally. Letting out, controlling it, all of those things become easier."
"You don't keep anything in check? You just let it out freely and it doesn’t cause tornados or anything?" She'd finished her plate of food and began collecting the dishes and carrying them to the kitchen.
"No, not at all." Lyire replied simply. "Have you been checking in on Lyranth lately? You've seen what's been happening?" He brought his dishes over to her and began washing as they spoke.
"I haven't checked in a few days, it makes my emotions harder to keep down. The good and bad," she admitted.
"Well you should check... Just make sure you stay in control, that is" He leaned over and nudged her again with his shoulder. She kept her mask firmly in place but she could already feel her heart rate pick up.
"I'll go bathe and change for bed and check. Thanks, Lyire."
--
Eirene tried to keep calm as she quickly went through the motions of preparing for bed. She braided her hair back out of the way and headed to the opposite side of second floor of the manor past Vír's room, to the study. She didn't have to look to know that he was sitting behind his desk, her magic told her that.
She took a deep breath in and placed her hand on the glass orb and shifted it, the motion a routine by now, as she focused in on Lyranth.
There below was her home. As comfortable as she was here, that was her true home. The gray skies were comforting to her, but beneath the feet of the small figures, dry earth. Only a few puddles remained. In fact, as people were walking in and out of homes, going about their day, some of them didn't have hats on. It seemed like not worried about the weather. The excitement of that visual sent a crackle of electricity through her body. What had changed?
She heard tentative footfall and she could feel his presence behind her. The electricity still pumping through her made her muscles tense up and lean to him as he stood closely.
He seemed to respond to the feeling, leaning into her, placing his hand atop hers, lightly pressing himself against her. She closed her eyes for a moment and felt the warmth of his body rest against her. The rumble beneath his skin seeming to match frequencies to the hum of lightning beneath hers. She opened her eyes again and gazed upon Lyranth, his hand still atop hers.
She could tell it was Paarth by the dark hair and the build of his body, walking with a bow strung over his shoulder, walking out of town. The electricity from her hand gave a small static shock to Vír's as he pulled his hand quickly away and backed up a step.
"What? What did you see? Try to remain calm," his voice low and cool.
"I saw Paarth my--" What was he? She certainly wouldn't call him her boyfriend. Brother seemed to weird. Best friend?
Before she could settle on what to call him, Vír took the glass in his hands and shifted the view to get a different angle on Paarth.
"Your lover?" His voice was just above a whisper and his face was expressionless, but Eirene could feel the thunder in him awaken.
"No, no, we're just- Hey, breathe remember?" she reminded him. What was his issue? This was the thing that he was going to get upset about? This was what he'd let his mask slip for?
"I'm fine, it's of no consequence to me," Lying, he was lying through his teeth to her. His eyes went from the wide and soft to the sharp, narrow eyes she knew well. Trying to remain emotionless. He turned quickly and left the room, leaving the door behind him open.
Eirene looked at Lyranth below and rain began to fall. Not a ravaging torrent like she knew to be the case, but a sad, gray rain. Large, heavy, droplets. No thunder. No lightning.
She left the room and closed the door, and opened the door to his bedroom without knocking.
"Vír, come here," she reached her hands out to him slowly, that invisible magnet within her propelling her to step forward toward him. He turned slowly, surprised she pulled herself away from gazing at Lyranth to follow him. She could see from his dark gray eyes that he was regaining control of whatever emotion had come over him so quickly, whatever had broken free in his mind. She knew the thunder within him held him in place at her request.
"You should go," he made no movement forward, but his hands brushed through his shoulder length hair, pushing it back from his face.
"Stop, don't push me away. You want me here, I can feel it" she looked at her hands and massaged them. She felt the quick, erratic vibrations.
He shut his eyes and winced. His full lips parted as he exhaled deep breath. "I do- which is why you should leave," His eyes flashed open and in the dim candle light of the room, she could swear she saw rolling thunder clouds haze his eyes, flashes of gold and white catching the light.
"I don't know if I should, or if I want to, or if I even can," Her hands were shaking now, she gripped them together tight. This feeling between them was super charged. Each word a vibration on a frequency meant only for them.
"If you don't turn around now, I don't know what will happen to them. The mortals. Turn around, and leave. For their sake. I can’t…” His voice got quiet and his eye lids went heavy. “…lose control,”
She opened her mouth to speak again but before she could, his mouth was on hers. His soft, full lips pressed hard on her mouth as she stood frozen. That perfect, sinful mouth she’s been watching for months now. She’d thought about his devastating beauty of course, but never thought he’d unleash himself.
His one hand slipped around her waist, the other around her neck and pulled her in, kissing her deeper. The electricity within her ached to be free, the kiss filled with passion and pain as she heard the rumble in his chest curse at the spark that met him there. She leaned into the touch and parted her lips, opening herself to his tongue and inviting him in. The wild, untamed roar of thunder echoed in the room and in her mind as a small moan left her lips.
The sound seemed to snap something back into place for him for as quickly as it began, Vír pulled himself from her, trying to catch his breath. His hands went to his neck, as if to choke off the desire. Eirene's watched this evil movement and her whole body ached. With pain of the elements. With pain of desire. He backed away from her and his hand went to his hair. He looked beautiful, damned, but beautiful. Her mouth went dry as his hand reached to touch his lips softly where the spark had been.
Eirene took a step forward, closing the distance between the two of them again.
"We can't," he put a hand out to stop her approach. His hand where it touched her neck was red from the electricity. "Who knows what happened for them just now. We can't." He walked around the bed, sitting on the opposite side of the room, putting distance between them. His back was to her and he was gazing at the windows, the curtains still pulled shut. "I feel that... pull too. I don't know what it is but it's not safe. We have to keep ourselves in check at all times, we have to keep our emotions locked away."
Eirene approached the bed and sat down, her back to his now. "I understand why you're afraid, but I'm not," she admitted. "I think it's good... Whatever this is," she examined her palms in the dim candle light, the electricity she feels now is vastly different than how it felt that first day. She trusted this, whatever this feeling was.
"Lyire said he doesn't have to control his emotions and lock them away, what if you're going about this all wrong? What if you just need a safe… release." She glanced over her shoulder to see him doing the same. She pushed herself fully on to the bed and walked on her knees to him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and let the electricity touch him through the fabric of his shirt. "You feel that don't you? Doesn't it help? Even this helps me," she just let the static flow, no tamper on it. His head rolled back and he groaned releasing a wild, feral sound. Eirene massaged with her hands, putting all her weight and strength into rolling out the knots in his shoulders, sparks appearing every time she lifted her hands. He met her currents with pulsating rumbles that vibrated her to her core. His head bobbed back and she could see his eyes remained closed, face twisted in relief, pain, and pleasure.
She tugged at his soft linen shirt and he raised his arms to help her remove it. On his back, swirling thunder clouds pouring rain sprawled across his shoulders. Down his spine, three bolts of lightning. The tip of the longest lightning bolt ended just below the waist of his pants. She also saw the small scars of where her electricity hit into him that first day of training. Her stomach twisted at the thought that she caused him that pain. She set the shirt to the side and continued massaging over the bolts of lightning. His strong, muscular back tensing and releasing as she did so.
"Eirene," She he growled her name he rolled his neck back. His voice dark and heavy, his body shook with thunder. The vibrations from that alone… she didn’t even know if he needed to touch her to give her what she craved.
She didn't know if it was her name on his lips, the discharge of this stored up lightning and energy or her desire for him but she began to feel light headed as the strain in her muscles began to ease quickly. She placed a kiss on his back, where his neck meets his shoulders and breathed him in.
He turned and put a hand on her cheek and looked at her eyes in the darkness. His touch on her cheek static shocked her, sending a bright spark between the two of them. He gasped at the rapid sting and leaned his cheek into her hand and the warmth there. His mouth was on hers again, this time softer, as if each kiss was a question of consent, each kiss a zap and spark.
The feeling of his touch sent vibrations down to the very core of Eirene. He turned around to face her and slowly lowered himself on top of her.
His tongue pushed her lips apart and began playful circles with her own, causing her to moan into his mouth in response. Her body tending up with the desire that pulled him to her. He reached for her shirt and pulled it off of her with ease, exposing her fully. A devious smile shot across his face and he snarled. His hands slid up her bare stomach and cupped her soft breasts and he lowered his head to take one in his mouth. His tongue flicked her nipple in a way that sent shockwaves down her body, heating her to the core. Her hands slid down his muscles body, sending shock waves through him as she did. He nipped at the breast in his mouth while his hand slid slowly down the front of her pants.
Eirene’s body ached to the touch as Vír reached for the pooling wet warmth between her thighs and growled with delight. As a loud moan rang out in the room, Vír paused. She felt as though she was going to explode if he didn’t put his hands on her- in her.
His thumb drew a teasing circle in the wet there for a moment and he pulled his face away, wanting to watch her expression as he pressured that ball of nerves between her thighs. Her eyes slammed shut and she put a hand over her mouth. How long had it been since she’d been touched? Even with Paarth is was so clinical, as if they knew what needed to get done and so they went about it the fastest way possible, Never drinking in the pleasure. She gasped as a dark rain cloud clung to them, his chest shining with condensation, his long gray hair as wet as she was for him.
She buckled as he finally slid a finger in her, she raised her hips to his touch as his mouth lowered down to kiss at her neck. He kissed down until he reached the bolts of lightning that crossed her chest like a mantle. He dragged his tongue along her collar bones and kissed at the hollow of her neck where the twin bolts met. Every part of Eirene responded to his touches.
“Vír, please,” she managed to say as he locked eyes with her. Her eyes flashed golden and the light of them reflected in his own gray eyes. He slid another finger inside her and his mask completely fell as his laugh sounded almost like a growl, as if it were a foreign sound to his body and he forgot how. It was as if he wanted to memorize her from the inside out. The smile that crossed his mouth was absolutely feral, his happiness and lust untamed at last. He plunged his fingers in deeper, faster, and harder as she begged for more, more, more. Vír groaned in her ear as he felt her tighten around his fingers, so much so he didn’t know if he could pull them out. Thunder rolled in tandem with the sound of Eirene going over the edge.
Release came over her quickly as she barked out his name into the fog, into the darkness. He slid his hand out from her trousers and pulled them down the rest of the way. She propped herself up on her elbows, her eyes following every motion of his as moved to remove his trousers and she could see his cock begging to be freed from the now tight pants.
Vír leaned over her again and paused at her entrance. She whimpered and mewed as he hesitated.
“I’ve needed you too, needed this,” he said. His voice dark and stormy as he slid in her, inch by inch. His mouth found hers to stifle another loud moan. She needed this too. Keeping her emotions inside was difficult, and the natural pull of their elements was constantly pulling her to him. She needed to touch him, to be touched by him.
Her eyes were locked on his, they eye so bright with life it was as if he were a different person. Like seeing the world clearly for the first time.
Feeling him move inside her feel like feeling the true heart of a storm. Greedy, possessive, untamed, and wild. And incredible. Gods, it was incredible. She could think of nothing in the world that felt like this.
She watched as he pumped rhythmically, like their breathing exercises, and soon their breath became one. Watching where he disappeared deep within her. They became one. Sparks flew where their skin met, stinging him over and over and inside her where he moved and she could feel the vibrations and rumble of thunder.
The pumping became more savage, primal, as if the elements within them were now taking control, needing their own release. Each surge into Vír felt dangerous, and he loved it. Eirene cried into the darkness as he continued to thrust into her. The damp fog gathered slowly around them, their body heat causing steam between them and each spark to sting Vír more and more.
Her eyes locked with Vír’s and she pushed his silver hair off his face, wanting to see the wild smile on his face as she neared release again. He began kissing her arm feverishly as it reached up toward him. She held his face and saw the damp fog mixed with tears of sadness, joy, and release on his cheeks and wiped them away with her thumb.
She felt like she was going to go over the edge again, and this time she was going to take Vír with her. She moved her electric touch down his chest as he pumped into her, faster and faster. Her control completed gone, the entire room shook with the vortex they created together. He growled with wild pleasure as he came, so loud Eirene though the glass windows could shatter.
As he slid out she winced at the absence of him inside her. He laid on his back and pulled her into him, tangling in hair that was now wild and free, like him.
“Eirene, I feel…” Eirene propped herself up on one elbow to look at him. Both of them were covered in sweat and fog and he was freckled in small red welts from where her magic went wild. In the darkness he no longer looked innocent and fragile. He looked damned and beautiful and hers, all hers.
“I feel like I’ve waited a century to feel anything, and now I feel like I’m feeling it all at once for the first time.”
Summary: More tenderness before we turn up the heat next chapter. He reveals what happened on the day Eirene's parents died in the storm. This is now a finished work! The rest of the chapters will be posted on ao3 first so find me there!
Eirene watched Lyranth from a distance every evening. The storms continued, but no lightning struck. For this brief period of time while she held the power, it seemed to be contained. The relentless thunder still rumbled and the rain still fell in sheets, but it seemed far less than any time Eirene could remember. If she could find a way to keep control of the lightning and keep it from eating away at her, she would be willing to remain here if it meant making a better life for those she loved back home. She wondered what it would take to make the clouds part long enough for them to see the sun, for things to grow.
Most days passed without note. She'd wake up, too early for her taste, dress in her absurd rubber outfit, and sit in the field with Vír. Sometimes they would sit in silence. Sometimes they would argue. Sometimes they'd talk. Eirene told him about Beck, Violet, Paarth, and others that she shared a home with. She told him stories of her parents, what little she remembered. She described that day to him, carefully, so she didn't provoke the storm that lie within him.
"That day was particularly terrible, we hadn't seen the likes of it since... Did something happen?"
"Not that I can recall," Vír's voice was cold and unfeeling, and Eirene didn't press further.
That evening after watching Lyranth from the glass orb in Vír's study, Eirene found herself perusing the shelves for something to read. She sat down with a book that looked like it was from the mortal world and sat in the large leather arm chair. She read for hours and hours about a distant long forgotten kingdom and it's tales until she looked up and just got lost staring at the flames in the fireplace, lost in her own thoughts of home.
She hadn't heard the door open, but she felt that it was Vír. When he entered a room with her she could feel it. She couldn't explain it. It was like a magnet deep in her core, struggling to be pulled toward him. She knew he could feel it too, the longer she remained here and trained, the more he found himself outside of his room and around the house. A rare thing, according to Yvonne.
She didn't pull her eyes from the fire as he sat down next to the large leather chair.
"I want to be honest with you. I do remember that day. It was... recent. At least for me." His eyes too, lingered on scarlet and orange flames before them.
"Probably just over two decades ago. That was when I tried to..." His voice hitched. He cleared his throat, "I tried to end it. End the pain for myself, for the world below.”
Eirene’s heart hurt. Her magic hurt. Everything in her hurt when she heard this. One particularly horrible day when Beck’s postpartum was so bad, Eirene had her as she cried and told her that ending yourself was a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Eirene felt her throat tighten, trying to remain emotionless. Trying to give him room to speak.
“I'm so sorry. I thought it would work, I thought it would make it better... I'm so sorry Eirene, you have no idea how badly I wanted it to work. The lightning shielded me from doing any harm to myself... It was torture," His head fell in his hands and she could see his body shaking with sobs. "I try to keep it together, locked away just as we practice, but it never seems to get better. For me or them," his head nods back to the crystal orb floating in the heart of the room.
“You’re apologizing for living?” Her voice did not betray her in this moment, for that she was grateful.
“I am alive. I am not living,” his voice broke.
She touched the side of his head and pulled him to her legs. He gripped onto her legs in a way that felt all too familiar. She placed a comforting hand on his back and felt the crushing sobs slow. She rubbed between his shoulders, feeling the thunder emanating from there. Thunder poured into her, massaging her aching muscles where her magic lay dormant. Hey lightning buzzing out of her hands to do the same to him. She heard him groan with relief and with each stroke of her hand his sobs slowed. "I'm sorry," he kept whispering, over and over.
He apologized to Eirene for the torment he causes but also to his mother, who he could not save, his father who cursed him, and to himself for failing so horribly all those years ago.
--
Eirene woke sometime during the night to find the warm fire just a memory in the fireplace, reduced to smoke and embers before her. Vír was asleep, his head resting against her legs. They'd fallen asleep like this. Her neck ached at the angle she'd rested in and could feel her familiar friend, that relentless gnawing pain, start to pull at her muscles. She bent down and touched Vír's soft gray hair. He could have been an angel, in another life.
"Hey, we should get up. Vír, come on..." He stirred awake at the sound of her voice, her breath warm near his cheek. He brought his head up off of her knee, confused for a moment about his surroundings.
She slowly peeled herself off of the leather chair and set the book down in her place. She offered him a hand to stand and his eyes were heavy with exhaustion. He left the room and she followed close behind. He opened his bedroom door and stepped through.
"Good night, Vír," Eirene gave a sleepy smile and began to continue to the other side of the hall to her room.
He grabbed her wrist, not in an angry motion, but desperate.
"Can you..." His eyes remained down at his feet. "Can you stay with me? I don't want to be alone. Not tonight."
Her stomach dropped, he was responsible for such destruction. And yet, everything in her was begging her to stay with him.
Without thinking any further about it, she took a step forward into the room and closed the door behind her.
The room inside was dark, the large windows that mirrored the ones in her room had the heavy dark gray curtain drawn. There was sparse furniture in here, a simple oak dresser, a large bed, and what she assumed was a bathroom behind a closed door.
He shed the over coat he was wearing and pushed off his shoes and slid into bed, under a thick gray duvet. She followed behind him slowly, and sat at the edge of the bed as he made himself comfortable. She rested a hand on his legs, above the soft sheets.
"It's okay, you know. I believe you. I know you're trying to control it, I see it in your eyes. I think if anyone is to blame, it's your father." She whispered. In the darkness she could she his eyes remained closed but winced at mention of his father.
"Will you come here? Please?" His soft plea made the element in Eirene pull. Her heart twisted at the sadness and desperation in his voice. His eyes remained closed. Eirene stood and walked to the side of the bed. Her legs outstretched atop the covers, she piled up pillows to prop her back up so she was sitting up near him. "It hurts less when you're near," He rolled so his back was facing her. She touched him gently and began resuming the calming stroking motions on his back that she was doing in the study, the feeling mutually satisfying.
"I've noticed that too," she responded, knowing he was already asleep next to her.
