Haven (16 page)

“What pray tell is taking so long.” Arian breezed into the room,
looking over Liliana and dismissing her all in one glance.

“It’s your daughter’s mating ceremony, would you rather me let
her leave looking like a ragamuffin.” Beatrice snapped.

Liliana’s eyes widened at the woman’s sharp tone. The women
shared a look she didn’t understand and came to some sort of unspoken
agreement.

“She looks fine, let’s go and get this over with.”

Arian’s words stung, but she was determined not to let her
mother see. “Thank you, mother, you’re so gracious.” 

For a moment, albeit a very short moment, something akin to
remorse flitted across Arian’s expression. Recovering, her mother gave her a
thin smile. Liliana took comfort in the fact that she would go back to Adro
after the
di êjê
. Being free of her mother was worth all the trouble
she'd been through.

They left the Amanda station, her parents, Bea and she, piling
into a private sky lift decked out in the royal colors. Red and orange livery
covered the lift, the King's insignia displayed prominently. All they passed
would know its inhabitants were favorites of the royal house. What they
wouldn't know was the so called favorites were actually persona non grata.
Anyone attending the ceremony would only do so out of morbid curiosity. The
thought sent a fresh wave of nausea through her. Despite what her mother
thought, she hated being a spectacle.

Arian gathered her cloak closely, preening under the attention.
The royal palace peeked from behind the clouds. The structure surrounded by
fog, looked the part of every human fairy tale. The white parapets topped with
gold glittered under the sun. Nerves attacked her full blown and the urge to
run made her legs twitch.
You can do this, you like Leo. Just get through it
.
She took deep breaths through her pep talk. It was how she had gotten through
her years on Adro, and it would get her through today. In through her nose, out
through her mouth, just a small ceremony and she would never have to deal with
the scrutiny of Legba.

Right.

She could do this. 

***

Despite the size of the chamber room, Leo was suffocating. He
adjusted the collar on his dress uniform. Moments from the start of the
ceremony, he was ready to flee.

Fallon clapped him on the back. "Stop fidgeting. You're
well and truly stuck, bro."

Leo grimaced. "Great pep talk."

Xavier walked over to them. He adjusted Leo's sleeves and
checked over the rest of his uniform. Leo swatted his hands.

"What are you, my valet? I'm nervous enough without you two
fussing around me."

Xavier clucked his teeth. "I'm just trying to make sure you
don't go out and embarrass us."

"It's way too late for that." Fallon laughed.

You know what…"

"Boys." his father cut in. Ranolph narrowed his eyes
and pointed a finger at the three of them from across the room. 

They straightened, the argument immediately ending. Their father
used to be the leader of the Amanda, the authority in his voice came from years
of wrangling stubborn warriors and boisterous boys.

Xavier cleared his throat. "You have a meeting with Rue
when you return to Adro."

The room keeled and Leo sucked in a breath. Hope and fear sent
his already jittery nerves into overdrive. He had to make the god understand.
He needed the Amanda. He'd grown up following the soldiers around, learning
everything he could. He couldn't remember a time when he was not with the
Amanda. It was all he'd ever dreamed of being. Being assigned the Hunter’s job
had been surreal, and he’d worked his ass off to keep it. He knew hunting would
probably be out of the question, but he hoped to talk the god into anything but
a desk job.

"Thank you, Xavier." Now more than ever he was anxious
to be done with the ceremony.

"Everything will work out, Leo." His father crossed
the room. Ranolph's gruff tone betrayed the emotion in his voice.

His brothers left to give them privacy.

"Baba." Leo grabbed his father's hands to still their
motion. "My uniform is fine. I'll be fine, whatever the decision."

They stared in silence until his father finally nodded.
"Your mother is here."

Damn, he’d forgotten to give him the head’s up.

"Well, it should make for an interesting reception."
Between his mother, Liliana's and the Queen, they would surely have to put away
any sharp objects. Leo sighed. They should’ve skipped the damn ceremony. As it
was, the planning had taken a lot longer than he’d wanted. Luckily, no other
attempts to attack his mate had happened, and he breathed a little easier.

 The king stepped into the room. He nodded politely to Ranolph
and faced Leo. "The shaman is here, and Liliana has arrived. It's time to
start the
di êjê
."

Leo curled his lip at the king.

His father sighed.  "Leo, you cannot blame Leander."

"I don't want to talk about this now,
baba
."

"He and I are friends you know."

"Yes, your ‘best friend’ slept with your mate." Leo’s
dry tone conveyed his disdain.

Ranolph shook his head. "You don’t understand. We were both
bloody civilized about the whole thing if you must know."

He scoffed. Sure the king was happy to keep things civil. His
father’s fighting skill was known across all seven realms. His father was naïve
if he thought the king didn’t make nice for convenience sake. No one wanted to
be on the bad side of the Amanda.

 "We all had our part in the debacle." Ranolph cleared
his throat and clapped Leo on the back. "We'll talk later."

Leo clenched his fist. There was no use talking about it later.
Would it change the way he felt about Leander? No. Too much time had passed.
Besides, Leo knew if his father had not been head of the Amanda, the king
would've looked the other way as his wife made good on her promise. His illegitimate
heir would've no longer been a problem.

"I have the father I want, there is no need to discuss
what's in the past,
baba
. Once I leave Legba, I've no plans to rush
back."

Ranolph sighed. "My only advice to you, son, on this day,
is to take care of your mate. Put her before all others because eternity with a
bitter woman is a very long time."

"Way to put me in the mood for the
di êjê
."

Ranolph held up his hands in surrender. "Fine. I will say
this, you are going to enjoy the ceremony and the next few hours after
it." With a twinkle in his eye, his father left and Leo stood alone in the
chamber room.

He closed his eyes, thankful for the few seconds of silence.

"It's time, Leo." Xavier smiled and held the door
open.

They walked down the small hallway in silence. Xavier left him
at the door of the throne room that had been transformed for the mating ceremony.
The king and queen sat at their thrones on a raised dais in the front of the
room. A sea of people filled the seats and stood along the walls of the
chamber. The jewels and bright colors dazzled the eye, as nobles fought to
outdo the other. A black tide of the uniformed Amanda lined the walls of the
chamber and Leo smiled. They looked out of place amidst the stained glass
windows they stood along. Winged folk frolicked in various scenes from the
walls stretching to the high ceilings, all meeting in the middle of the chamber
ceiling to worship the sun and moon.

His eyes roamed the scenes, until the door on the other side of
the chamber opened. The crowd quieted as Liliana stepped into the doorway. Leo
dared not blink. His stomach rolled, a long liquid tumble as their eyes met.
She glowed from head to toe, more beautiful than anything he'd ever seen. He
observed the quick movements of her hands as she fidgeted, read the nerves on
her face and his heartbeat sped. He thought wistfully of love.

Would it come for them?

He looked to the front row where his family was seated. His
father and mother were separated by his brothers, and from the tense set of his
father's shoulders, words had already been exchanged. He looked back at Liliana.
Uncertainty and a small trace of fear reflected in her eyes. He made up his
mind. There would be love, he would make sure of it. There was already
affection between the two of them. Surely he could build it into more.

They would not be like his parents.

I swear it.

His ears rang, pressure built in his head, and from his mind to
the gods, his oath was accepted. The music cued, and Leo began his march to the
stone alter. Liliana walked from the opposite side, and they met in the middle.
The shaman smiled at them both and started the ceremony. The ancient chant
relaxed him, and tendrils of magic wound around them as the binding spell
began. The shaman joined their hands. Magic circled them, a shining rope that
wrapped around their arms, their heads and then their bodies.  A solid line
shimmered between them chest to chest and he smiled.

There would be love.

The binding magic sensed it, and displayed it for all to see. A
cheer went up from the soldiers lining the walls.  A low hum started, the
shaman chanted louder and the rope spinning around them sped up. Light emanated
from them both, blocking his peripheral vision until it was just he and Liliana
encapsulated in a circle of amber light.  His body heated, his teeth grew in
his mouth. They both stepped closer to each other until only a breath separated
them. The shaman stepped back and Leo bent his head to Liliana. His teeth
scraped her neck and he bit down until he tasted her blood. The
di êjê
,
the blood binding, would bond them in the eyes of the gods and ancestors. The
exchange of blood sealed them, soul to soul.

Gods, the rush.  Her taste crowded his senses, and rushed
straight to his head. Everything else faded to the background. He luxuriated in
the taste of her, his heart racing, fire burning through him. All of that blood
immediately raced to his growing erection, hardening him to the point of
madness. His teeth receded and he laid a gentle kiss to his mate's neck, licking
her to seal the wound.

Liliana leaned forward and he bent to accommodate her. From the
moment her mouth touched his neck he went up in flames. Her small bite weakened
his knees and he closed his eyes.

***

His taste.

Gods, lightning arced through her body. Magic seared her senses
until there was nothing but Leo. Her soul soared, merged with his, and her skin
tingled, her clothes too restricting. She now understood why the Cagyn ceremony
was performed in the nude. She wanted to tear the clothes from her body and
meld with him, skin to skin. Though it only took a few seconds to exchange the
blood, it felt like hours until she pulled back from him. Drunk off his power,
and filled with lust, her eyes met his. Molten mercury clashed with her gaze,
and trapped her in place as he leaned down and kissed her.

Liliana cursed their bounds hands. She wanted more than anything
to touch him, to hell with the gathered crowd.

The elder cleared his throat. The crowd chuckled and Leo backed
away from Liliana. She shifted impatiently as the elder completed the ceremony.
Magic lit the room, sparks raining from the ceiling as the ancestors accepted
the match. Their bound hands were released and the elder ended the ceremony.
Leo walked Liliana out through the crowd, nodding at well-wishers, ignoring the
gossip mongers.

She barely heard the congratulations, her heart pounded, her
focus solely on her hand in Leo's. His grip was warm, the skin of his hands
soft despite the work he did. The moment they were out of eyesight he pulled her
into the nearest room and pushed her against the wall. Liliana gasped. His
hands moved on her body with his eyes full of the same heat coursing through
her. He bunched her skirt, pushing it up to her waist. He ripped off her
underwear and entered her, swallowing any protest she may have had. Not that
she had any. The residual magic from the ceremony had her body tight as a bow
string, and throbbing to the rhythm of their combined heartbeats.

Liliana threw herself into the kiss, so turned on her legs barely
held her up. Leo solved that problem by wrapping her legs around his waist. He
drove into her and she clawed at his back. The taste of him lingered in her
mouth, exotic and intoxicating.

Leo finally lifted his head and she gulped in air. 

"You're going to kill me aren't you?" He growled.

 She arched her back, driving him deeper, her husky laugh
echoing against the walls. “What a way to go, though”

There was no gentleness, just pure concentration on his face, as
he drove her up and over the edge. She came and tasted her own blood as she bit
down on her lip to keep form screaming. He tensed, thrusting one last time
before he bit into her shoulder to stop his own scream. He buckled and Liliana
laughed as they tumbled to the floor.

“Gods, woman. We’ll be dead in a decade if we keep this up.” He
pulled her on top of him.

She laughed and looked around the room they’d just snuck into.  “There
is a perfectly good bed not even three feet away from us, Leonalph.” The empty
bedroom looked like a small guest chamber.

He groaned and reached down to stroke a finger through the damp
curls protecting her sex. “I couldn’t have waited another inch to be inside
you.” He whispered against her lips.

She sighed in pleasure as he pushed her thighs further apart. He
kissed her skin over her newest bite mark from him.

“It’s a good thing the mating ceremony is completed. I won’t
have to worry about your fangs anymore.” She touched her shoulder gingerly. “No
more biting for you.”

Leo kissed the spot gently. “I apologize,
ina
. I get
carried away. Does it hurt?”

“If I say yes, will you kiss me and make it better?” She shifted
her hips, teasing him.