Llyano, page 9
part #5 of Beyond The Veil Series
Llyano pulled out of Solax, breaking the kiss at the same time and gently pulling Solax’s legs back down before he flopped onto the bed beside his mate.
“Let me clean us up then we will rest,” Llyano said with a peck to Solax’s lips before stumbling out of the bedroom to the bathroom and returning with a washcloth. He cared for his mate, cleaning him up thoroughly, then himself. He then tossed the cloth to the floor and crawled back into the bed, tired.
Llyano pulled the smaller man into him until Solax lay sprawled all over his body, nuzzling and cuddling together
* * * *
“You lived alone in that room I found you, didn’t you?”
“Hmm?” Solax murmured sleepily.
“Why did you live alone? Where is your clan? Your family?” Llyano mused.
Solax’s gaze flew open at that question, awareness sharpening his gaze as he peered into the curious gaze of his mate. “Why do you wish to know?”
“I am curious, that is why. From what I have gleaned, your grandfather is dead. But what about your other family? You never spoke of them,” Llyano said, caressing Solax’s bare back.
Solax withdrew into himself, gaze far-off and thoughts troubled. Even though he had revealed much to Llyano, the male was not aware that there was still a great deal he had not told him yet. Whether to tell him now or at a later date was the issue, for he knew after being bound to Llyano, there was no way he could keep this vital part of himself away from his mate. It was a secret that Llyano would notice unless he told him before an episode claimed him, thereby revealing his secret in a manner not of his choosing.
Choosing his words carefully, Solax answered, “I have no other blood-related family.”
“Oh. I am sorry for your loss. I did not mean to dredge up bad memories.” Llyano wrinkled his nose. “And definitely not right at this minute, after what we have just done.” Sighing, he continued. “We should sleep. The day will resume soon enough, and I am sure my councillors will be vying to badger me some more.” He snorted, “Well, you are a king’s consort now. So I guess I will share with you the annoyance.”
Solax snorted also. “So good of you.”
“I am generous that way,” Llyano said with a content smile on his lips.
“Go to sleep, mate of mine,” Solax said as he burrowed further into Llyano’s arms, releasing a sigh of satisfaction.
“Dream of me, Solax,” Llyano murmured, and closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to sweep him away in its tidal wave.
The last thought Solax had before he too succumbed to sleep was that, perhaps he would wait just a few more days to tell his mate what he was still not yet aware of.
Chapter Twelve
“Ready?” Solax asked as the party they’d ridden out with came to a stop at a drawbridge.
Llyano stared at the misty drawbridge before turning to stare at his mate. “Ready.”
Solax nodded his approval then turned to glance behind him at their escort. “We will go on alone from this point onward. It will take the better part of four days for your king and I to return. This would be the perfect spot for you to camp out and await our return until then.”
“Your Majesty…” General Ashrin began, clearly about to begin protesting.
“My people will not allow you entrance. You have no choice but to await our return here,” Solax said, his voice firm and unyielding.
“You will wait here for us, Generals. Until we return. Keep alert,” Llyano added, and that was the end of it.
With a nod at Llyano’s people, Solax turned the horse he’d been given, and together with Llyano and the few of his kinsmen who remained to escort them, they made their way across the drawbridge, setting out for the journey that would take the better part of a day to reach their destination.
They rode long and hard, trying to make good time before they would need to make camp for the evening and resume their ride first thing in the morning. With the journey long, the main focus was in getting to a good location to camp out, and so when the sun had finally gone down and the moon was beginning to peak up, they settled down on a spot to spend the rest of the night there.
“We’ll make camp here and set out once more first thing in the morning,” Solax called out to his kinsmen, and they all proceeded to begin setting out their camping gears.
Once the camp was all set up and a fire burning in the middle of the tents, all the men gathered around it, and it was not long before the food they’d logged along for the journey were being made and they entertained Llyano with tales of Solax as a young lad. Everyone was merry, eager for the upcoming ceremony soon to take place the next day, and it was like that that they all spent the evening until some of them began drifting off into sleep.
“There’s something you should know about my people,” Solax said, his voice pitched low as he shifted closer to Llyano to ensure they enjoyed a measure of privacy.
“Something else you didn’t mention before?”
Solax nodded. “You once wondered why I did not consider you or any of the other territorial king lord over me.” Solax pursed his lips, then added, “My people do not consider you king over us either.”
“Why?”
“Because we are not Fae.”
“You are not?” Llyano nodded. “I suppose it makes sense. Especially since you informed me your people are guardian spirits.”
Solax shook his head. “No. That was rather a misconception. The guardian spirits are the few of us specifically created for the purpose of maintaining the balance and the portal to my home realm. My people, on the other hand, are vast and they reside on a plane adjacent to this one. It’s a whole new world on the other side of the coin.”
Llyano stared at Solax in shock. “When you say a different plane…”
“I mean a different world than this one. The spirit world to be more specific,” Solax said, gauging Llyano’s response to his words.
“Spirit world?”
“You’ve seen my true form. We are more like light and spirits than flesh and blood.” At Llyano’s questioning look, Solax expounded. “We are not the dead, but we are immortal. Never dying. When a guardian spirit passes on from this plane, they return back to Soridir to regenerate and begin a new life. However, when your people die, we welcome them to live amongst us, giving them a choice to stay and watch over you or to move on to their final resting place.”
“You…that is…”
“My kinsmen have informed me that your parents are waiting for our arrival. They wish to meet you.”
* * * *
Llyano was quiet the rest of the journey. After the unexpected news dropped on him about his parents, he’d clammed up, saying nothing and refusing to talk about it further. Despite knowing that his behaviour seemed weird to his mate, he could not help himself. To know that his parents had chosen to stay and watch instead of moving on to their final resting place. To know that his parents had been watching him all this time, and to know that there was an impending meeting with them was more than he could handle just now.
What would his parents say when they met? What would they think of him? Would they be proud of all his achievements? Would they be disappointed for something? With the current situation facing his people, he began to rack his brain, thinking of what more he should have done.
He had no idea exactly how to feel about meeting his parents. It had been so long since they’d passed away, and he’d taken over the mantle of ruling at a young age. Yet in the face of meeting them once more, he felt so many emotions that he could not quantify exactly what it was he was feeling the most.
How would the meeting even go? Would he see his parents as ghostlike or flesh and blood like him? What at all did it mean that they were waiting to meet him? There were so many questions running around in his head that he could not pay sufficient attention to his travel companion, much less the route they were travelling on.
It was not long before they reached the portal to Solax’s realm and he only became aware of it when his mate tugged on his arm to gain his attention after a long period of such inattentiveness.
“Are you okay?” Solax asked.
“Hmm?” Llyano glanced at his mate, the surrounding forestry path, then back at his mate. “Ah, yes, of course.”
Solax snorted, fully aware that his mate was still not all there yet. “Is this because of last night?”
“What?”
“Your parents?”
“Ahh…” Llyano frowned thoughtfully, then finally nodded. “I am…lost as to how I should feel about it. About them. Meeting them again.” At Solax’s questioning look, he expounded. “It has been so long since they passed. I never knew it was possible to speak to them, to see them, and to find out that they are eager to see me? I do not know what to feel.”
“If you’re not up to meeting them first thing, it’s nothing to worry about. We can rest up till the ceremony this evening, and you talk to them first thing in the morning. I’m sure they will understand,” Solax said, his voice pitched low and comforting.
Llyano was silent after that, riding along until he got his thoughts under control. Then finally, he nodded and responded, “Okay. Thank you.”
Solax nodded his understanding just as they came to a stop in front of the portal visible to only him and his kinsmen. “We’re here.”
“Where? The portal? Already? I don’t see anything” Llyano said, glancing all around and using his energy to feel for the portal but coming up with nothing.
Solax shook his head. “You won’t see it. Probably won’t feel it until we’re on the other side, then everything will hit you all at once. Brace yourself.” Turning on his horse, he nodded to his kinsmen then jumped down from the horse. “We go on foot from here.”
Nodding, Llyano got down from the horse also and led it to where the others were securing theirs. “Is it safe to leave them all alone out here?”
“This is a protected area, Your Majesty. No one will find this place,” Alik, one of Solax’s kinsmen, answered with a grin.
Venir nodded, smiling wide. “I cannot wait to shed this form,” he said to his kinsmen, hurrying along with the others back towards the portal entrance.
“What did he mean?”
Solax grinned. “We guardians always look forward to returning home. There, we are able to shed our Fae form, settle back into our natural form. It’s rejuvenating. We heal better, absorb more energy and life into us better.”
“What’s the difference between returning to your natural form here and there?” Llyano asked, curious.
“Pure energy. We get pure energy instead of the filtered and polluted one,” Solax said, and clasped Llyano’s hand, twining them together and pulling the king along with him.
They walked towards the portal where Solax’s kinsmen had already gone through and stood in front of it. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
Solax grinned. “Good.” Then he pulled them both through the portal, allowing the ghostly-like spectra of the portal to wash over him as he moved through time and space, allowing his essence out to greet the portal which had a mind of its own, and could either reject or accept the person seeking entrance into it.
A part of the realm in all its entirety, the portal ghosted over him, welcoming him home after so long away and exchanging energy and felicitation on his upcoming nuptials, a sign that his mating was blessed by the very foundation their world was built on.
Within minutes, they stepped through to the other side and Llyano, who had not felt any of what Solax had been feeling, was immediately hit by the blinding colorfulness of the realm and the air full of essence and energy and life. It was like being plunged into an electric cold water all at once and being shocked back into life at the same time. His senses expanded and became much more pronounced than he was used to. He tried to shut it all down and out of his mind, but it was all to no avail.
Unable to take much more of it all, Llyano let go of a scream, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. He would have fallen flat onto the ground but for Solax’s arms around him, holding him upright and protecting him, then suddenly, it was like a blanket was thrown over him and everything was muted to a level his system could channel through and operate with.
When he finally opened his eyes once more tentatively, everything was in greys and muted, unlike before when it had been too much for him to process. He turned his head to glance at his mate, holding on to the man for dear life, only to see the frown of concern on Solax’s features.
“I sped along the process of muting your senses. I did not know it would be so strong within you,” Solax said by way of explanation. “How is it now? Better?”
Llyano let go of his breath, unaware that he’s been holding it until that very moment when he felt as though his inside would scald over this time, not from the overload of the realm but from lack of breathing. Slowly, slowly, he tested out his senses and when he was sure everything was operating properly though not at full capacity, he nodded and pulled away from Solax’s supporting embrace, standing on his own two feet.
“I feel much better now. Thank you.”
“I should have known the effect of this place would be more than overwhelming, especially with you being such a strong empath,” Solax said, shaking his head.
Llyano ran his hand down Solax’s arm, smiling gently. “I’m fine because of your quick intervention. Now come, show me your world.”
Solax was silent, examining Llyano to ensure that the male was truly all right and not just setting his mind at ease before he finally nodded, and held his hand out for Llyano to take. Once Llyano took the offered hand, Solax smiled and said, “Your wish is my command.”
Chapter Thirteen
Llyano and Solax walked towards the waterfall made of pure energy. When they reached the bank, they glanced at each other, then clasped hands together and walked into the swirling energy. Solax slowly began fading into his natural form as they waded deeper into the energy source. He kept fading until he was completely in his natural form, and even still, Llyano could feel the definition of Solax’s form against his hand where they’d been holding hands before.
“Are you okay?” Solax asked.
Llyano took in a deep breath and nodded. “This feels strange and different, but yes. I am all right.”
“Good. We’re almost there,” Solax said, his voice floating into Llyano’s mind as they kept wading into the energy stream.
When they finally stopped, they were standing right at the middle of the energy fall, with Solax’s people and Llyano’s parents waiting a distance away from the bank of the energy on their far left, and the waterfall of energy which was pouring down on their far right. Soon, hymns drifted over to them and gradually, gradually, the voices of all those singing on the bank rose into a crescendo. Llyano and Solax turned to face each other fully and held onto each other’s arms tightly.
Within moments, they began submerging into the energy. Until when they’d waded through the energy stream and had been standing right on top of it, not sinking or covered in it, they were now sinking into the energy stream and Llyano startled, glancing down in surprise, then up at his mate who squeezed his arms in reassurance.
“Just close your eyes and relax,” Solax murmured. “Don’t fight it.”
Llyano sighed and closed his eyes, obeying Solax’s instructions and allowing his senses to drift out, further relaxing himself. Though wary, he knew this was a process all bonded of this realm partook in and he was no different.
Soon, they were submerged completely with the energy swirling all around them from head to toe, but it was not suffocating. Together, they sank into the energy until suddenly, they stopped and were suspended in it. The humming of their attendants seemed like a distant sound away, completely unreachable in where they were.
How do you feel right now?
Llyano nodded, unable to open his mouth to respond. Then he shook his head, willing Solax to understand his dilemma and imprinted onto the other man his emotions using his own energy.
Speak to me with your mind. I will hear you.
Llyano furrowed his brow in question.
I just know Solax assured, understanding the question for what it was.
Llyano nodded. What do we do now?
Close your eyes and let out your feelings. When you think of me, what do you feel? Let it all out.
The moment Llyano closed his eyes and did as instructed, Solax did the same and together, they held onto each other, allowing their feelings to show, the yearning, the longing, the love. Soon, they were encompassed by a bright light, blocking them out of the energy around them. The light grew and grew until a disembodied presence drifted through their mind, searching and searching to determine their worthiness.
“Fae and Spirit, Guardian and Fae.” The disembodied presence, one that read to Llyano as an ancient spoke into their minds. “Possible and impossible, shades of grey, cracks in the fabric, fabric of time. Hmm, hmm. What to do, what to do.”
Who are you? Llyano asked, brows furrowed yet unable to open his eyes to see who it was who spoke.
“Questions, questions. Always curious, son of wind, wind son. Better yet, who are you?”
You make no sense. I am King Llyano from the Croesan line of the Wind Kingdom.
“Ah, yes, yes. It would be. King yes, Croesan line, no. Hmm, yes, yes. You are wind, son of wind, wind son. Son of wind, wind son, you are. Ignorant, yes, yes. Ignorant. Find the glow in the dark and all will be clear. Yes clear, all will be clear.”
What do you mean?
“The glow in the dark, answers, answers, the glow in the dark.” The voice drifted away then started again. “Guardian heart, match, match. Hmm, a perfect fit, strange, strange. Yes, strange indeed. I wonder, wonder. Ah yes. It would be. It must be. Very well.”
