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Just like Fern to be at death’s door and not give a shite.
“Why didn’t you bring her with you?”
“A few reasons, not the least of which was her shrieking decree that she’s never stepping foot in this ‘cunting arsed realm again’ because it ‘feels wrong’ as she mauled me.” Araxis pinched the bridge of his nose, mumbling, “Among other things.”
You know…this might be the perfect opportunity for that idea you had. A chance to follow your heart and mind?
Perhaps. Brand only just came around, though. Barely. And it was more of a wild, fanciful thought than it was a real idea.
Give him a choice, then. No worries, any which way he chooses.
That might work. If he didn’t feel too cornered into it, and if his broken trust didn’t extend to her. It didn’t seem to, based on the things he finally said, and the hours of giving her pleasure with such single-minded, obsessive focus afterwards.
He won’t be happy to wake up alone, though. You promised not to go anywhere.
True. Sort of.
Stars above, she didn’t want to leave Brand or wake him up, but she had no choice. Lunara needed to help Fern. The least she could do was offer him a gift, of sorts, in the interim.
Lunara looked around at the chaotic evidence of her once-simple life and made a decision.
Crossing the sitting area, she went to her small desk in the corner, digging through piles for a blank piece of parchment and her quill. Calling the moonlight to herself, she spun the glow into something more solid and attached it to the feather’s tip—that way Brand would be certain she was the one who wrote it.
“This is what’s going to happen,” she said, looking up from her scribbling. “I’m going to leave this for him. When he inevitably loses his shite, you will be here waiting to explain why I’m gone. Your Blessed Keeper commands it. Understood?”
His brows shot up, but he eventually nodded.
“Good.” Lunara finished the letter and folded it up, handing it over. “Read this.”
It was hard to ignore the blush crawling over her cheeks and chest, sharing such private things with Araxis to save them time and ensure he was aware of his part. To stand tall and without embarrassment.
You’re already wearing the last dress he saw you in, for stars’ sake. Not like this really makes it any worse.
Fair.
When Araxis finished, he tucked it away. “It will be done as you say.”
Lunara was taking a risk, even as she hoped Brand would take one too.
“Right.” She shook her nerves away. “He wakes up in the rage every morning and is usually…displeased with life in general. If he calms down enough to take his lesser form, don’t be surprised if he doesn’t speak. Don’t attempt whatever shite to try and ‘fix’ him. Don’t raise your voice. Don’t push. This is a gentle space only. If I find out he woke up alone because you left him, or you force it because you think you know better instead of letting him make the decision, I will hunt you down and make you wish you’d never been born.”
“Yes, Blessed Keeper,” Araxis said, bowing.
Weeping moons, what is happening.
Lunara wished she knew.
She tiptoed back into the bedroom for a quick look at Brand, just to reassure herself. “Please consider it, and know that, no matter what, I love you.”
Hopefully he heard her, wherever he was.
Back in the sitting room, she said, “I assume she’s in Straelon.”
Another nod.
“Remember what I said. Never been born, Araxis.”
With that, Lunara leapt into the ether.
