Tainted roots

The next month passed by in a blur. Koa’s conversation with Ander hadn’t made them best friends or anything, but they had respect for one another that would hopefully turn into a friendship one day. A good thing too since Koa was now living here.

One day I had the realization that he moved in. My closest was now full of his clothes as were half the drawers on my dresser. The shelves of my bathroom were full of his stuff. It didn’t happen all at once, that was why I didn’t notice it at first. I wasn’t mad or even weirded out by this. I liked having him around all the time, having his things alongside mine. Nothing beat going to bed in his arms every night. I didn’t always wake up in his arms, since he usually woke up earlier than me.

My twenty-fourth birthday came and went. The celebration wasn’t too big, twenty-four wasn’t a milestone birthday, like Ari’s twenty-eighth birthday in seven months. My parents and brother came to visit. No surprise, Dad and Aidan both questioned Koa, making sure he was good enough for me and would treat me right. I groaned, not in the mood for the summoner male posturing shit, and left them to it. Mom joined me, laughing as she did so. She told me she thought I’d chosen well, and that Koa seemed like the perfect man for me. When Dad and Aidan left, they essentially told me he passed their inspection. Men.

Ari, Harmony, and I took it upon ourselves to educate Alora. Not in rules or politics or any of that bullshit. She had the guys and her instructors in the Water court for that. No, we educated her on the important stuff. Movies, tv shows, and books. We taught her the important cultural touchstones and slang terms.

I’d never forget Ari’s face when she found out Alora was a virgin and knew next to nothing about sex. Ari’s horror grew as well as mine when we discovered she was afraid of sex. She said that based on what she heard growing up, she didn’t think it would be something she’d enjoy. It was always something she feared, knowing she’d have to do so once she was forced into a mating. Let’s just say we had to get a new coffee table after this discussion.

It wasn’t completely unheard of for Mythics to wait this long before having sex, but it was pretty rare.

The coffee table met its demise when Alora told us how the women were to remain pure when their mates claimed them for the first time. I wished I’d stabbed Kain when I took the necklaces. No, that wouldn’t have been enough. I should’ve cut off his dick. Unfortunately, it would’ve grown back, but it would’ve been a painful process.

Harmony asked Alora if she found anyone she’d seen so far in this realm attractive. Alora blushed and turned away, looking embarrassed as she mentioned she did find one guy attractive. We didn’t press her for a name, seeing how embarrassed and uncomfortable she was.

She looked ashamed at being attracted to a guy like she had done something wrong, and that shit didn’t sit right with me. Fucking cult, screwing with her head, making her think sex was this horrible thing, only done to please your mate and to create children.

After that, Ari made it her mission to re-educate her on sex and its many benefits. She was determined for Alora not to be ashamed about her desires, and that it was about both partner’s pleasure. She even went as far as getting smutty audiobooks. Alora flushed bright red when we got to the sex scenes. One time Koa came into the room during one of those scenes and she covered her face and sank back against the sofa, trying to disappear into the cushions.

Koa chuckled as he listened to a couple of the details, saying this was amateur shit, and threw me over my shoulder, carrying me to our bedroom. Where he proceeded to put the book to shame.

Unfortunately, the assholes we dealt with in the meeting hadn’t been alone in their thinking. Many agreed with their beliefs and didn’t want a “fucking necromancer” living in their town. Some left threatening messages at our door, like fucking wimps, too scared to deliver their threats in person.

The council tried stepping in and having a council meeting. They tried explaining to the morons that she was young and had no part in what happened all those years ago, or even created a creature. That she helped our kind. It worked on some; those who had been on the fence and wary of her. But not those who hated and feared her.

One night, a group of over twenty came to our house after throwing back a few. Half of them were in our front yard, yelling derogatory shit, telling us to quit being pussies and face them. Koa, Ander, and Reed went out to face them, telling us to stay in the house.

I rolled my eyes when they said that. It was almost like they’d never met us before. If they hadn’t been in a rush to get outside and kick that dickbags' asses, they probably would’ve realized how stupid that request was.

Alora stayed in the house, knowing it was for the best if she wasn’t involved. Harmony, Ari, and I went out the back door, ready to sneak around the front and help out, only to come across the other half, who were about to try and sneak in through the back. Let’s just say we made them regret ever trying that shit. We used them to set an example for anyone that tried to come after us. Some might say we went about this in the wrong way, that you shouldn’t fight hate with violence. Those who say that, have never spent time in our realm. If we turned the other cheek, they’d think we were weak and easy pickings. We had to prove we weren’t. If they wouldn’t leave Alora alone out of common decency, then they would do so out of fear of what we’d do to them.

In the end, it took a full day and a trip to town healers for them to recover.

After the attack, Ander decided it was best if Alora joined us in our training, saying she needed to know how to defend herself just in case. Alora was offended by that, stating she’d been trained in the tunnels. She changed her tune after one session. It may not have been as sadistic as the tunnels, but it kicked your ass and didn’t stop. We even moved all of our training sessions out in the Wilds, not wanting to risk being ambushed in the gym.

Because of all this chaos, it was a full month later, when Koa and I had our mating ritual. Our bond was fully formed and had been since a couple of days after our return when Koa told me he loved me. With our fated mate bond, we didn’t need to do the ritual, but I wanted the ceremony. I wanted myself tied to him in every way possible. To celebrate it with my friends and family.

So here I stood in front of a full-length mirror, staring at my reflection. In the past month I let my bangs grow out. After dealing with them being in my face the entire time in the other realm, I realized I hated them and regretted ever getting them in the first place. Ari had pulled my hair back into an elaborate bun. She’d braided back the shorter strands so they didn’t fall out.

I adjusted the bodice of my floor-length blue dress—we didn’t wear white like human weddings, that was asking for trouble. Mesh covered the top of the bodice, with a high neckline. Underneath was an opaque fabric in a strapless sweetheart shape. The billowing skirts sparkled as they flowed down my hips and legs. It was my favorite dress I’ve ever worn.

I kept my makeup simple, just my brows, some mascara, and a nude lip.

After finishing my hair, Ari changed into her dress, stopping when she realized she left her shoes at home. She ran back, saying she needed her shoes since her dress was knee length, and her boots she wore here would clash.

Since I knew Ari wouldn’t be back for a little while, and Harmony and Starling were keeping Alora company, I hadn’t expected to hear another’s voice. “I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get an invitation. It must’ve gotten lost in the mail.”

Another thing I hadn’t expected was to see someone standing behind me. Not when I was facing the door and would’ve seen her enter. There was no stopping my shriek, or how I jumped.

Whirling around, I faced the woman I’d met in the Water court. She wore casual clothes; an off-the-shoulder shirt and shorts. Not clothes one would typically wear to a ceremony. Hopefully, that meant she was leaving soon. She wore the same amount of metal and jewelry as the last time, reminding me that even though she appeared to be weaponless, she could easily turn the metal into a weapon. And that wasn’t including her powers.

I made sure to keep my distance from her, watching her every movement as tension held my body still.

“I’d need a name to send an invitation.” This time I noticed that while she had metal twining up her forearms, her wrists were bare and without a wristband. Which wasn’t surprising, I doubted she lived in our realm.

She smiled, showing off those stupid dimples. “You can call me Emmy, all my friends did. It’s less of a mouthful.” She wandered around the room picking up and observing the vases and candles as she went. I didn’t comment on her use of past tense as I followed her with my eyes, turning my body to ensure she was always in front of me.

I knew from personal experience what happened when she snuck up behind me.

“I see you found what you were looking for in the tunnels.” Emmy’s voice remained light as she randomly pulled books from the shelves, read the covers, and placed them back. While I kept my focus on her the entire time, she didn’t seem to mind that her back was to me.

My already tense body stiffened even more at the reminder of the vague message and who it was from. “You can tell Gabsrielle, you’re welcome for getting her key out of the necromancer’s grasp.” My tone was clipped as I crossed my arms.

“How did you find out about the key belonging to her?” Emmy’s voice remained casual as if she was bored.

“The dickbag leader of the necromancers said he had both Gabsrielle’s and Abrielle’s keys, before using hers to widen the fucked up rift,” I said, with an annoyed bite to my tone.

I was expecting a reaction from either the other name or at the mention of the rift. Instead, she gave me nothing, just continued picking things up and looking at them for a second, before putting them down. She did so for several minutes not saying anything, driving me fucking crazy. “I know about the rift. Just like I know the patch won’t hold for long. Maybe seven months if you’re lucky.”

A chill worked its way through my body. I shook my head as if it would erase her words. “No, that’s not possible, it was closed I saw it.” Wyatt hadn’t mentioned anything about it being temporary.

She sent me a look over my shoulder that said she thought it was cute I believed it. “Was there a blinding burst of light and magic before it faded from view?”

I didn’t respond, my stomach too busy sinking in horror. She took my nonanswer as confirmation. “Like I said, I give you a little over half a year tops. And before you ask, yes your sorcerer knows, there’s no way he couldn’t. I imagine he’s keeping it to himself to avoid creating panic.” She shrugged like all of this didn't affect her.

“How do you know all of this? Are you working with the necromancers?” As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I felt like a complete dumbass, realizing how stupid they were.

Emmy chuckled, thankfully not commenting on my dumbass remark. “Let’s just say, I have a vested interest in making sure that rift remains closed, and its residents on the other side, remain where they belong.”

“The tainted.”

“Among others.” She picked up a desk-sized model of some deity, rolled her eyes, and flicked his head. The stone model crumbled to dust in her hands, falling through her fingers to the floor. “But it seems over time, they’ve gained new cellmates. Ones that should’ve never been there in the first place, destabilizing the realm, and creating gaps for them to slip out.”

I thought I couldn’t be more surprised than I already was, but I was wrong. I grabbed the back of the chair in front of me as I thought through her words. “You’re suggesting they could escape before the rift was opened.”

Emmy gave me a bland look, wiping her hands clean. “You think those idiot necromancers figured out how to locate and open a prison realm, using one of our languages to do so, all on their own? No, they had help, were guided to do this.”

I couldn’t get past the prison realm part. Those existed? Why put things in there and not kill them? Were they unable? Now her previous comment about cellmates made sense. I asked her all of the questions flooding my mind, but she just smiled and ignored them. It was the same as last time. She tossed out somewhat vague remarks, and when she finally gave away something useful, she refused to elaborate. I wanted to scream and take the candle holder from her hands and hit her over the head with it.

“What did your comment about spirit familiars mean?” I blurted out, instead of pressing her for more information about the prison realm, or these other cellmates she talked about. Over the past month, I’d randomly remember her vague statement, it kept nagging at me and pissing me off because I could t find the answer.

Looking over her shoulder, Emmy gave me a secretive smile. “You really don’t want to know the answer to that.”

Who the hell was she to tell me what I did and didn’t want to know? I asked the damn question. “Yes, I do.”

Emmy faced me, leaning back against the table by the window, her smile gone. “Once you know, there’s no going back.”

I didn’t care, I needed to know the answer. Giving her no response, I crossed my arms and stared at her. I’ve seen this move work for Starling many times, and maybe it’d work for me this time. The secretive smile returned, but there wasn’t anything nice about it. “What do you know of how spirit familiars are born?"

My mouth opened to answer, but no words came out. I wasn’t prepared for her to go this route and have me give her a lesson on them. She was supposed to be giving me answers. “No one knows for sure how they came to be. Many have theorized—”

“I don’t want the ridiculous stories that were created to make you all feel better. I want what you know to be certain.” Her voice held an edge that I'd yet to hear, even when she was talking about the deities.

Frowning, I shook my head as I gathered my thoughts. “Their lives before being bonded are a mystery.”

“Did you bother asking your familiar about her life before?” Emmy cut in, sounding impatient.

I hadn’t. I thought about it multiple times, but every time I went to ask her, I chickened out. What if it was bad? What if she had a hard life and bad things happened to her? Maybe I shouldn’t have asked her about this…

No, I needed to stop being a chicken and learn what her vague comment meant.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Running her hand through her loose waves, she sighed. “Okay, let’s try this; what happened to their former spirit animal, when a summoner changes clans?”

At first, her question made no sense. Why did she change topics? Why was she asking for all these history lessons? Realization hit me like a train. No… That was impossible. I shook my head as if it could remove those thoughts.

“What did you think happened to them after they were discarded?” Emmy pressed, gripping the edge of the table, her voice hard. “They rip them from their soul, and then cast them aside, forgetting about them. Not even considering what’ll happen to them. They come up with pretty little stories about what happens to them. They’re reborn in new summoners; their souls are kept, ready for when a summoner switches to their clan. All lies told to make themselves feel better.”

My soul ached and my heart felt like it was shattering. Starling had mentioned remembering being in pain, but I never considered why that would be. I’d never given much thought to what happened to the spirit animals, but then again I couldn’t fathom ever switching animals. My wolf was an integral part of me and replacing her with another was unthinkable. I couldn’t live without her.

Rowan had gone through this, she’d been ripped from the soul she was attached to and left to fend for herself. My strong, witty, and caring familiar had to of felt such pain. Not just physically, but emotionally as well.

“They remember,” I whispered her words from before. Words that were now crystal clear.