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“IT’LL BE OKAY, ARIES. SAY THE WORD AND WE CAN REPLACE THE HOUSE ANYTIME...”
Rune sighed. “At least, that’s what I want to tell you—but it would be better, safer even, for you to stay here with us...”
Aries had been sitting in front of the icy fire for over an hour—a faraway look in his eyes. Rune paced the hall outside the parlor as he waited for his demeanor to change. But after a while, Rune couldn’t hold himself back any longer.
His mate was suffering, and he could make a difference. Rune decided he’d better say something before Aries spent the whole evening moping.
Aries looked up at him, the haze gradually clearing from his eyes. “Really?” For a split second, his face glowed. Then it vanished—replaced by that uncertain, distant expression again. “But my spare hard drives and paperwork burned up... I can’t replace those as easily as a toaster or a TV.”
Rune did not understand what hard drives, toasters or TV’s were, but Aries was right.
Rune’s powers couldn’t turn back time to stop the disaster, nor could he put everything back precisely how it was. The most Rune could do was restore the building to how it had been before the fire—the way he remembered seeing it.
His photographic memory helped with that, but only so much. Anything he couldn’t see directly would be impossible to replace.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, “the best I can do is replace the structure as I remember it...”
His words snapped Aries out of the fog he’d been stuck in. “No, no... It’s a miracle you can do that at all. I’m grateful to you.”
Rune joined him on the sofa and wrapped his arms around him. They cuddled together in front of the fire, listening as its flames crackled and popped. After a while, Aries chuckled softly under his breath.
“Mmm?”
“My debt’s tripled.”
“Tripled?”
“It’s thanks to you four, I’m alive. You helped me that time at the bar and saved me when I was stabbed. This time you all protected me from the fire. You’re even offering to replace my house. All I’m saying is I need to repay you.”
Rune nuzzled his face into the crook of his mate’s neck. Being close made Rune feel more at ease. Since the fire, the Magi was on high alert. “You’re my mate, Aries. You don’t owe me anything.”
“Maybe, but still...”
They listened to the crackling flames for a while longer. Then Rune made the quiet decision to open up—something he reserved for only the most important people in his life. “You aren’t the only one who feels indebted...”
“What do you mean?”
Rune occupied himself with a strand of Aries’ bright blond hair as he spoke, twirling it around his fingers like golden twine. “Once upon a time, I was a young Magi—a wizard as you called it—dedicated to my studies. But my thirst for knowledge led me to do things I should not have done...” He trailed off, uncertain if he should continue.
“What did you do?” Aries asked with interest, prodding him on.
“I made friends with a demon. Our paths crossed by mere chance. One day, they offered me power beyond my wildest dreams and I took it. I knew tampering with my own magic was against my kingdom’s laws, but I did it anyway. I thought back then no one would find out, that I had nothing to lose. A silly choice that ultimately backfired.”
“But how did they find out?”
He pointed to his white hair and matching eyes. “This is what happens when you play with fate. It’s hard to miss.”
Aries gasped. “You mean... the magic did that?”
He nodded.
The author whistled. “All this time, I thought it was from hair dye. That’s what we use if we want to change our hair color... But your world is still a mystery to me. Who am I to say your people can’t have natural white hair or silver eyes? Nitehelm doesn’t have to be bound to the same rules as Earth, right?”
Rune chuckled. “You are correct, but our worlds share a surprising number of similarities... My hair used to be as black as Shen’s and my eyes were green like Terra’s. I’ve seen those colors here among your kind.”
Aries gazed at him with such kind, empathetic eyes. The gentleness of his nature pulled Rune in. The moment he had met Aries, he knew. He didn’t want to fight it, but he had rules to abide by. He cast those aside the moment Rune learned Aries wasn’t human.
At least, not entirely.
“Did it hurt—when your hair and eye color changed?”
Rune laughed. “Only when it came to my reputation. Breaking the law is not something a royal should do.”
“Telling such a fascinating story without us?” Brava the demon said from the doorway, flashing a smile.
“Sorry,” Rune apologized, bashful. “Perhaps I got carried away.”
Brava, Terra, and Shen filed into the parlor. The demon slumped down onto the sofa beside Rune and leaned back into the cushion’s embrace. Terra and Shen settled down on an adjacent sofa.
Rune pecked a kiss onto Aries’ cheek and slunk in between his two mates.
“Don’t stop on our account,” Brava teased.
“Very well.” He cleared his throat and picked up where he left off. “The ritual changed my hair and eyes, so naturally, everyone knew. My mother, the queen of Sorcerea, thought she should punish me for my actions—and here I am.”
The room was silent for a moment.
Aries turned to him. “Wait, coming here was your punishment?”
Rune nodded. “Yes. My mother felt that if I spent enough time on Earth, I would learn my lesson. Instead, I found you four.”
Terra grinned at him. “I knew I recognized your name from somewhere. Lord Summers claimed your brother, Cecil.”
“Half-brother,” Rune said dismissively. “Our mother sleeps around occasionally. Though I heard about his claiming because she wouldn’t let me hear the end of it. Cecil is her golden child.”
“Seems like you won, though,” Aries said optimistically.
“And that is exactly why I feel equally indebted to you—my fated mates. If I had not broken the law, who knows if I would be sitting here now?”
“A curious twist of fate,” Shen murmured.
Terra the angel sat back and smiled. “A twist of fate, indeed.”
Rune grew tired of only talking about himself. “What about you four? What’s your story?”
“Oh, good idea!” Aries sat up and curled his legs beneath himself. “I would love to know more about you guys...”
“I am willing to share as long as you are,” Shen told him with a smile.
“Me?” Aries paled. “I’m sure your stories are much more exciting than mine...”
“Says who?” Rune said. “You’re forgetting we do not live on Earth.”
“Then we’ll trade. You three tell me your back-stories and I’ll tell you mine. Why don’t we start with you, Terra?”
Terra’s eyes widened in surprise. “Me? Well, all right... See this halo atop my head?”
Everyone nodded.
“I lost it decades ago,” he admitted, “though it was returned to me after the incident with Allias...”
“Who’s Allias?” Aries interrupted.
“A man who was illegally using black magic. He almost killed my lord’s twin sisters.”
“That’s horrible...”
“Yes, it was—but we were victorious in the end.”
“How did you lose your halo?” Brava asked, speaking up.
Terra hesitated, biting his lip. “I had a different life before I met Lord Nightshade. I was born in Thales, the kingdom of angels. As a child, I was very gifted. I learned to fly with my wings before I was four, and could use a variety of our kingdom’s most advanced abilities by age ten. That alarmed many, and they sought my life. When they came for me, I killed one of them—a violation of Thales’ law. As punishment, they cast me out of the kingdom and took away my halo—and with it, my wings.”
“But it was in self-defense!” Aries cried.
Terra showed him a sad smile and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. In Thales, the law is the law.”
“So what happened after that?” Rune asked, curious.
“I spent a year living a very nomadic lifestyle. One day, after my eleventh birthday, I stopped in the Wilds for the night...” Terra paused and laughed at the memory. “Back then, it was not as humorous... But when you enter the Wilds, you cannot leave. From that day onward, I was stuck there and had to make it work. I met Damon Nightshade after that. We became friends and when he learned of my predicament, he convinced his family to let me stay in the castle. The rest is history.”
Rune imagined a younger Terra wandering the vast world they lived in and stewed on the inside at the idea of it all. Though Rune had had to deal with his nagging mother and being ostracized by his everyone else, he couldn’t imagine being cast out at such a young age. How had the angel fended for himself all that time? And here, Rune thought he had a terrible childhood.
If he could only speak to the assholes who threw Terra out... Then at least he could obtain justice for his mate’s early suffering.
“We should take a visit to Thales,” he suggested darkly.
Terra gave him a wide-eyed look. “Gods no.”
Rune sighed and slunk back in his seat. He hoped his other mates had cheerful life stories—otherwise their gloomy pasts would force Rune to create a new shit list. He could envision it now—writing up their names and using his Tome to...
He shook his head, clearing the foggy, dark haze from his mind. Ever since Rune tried fusing his magic that day years ago, he struggled with dark thoughts and impulses. He knew it was just the demonic energy doing it to him. Like a tiny demon sitting on his shoulder, whispering in his ear—it would throw out bad suggestions from time to time, trying to tempt Rune into behaving rashly.
To distract himself, he looked at Shen and said, “what about you?”
Shen rubbed the back of his head, blushing. “Uneventful. I grew up on Sune Island with my six siblings. I say six, but a witch cursed my brother, Ken, and turned him to stone. But nothing that exciting has happened to me—well, outside of meeting you four.”
Rune quirked an eyebrow and hid a smile behind one of the tiny sofa pillows. “You want to be petrified?”
He laughed as his mate backpedaled, stumbling over his words to clear up the teasing misunderstanding.
Shen waved his hands in the air. “Let me explain. Out of everyone in my family, I am one of the last to settle down. My life before coming here was dull and empty... but now that I have you—my fated mates—I feel content.”
Rune exhaled, relieved that his lion-dog of a mate had good family relations. Not that Rune could say the same...
“Shall we move on to someone else?” Shen said at last, eying Brava.
The half-demon shifted uncomfortably, as though he had reservations about discussing his past. “I, uh, grew up in an orphanage in Tartarus. One night, a woman with pointy ears showed up and dropped me off. Then a slum lord named Sivan came along and picked me up. He put me to work on the streets collecting his dues—something I would still be doing, if not for this mission.”
“Are you sure you aren’t Lord Ozai’s long-lost son?” Rune asked suddenly.
Brava snapped his head in the Magi’s direction. “Huh? What are you talking about?”
Rune ran a hand through his white hair and sighed. “My mother is the queen of rumors—and rumor has it, the demon king had an affair years ago with a Fae from Crystalla...”
Their demonic mate shook his head. “That can’t be. I saw the king before we left and he didn’t give me that impression.”
“Really?” Rune pressed. “Even when you look just like him?”
“Maybe I do, but how can you be so sure? It’s just a rumor.”
“Rumors aren’t always wrong,” the Magi said with a shrug of his shoulders.
The four of them sat in silence after that.
Rune’s mind returned to the incident earlier that morning and his mood darkened. To think the culprit who’d not only stabbed Aries but also tried to kill him in a freak explosion was still lurking out there somewhere...
“By the way, did you have any luck with the search?” he asked them, changing the subject.
His mates responded as though they had been waiting for him to ask. They exhaled deep breaths and exchanged heavy glances.
“We searched everywhere but whoever attacked Aries’ house is gone,” Brava answered, his voice quivering with frustration.
“That is not a good precedent to set. This is the second time they’ve gotten away,” Rune grumbled, unnerved by the news.
“Can you add more wards to the perimeter?” Terra asked him.
“It will take some time, but I can do it.”
“What are wards?” Aries asked.
“They keep any unwanted guests out and protect what is within,” Shen explained.
“Wards also warn of any intruders trying to break in,” Terra added helpfully. “According to myth, shisa served as wards for royal households before Magi crafted a spell capable of doing it themselves.”
“Does that make you a ward?” Aries asked Shen.
The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. “Yes—it is a rare and honorable duty.”
Brava slammed a hand down on the sofa, the fabric cushioning his fist. “How did they find us so quickly if we had so many wards available? Something is not adding up.”
Terra rubbed his chin as he considered the demon’s question. “Perhaps that is a topic for us to explore further. We cannot give our enemy a third chance at taking our mate’s life or our own.”
“We need to track them down and make them face consequences...” Rune suggested, a bitterness lingering in the forefront of his heart.
“I understand how you feel, but we must proceed with caution. From here on out, I say we stick together. Except for Shen—his shisa will keep him off their radar,” Terra warned. The angel turned to look at Aries, and his expression softened. “I think you really should stay with us for now. As long as we are together, we can protect you.”
They could always shack up together in Aries’ house, but then they would lack the natural fortitude of Rune’s creation. It had taken the Magi two decades to perfect his secret haven—a backup plan for when or if his mother, the queen of Sorcerea, ever exiled him.
Rune nodded in agreement. “I concur. We should hold off on replacing your home until after we deal with the threat.”
Rune watched as Aries’ face fell. “You mean I can’t go back?”
“I hate to say it—but if Rune restores your home now, they won’t hesitate to attack again,” Brava growled. “That’s the kind of assholes we’re dealing with.”
Aries thought about their offer long enough to make Rune hold his breath. When their mortal mate finally spoke up, he did so with a heavy sigh. “Okay, I’ll stay. But...”
“But?” the four asked together with bated breath.
“I still have to work, but this place doesn’t have internet.”
Rune’s brow furrowed. “Internet?”
Aries shook his head. He pulled out a rectangular object with a black surface and muttered, “I’ll explain later, but for now, I’ll have to use my phone as a hot-spot. Does my signal work in here?”
He raised the phone into the air and squinted at its surface, which lit up.
“What is he saying?” Brava asked, question marks dancing in his amber eyes.
“I do not know,” Shen admitted, shaking his head. “What is a hot-spot?”
Aries snorted and hopped up off the couch. “You four have so much to learn. Excuse me while I go call my editor.”