Page 31 of Fae's Mate
“Awful,” I admit, “I’m pleased to be home.”
She simply nods.
I dare not speak, instead I eagerly await her questions. I will tell her anything she wishes to know.
As I follow beside her, my stomach grumbles loudly, and I remember it has been hours since I had breakfast, and even that was meagre. Leaving Seki’s side for only a moment, I reach into the branches of the nearest tree and pull two apples loose.
I bite into mine before I have even returned to Seki’s side, the sweet apple juice dancing on my tongue. When I offer the other to Seki, she accepts and takes an eager bite. She pulls the apple away from her mouth, her lips glistening, and the sight has me distracted; I want to lick the apple juice from her lips; I want to feel her tongue against mine again…
Concentrate.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you the last time I saw you,” she says, looking straight ahead.
“No, it is I who should be sorry,” I say, swallowing my pride. “I should have told you everything sooner, but I… I was scared. I was worried if I told you too much—”
“Did you just apologise to me?”
“I did.”
“Does that mean you are now in my debt?” there is a slight teasing tone to her question.
“If you wish me to be…”
She smiles, fully this time, and it fills me with such joy that I smile back. I will gladly be indebted to her for that smile alone.
“So, mates…” she begins, thinning her lips and nodding her head slightly, as if afraid to broach the topic. I share the sentiment.
“How about I tell you what I know, and you help me fill in the blanks?” My mate suggests.
“Alright.” I agree, my heart already racing.
“The way I understand it, theFatesdecide on the two people who should be together, and they create a magical connection… a kind of thread that links those two people together. When they find each other, that thread shakes, so they know they have met their mate. Right?”
“Almost. Yes, the Fates decide, and when they do, we consider it a blessing. When mates meet, the bond pulls taut. Some people call it a snap, but it is intended totightenin order to draw the mates to one another.”
She takes another bite of her apple and swallows it before responding.
“And then that’s it? Those people are mates, no questions asked? No choice in the matter?”
“There is a choice. There’s a… ritual of sorts, to accept the bond. Theoretically, the bond can be rejected, but it has never been done.”
“What sort of ritual?” She asks as she gently kicks the scarlet folds of her skirt in front of her.
I take a bite of my apple, to buy self some time before I answer her.
“The mating bond is traditionally accepted during a moment of… intimacy—”
“During sex?”
I can’t help but chuckle. “Yes, during sex. There are words that are exchanged in order to accept the bond. The high fae says their name, their court, and who they are claiming as their mate, the other party says their name, their court, and who theyacceptas their mate.”
“So, accepting the bond is the only way for me to find out your name?”
I simply smile at her.
“Hmm… I shall let you keep your name for now,” she teases.
Little does she know that if she asked me for it, I would gladly tell her my name.
