Page 52 of Eight Embers

“Leo!”

I welcome the embrace from Wil, even though we haven’t had much occasion to spend time together. It’s a bit like putting on a new shirt you forgot you had and haven’t worn in a while. “Hello, Wilford.”

He beams up at me and pulls me further into the hotel room, patting the couch and fluffing the pillows next to it. “It’s wonderful to see you! How did this happen?”

I tilt my head to my mate, who has apparently decided to climb her demon.

Ourdemon.

I meet Saladriel’s eyes over Delaney’s shoulder, possible actual flames dancing in them as he tows her over to me. He plops her on my lap and stands behind me, leaning over me with his elbows resting on my shoulders.

“I found his cloud,” he says nonchalantly.

“Hey, I’m Spencer,” Delaney’s new fellow says as he shakes my hand. He seems wary of me, but then again, I’m sure he’s not been around too many gargoyles.

“Leo,” I offer, wrapping my arms around Delaney.

“What do you mean you found his cloud?”

Rush waves his hand towards the window we have which overlooks part of the kingdom. I’ve spent far too much time in the sky, and I think after this we all could use a nice vacation somewhere where there is absolutely no sky involved. Do people vacation in Hell?

“I was wandering around and found a cloud that just sort of hit me in the olfactory senses. Definitely didn’t roll around in it. I used manly detective skills to find a switch hidden within it and I hit it, and voila. Leo.”

Saladriel looks like he’s contemplating this as he sits down across from us. “I suppose it makes sense the goddess would use what she has to hide them. Was it super strange to be turned into a cloud? Kind of the opposite of stone, wouldn’t you say?”

I start up a low purr for my mate as I continue to inhale her unique cherry scent. “No stranger than being turned into an immobile rock for dozens of years.”

Saladriel walks over to the window, gazing out of it. “It's only a matter of time until she realizes we figured that out.” He spins and walks back to Delaney, lifting up the arm that his goddess marked.

I think we're all a little surprised to see one of the extra marks is gone now. “Not sure why finding Leo cancelled out one of Fairygoddess’ chosen mates, but it’s interesting,” Saladriel says as he runs his fingers over her arm.

She shivers when he brushes against his mark, and I don't miss the uptick of his mouth as he deliberately does it again before dropping her arm carefully back to her lap.

“She did say it was a game,” Delaney points out. “Sometimes games have shortcuts, or tricks you find out as you play them. Leo, do you think everybody else is out there right now, floating around disguised as clouds? That's such a weird question.”

“Definitely. I couldn't sense them at all, but when we got pulled into this realm, we were all in one group. It felt like we all were transformed at the same time and then dispersed throughout the kingdom.”

“But what about the mate you deleted from Fairygoddess? Aren't you worried that we just completely erased somebody's future?” Wil asks.

“It is not Delaney’s responsibility to take care of every single person that needs to be loved. Up until very recently, nobody in this realm even knew Delaney existed, so there's no way that the goddess could have planned it very long ago. Maybe she had an idea at some point that this kind of situation would happen, but I'd be willing to bet a whole lot that she's sort of making this up as she goes.

“Think about it. How much notice did Fairygoddess actually get that Delaney was going to be her chosen one, or that it was her turn to even have a savior? If she would have chosen someone else, how would the mate bonds have worked then? Would she have chosen the same people from here to tie them to?

“Back at home, it makes sense to have us all be fated for each other, because our souls have been on the same plane of existence since we were born. Our goddess saw them as we emerged and knew exactly how well we could complement each other. This goddess knows nothing of Delaney’s soul.”

The rest of them swing their eyes to Saladriel. I get that Wil was raised in a way that idolizes and worships anything to do with the goddess at a fervent level none of us will ever achieve, but I think he's worrying about the wrong thing here.

He's also not ready to let this subject go. “Then how do you explain Saladriel?”

Saladriel sighs and sits down on one of the empty chairs. He looks at Delaney and then back to Wil. “There's not much to explain. Do I think I might be able to fall for her given enough time and opportunity? Probably. But then again, I imagine anybody in my shoes could do that. Delaney’s pretty amazing. It would be pretty damn difficult to not fall for her when she looks at you the way she does.”

Delaney’s nose wrinkles up all cute-like. “Thank you, that means a lot to me.”

There's no doubt in my mind that Delaney could make anybody fall for her. Even somebody completely and wholly incompatible with her, because she has a way of charming you in a way that’s customized to how you operate. Maybe it's her bodysmith genes, but she's able to get reads on people and figure out exactly what they need to feel good. And I'm not just talking about sexual needs.

“Not to be inconsiderate, but I think there's a great difference in being a soulmate to Delaney and choosing to be with her because someone told you to. Delaney, I feel you in my soul. You wokeme from my state of rock and made the world start turning again.

“I know that each of your mates experiences their bond with you differently, but one thing we have in common is that you completely change something about our lives. Either you soothe a nature within us that needs soothing, or you bring out qualities in us that we have a hard time accessing, or you comfort us in a way nobody's ever been able to before. But I feel you in mysoul. I don't think that Fairyunicorn Goddess can replicate that. How could she? Soul mates are sacred, and you need to have intimate knowledge of somebody’s soul to weave them together.

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