Transgression (Ménage)✔

⊰82⊱

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Acacia/Ciarán - Age 18

Whatever coldness I once felt, it dissipates.

Light slowly brightens my eyes, looking up into the eyes of Lailoken. He's sitting cross-legged on the bed, holding me on his lap and in his arms. One of his hands cups my cheek, his other supporting me delicately as I stare at him without a single word passing my lips. It's his reddish-orange irises that meet mine, my heart feeling steady and secure.

When he parts his lips to speak, his voice is calm and gentle as he says, "You've relied so much on the darkness to take away your pain," he pauses when my heart flutters the second the pad of his thumb brushes over the skin of my cheek. Lailoken states, "You truly did become cold and numb, falling into darkness and shutting everything down."

My voice is hesitant as I ask, "What happened?"

"You did what was required of you, what some part of you is destined for...a purpose, a meaning," his words are almost obscurely hiding the entire truth, but then again, I can hardly grasp the meaning of my life to now and he doesn't want to frighten me any further. After a few moments pause of the two of us just remaining in silence, Lailoken informs me, "After you helped strength the veil, your body subconsciously took over and shut down all feeling...light, it was replaced by the darkness that has surrounded your heart."

The bridge of my nose stings when I tell him, "I'm sorry, I-"

"You never have to apologize to me, Ekáti," his brows furrow with concern at the way I'm so quick to give in and admit that I was the one at fault. Lailoken continues, "you don't need the darkness to surround and be your escape, your comfort, the one thing you turn to when everything else seems to spiral out of control."

Tears finally fill my eyes as I whisper, "How do you know...how...how do y..." I can't even form the words into a sentence. It's like he knows everything emotionally I've been through...

"Shh," he's calming when he holds me closer, hearing the rhythm of his heartbeat through his solid chest. He rocks me gently, and I feel myself lulling away in his embrace while he tells me, "Ekáti, our souls touched again and this time, you didn't icy me out, you didn't show any sign of rejecting our existence together."

I inhale a shaky breath as I can't help the sob that also leaves my lips, the hard and reinforced barrier I've thrown up is slowly crumbling away.

I don't know if I want it to...

...I don't want to get hurt.

Not again.

I won't let myself.

"H-How di-did you d-do that?" I ask him, recalling the way those creatures fazed out of existence.

Lailoken rests his chin on the top of my head as he breathes out, "Ekáti, just as you are charged with your destiny, so am I with mine," he pauses for a few minutes, understanding the way he must be collecting his thoughts. I breathe in and out steadily, the tears silent as they trail down my cheeks, though his scent calms me, his touch soothes the way my heart feels like it's been broken into finite pieces. When he does speak, he informs me, "We match each other. A compliment we are for one another. It is I that possess the light of this world, sending those who'd destroy the peace we attempt to keep back across the veil."

"I?" Is all I can squeak out.

"You," he chuckles and releases a sigh, "you are the guardian of these crossroads. You are so much more powerful than you truly understand, though in time...you will. You are my goddess, my mate..."