Year One: Elide and Lorcan Discuss the Mating Bond
"Do you feel any different?" Elide asked hesitantly in the hopeful light of dawn. They lay in their bed in Perranth, twined in one another, the sheets coiled around them from their overnight activities.
"What do you mean?" Lorcan propped himself up on an elbow to look at his wife's face. Wife. Mate.
His mate. The thought still clanged through him every time he thought about it - which was often. When they had gotten married and he'd bound his life to hers, to give himself a mortal lifespan, something between them had clicked. Settled. Filled a void he hadn't even known he'd had.
"Now that you've tied your life to mine…." Elide examined his features shrewdly.
"What, that I will suddenly shrivel up and have my five hundred years catch up to me?" Lorcan smirked and Elide smacked his shoulder soundly.
"Not exactly what I mean, Lord Lorcan Lochan," Elide said teasingly, as she was prone to when he said something she didn't like. Lorcan sighed and considered what she was asking.
"I feel no different. I still have my strength, my magic, my heightened senses. I am happier, though," Lorcan murmured, nibbling her ear and relishing in Elide's shudder of pleasure.
"Sap," Elide gasped as his teeth worked a different kind of magic. It had been months since they'd arrived in Perranth and started rebuilding. The people who had survived Morath's sacking of the city, as well as those the healers from the Torre had managed to save and had remained, had already started the process of rebuilding before they'd arrived.
"I'm nervous, Lorcan," Elide murmured from her horse that was keeping even pace with his own. Lorcan looked at her. She was looking ahead, forehead wrinkled, at the path ahead to Perranth. They'd arrive in a few hours.
"Why? Perranth is safe now. All the grunts are gone, thanks to Yrene. There is nothing to fear," Lorcan tried to grasp why he felt such rampant fear down the mating bond.
"I haven't been home in years, Lorcan. What if they don't see me as Lady of Perranth? What if they only see me as someone who deserted them? I was struck from the genealogy records, thought long dead, what-" Lorcan interrupted her rising voice with a slashing movement of his hand.
"You are Lady of Perranth, Elide. Beyond all odds, you survived. You escaped Morath. You travelled far and wide to find Aelin. You did all of it for Perranth. Those Lords even signed the official paperwork recognising you as Lady of Perranth, and the records are being changed. Anyone who doesn't see you as Lady will soon see that is a mistake," Lorcan growled and Elide looked his way.
"I don't want my people to be feared into submission. I want loyalty, and cooperation, and peace. It needs to be freely given, Lorcan. We've all suffered enough," Elide muttered. Lorcan shook his head.
"It was never a thought. All I am saying is that you will be a fair and just voice of Perranth, and all of the naysayers - if there are any - will be proven wrong immediately, and will be bowing at your feet," Lorcan supplied.
"I hope you're right," Elide murmured. Near nightfall, they approached the gates that Elide always saw as a child every morning. There were guards on the door who shouted at their approach.
"Who goes?" One of them walked toward them, halting their progress. Elide awkwardly dismounted and Lorcan was right beside her as she looked at the guard.
"I am Elide Lochan, and I have come home at last," Elide looked up to the guard, who looked both Lorcan and Elide over, eyes narrowed. Recognition widened them almost comically when his eyes turned to the woman. He spun to face the gate and shouted to those on watch.
"Open the gates! The Lady of Perranth has arrived!" A horn blasted from inside as the gates opened. Tears were already streaming down Elide's face as more guards came and took their horses. Elide gripped Lorcan's hand as they walked together past the open gates and took in the gathered townsfolk. Bent, but not broken, they cheered and smiled and wept as they looked at their Lady, returned to them at long last. Speechless, Elide let go of her Consort's hand and bowed to the gathered crowd, feeling Lorcan doing the same beside her. It the only way she knew how to give them the gratitude that swelled her heart and strangled her voice. They all bowed back. Every single one.
"What are you thinking about?" Lorcan had paused his administrations when he realised that Elide's thoughts were oceans away.
"How far Perranth has come in just the few months we've been back. It's been nearly a year now since rebuilding has started and it's nearly back to how I remembered it looking before I left - everyone has been working so hard," Elide said, sitting up. Lorcan sat up as well.
"There's more on your mind than that," Lorcan chided. Elide sighed.
"Am I supposed to feel anything from this mating bond?" Elide asked hesitantly. Lorcan was silent for a few moments, thinking.
"It's different for every pair. I know that for Rowan and Aelin, they can speak to one another, share thoughts. For others, the bond only activates when one is gravely injured. For us… I get your feelings, sometimes. But they have to be strong emotions. You don't get anything from me?" Lorcan asked. Elide shook her head.
"I don't think I have. Other than when the bond snapped into place, I don't think so. I think you still keep yourself so closed off - I know several lifetimes of being under Maeve's thumb makes that hard to break - or is it because I'm human?" Elide mused. Lorcan shook his head.
"It's likely my fault. You're right, Elide. I don't mean to guard myself so tightly all of the time. I had no idea it was interfering with the mating bond. When I was blood sworn-" Elide held up a hand to his chest, stopping him.
"You don't need to explain," Elide murmured. Lorcan was already shaking his head.
"No. I do. When I was young and mostly untried, I wanted nothing more than to impress Maeve and the "cadre", as Aelin likes to call them. Everything I did, I did for her. Eventually I think my mind, my power, caught on before I did, that she was ruthless. Seeing Connal, the dead look in his eyes that got worse each time I saw him… he always put on a good show. For us, for her. But we all saw what it did to him. When he thought we weren't paying attention. But Connal was the way to bring Fenrys to heel. The only way. Connal had no choice but to give everything to her. Maeve would demand nothing less So I started guarding myself. My mind, my power. I never realised the walls were so impenetrable, because you got through them so easily. Here," Lorcan leaned against the decorative headboard of their bed and pulled Elide to lean back against his chest. He wrapped his arms securely around her and tucked his head in against her neck, inhaling her intoxicating scent.
'Lorcan, what-" Elide gasped as a bridge opened up. Between them. Creaky with disuse, there were only flickers of emotion at first. Lorcan's frustration at not being able to work the bond crackled through to her. Hesitation and fear soon followed. Elide then ran her hands along his strong, muscled arms that were banded against her front, fingers smoothing against the fine dark hair that dusted his skin, tanned from all the hard work he'd been doing out in the sun to help rebuild.
The bond grew in strength. She could feel the complete and utter contentment he felt with her; his happiness that none could sunder; his love and loyalty that shone through for her clear as day. Tears streamed down her face as she twisted her head to brush her lips across his cheek, her hand cupping his other cheek to raise his face from the hollow of her neck.
"Is it working now?" Lorcan smirked, moving in to kiss her temple, her nose, the corner of her mouth. Elide rearranged herself so she faced him and held his head in both her hands. He reached out to wipe the happy tears from her eyes.
"It's beautiful, Lorcan," she moaned as she brought her mouth against his in a bruising kiss that made his breath quicken. The purr in his chest grew as he gently laid her on the bed, hovering above her, the pillows near their feet forgotten at the head of the bed.
"I love you, Lady Elide Lochan. You are the light in the darkness that covers all things," Lorcan whispered. The space between their bodies disappeared as she brought him close to her.
"I love you too, Lorcan," Elide whispered as they moved together in the bright morning that streamed in through their window.