Page 34

Leo

“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.

Our demon.

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 woke me 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 my soul . 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.

“Not to diminish what you have with her, Saladriel, but it is a different bond.

A mate bond and a soulmate bond are two different things.

Given time and energy, I am fully of the belief that you two could build something incredible.

But it's likely always just going to take a little more work than any of the relationships she has with us, because her soul was matched with ours from the second it was created.

That's not something the goddess here can recreate.

“So I think, in conclusion, that the unicorns here that she wears a mark for would likely be just fine eventually if she severed those bonds.

Yes, it might be painful because the goddess did some trickery to bind them somehow, but in our realm, ripping apart a bond like that would literally kill you .

Considering Delaney is just fine right now, I'm going to assume that the unicorn she erased is as well.”

It's silent for a few minutes, and I worry that maybe I've said too much or made Saladriel feel like he's worth less than us, but I hope he understands what I'm actually saying. This isn't Delaney’s home, and you can't mess with people's lives the way this goddess is trying to.

Eventually, Saladriel talks. “Leo's right.

It would hurt to walk away from Delaney, but it would definitely not kill me.

How would this even work? This is my home.

I couldn't ask all of you to move here, and I'm not sure I'd be comfortable permanently moving to your realm. We’d be flip flopping back and forth to appease each other, and eventually that feels like it might get old.”

Delaney stands slowly from my lap and walks to Saladriel, kneeling on the ground before him. “What are you saying?”

He gives her a sad smile, but if neither of them feels that the relationship they're building is worth the sacrifice of moving to a new world, then it's going to be a hard relationship to sustain.

“I think we've known from the beginning there was something off about our pairing.

I'm just not sure if I'm capable of the emotional depth and the physical affection you need.

I feel as if we could be very good friends if that's something you're interested in, but honestly, I think both of us would be just a little bit miserable in some form or another if we kept trying to force this to happen.”

I think Delaney's crying a little bit, but I can already tell through her posture and through our bond that she accepts everything that he's saying as truth. “But I need to protect you. What if your goddess retaliates for our bond not working out? I don't want her to hurt you because of me.”

Saladriel takes her hand with both of his and rubs his thumbs over the top of it.

“As Leo said, it is not your responsibility to take care of everybody.

I am a citizen of Glittertopia, which means I am responsible for my own happiness, and my goddess is responsible for my well-being.

If she chooses to punish me for being completely incompatible with you, then that's on her.

I'm not going to change my entire future to appease her.

I'm not going to ask you to accommodate me permanently because you're living in fear of consequences for something you had no control over.

“You didn't ask for this, so it's not on you.

I appreciate you wanting to do the right thing and take care of me, but you have so many men that love you.

So many men that would give everything to be with you.

I'm just not there. I do think you're amazing; but I need a quieter life. I need skies and rainbows and clouds. I need to be with somebody that understands that a physical relationship is never going to be at the top of my list of needs.”

Wil starts sniffling. “I hate sad scenes. We want you to have a happy ending Saladriel!”

He presses a gentle kiss to Delaney’s hand. “I'll get there. Maybe we can figure out a way to communicate. It would be kind of hard to stay friends if I can't send you a letter every now and then.”

“I'm sure we could figure something out,” Delaney says. “A long time ago, my uncle Bennett moved to different world and used the portal to communicate with my mom and grandpa. I'm sure my parents could figure out something for me if I asked. And I would love to stay friends.”

“So, what now? We just go around sniffing clouds until we find ones that Delaney thinks smell good? I’m guessing Rush found Leo because they’re a thing.

It would follow that only Delaney could find the others…

unless there’s more poly happening here than I realized.

In that case, tally ho!” Spencer looks a little uncomfortable with all this talk of mates and serious things, and I’m curious to see how he fits in with the rest of the group once we find everyone.

“Hold that thought,” Saladriel says as he gets up and walks to the other room.

He returns with a tote bag and dumps a bunch of stuff out onto the coffee table.

“The goddess gave Delaney the task of making her realm happy again. We still need to do that. As hard as this is going to be to part ways, I think having that heavy bar of expectation lifted off of me has already done me wonders. On top of that, your arm is healing, Delaney. Think about how much more we could do if we just spread a bit of cheer in the realm?”

Delaney starts rifling through the stuff that he dumped out. Seems to be craft supplies, and now I remember Saladriel asking somebody to take him to the store before we all got disappeared to Glittertopia. “Not to be a downer, but how is a bit of glitter going to fix everything?”

Saladriel looks me dead in the face and says, “Because it's glitter.

Glitter does fix everything here. Maybe this is our answer, Delaney.

If we can figure out a way to make the other unicorns here happy, the goddess will have no reason to punish me for us choosing not to be together.

Then you'll get to go back home and start your life with your mates, and I'll get to tell everybody about this awesome friend I have that shook everything up. We can't lose with that.”

“I might have some ideas…” I’m reluctant to voice them, but if it gets us home faster, then I can frolic. Probably.