Mae stirred in Riven's arms as the morning light crept across her skin. She blinked up at the sky, still shaken by the remnants of the night before, not from fear, but from feeling too much. From wanting. She barely had time to gather her breath before Ashar's voice shattered the peace. "Mae! Riven!" They jolted upright. Riven rubbed the sleep from his eyes, already moving to sit up as Mae tried to fix her hair, her shirt still clinging loosely where he'd redressed her hours before.
Ashar's tall form appeared over the edge of the hill, his eyes unreadable, stone and fire wrapped in flesh. He didn't speak until he reached them, his voice low, clipped.
"Riven. Come help. We've got more than enough now." Riven stood without question, casting one look at Mae before disappearing over the rise. Mae barely had time to breathe when Ashar's hand closed around her wrist, not harsh, not painful, but commanding.
"You. With me." He didn't explain. He didn't ask. He walked. And she followed. They moved in silence across the vast golden plains, further until the castle was no longer in sight, no sign of life behind or ahead. Then, finally, Ashar stopped. He turned. And growled. "I felt it." His voice trembled with fury, barely restrained rage that cracked at the edges of his usual silence. "I felt the change in you the moment it happened."
Mae stepped back, stunned. "Ashar-"
"You bonded with him." Mae blinked, her throat tightening. "It just happened. I didn't plan it-"
"You chose him," he growled. "You let him. And you didn't stop it." Her voice rose too. "And why should I have?" He went still. Her chest heaved, the fire inside her rising with every breath. "You said we couldn't. You said it was too risky that we didn't know what would happen. You stopped me." He said nothing. "You don't get to be angry with me for listening to you." Ashar turned away, jaw clenched. His hands curled into fists at his sides. Mae softened, but only slightly. "I feel the same for both of you, Ashar. It's not something I can control. And just because you and I haven't, doesn't mean Riven and I can't share something real."
Ashar exhaled a breath that sounded like a storm breaking apart. Then, without a word, he started walking again. She followed, again, until they crested a low ridge and stood before something she hadn't seen before. A clearing of flawless white stone. Circular. Perfect. The air shimmered above it. Gold light sparkled in tiny threads along the ground; in symbols she didn't recognize but somehow felt. Ashar stepped to the center and turned to her. "This is where my people would consummate their marriages. Where new life was conceived. Where souls were bound."
Mae blinked, stunned. "I found it," Ashar said, voice quieter now. "After you healed this world. It revealed itself, for you." He looked at her now, really looked. "I brought you here with a choice. A proposition." His gaze held hers. "We can do it now. Bond fully. Risk everything." He paused, the sacred ground humming under his feet. "Or we can return when you're ready. When you want that risk. When you choose me, not because of guilt, consequence, or prophecy, but because your soul calls mine." Mae's breath caught. She had no answer. Not yet. But the weight of his offer sat in her chest like a heartbeat made of light and shadow.
Mae stood still at the edge of the circle, her breath quiet but heavy. The white stone beneath her feet seemed to pulse in time with her heart, slow and deliberate, like the land itself was waiting, listening. Ashar looked at her, truly looked, his expression carved from something deeper than desire. There was no rage in his face now. No jealousy. Only longing. A quiet ache shaped by centuries of loneliness and hope. "Of course I want to," Mae whispered. "But would it be right? The night after Riven?" Her voice cracked with the weight of the question.
Ashar's jaw tightened. He stepped closer, not touching her yet. "I would've preferred being your first," he said honestly. "But I'll be your second, if it means I'm the one you remember." His voice dropped low. "Because when we do this, Mae, it won't be just doing it. It'll change me. Change you. We don't just mate. We are bonded. On every level." Mae's hands trembled slightly at her sides. "And if you," she hesitated, "finish in me? That's what gets me pregnant?" Ashar gave a slow, serious nod. "Only if we both allow it. If neither of us denies it. If our bodies and our minds, want it. But it isn't simple, if we don't bond, then the conception is ipossible maybe, I think we are okay."
His voice was calm. Grounded. Sacred. "It's not just physical. Every shared thought, every tether of emotion deepens the bond. Until," He paused, placing his hand flat just above her navel, "it takes root." Mae stared at him, heat flooding her cheeks, her chest, her core. She swallowed hard, unsure if the flutter in her belly was fear or anticipation. "What do you want to do?" she asked, voice quiet. Ashar didn't answer with words. He stepped forward and kissed her. It was not like before. It wasn't hesitant or restrained. It was deep, soul-searching, claiming, not out of control, but full of restrained power barely held back.
Mae felt the ground respond, felt the hum of the sacred space rise around them.
When he pulled back, he rested his forehead to hers, his voice low and unshaking.
"Are you sure you want this now?" Mae didn't look away. Her hands found his chest, resting against his heart. "Yes." And he meant it. Not as a reaction. Not as a way to fill a space. But as a another choice.