Eternally Bound: Part 14
----- Interruption -----
This chapter contains strong language, images, etc... Intended for mature audiences only.
Reader discretion is advised.Ember, however, tossed and turned, softly moaning. Her neck craned as her back arched at her lover's skilled touch in a scene which played out, much as it did the previous night, now filling her dream with lustfulness.
"Come to me," a voice said, only it wasn't Demitra's. She looked down confusedly to see a white-haired, sapphire-eyed Valandra staring back at her. "Come to me," she repeated with a grin, and a head-nod to the nightstand where Demitra's wedding gloves and the guantlets rested.
Ember awoke with a gasp. Her eyes sprung open and she sat up suddenly, blinking back drowsy disorientation as she looked around expectantly. "Valandra?" she squeaked. Only the ice queen was not present; furthermore, Demitra laid entwined with Paige, both lovingly wrapped around each other, soundly asleep.
"The gloves," Ember took in a breath, glancing to the bed and the nightstand. She looked back at Demitra and Paige. "I think I have to put them on to have another vision," she whispered. "Don't be mad," she said as she lightly kissed Demitra's cheek, who contently sighed. She shakily pushed herself to stand and stumbled over to the bracers. "Just another vision; put them on, get the vision, take them off," she said, trying to convince herself.
She glanced back again to her lover's sleeping forms, took in a deep breath, then slipped her hands, once again, into them.
Without warning, blue and white smoke poured from the bracers, hitting the ground, then swirled into a spiral of azure and mist, the shape of a woman within. Simultaneously, a large cloud of purple smoke flowed into them, pulled from the rug - where Demitra was no longer. The blue and white mist solidified, stepped forth as Valandra, the ice queen.
"Em… Ember? Is… Is that really you? Did I reach you?" Valandra looked with eyes of a newborn.
"You did! I'm here! I… can't believe it worked! Demitra! Valandra is finally free!" Ember said, practically bouncing. "I did it; I separated you two!"
"I was… reaching out. I tried to get out; Demitra was… resisting, but for some reason, the resistance was no longer there and I was able to call to you. I believe due to our link?"
Ember tilted her head to the side. "I mean… I guess so? All I know is that now you are free; you and Demitra are separate! Oh! Demitra! Demi and I are married!" Ember blurted, the excitement of her old companion outweighing her tact.
"You… You and she?" Valandra said, a unintentional shocked expression on her face.
"Yeah! And… Oh you've been gone! You don't know! I helped kill Joko! Oh and is it weird that I made a statue of you? And…"
"Joko, the immortal God-King is… dead?!? A statue? Ember, you fool, make sense!"
Ember grinned, still bouncing at the excitement. "Yeah; we killed Joko! And, I made a statue of you in your old town… since, you know…. You were dead."
Valandra deadpanned. "I am not dead; Joko most certainly isn't… How can you be-"
"Oh come on! You have to see Demitra again! And Paige! Oh, she's your sister (or half-sister, rather) and you should come to meet her!" Ember was already making her way to the rug, guantlets still on.
The warmth and tingling sensation Demitra's bare skin contact caused, even in her sleep, was suddenly absent, and Paige reached to the empty spot where her lover had been. She murmured, stirring slightly and blinking back the sleep. "Mmmm Demi?"
Ember startled her. "Paige! Look! Look at what I did! I saved her!"
Paige sat up, nude and without modesty, still not knowing company had arrived. She rubbed her eyes trying to focus. "What is it Ember? It was a… a really long night," she said, with a large smile, already reminiscing.
"Look who it is!" Ember was absolutely bursting with excitement.
Paige pushed herself up, standing on weak legs from the previous night's activities. She focused her sight to the women and yelped at the stranger. She raced to a blanket and covered her nude form. "Who? Who is this? Who are you? Where did Demi go? What is the meaning of this, captain?"
Valandra's eyes rolled to Ember as her eyebrow arched. "Captain?"
"A lot's happened. But, um… Look, this is your sister!"
Icy eyes glazed over Paige, still attempting to cover herself. Valandra said, resolutely, "I have no sister."
"This IS your sister! This is Paige Dejarin. Milady, this is Valandra!"
Paige looked skeptically at Ember and the woman of frost. "Ember, you know that Valandra's deceased. You told me yourself. Whoever this is… this isn't Valandra."
Valandra manifested two blades of ice shards, readying herself for an assault.
Ember placed a gloved hand upon the woman's shoulder. "It's alright. We're all friends here," she offered.
Paige's eyes locked on the bracer. "Ember! You… You put them on? Didn't Demi tell you that you shouldn't? Where is Demitra, anyway? I imagine she'll be cross with you!"
Ember searched the room for Demitra, her eyes ending at the bed and nightstand, where she recalled the purple smoke entering the guantlets. Her face immediately turned pale as a wave of heat flushed over the woman at the realization. "Oh… Oh no," she said sickly. Her knees were weak and she collapsed to the floor.
"Ember? What is it?" Paige asked, concerned, but made no approach to help, her eyes still locked on the intruder. She was trapped between the urge to help her friend, and get a poker from the fireplace at yet another intruder in the manor.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no…" Ember was babbling, scratching at the bracers, rubbing them, trying to pull them off with no result. "Demi! Oh Gods, I messed up! I…" she continued struggling with the guantlets, grunting and angerly cursing.
Valandra looked down at Ember. "Such a thing cannot be done without my assistance. Do you not recall when you put them on at the festival?"
"Then help me get these damned things off!" Ember screamed in her panic, tears in her eyes. Valandra reached down, easily sliding the gloves off both Ember's hands.
"Who are you, really?" Paige was still not convinced.
"I am Valandra."
"You claim to be Valandra Dejarin, my estranged sister; daughter of Harid Dejarin?"
Valandra raised an eyebrow to the woman. "I am no Dejarin (not anymore, anyway). I am called Valandra Thaljia now, Okht to the Djinn, and this Harid Dejarin is unknown to me."
"Harid is your… our father!" Paige was growing impatient with the woman's aloof demeanor.
"My father and my mother were both taken into Joko's Awakened army. This man, to whom I have never met, has no relevance to me."
Ember was continually stroking the gloves, no longer vigorously, but in a defeated manner. "Demi… Come back. I… I didn't mean to…" the woman sobbed. "I'm so sorry…"
Paige clenched her fists. "What did you do with Demitra? What happened to her?"
"What happened to your clothes?" came a snarky remark from the ice queen. She took a few minutes to look around her surroundings.
The noble pulled the blanket tighter around her person, vigilantly watching the woman. She raised an eyebrow, looked at the gauntlets Ember was cradling, then back to Valandra, a thought occurring to Paige. "You've… You've swapped with her, haven't you?"
Valandra paused, looked over her frosty shoulder. "In a manner of speaking, yes I have. We are both bound to this same vessel; one must remain if the other is released."
"Then it wasn't her choice, was it?"
"Demitra was… resistant to my attempts to free myself from the Realm of the Djinn. While she had on the vessel, I was attempting to force my way out. Thus, when she had them removed, I was freely able to reach out to Ember. We share a… bond, since the lab."
Valandra's explanation was completely matter-of-fact, which infuriated Paige. Grabbing the fireplace poker as a weapon was definitely enticing, but she tried her best to calm herself. Logic would prevail if she could see through the anger for the ice queen and worry about Demitra. "Two cannot become one, so switching the one with the other one doesn't change that. We still need to find Kievaa and-"
"The rodent? Ember has not exposed of such filth yet?" Valandra looked down at the weeping woman.
Paige stomped her foot. "Listen here: Stop picking on her! It's her honeymoon, for Gods sakes! What I was trying to say, before so rudely interrupted, was that if we can find Kievaa, we can find your sword and maybe make one become two!"
Valandra turned, her interest piqued. "It… It actually still exists? She has my artifact?"
Ember stood, wiping her face, placed the gauntlets softly and delicately on the nightstand. "Yes. That little skritt-of-an-asura took your ice sword - the real ice sword - from your room in the vault." She was already beginning to dress herself in under-armor. "If we find it, maybe we can undo… what I did."
Valandra glided past Paige without saying a word, the ice shards of her wings slapping against the blanket the woman wore as covering. She threw up her arms exasperated. "Of course, why should I be a part of this? It's just my house, my sister, and my love. It's just another night in the estate, with intruders threatening me, poisoning me or leaving ears on my dresser, or to make me hire them to stop would-be assassins! Sure! Why not?"
"Interesting company you choose to keep now; Does she always speak this way?" Valandra said with a glance back to the pacing woman.
"She's been through a lot. You need to back off. We've both lost our significant other." Ember looked to Paige. "Hey, get suited up. Have your scouts found Six? The sooner we can find the lab, the sooner we can get the sword, and the sooner we can get this all settled and over with."
Paige froze at her Guard Captain's forceful words. It was, perhaps, the first time Ember had spoken to her in such a manner, but it was also, perhaps (Paige had to admit to herself), the slap she needed. "Fine," she said, as she headed to the doorway. "But, don't make the mistake of treating me as 'interesting company.' I am a noble, an adventurer, and a scholar; you should at the very least, respect me for one of those."
"And make no mistake of me, Dejarin; for threats will be enacted upon."
Paige scoffed, left the room.
Ember looked up at Valandra. "I am glad to see you, and I know you've been through some tough shit, but be nice to Paige."
Valandra raised an eyebrow. "Was I not?" she asked seriously.
"Look, she (like it or not) shares some of your blood. You father - your biological one - is still alive. Who knows, maybe you can rekindle something with him, but… Paige is your half-sister, Djinniness can't hold a candle to that. She's important to me… and to Demitra, so just… cut her some slack."
"She seems… distraught, perhaps weak. And you are…" Valandra watched as Ember continued donning her armor. "You are with her, aren't you?"
Ember head began to smoke. "Look, she's stronger than you think. Plus, she's smarter than either of us. And yes, I love her. So does Demi. And she does us; so we have to get Demi back!"
Valandra casted an icy glare at Ember. "This woman in your harem is smarter?"
Ember returned the same cold stare. "Much smarter."
"Have you forgotten who I am, Ember Drakenfist? Nights of passion have clouded your judgement?" Valandra chuckled.
"Sadly, the nostalgia has faded pretty quickly," Ember said with a frown. She retrieved the extinguished replica ice sword from above the fireplace, where it had hung as a reminder of Valandra's sacrifice. Ember now regarded it with distain, tossed it haphazardly to the ice queen. "To think I thought of you as a hero."
"So, you just leave Demi trapped in them? No. We find the sword; you do whatever Djinn magic is required to bind yourself to it so we can get Demitra out."
Valandra tilted her head in surprise of the woman's plan. "Captain, now, are you? And, I suppose formulating strategies is now within your skill-set?"
"When it comes to getting my wife back…" Ember stared up at the ice queen, heat emanating from her core. "You better bet your ass it is." She turned on her heel, exiting the room.
Valandra grinned as the woman walked away. "Captain Ember, indeed. And, married, no less…" She said as she glanced back at the bracers. "Married to you, Demitra. You just couldn't go without interfering again, could you?" A frosty sigh came from the ice queen as she turned to follow Ember's path.
[To be Continued...]
