(The Marriage Groups)Elian (15 page)

After a moment, Nevin sat up and walked around the room, releasing Elian’s limbs and rubbing the circulation back into them. He walked into the adjoining bathroom and wet a gold, satin washcloth and walked back out to clean Elian. He smiled as he noticed that Elian was sleeping and was quite proud that he’d caused the other man to pass out from their lovemaking. After he’d finished cleaning them both up, Nevin redressed Elian and got dressed himself before lifting Elian into his arms and heading out the door.

In the doorway, Nevin turned to look back at the room and gasped when he saw that the room was bare. The bed was gone, as were all of the toys that had hung on the walls. Nevin blinked his eyes and looked at the room again. It remained devoid of any furnishings and Nevin felt a chill crawl up his spine. How was that possible?

Determined not to dwell on it for fear of what it would mean, Nevin turned to the staircase and headed down to their bedroom. He needed to get Elian to bed and then find Gaige. It was time for him to have a talk with his husband, the Zevinxian.

Chapter Fifteen

Elian

E
LIAN
woke up to find himself alone and stretched his limbs. He groaned as his muscles protested the movement and his ass ached deliciously. Remembering his time with Nevin earlier, Elian smiled. Memories of Nevin’s revelation came flooding back into his mind and he grimaced. How in the world were they going to handle informing the population that one of their kings was a Zevinxian? Would Gaige’s news cause a riot? A revolt in the streets? What about their own marriage? How were Nevin and Corbin handling the news of Gaige’s heritage?

Knowing that lying in bed thinking about those questions would not give him the answers he needed, Elian pushed back the covers and climbed out of bed. Padding over to his dressing room, Elian opened the door and stepped inside. He hadn’t really taken the chance to look things over like he wanted to since moving to the palace. Elian allowed his eyes to move over the fabric hanging from rods within the room, taking in the gorgeous reds, blues, greens, and purples that lay within. He trailed his fingers over the silk, satin, velvet, and linen sleeves with a small smile on his face. He reached out a hand to select a red tunic when his eyes fell on a golden one with jewels and an intricate design shoved in the back of the dressing room.

Walking slowly towards the garment, he reached out a reverent hand and grazed the sleeve. A zing of electricity sizzled its way from his finger through his body and he gasped. Jerking his hand back, he stared at the offending article of clothing. What was it about that golden tunic? Was there some latent power within it?

Sucking in a harsh breath, Elian bit his lower lip and stared at the tunic for a long moment before reaching out and pulling it on over his head. As soon as the fabric settled around his thighs, Elian felt power jump through his veins. Images cascaded through his vision. He saw his husbands and the army of Kardalusia engaged in a brutal fight, his children with his husbands, three girls all laughing and playing, and the soiree house filled with coraçãos of all ages looking for a Marriage Core.

Elian gasped as the visions receded and shook his head. How was that possible? Three daughters? There had been no female Kardalusians born since the Great Split. Why was he chosen to bring about the first ones? Why?

“You are special Elian,” a voice spoke, infused with a power so strong that Elian felt it dancing and zinging around in his bloodstream. He turned slowly towards the voice and felt his mouth drop open. Standing in his dressing room, glowing white and smiling, was Andalusia. Elian fell to his knees and sobbed. Only a few seconds passed before he shivered as Andalusia placed his hand on the back of Elian’s head. His body trembled as he realized that not only was he in the presence of the almighty god, but he was being touched by their creator. What had he done to deserve such a blessing?

“You were created for this moment, Elian,” Andalusia spoke, the bass of his voice causing the floor to tremble, the clothes and shoes shaking off their resting places and falling to the floor as if they too wanted to worship Andalusia. Elian felt his children, his daughters, leaping within him, moving and dancing. He placed a hand on his abdomen and looked up at Andalusia.

“Why me?” he asked. “I am nobody. A coração with no skills, no talent. I was born only to be a coração and that is all,” he pointed out to Andalusia, and then wanted to rip out his own tongue for speaking in such a disrespectful manner.

Andalusia laughed and the sound reverberated throughout Elian’s body. “Oh, my dear, Elian, don’t you know that you possess no other birthmark or symbol because you possess them all? The highest honor is to be born with only the mark of a coração because that means that all of your talents and skills, all of your intelligence and potential, are too extensive, so encompassing that they are too vast to label. Too many to mark on you.” Elian stared at Andalusia in surprise. No one had ever explained his non-existent markings that way before. Perhaps he was just imagining his experience with Andalusia now, because if his lack of markings were that special, wouldn’t his parents have said something to him when he was growing up?

Elian lowered a hand to his thigh and pinched himself as hard as he could. When he yelled out in pain, he noticed that Andalusia smiled at him, his eyes filled with compassion and a small trace of amusement. “You are not dreaming, Elian. I am really here,” Andalusia reassured Elian. “I am here so you know that your marriage to the Royal Marriage Core was predestined. You were created to bring about a new Kardalusian society, to reunite the Zevinxians and the Kardalusians. You are all my children, all my creations and you will need to be united for what is soon to occur in your world.”

“What’s going to happen?” Elian asked.

Andalusia shook his head. “That I cannot tell you. Just be prepared for anything and everything. You must get your husbands to embrace the winds of change. You must bring about the change that your people need, Elian. It’s up to you. This is what you were created for, to bring change. You will not fail, you will do great things.”

And just as quickly as he appeared, Andalusia was gone, leaving behind the scent of carnoses and a thick layer of rainbow dust on every surface. Elian shook his head in amazement and stood on shaky feet. Smoothing his hands down his tunic with shaking hands, he gasped. It seemed that Andalusia had done more than just leave a layer of dust behind. He’d sped up the progression of Elian’s pregnancy.

Rubbing his hands over his now distended belly, Elian began to chuckle. How in the world was he going to explain this to his husbands?

****

I
T
turned out that he didn’t have to explain anything. All three of them had felt compelled to check up on him and were standing outside listening as he talked with Andalusia. When Elian stepped out of his dressing room, still in the gold embroidered tunic and white linen pants, and a pair of gold slippers on his feet, he found himself facing all three of his husbands. They all looked at him in awe and none of them spoke. Elian smiled softly at each of them and walked past them towards the bedroom door.

“El?” Corbin said out, his voice hoarse. “Can I—can I touch your belly?”

Elian turned to look at him and smiled wider. “Of course you can, Corbin. They’re your children as well. Your daughters.”

He stood still as Corbin slowly approached him, reaching out a hand and placing his palm on Elian’s distended belly. They both gasped as they felt movement from within. Elian’s eyes flew up to Corbin’s face and he sniffled when he saw the tears filling the other man’s eyes. He could almost taste the awe and wonder reverberating through Corbin’s broad frame and echoing within his own body. He turned his head and held out a hand towards Nevin and Gaige. He watched as they rushed to his side, placing their hands on his belly as well. Tense amazement held them all frozen as they waited for the three unborn girls to move once again, chuckling softly and exclaiming when they finally did.

“It’s amazing,” Nevin breathed, and Elian nodded his head in agreement. He looked over at Gaige when he felt the other man’s hand trembling on his stomach. Gaige was crying, his shoulders shaking as silent tears rolled down his face. Touched by his husband’s display of emotion, Elian opened his arms and pressed Gaige’s face to his body when he fell to his knees and wrapped his arms tightly around Elian’s waist.

Elian looked up at Corbin and Nevin, wondering what their reactions would be at Gaige’s actions and he was happy to see they both were smiling wetly at him, tears flowing down their cheeks. Elian held out an arm and sighed in relief when both men joined Gaige on their knees, pressing their faces against different parts of Elian’s frame. He was glad that both Nevin and Gaige had their arms around his back, else he would have toppled over from the force of all three men pressing against him. He could only hope that Nevin and Corbin’s acceptance of Gaige’s emotions towards their children meant they could forgive him for his deceptions. Especially since they needed to work together to figure out how to handle not only Gaige’s heritage but also the fact that Elian now looked months along when he was only days.

And why was that? Why had Andalusia sped up his pregnancy? Was there a reason for it? And if so, what was the reason?

There are many Kardalusians you must bring into this world, my dear Elian. Your pregnancies will not be the same length as other coraçãos. This is the way I have created you. My ways are infallible and all will be revealed.

Andalusia’s words sounded loud throughout the room, and Elian felt his husbands all tense at the deity’s proclamation. Elian could only tremble at the prophecy. What could possibly be on the horizon that it was important for Elian to give birth to a lot of Kardalusians a lot quicker than others?

The fear that gripped his heart caused Elian to gasp and he shoved away the memory of his nightmare. That was something he could worry about later. Besides, it was only a dream, and dreams rarely came true.

“We need to talk about Gaige, Zevinxians, our children, and this pregnancy,” he said quietly. He looked down as each of his husbands leaned back to look up at him. “And we need to do it fairly quickly. I feel as if something—or rather someone—is coming and we need to be ready.”

Waiting for each man to nod at him, Elian smiled and stepped back. “And there’s no time like the present.”

Chapter Sixteen

Gaige

G
AIGE
followed Elian, Nevin, and Corbin down to the library, dread making each step heavier than the next. What did Elian have in mind for this talk? Would he suggest that Gaige continue to hide his heritage? Would he suggest that Gaige be thrown in jail? Thoughts ran rampant in his mind and Gaige could feel panic tighten his chest, causing his breath to come out shallowly. This was what he’d always been afraid of, that moment when he had to face the fact that he was a part of a detested group of people, not by choice but by birth. That he’d kept such a thing a secret from his husbands had always weighed heavily on his mind, and though he’d wanted to confess many times, he’d hesitated, not wanting to lose any of them.

As they stepped into the library, nodding at the two guards who stood posted outside of the doors, Gaige felt a hot shiver shoot through his body. He walked over to the mantle of the fireplace and turned to face the others. He watched as they each took a seat, Elian smiling up at Nevin as the older man helped him onto the chaise lounge. He waited for one of them to speak, but they merely stared at him. Realizing that they were waiting for him to give them some sort of explanation, Gaige sighed and turned to look up at the painting above the mantle of Kardalas at nighttime.

“When I was a young boy I was told repeatedly that as a Zevinxian, there would be those who would fear me, those who wouldn’t understand who I was, or my power. I was told that if I were ever away from our community that I may have to hide who I really was. As a teenager, a shaman received a prophecy and told me that I was created, called if you will, to marry into the Royal Marriage Group. I didn’t truly believe him until I met you and Corbin, Nevin,” he said before turning back to look at them.

“I brought up Zevinxians to you both once, if you recall, and the disdain you showed for my people, for me, filled me with icy fear. I was afraid to reveal my true self to you, while at the same time wanting to do nothing more than to share all with you. The problem was I was already half in love with you by that point and I didn’t want to lose you. Either of you. So I kept that part of myself secret. This is not something I chose. If I had a choice, if any of us had a choice, do you think we would choose to be something so despised and detested by so many people? Why would anyone choose to be persecuted, offended, disparaged, or hunted? Not even for sympathy or to be a martyr would I ever choose something like this.”

Shaking his head, Gaige began to pace. “And so I kept the truth to myself. Made a promise that I would never use magic before you, never show my true nature to you, and I rarely thought of the fact that I was Zevinxian when I was with you. But in those times when I was alone…”

Gaige paused, wracking his mind on what to say that would get his point across to them. They weren’t looking at him with judgment or anger, though he'd expected to see both on their faces. They were staring at him with sympathy, compassion, and no small measure of curiosity. He looked down at his feet, shod in a pair of green slippers to match the green tunic he wore. Looking up into Elian’s eyes, he saw the younger man looking at him with caring and steeled his nerves to finish.

“When you were alone?” Corbin asked, prodding him to continue.

Gaige nodded. “In those rare moments when I was alone, all I could do was think of the fact that I was Zevinxian. Think of the way I was deceiving you by not sharing something so important. But I would always justify it. Tell myself that to do so would cause the both of you to look bad before the people. Tell myself that my being Zevinxian didn’t make up the sum total of my identity. It’s only a small part of who I am. I was so afraid. Afraid of being incarcerated, killed…” He took in a quick breath as the foundation of his fears slammed into him and he choked on a sob. “I was afraid of losing you after falling in love with you.”