Page 29 of Light Fae's Love
As the two men stand with their foreheads touching, I feel a deep peace move between Lucca and Quinn. It’s so strong, I set a hand to my heart as it moves through me, broad and lovely as the endless summer sky. Quinn and Lucca still share a deep connection, almost deeper than the bond of our trio, as I realize Quinn felt Lucca leave the palace and come here.
Even as I wonder how Quinn knows this place, however, he cocks an eyebrow and chuckles, moving to me and taking up my hands.
“This was my Livingtree before it was Lucca’s, Ariana. It has long been a secret place between us. A Livingtree raised by the Incendari family, it had been forgotten when Lucca and I discovered it in our teens, before I was turned Vampire. A lost relic of elder times, we restored it together so we could come here to be alone. Away from the eyes of the Court.”
“So neither of you would be punished for your love.” I blink, understanding.
“Our fathers didn’t approve of our relationship, Ariana,” Lucca says now, as he and Quinn share a knowing look. “They were warlords and didn’t tolerate our bisexuality, though it’s common among the Fae. They wanted us to have heirs, and didn’t want our primary chosen lover to be male.”
It’s a complex look Quinn and Lucca share, borne of too many centuries and too much hardship between them. It still holds their love, however, as I feel their emotions flow through me now from our bond. With a deep sigh and a smile, Quinn looks back at me, squeezing my hands.
“We should talk about what comes next, now that our Revenant demonstration has been successful. Twice.” Quinn nods us up towards the massive treehouse.
“Take a moment to celebrate, Quinn!” Lucca beckons us to the ingress and we go, followed by the watchful Alleno with his wealth of knives.
I notice Alleno has said nothing about Lucca’s and Quinn’s familiarity; as we all enter the treehouse and I glance at Alleno now, he gives me a nod. It’s almost sad; as I smile back at Alleno, I realize he knows all about Lucca’s and Quinn’s centuries-old problems. Alleno is Lucca’s cousin, after all, and probably saw the whole debacle unfold long ago. He says nothing, though, as we move up the corkscrewing white wood staircase, grown right out of the heartwood of the tree, up into the vaulted reaches of the trunk.
Valorhome is just as I remember it, the ornately grown living and dining area in the main part of the trunk spiraling up to further levels through vaulted doorways of silver-white wood—up to studies and storerooms, bedrooms, and more. Grown with furniture styled from the last many centuries but done with an ornate Fae twist, I see the dining table in the main area has already been set with a meal of antipasto and wine, though delicious scents issue from deep below the tree’s roots, down where the kitchens are.
As Alleno peels away, trotting down a staircase that burrows into the trunk to tend the meal he’s cooking, Lucca beckons to the spread upon the table. The red wine is already open, and he pours three glasses.
He hands them around in a toast, shaking his head at Quinn.
“To insanity,” Lucca says with a soft smile now. “Because I don’t know how you dreamt up that scheme today, and how it could work in our favor. But it did.”
“Not entirely,” Quinn says, as we clink glasses and sip. “I didn’t know the Revenant we captured was quite that strong, nor so unique. If you had asked me, I might have thought she was Dark Fae, demonstrating power like that when she was returned.”
“Iris.” I think back over everything that happened at the palace. “Her aura was tremendous… full of rainbows. Was she once a Summer Fae? Do you think she’s the goddess Iris that humans talk about in Greek lore?”
“I’m fairly certain she was.” Quinn glances at me, smiling now with intrigue. “Even Fae and Vampires talk about long-lost members of our kind, who had tremendous powers and achieved notoriety. The Iris legend I’ve heard concerned a powerful and rare kind of Fae called a Luminari Fae who was once turned Vampire but kept the full powers of both Lineages. She was so beautiful and luminous that she was considered a Dark Angelic.”
“Because Vampires and Fae are originally descended from the Ascendant Archangels.” I understand as we take seats at the table, with Lucca at the head and Quinn across from me. As Quinn serves our plates with antipasto and cured items, I continue. “Why was she classified as a Dark Angelic rather than a Dark Fae, though?”
“The lines between Angelics, Fae, and Vampires often blur, Ariana, especially back when our ancestral powers were far stronger.” Lucca cuts in now, his gaze thoughtful as he glances at Quinn. “Once upon a time, our people did not make hard and fast distinctions between Vampire, Angel, Demon, or Fae—not like we do now. The magics were more intertwined, and the Lineages also; children were classified based on the direction their magics took and how they could be used—reveling in the Light, drawing on the Night, or some combination of both. If one was excessively powerful with a deep talent for universal magics—called etheric magic—one was considered an Angelic. Of Dark, Light, or Fallen persuasion.”
“Convoluted.” I lift an eyebrow as I dig into my meal, famished after our demonstration at the palace.
“You have no idea.” Quinn chuckles as he eats also, with an appetite nearly as hale as mine, rare for him. It’s Lucca who eats sparingly now, though he pours himself a second wine, sipping it with a long look at Quinn.
“How did you know how things would go down today, Quinn?” Lucca asks.
“I didn’t.” Quinn takes up his wine and gazes at Lucca as he sits back in his chair. “I’d think after all these years, however, I would know your tells, Lucca. You were furious these past few days at my machinations, but you weren’t mad at Ariana and would never put her in harm’s way. I gambled on that when we engaged our demonstration today. I had a feeling you would pout to piss me off and show me your dissent, but when push came to shove, you wouldn’t abandon her to your father. Or to a mad Revenant.”
“Right on all counts.” Lucca’s lips curl up in a wry smile as he takes a swig of wine. He sets it down now and pins Quinn with his deep blue eyes. “You’re wrong about one thing, however. It’s not just Ariana I couldn’t let come to harm.”
As a pause stretches between the two men now, I both see and feel their deep connection swirl between their auras. It’s as if the bright-darkness of one and the dark-brightness of the other meld, in that perfect way I saw when they fought together on the ravine-ridge all those weeks ago, against the Summer Fae Brightwatch.
As if Lucca’s and Quinn’s energies are far more than bound by their ancient promise to one another, their energies are one in a way I don’t understand. I gaze at it as a fire-bright shimmer of smoke and rainbows curls through the Livingtree. My magic isn’t in it, as I draw a deep breath, staring at them both.
Quinn and Lucca gaze at each other a moment more. I think one or the other might say something profound then; some admission of love, perhaps. But neither says anything. As the moment stretches, I can stand it no longer. I set down my wine firmly, lifting an eyebrow at Lucca, then Quinn.
“Just… fuck it out, already, you two!”
I flush hard—as I realize how my truth-telling magic just hijacked my mouth.
“Fuck it out?” Quinn gives a soft laugh, though he looks back to Lucca with tenderness in his fire-dark gaze. As Quinn and Lucca both heave a deep breath, as if steadying themselves for battle, it’s like watching an estranged married couple come to some agreement. Quinn breaks their tension as he slides a hand out, whispering his fingers over Lucca’s.
Lucca’s breath catches, his eyes shining two shades brighter.