Hello and Happy Holidays! Thanks so much to Colbie Dunbar for letting me join you all for your holiday celebrations on the 2022 MPreg Advent Calendar! If you're wondering how I came to be on this list since I haven't released any Mpreg titles yet, I am venturing into Mpreg in 2023! Please be gentle with me as I learn the ins and outs of the niche.
Today's advent offering is a bonus scene from Tower of Lies, Farbonnur Elves book 4. This is a cute little bonus scene that would fit between the bonding ceremony but before the epilogue. Our characters are Davri, Alvarick's (centuries) older brother, and his true bond, Llawani. This second chance romance between a bratty king and his sassy servant came to a happy-for-now ending in Tower of Lies, and this scene is more of that! There's no Mpreg, but this bonus scene has lots of feels!
Without further ado, here we go!
Ghost of Yule
by Edie Montreux
After their bonding ceremony in the Circle of Light, Davri led Llawani to their bed in the tower pinnacle. He barred the entrance from the stair. Only his brother and his bondmate held enough power to break through it, but they were in the tower basement fulfilling the goddess's orders.
Davri had ignored his mother's demands before, to the detriment of his entire tower, and that had left him dead and locked in the realm of dreams for two centuries. No. Ignoring Mother wasn't an option, especially when the task was so pleasurable. "Strengthen your bonds," she'd said. He had every intention of doing so.
Llawani's thoughts still raced to him through their bond, aided by the veritasium in his system. The drug allowed thoughts to pass freely through their mental shields. Llawani no longer had the aid of the drug. Davri's brother Alvari had showed him how to pull power from the Circle of light itself, giving Llawani the same amount of power he held as empiri, head of his tower. Before the power exchange, Llawani had been the second weakest in Davri's tower, and had only drunk a tiny portion of veritasium. Now, his power matched Davri's, proving that bonding for love was much more effective at increasing the tower's overall power.
Lawani brought their clasped hands to his lips and let him go. I need water.
I'm thirsty for you. Davri didn't care how ridiculous he sounded.
Llawani's grin was worth it. Llawani handed him a second glass he'd filled from the pitcher on the low glass table. The table and the room had been Davri's mother's. Her giant glass and steel throne took up one side, while her huge diamond-shaped bed took up most of the corner opposite. Mother had moved Llawani's bed to the pinnacle when she had lain dying. Now, it was their raft on a sea of change.
Davri took a drink, and the cool water calmed his nerves. Why was he now more nervous to spend time with Llawani than he had been in the Circle of Light? This seemed even more intimate than their bonding ceremony. Without the watchful eyes of his council and his tower, Davri felt scared and alone.
You're never alone. I'm here with you, Llawani reminded him. You're right, my veritasium is gone, but I can still hear your every thought. Our true bond has already worked its way into our consciousnesses. I am yours, and you are mine. We will never be alone in the world again.
Davri sensed the deep ache of loneliness he'd caused Llawani when he'd died and descended into the realm of dreams to await his brother's arrival. It had taken two centuries, during which Llawani had been alone and the lowest servant in his tower.
It wasn't like that, Llawani reminded him. Valorias changed the rules immediately, and then kept me by her side in the pinnacle most days. I was lonely, but I catered to your mother only.
"Are you done with this?" Llawani asked, reaching for the half-empty glass.
Davri shook his head and swallowed the rest before handing it over.
Llawani grinned. "Lie back. You need to stop worrying."
The usual fear gripped Davri again. He'd almost chosen a worse fate than death by bonding his brother instead. Alvari already didn't trust him. If he'd forced a bonding ceremony between them, Alvari probably would have killed him, or gotten them all killed when it came time to battle the blood demon. Nothing was guaranteed, but here, now, in the privacy of Llawani's canopy bed, Davri was both elated by and afraid of his choice.
"You're afraid of me?" Llawani asked, pushing against his chest until he lay back in the middle of the bed, his head among the thick pillows he'd transferred from his own room. Llawani preferred to sleep without one. His hair was springy enough to give him some cushion. Davri's was longer, but he still loved his fluffy pillows.
"You really think your hair is longer than mine." Llawani pulled a strand of his own hair, and Davri squawked when Llawani pulled a single platinum strand from his head.
"That hurt!"
"It'll grow back," Llawani chided. "Watch." Llawani lined them up, Davri's circular strand and Llawani's flattened one, and pinched them together, pulling them taut. When he got to the end of Davri's, Llawani still had two thumb-spans of his curly strand left over, even though a moment before, Davri would have sworn his hair was longer by at least six spans.
"The curl hides the length."
Davri caressed Llawani's cheek and pulled him in for a quick kiss. "It's gorgeous, like you."
Llawani rolled his eyes at the compliment, choosing not to believe him even though the truth was coursing through their bond. He snapped his fingers, and the two strands wove themselves into a delicate bracelet. Llawani wrapped it around Davri's wrist and snapped again, weaving the two ends together into one continuous band.
"Happy Yule, my empiri." He gazed at Davri with more love than he deserved.
"Tell me a ghost story," Davri whispered.
"A ghost story?" Llawani grinned. "Didn't you get enough of those talking to actual ghosts in the realm of dreams?"
Davri closed his eyes against the pang of regret. His father had been the only soul to whom he'd wanted to speak, but he hadn't come. Now, Father had returned to the realm of the living, and all Davri had gotten was a brief hug and a quick, "We'll talk later." How much later? He hoped it was before the blood demon rose.
"I'm sorry he didn't speak to you," Llawani said.
"If I hadn't spoken to him through the doorway in the lubariq hives, I would think he was avoiding me." Davri sighed. "We'll talk when he is ready."
"You sound more like a reasonable adult every day." Llawani grinned. "I suppose that calls for a reward. You asked for a ghost story, so you will get one."
Davri turned to face Llawani and dug his arm under the covers, coming up to rest against the back of Llawani's head. His curls were so soft and smelled lightly of veritasia shampoo. The tiny flowers grew in the darkness of the lubariq hives and could be harvested to make several useful products, including the truth serum they used for rituals.
Davri resisted the urge to burrow against Llawani's side. He wanted to watch the expressions dancing across his face as he spoke.
"A century ago, we held another Yule festival," Llawani began.
Davri opened his mouth to protest this wasn't a ghost story, but Llawani stopped him with a warm finger against his lips.
"Your mother said I could stay with your body in the pinnacle, but she needed to attend."
Through their bond, Davri saw his lifeless body suspended in a coffin of glass. The coffin had been on the opposite side of the spiral staircase from where Llawani's bed now stood. Davri shivered at Llawani's memory of cold glass and the motionless body within.
"She knew of that night's rituals in Dovington and wanted to protect the Circle of Light." Llawani laughed. "I believed her, though it's obvious now she wanted only to leave me alone with you. Though it was the middle of the day, I fell asleep, and she sent me the dream of what it would take to restore you to your body."
Davri had heard the short version of the tale at the bounty harvest. They'd performed a sex ritual, one Davri didn't remember and Llawani would never forget. According to Llawani, it was the stuff of nightmares, something he'd never wish his bondmate to associate with sex.
"Anyway." Llawani shook his shoulders. "When I woke up, you had the sweetest smile on your face. There. Like that."
Davri couldn't help it. Every time he saw the light dance in Llawani's eyes as he gestured with his hands, even as he lay on his side, Davri was mesmerized.
"When Valorias returned, I took my eyes off you to tell her what had happened. It was only for the slightest moment, but your little smile disappeared as though it had never happened. She said she believed me, but I no longer believed myself. I assumed I'd made it all up."
Davri brushed a stray curl from Llawani's cheek, but when he tried to pull Llawani to him for a kiss, Llawani stopped him with both hands on his chest.
"I saw it today, in your memories." Llawani's violet eyes looked a shade darker than the central concentric ring in his tattoo. Under the glow of their Celastian steel heaters, they seemed to glow, or maybe that was a side effect of the veritasium.
"Saw what?" Davri had so many memories swirling in his head. He hadn't spent much time reminiscing while leading the ritual and making sure all his tower elves made it into and out of the Circle of Light without incident.
"Your spirit was here with me during the last Yule eclipse. Valorias had told you to come to your body while the portal was open, so you came."
Oh. That memory. Davri nodded when his throat closed around his emotions, and he caressed Llawani's cheek again.
"You were asleep for most of it," Davri croaked when his vocal cords would work again. "When you woke up, you reeled from a wave of grief. If I could have found a way into my body to ease your suffering, I would have."
"You did." Llawani's solemn gaze sent shivers racing up Davri's spine.
"I remember feeling completely drained and helpless, and then I returned to the realm of dreams."
"You smiled at me to tell me everything would be all right. When the time came to return you to your body two moons ago, you found your way inside again after I was certain it was too late, and we'd lost you."
A solitary tear slid down Llawani's cheek to dampen the coverlet beneath them.
"You grinned at me the way you had the first time I stepped foot into this tower, as though you had a secret and if I was good enough, you'd share." Llawani leaned forward and kissed him, then, a chaste brush of lips against his. "Except I could hear your secret in my head already. That's how long our bond has been set."
"What secret?" Davri remembered first meeting Llawani, and the chime of music that radiated from the ornamental dragon c*k ring he'd displayed on his dresser at the time. His father had given it to him as a present for his future bondmate, and it was now a part of Llawani's armor.
"You couldn't believe how lucky you were to meet me." Llawani sighed. "Except I arrived at the tower with my little brother, and while I'd dreamed of you, I wasn't sure if you'd meant that thought for him or for me. When you chose to bond with him instead, I questioned every thought of yours I'd ever heard."
"And now?"
Llawani kissed him again, for real this time, stealing his breath and warming him up. "Now I know you're mine. You've always been mine. No blood mage could tear us apart, though Gerlix tried. No demon will, either."
Llawani ravished his mouth, and Davri had just enough warning to toss his waist-length platinum hair above his head before Llawani shoved him onto his back and took control.
Llawani tugged Davri's hands above his head and held him there while they reacquainted themselves with each other. Davri would never get enough of Llawani's attention, and the words through their bond melted his fears away.
You are no longer my ghost of Yule. Now, you are the best Yule present I've ever received, and from the goddess herself.
Speaking of presents, you gave me this bracelet. I want to give something to you in return.
Llawani raised up on his elbows and stared down on him with blown pupils. His lips still shone from their kiss, and his hair fell over his shoulder in a tangle.
"You have given me everything I've ever wanted," Llawani said.
"We could tattoo rings on our fingers," Davri suggested. He'd overheard some of his council elves discussing that with their bondmates.
"Tacky."
"I could craft something for you from Celastian steel."
Llawani shook his head. "I'm already wearing your dragon. Isn't that enough?"
"I could bake you a berry tart in the kitchen."
Llawani laughed. "You mean you'd have Huli bake it for me, though if the alternative is letting you bake it, I'd prefer Huli."
Davri scowled in mock outrage until they both dissolved into giggles. "All right, I'm at a loss. What would you have me do?"
"Let me f*k the veritasium from your system, Your Grace." Llawani's hands were back around Davri's wrists, holding him down while he ravished his mouth once more. Davri's body responded the way it always did to Llawani's touch, too much, too fast.
It's perfect. It's the way it's always been between us.
Davri had never been more grateful to have a living body before in his nine centuries. He hoped they had at least nine more centuries together to make up for all the time they'd lost.
Are you new to the Farbonnur Elves and intrigued about Davri's death, the rituals to bring him back, and all the problems he heaped on our main characters when he was corrupted by a blood mage? Start reading the Farbonnur Elves series on Amazon today! Happy for Now endings for each book, and a satisfying Happily Ever After (for everyone, I promise) at the end!
Don't forget to read the rest of the 2022 Mpreg Advent Calendar offerings! There are new postings each day!
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