Chapter 76: Champion, Chapter 10: Remembering the Names Passed Down

Aidan

The Realms

Secondday, 1st week of the 9th month, Age of the Chosen 1

Early Morning

The Lord's Chambers, Caer Macht, Mistvale Highlands

Aidan swam back to consciousness in a messy tangle of feminine limbs. He had turned around in the night, so Brighid's right arm, looped under and behind his head, pulled him into her cleavage, while her left rested between his lower back and Sunnild's belly. Sunnild, meanwhile, was plastered to his back with one leg hooked over his thigh, hands on his chest and hip, and wings cradling both him and Brighid. She was awake already—Aidan could feel her fingers stroking in aimless patterns across his skin and her lips brushing across his shoulders and back in feather-light kisses. He would have to get up soon to empty his bladder and start the day, but he could spare her a little more time. He opened the prompts that he sidelined during the previous night's activities.

That last message shook him. He didn't want or need anyone but Brighid, but what did he expect after the story they heard last night? Of fucking course you made her fall in love with you, asshole! She's lived a life of constant mistreatment and misunderstanding, cut off from any form of love. Then what do you do? You defend her to her bullies, flirt with her, comfort her, sweep her off her feet—literally!—bring her to bed, and make her first time special. Fuck!

He must have shown a hint of his agitation because Sunnild stilled. "Are ya angry with me?" She asked in a small voice.

Aidan sighed. "No. It's you who should be angry with me."

The hand on his chest resumed its caresses. "Why?"

"Because..." Fuck, what do I say to her? I don't want to break her heart, especially with all the pain she's already lived through, but it would be cruel to lead her on. "Because last night... yesterday, I..." He sighed again. Better to rip off the bandage. But she beat him to the punch.

"Ya were takin' advantage of the situation between me and Ecgwena, yah? Ya saw a weakness in our team and capitalized on it. And then when ya brought me in here—that was all Brighid's idea, yah? I remember what she said ta ya."

"Was I that transparent?"

"Nah." Sunnild's head shook against his back. "Been thinkin' about it fer a couple of hours now." She kissed his shoulderblade. "There is nothin' fer me ta get mad at in that, ya know? Yer a Lord; if ya don’t use yer enemies' weaknesses against em, ya won’t be a Lord long."

"We're not—"

"Not allies, so ya should treat us as enemies." Sunnild cut off his protest. "Ya think the Sisterhood won’t wring ya fer every advantage they can get? Besides, that isn’t the only reason ya picked me, is it?"

"No," Aidan admitted. "Seeing the others treat you like that made me angry. I wanted to punish them and reward you."

"Mm. And reward me ya did," Sunnild giggled. "And why should I be angry that last night was yer lady's idea? I am grateful to her, not mad at ya."

"Because Aidan thinks he does not deserve the love of multiple women," Brighid murmured from above Aidan's head.

"That's not—" he started to respond, but Brighid cut him off at the legs.

"Be honest, my love. You do not even think you deserve me, do you?"

"I don't!" Pent-up emotions flooded out of Aidan. "What have I done for you, for your people? I brought you to war with an entity powerful enough to wipe out the region, led a suicidal frontal attack on a fortified position, got Cai and Anwn's wolves killed, and got all of you raped. The Taig warned me, Brighid! It told me what it was going to do to you! It told me it would take you from me, but I didn't listen; I thought it was just a nightmare. Half of the Starchaser warriors are dead because of me! Now you all have to move here, into a city known for its inhabitants vanishing without a trace, because it's your only hope for survival! And worst of all, I'm an imposter! I'm not a Lord, I'm a wage slave. I've never been responsible for anyone else in my entire life, but now I'm the only thing standing between you all and annihilation! Seven hundred peoples' lives depend on my choices, and here I am, luring the first pretty, vulnerable young girl I see in this whole fucking world into my bed for a single night of fun instead of making a treaty to strengthen my position." He broke down, tears spilling from his eyes to trickle between Brighid's breasts.

"Aidan..." "Lord Aidan..."

Two pairs of arms encircled him, burying him between two warm, soft bodies. Two pairs of lips rained kisses down on him while two pairs of hands stroked his sides and chest with tender care. "I wondered when this would happen," Brighid murmured to him. "You did not cry after what the Taig did to us. I saw your reactions; I know how much it hurt you. I watched your face when Anwn brought you to the wolves' graves. I was there with you when you asked Fionn for a list of the dead. I was the one who persuaded you not to visit their families, remember?" A hand started to stroke his hair; Aidan didn't know if it was Brighid's or Sunnild's. "None of that was your fault, my love. I know you do not believe me yet, but let me tell you what would have happened without you.

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"The wards would have fallen without warning. By the time the tribe's warriors gathered, the manikins would have been to the village. If you think the Battle of Ceallach Macht was bad, imagine if the Taig had hundreds of noncombatants to kill and reanimate in a surprise attack. And we would not have won that battle; we would not even have known what was attacking us, because it was you who saw the Taig and brought the news back. You were the one who found the Deathbramble Heart and identified it as the Wildlord's weakness. Without you, we would have been helpless before it. And not just us, either; do you think it would stop at our little village? It would have spread like a plague across all the Wildlands, Aidan. That's what Tainted Wildlords do." She squeezed him extra tight. "Aidan, none of what happened is your fault. Yes, we were hurt—your team and the tribe. But the difference between hurt and worse than dead? You were that difference, my love. Let go of your guilt, Aidan. I absolve you." A fresh batch of tears burst from Aidan's eyes and sobs wracked his body as he clung to his Soulmate like a shipwrecked sailor clinging to driftwood. The women weren't done with him, however.

"That name ya called me last night? Little dove? The sisters call me that ta make fun of me. Doves are the sign of peace, yah? And my feathers are dove-gray. My mum was always so proud of that, but the sisters, they made it a weapon against me—knowing that I would not fight back. They turned my mum's name fer me inta a curse. But you, Aidan? And ya too, Brighid. When ya called me that, it made me happy." She giggled and kissed the nape of Aidan's neck. "Well, that and what ya were doin' ta me." Another kiss. "As fer takin' advantage of this vulnerable little dove?"

Sunnild's wings lifted off of their bodies. The harpy spoke a word of magic, and when her feathers settled onto them again, they were cold, hard metal. "I kin defend myself. I told ya that last night; it was no empty boast when I said I kin beat any sister my age sparring with steel. Of course, I use starmetal, not steel." She sounded smug. "Cuts through almost anything and is resistant to magic. I have to dull the edges like I am now to spar; when I fight, they are as sharp as a brand-new knife. If ya killed a Wildlord, ya could have beaten me, too, but I would not have made it easy on ya. And as fer emotional vulnerability..." A hand smacked him on the hip. "That is fer actin' like I was under some kinda spell. Neither of ya tricked me or exploited me. Ya did not lure me in with false promises. Yah, sure, I jumped inta bed with ya after two hours of knowin' ya, but..." she grabbed his hand and brought it to her bare thigh, "harpy," then tapped his hip, "willin' man I had permission ta sleep with. That is all it takes fer us. If ya went to wherever ya set the sisters up and dropped yer pants, they would be all over ya too—even Ecgwena.

"And besides all that," Sunnild continued, "ya just gave me a whole buncha leverage ta hold over yer head. The Sisterhood doesn’t know how bad the casualties were fer the Starchasers. No need ta worry," she soothed when she felt Aidan and Brighid stiffen, "I won’t tattle on ya. I won’t even blackmail ya with it. That would be taking advantage of emotional vulnerability. I will keep yer secret, Lord Aidan, Lady Brighid, not because I love ya both but because it is right. And mebbe, knowing that I am keeping that secret fer ya, I kin come back and visit some, yah?" Sunnild kept up a chipper tone through most of her speech, but her voice cracked at the end. Aidan could feel splashes of wetness drip onto his shoulder. Something swelled and untwisted inside him, and he realized that he had lost, and Brighid had won. If this was what she wanted, Aidan would give it a try. He had to admit that his little dove—just the endearment made him want to wrap his arms around her, now that he knew its meaning to her—was already starting to worm her way into his heart.

"No," he refused, turning onto his back and pulling Sunnild on top of him. Pain flashed in her blue-gray eyes. "You don't visit your home." Confusion replaced the hurt, then her eyes widened, and Sunnild stiffened in his arms.

"Ya mean...?" Hope lit her face like a beacon. "I kin stay? Here, with both of ya? Yes, yes, a thousand yesses squared!" Sunnild kissed Aidan hard, mashing her lips against his and forcing her tongue into his mouth as she squirmed like an excited puppy on top of him.

Aidan laughed and fended off his excited lover. "Hey, hey, there's time for that later. I don't want to mislead you, Sunnild. I like you, but I don't know you—and you don't know me. I'm not offering to have you move in here with Brighid and me, not right away. That's one way this could end up, but all I'm promising, for now, is to make you a citizen of Ceallach Macht and set you up with a room of your own here in the citadel. We can see how things progress from there."

Sunnild sat up and nodded. "I understand, Lord Aidan—"

"Please call me Aidan, at least when we're in private. You've earned that right, at least."

"Mm! I understand, Aidan," she savored the name, "but does this mean, well," she blushed and looked down, "um, can I still..."

Aidan chuckled and took pity on her. "Not every night or even most nights. But yes, I imagine that you'll wriggle your way into our bed again."

"And again, and again," Brighid promised with a laugh in her voice, then pulled Sunnild into a tender kiss. "And maybe sometimes one of us will visit you in your nest for a change. In fact, with my Lord's permission..." She trailed off while she waited for Aidan's response.

"I love you and trust you, flame of my heart. If you want to spend tonight getting to know Sunnild better, you have my permission."

Brighid's smile lit up the room, and she leaned down to kiss him. "You knew exactly what I was going to ask!" She turned back and gave Sunnild another kiss. "We will both be busy this morning—I have work to do, and you will need to be with your people. But I would love your company this evening; I will bring some food and help you settle in. And tonight, well? I may be feeling a little wound up still."

Sunnild blinked, then scarlet bloomed on her cheeks as her eyes widened. "Oh! Oh! Oh, I am so sorry! I just—and you—and then I made you—"

Brighid smiled and placed a finger against Sunnild's lips. "Last night was for you, little dove. I am not complaining. I told you that anticipation makes it sweeter, remember?"

"Mm!" Sunnild agreed, pressing her lips to Brighid's finger in a kiss. "But I will pay ya back anyway! Ya made me feel so good and I left ya high and dry."

"Oh, I assure you, dry was not the problem," Brighid snickered. Sunnild giggled along with her. Aidan just shook his head and smirked at his lady.

"Oh, sure, you hit me when I drop a pun, but I'm supposed to laugh along with you when you do it," he teased her. "But yeah, that's a good idea. In fact, I suggest we make it a regular thing: date nights, both in pairs and as a group. If whatever we're headed towards is going to work in the long term, all three sides of the triangle have to be healthy."

Sunnild gave a sharp nod. "Mm! That makes perfect sense! And," she blushed, "I like ya both, want ya both, anyway." She ducked her head.

"Good!" Aidan smiled at the ladies. "Now that that's settled, I really need to go to the bathroom and then take a bath. Anyone care to join me in the latter?"

"Yes, Sir!" "Mm!"

"Then why don't you two go on down to the bathing chamber; I'll join when I've relieved myself." Aidan waited for the girls to leave before closing his eyes and letting the tears trickle from the corners of his eyes.

"Doirin. Mairead. Solamh. Lachlann. Catriona. Micheil. Caitir. Moire. Seonag..." Aidan recited from the list of names engraved into his soul.

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