A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing-Chapter 603 - The Obsidian Vow

Erik and Elora's lips quickly parted again. "You'll protect me, right?" Erik asked Elora wryly, without acknowledging the voice just yet.

"Oooh, very daring of you to ignore me, boy," the voice responded in a cold tone that sent shivers down Erik's back. He felt their surroundings tremble as if the aetherium present there was aching for the moment this voice commanded them to rip Erik apart.

Still in his arms, Elora giggled at Erik's wry expression, "Hehe, don't worry, my love. She won't touch a hair on your head." She glanced at the voice's origin, smiling joyfully. "Right, Mom?"

There, just a few meters away, next to a tree, stood a beautiful, mature, but short woman. Her hands were resting on her hips, framed by her long crimson hair, and her equally crimson eyes were narrowed in apparent annoyance. Erik easily recognized her as the first person he'd seen when arriving on Söl: Elora's mother, Morganae.

"Hmpf," Morganae snorted, before spreading her arms wide and, surprisingly, pouting her lips. "Not unless he continues to prevent me from hugging my beloved daughter, I won't! But he's on thin ice!"

Elora glanced playfully at Erik. "Hehe, I think she might be serious about this one…. You'd better let me go for now."

"Let you?!" Morganae exclaimed indignantly, but before she could continue, Erik had already given his partner a quick peck on the lips before releasing her, and Elora quickly flew into her mother's arms. Her own crimson hair fluttered in the wind as her emerald eyes sparkled with joy at seeing her mother again.

"Let it go, Mom!" she giggled as she wrapped her arms around the powerful fairy with a warm smile. "I know you wanted me to make him a slave, but this works for me!"

"I still think you could be a little more forceful with him…" Morganae muttered, but her voice had lost much of its previous edge as she now smiled warmly as well. Her arms quickly wrapped around her daughter's body, sighing contently as she squeezed.

'Is she trying to merge with her, or what…?' Erik grumbled from a few steps away, arms casually crossed in front of his chest. He didn't really care for Morganae, even though he'd only met her once before… mostly because she'd threatened to use Erik as a lab rat back then. Still, he wasn't about to interrupt their reunion, and was content to wait patiently.

"I've missed you, Mom," Elora sighed contently as she enjoyed being back in Morganae's arms. "We've never been apart for three whole years before!"

"I've missed you too, little Wisp," Morganae chuckled gently, before then raising an eyebrow and glancing at Erik with a hint of hostility from behind her daughter. "You know I can always convince the other elders to let you come back if you just drop this strange notion of an equal partnership…"

Aetherium danced around Morganae's fingers, and Erik felt the air around him tremble even as the older fairy remained in a hug with her daughter.

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"I can hold him down for you…" she suggested with just a hint of malice. "Maybe even soften his soul a little so you can change your bond into something that makes him a little more pliable…?"

Erik's eyebrows twitched, but he didn't flinch, and stared into Morganae's eyes with unremitting defiance. Suddenly, pressure started building up behind his eyes. A headache ensued as he felt the mental power of someone far, far stronger than him bearing down on his mind.

Still, he didn't react. Pain wracked his mind as his thoughts slowly started to swim, but he was no longer the inexperienced, weaker-minded boy from three years ago.

Even if she'd promised to never plan without him anymore, Elora's schemes and manipulations over the last three years had still forged him into a prideful man with a steel will, and he refused to crumble from a mere look.

A hint of reluctant appreciation glanced through her eyes, but she didn't relent until Elora's playful giggle next to her ear disrupted her focus. "Hehe, stop it, Mom! You'll melt his brain before he breaks, and I still love him! You don't want me to hate you, right?"

Morganae's focus immediately shifted from Erik back to Elora. With wide eyes, she finally broke the hug and looked at her daughter with shock. "Love him?! Hate me?! You'd go so far?! You didn't mention anything about this last time we spoke!"

Although Elora and her parents hadn't seen each other since Elora was banished for breaking with tradition by not enslaving her protector, they'd still kept in communication through powerful, undetectable sigils. Such an expense was minor to them, when compared to being able to talk with their daughter.

"A lot's changed lately, Mom," Elorate pouted, already missing her mother's arms again. But then she smiled again. "But before we get to that, how's dad?"

Morganae, completely unwilling to upset her daughter, sighed in resignation. "He's fine, little Whisp. He wanted to come, but you know it's a lot harder for the both of us to sneak out than it is for just me."

Suddenly, Elora smiled awkwardly. Chuckling, as she scratched he spot just under her nose. "Y— Yeah, about that…"

Morganae immediately narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Yes…? Suddenly, I'm reminded of the fact that I still don't know why you wanted to take the risk of meeting here… What are you planning, Elora?"

Elora coughed a little, fidgeting from one foot to the other. She took a moment to find the right words, but then decided to simply blurt it out, a determined look in her eyes. "I want to perform the Obsidian Vow!"

Morganae's eyes widened again. "You what?!" she exclaimed, a little louder than she'd intended. Instantly realizing her mistake, she waved her hand and created a wave of aetherium to isolate their area from sound, just before her exclamation could travel too far.

Now insulated, she looked back at her daughter in disbelief. "With him?!" she cried out, pointing accusingly at Erik, who wisely intended to stay out of this, rather than make things more difficult.

Rolling her eyes, Elora pouted. "No, with one of the other men I brought with me today… Yes with him! I love him, Mom, and I want to enshrine that fact according to our traditions!"

"Pah!" Morganae snarled angrily. "So you're just going to pick and choose what traditions to follow?!"

At this point, it was Elora's time to narrow her eyes angrily. "You did he same with Dad, so what's the issue?! Do you care more about tradition than me now?!"

Morganae flinched, seemingly having received a deadly blow. "Wha— No! Of course not… I just… I love your father, but when I performed the Obsidian Vow with him, he knew his place, as he still does! He's a good boy, but that unworthy cur," she pointed at Erik again, "still thinks he's your equal, because you refuse to show him his place!"

Erik's anger rose significantly, but he trusted Elora to put her mother straight, and so she did.

Elora's emerald eyes burned with anger. "I can damn well decide for myself who'se my equal and who isn't, Mom!" she snarled furiously. "Your relationship with Dad may work for the two of you, but that's not what I want!"

She flew over to Erik and hugged him from behind in a possessive gesture. "This is what I want! So you can either get onboard, or we're leaving!"