Chapter 41: Awakening

Tranquility is being disturbed by something but Lyra is too tired to make out what or even care.

She just wants to sleep but the disturbance continues.

"Stop..." she mumbles halfheartedly.

Soft chuckling passes by her consciousness briefly causing a lazy smile to spread on her as a

response to the warm sound.

“Time to wake up now, love”

Turning she slowly squints her eyes open but blinks away the sleep a few times before focusing

on her surroundings.

"Good morning sleeping beauty.”

"Jaz?" she asks tiredly. Sleep not yet fully gone.

"Nice to see you among the living again.” he teases but with a streak of worry mixed within.

"Have I been sleeping long?"

"It's been three days since Lydoran spoke with you and before that two days passed. So five

days in total.”

"Wow..." was all she managed to say. Sudden thirst hits her from out of nowhere and the more

she thinks about it the drier and more aching it feels. It went from a dull aching to burning

within seconds only. Even a stomach ache makes itself known. Her first thought is getting

another wave of pain. Panic is dancing on the edge of her mind ready to take over. Last thing

she wants to feel is more pain and end up in a state of panic right after waking up. The tingling

feeling she felt while in her dark space is making its presence known. Thoughts like safe, warm,

loved, cared for and wanted all engulfs her mind at ones. Something soft is pressed against her

lips. A smell so sweet and enticing, it makes honey appear bitter in comparison, reaches her

senses and its origin seems to be the softness against her lips. Whatever the smell is she wants

it. Badly. Greedily she latches on to the warm softness. A short burst of pain hits her mouth but

she is so consumed with licking up the sweetness before her that all pain is being ignored.

Instincts tells her to pierce through so she listens and is rewarded as sweet liquid flows freely

into her, soothing the burning in her throat and takes away all previous aches and pains. Faintly

she becomes aware of being held tightly. A solid chest against her back.

"Feeling better now?"

Withdrawing she looks at what is in front of her for the first time. Turns out Lydoran’s arm is

what she associated as soft and his blood was what had that enticing smell. Gently she licks the

puncture wounds and the area around and chuckles lowly when her actions make him shiver.

The tingles are down to a soft buzz but it envelopes her entire being like a blanket pretty much

the same way it did before. "Much better, thank you." she mumbles. Leaning against him she

nuzzles her head between his neck and shoulder. Breathes in his scent with eyes closed. "We

don't have a normal master-child bond, do we?"

"How did you know?" he asks holding her tighter.

"The tingling feeling. How I knew if you were close to me or not. The sense of tranquility I get

the moment you are within a certain proximity to me. The list goes on but those were the most

noticeable ones."

"How do you feel when I do this?" softly he strokes her cheek with the back of his hand gently

tracing her jaw line, down her throat, stopping at the collarbone.

"Happy, elated, loved, warm..." she sums up.

"And if I do this..." without asking he captures her lips in a searing hot kiss that quickly gets

heated but he regains control and withdraws shortly after. Tot without much effort though.

"Breathless, excited, somewhat flushed...on the verge of getting horny?" Lyra fans herself with

the hand to emphasize what she more or less asked rather than stated. Cheeks slightly heated

but nowhere near her usual tomato state.

"Somehow we created a consort bond." Lydoran starts slightly bewildered by the situation and

not entirely sure on how to proceed.

"What does that mean? By the expression on your face it doesn't look all that good.” sitting up

she shifts so they face each other.

"It means we have bonded as lovers instead of family. Whatever you are feeling when I'm

around or touching you, I also feel. Very strongly too since I'm your maker and elder. And

before you ask, no, I don't regret anything. Not changing you or creating the bond. What

confuses me though is that only royals have been able to make a consort bond like this."

Lyra has been so preoccupied with Lydoran and getting answers that she failed to notice that

Jaze isn't in the room with them. She absentmindedly wonders when he left but puts it aside

for now. Other matters scream for her attention

"Maybe you can ask your maker about this?" Lyra asks timidly. Fascinated by their bond, she

lightly strokes his cheek then holds it there and hums appreciatively when he leans into the

touch. To her its s recognition. He accepts their bond wholeheartedly. Absentmindedly she

maps out his face with her finger enjoying their closeness.

"Did you know your fangs has been on display the whole time? Do you have any idea what a

turn on it is?"

"What?! How do I retract them?" Lyra feels appreciated and embarrassed at the same time.

"You want to take a look at yourself before or after I teach you how to retract and elongate

your fangs and other important things?"

When he puts it like that of course she would want to take a look before learning anything.

"Show me, show me." she eagerly demands and nearly jumps out of his lap but fortunately for

her Lydoran has a firm hold around her waist hindering her from barreling straight into a wall.

Remembering the part about increased strength and speed she makes an “oops’ expression and

laughs in a low-key embarrassed way. A stunt like that could have ended badly, for her.

"Seems like I don't have to remind you." Lydoran laughs softly. He stands up, still holding her in

his arms, and walks up to a full body mirror attached to a wall. Setting her down gently he steps

to the side.

"Oh my god!" Comes the first response. Lyra finds herself slightly chocked. Her hair has taken a

deeper shade of red making it look crimson instead of red-orangish. It also looks shinier.

Despite still having all her scars the skin is smoother and the smaller scars are almost

impossible to see. Unless knowing what to look for. Inspecting the largest ones on her back she

notices they are still there, all of them, yet more leveled with each other. She can live with

those. In fact, she is glad that they are still there because they work as a reminder what she has

lived through and how much she has gained. Something else she can live with is her body. All

the curves she has gained. Her eyes have a piercing green color and not the blue-grey she is

used to seeing. The woman staring back is her but at the same time an entirely different

person.

"Is this really me?" she asks stunned. Poking her own fangs, she shivers at the light touch but

keeps inspecting them anyway.

"I said you were beautiful, didn't 1?” Coming to stand behind her Lydoran snakes his arms

around him in a backwards hug. “You have always been beautiful.” He whispers lovingly

nuzzling her hair