"I just don't feel great about how it all went down," Silvia said into Neil's chest, and he rolled over in bed. They'd turned into lumps together for the last day, both exhausted by the use of so much magic, and she was still aching. But she had to get up and meet with the mages in less than a half an hour.

"Wren and Tala have a history, Silvi. Their companionship was strange at best, and it was only a matter of time before it went south," Neil said not unkindly as he ran his hand through her hair and pulled her closer to inhale her scent. It drove a desirous rumbling out of his throat and he nuzzled her neck but kept his teeth clenched. He couldn't bite her when she needed to be presentable to the mages.

Even so, she loved just sitting with him, pressed against his cool skin that warmed to her touch and getting lost in his gentle crimson eyes. They were so unguarded in his own chambers now that they were back in the Arc territory, and she was every bit as excited as he was to just be lying here. No one was coming for him, no one could take her away from him, and he was surrounded by people who loved and supported him.

Why did she have to get up?

"I don't get it," she said with frustration, messing up her hair as she sat up. "I know it was weird, but Wren seemed like he was comfortable in the Sol territory."

"Wren was stuck there because of his condition. Perhaps he found a means out of it with the mages," Neil suggested as he hopped out of bed and pulled on his shirt.

"I guess I'll find out when I get there," Silvia said with a sigh, turning to Neil. It took him all of a millisecond to drop his gaze to her breasts and turn an embarrassed shade of pink. "Still? They're not going anywhere," Silvia teased as Neil averted his eyes.

"You should really dress or you'll be late, Silvi," Neil said as he assembled himself way too fast for her to enjoy any of him naked. Man, he was nervous about being naked around her unless they were distracted by love making. She supposed it was fair considering he was wrought with scars as much as she was, though his were whip scars from his father.

"Fine," she conceded and went to the wardrobe.

Forest had stocked it with clothes for her well before she'd returned from this current scuffle, all in preparation for her on a day so long ago when Jesse had stolen her away instead. White had always been her favorite, and she reached for an embroidered top. Vines ran up and down it in the Copse fashion, one which she had never really had the occasion to wear, and she bounced with excitement as she looped the buttons up to her neck. She did a twirl and the tails fluttered up before she plopped down and looked to Neil, her vampire mate red ear to ear.

"You couldn't put pants on first?" Neil whispered, and she chuckled.

"Don't like my ass?" Silvia asked, and Neil let out a slow groan.

"We don't have time for me to like your ass," Neil sassed her right back, and she shrugged her shoulders with a nod of understanding. If they tumbled in the sheets now, it wouldn't take half a guess as to why she was late, at least for her Father, Tide, and Alec. She did not need those men gossiping about her.

She slipped on some underwear and pants before stretching and mentally preparing herself for mages. Vampires were so much easier to deal with. The knock came on the door as she slid on her shoes, and she hopped over to open it. Just outside, Forest waited with Damien, and she came out with Neil in tow.

Damien gave her a long hard look of assessment as she stood close to his master, and she wasn't sure if he was happy, disgusted, or frightened. Something about her and Neil really bothered him, and she supposed they'd have time to talk about it after the mage talks. Those weren't for another day though. This meeting was for the mages only in preparation for hosting the vampires.

"Are you ready?" Forest asked, dressed up in a navy haori over a white collared shirt. It was tied at his waist with a cloth band and he looked really relaxed for this being a meeting of the mages. Maybe she had dressed too fancy, but the clothes custom made for her were exciting.

"I am. Why are you going in your pajamas?" Silvia asked.

Forest laughed. "Silvia, this is just an informal meeting for preparations. There is no reason to go in dressed to the nines when people there already look at me with disapproval. My favor for the Arcs did not go unnoticed, and the mages are still sorting out what to do with me after I said I would be separating from their order for a new one. Wearing a comfortable shirt is the least of my worries."

"I guess. Well let's go not impress people. I'll be back this evening, Neil," Silvia said, but before she could walk to her father, Neil pulled her back.

It was just gentle enough not to be a yank, but firm enough that she wasn't going to be escaping it. Laying a kiss on her cheek, Neil slid his hands up into her hair to shake her scent more richly into the air before he dropped them to her hips for a hug, his cheek pressed to hers.

"Be safe," Neil whispered into her ear, heating her face as he backed away with a knowing smirk.

"Mages, Neil. Not dangerous," Silvia insisted, but Neil frowned as Forest's light magic swallowed them. As her father whisked her away, she realized that might not have been the best thing to say. The mages had been the ones who'd taken her from him for over a year, so his fear was reasonable.

It was too late to apologize as the men greeted her father at the complex, so she logged it for a later hour. As Forest did all of the pleasantries and official things, she went her separate way, inquiring about Wren. The acolytes were happy to direct her down a few halls and into a recovery room. There, she knocked, and Wren's soft voice answered.

"Enter," he said, and she slid inside the modestly furnished room.

Mage complexes were notorious for little furniture and a ton of white walls, so it wasn't much but a bed, a bench, and bookshelf with some medical equipment for monitoring set up in the corner.

"Silvia." Wren sounded surprised as he sat up straighter on the cushioned bench against the wall. It looked painful for him to do so, and she sat down in the hopes that he wouldn't try to come to her or anything more strenuous.

"Not expecting me?" she asked seriously, and his gaze softened.

"No, but I'm happy to see you," Wren said genuinely, and his gentle demeanor had her frowning. It took away his smile and he sank in on himself as he realized what she was wondering about. It was impossible to not ask with how things had gone down, not with how Talamayas was going to come guns blazing to take him back.

"By the looks of it, you don't want to talk about this, but I wondered if it were me, if you might open up? What happened between you and Talamayas? I thought you two were getting along, even if you weren't best friends."

Wren was quiet for a moment, and he let out a slow breath. "Talamayas and I did get along, yes. With the blood writ, he couldn't harm me, so he never tried, but at the same time, I knew that he only kept me close out of possessiveness. There is so much bad blood between us that without the blood writ, I know where I'm going to end up."

"Without it?" Silvia didn't understand. The contract Talamayas had signed was blood magic, the strongest kind, and it granted Wren safety from the Sols and vice versa. How was it gone?

"There was an annulment clause in the contract Talamayas and I signed," Wren explained, leaning his back against the wall and slowly slipping down from the bench to sit on the floor. The way he pulled his knees into his chest and curled around them pained her. "If he were to ever save my life of his own free will, then it broke the nonaggression seal. It meant the blood debt was repaid, that the life he gave me for yours would have been returned."

"Oh." Silvia knelt in front of him but didn't know what to say. She'd seen the pain that Talamayas had put Wren through etched into his body, and she knew that Wren had killed Tala's mother. In return, Talamayas had murdered every Song alive, save Wren, who he'd tortured for decades. That was quite the hurdle to climb over.

Without the blood writ, did that mean Talamayas intended to return him to his life of pain?

"Talamayas, he..." Wren choked on his breath, and his shoulders shook. "I was the first one he looked to when the fight was over. Before his generals, his men, his allies, and I... I panicked. I was weak and I couldn't defend myself."

Wren hugged himself, his head falling forward and his red hair hiding his eyes. The pitter patter of his tears on the floor gave away the anguish that couldn't be seen. Silvia slid her arms around his shoulders to hold him, and he trembled against her.

"I can't do it again, Silvia, live in that dungeon awaiting the setting of every sun to be tortured until it rises once more. I'd rather die. I have to die."

"Wren, don't say things like that." Silvia shook him, but he lifted his tear-laden eyes to her, and her own tear ducts started to leak.

"You don't understand, Silvia. I can't live. If I am with the mages, every vampire house will turn away from them, leave them for dead to their enemies. New northern and southern houses will rise in the power vacuum left by our fighting. They will be every bit as much of a threat as their predecessors if the vampire allies don't stand with the mages. I will be the death of everyone if I live. The vampires will demand my head, there is no doubt."

"There has to be something else you can do."

"There is not. I know I angered Talamayas by refusing to return with him, but I can't be tortured any longer. My freedom with them hasn't been for much more than a year, and I know that the Sols were only biding their time until I was dragged back down into their hell. I will offer my life to Talamayas if he agrees to execute me here. I want to at least die with my freedom. That is all I can offer to ease this."

"There has to be some other way to solve this," Silvia croaked, but Wren pulled himself from her arms to stand.

"We'll find out soon enough anyway. The mages called Tala here today so we could get this settled before it is an issue with the peace negotiations." Wren paused, looking back to her. "I would like it if you were by my side in my last moments, though I know you might not relish the thought."

Silvia grumbled and stood to look around the room. "You're here, aren't you?" Silvia asked to the air, knowing that Talamayas would have never left Wren unprotected, even if it was just out of possessiveness. Vice was here, no doubt, but he was silent and did not make his presence known. "Fine."

Silvia stormed off. It didn't take long for her to find the mages who'd prepared to meet Tala and even less time for him to show up. Talamayas Sol was prepared to defend his life, flanked by two gigantic lycanthropes with skin darker than Jesse's but very animated silent eyes as they met hers, both gold. The looked like excited dogs that had just been taken for a car ride, but Talamayas looked like he was ready to start cracking bricks with his bare hands.

Talamayas looked withered, like he hadn't slept since they'd taken Wren a few days ago, and he emanated hostile dark energy that was muted a tad by the anti-magic walls. His eyes were sunken in like someone who'd been crying for hours, but she was pretty sure that was from blood and sleep deprivation. Tala didn't strike her as a man who wept, but he looked more than happy to make a few of the mages here cry.

"There will be no negotiation. You will return Wren to me and you will have you peace negotiations. If not, you can find a new building, because this one won't be standing any longer," Talamayas said in a low growl, crossing his arms. The man had barely walked fully into the room and stood at the door with his lycans as if he might need to flee out it at any second.

"You will listen to what we have to say," Luna Aurion said. The woman stood tall in her pitch mage attire and stark white hair ponytailed behind her head. It trailed her lower back, and she was a grand general, one of the strongest mages around.

"Yes, I will," Talamayas agreed, but not to be amiable. "The outcome won't change." The last was in threat, and his crimson eyes were so dark it was amazing they weren't black.

Luna clenched her hands, and Silvia turned to her father who was leaning against the back wall. Forest was one of only two mages who'd volunteered to work with Tala when he showed up, her aside. The other was Kopje, and he was down the hall nearest her, fetching Wren to talk about this.

"We can't have an alliance based solely off of vampires' demands. There has to be negotiation and compromise or peace will never exist," Luna said as calmly as possible.

"Then you will honor our laws. Wren is mine. You can't take him," Talamayas said curtly, and Luna's frown deepened.

"To my knowledge, you don't own Wren Song by vampire law. The man has never been bitten, and I doubt you're going to come out of the closet and tell me that you had sex with him." Luna tread carefully, but rage surfaced in Talamayas eyes that tensed every muscle in his body. "Being in your dungeons for any duration does not constitute ownership."

"The man owes me a blood debt by our laws," Talamayas tried a different angle. "Any man, vampire or human, who kills a mother is subject to forfeit their life to that house. That law will not be changing. We have few females and killing one is heinous. Tanya aside, most are not warriors."

Kopje shuffled in with Wren leaning on him for support, more emotionally than physically it seemed, and Tala's eyes trailed him with a desire that rivaled Neil's when looked at her. It was as if Talamayas was ready to kill everyone in here just to touch the man, but that seemed like a lot of attachment if he merely considered him a war criminal.

"We are willing to pay that price," Luna said, and Talamayas looked taken aback, returning his eyes to her. Silvia had also expected an argument, but she'd remembered what Wren had said.

He wanted to die free.

"The mages will return Wren Song to you if you agree to execute him. Here. Among his people. That is all he asks in return for giving up his life without a fight." Luna barely got the words out before Tala lunged for her. She raised her staff for a spell that would likely prove futile, but neither got to each other as Forest planted himself between them.

Talamayas stopped and snarled at Forest where he stood as a wall between the two.

"If you hurt her, you ruin peace for all of us, Neil included," Forest said calmly, but her father's expression showed how much this was bothering him. The Sols had taken the Copses in, sheltered them against their enemies, and Forest had spent time with both Talamayas and Wren.

Tala grabbed Forest by his haori's shoulders and pulled him off the ground up to his face where he bared his fangs. "I will not kill Wren, less as a show for you twisted fucks. Wren is mine! You want to die, you talk to me yourself, you coward!" Tala yelled the last into the back of the room.

Wren picked himself up from Kopje to stand on his own, though it took some doing. Wren edged across a large stretch of wall with some seriously shaky steps, and he quaked as he stood next to Forest and leaned on him for the strength to stand. Silence rang in her ears where she had expected Tala to yell something again.

"Please?" Wren whispered to the ground, and tears dripped from his face onto the floor. "Don't make me go back there."

Silvia heart wrenched just about as hard as Talamayas' expression darkened exponentially.

"You'd rather die, Wren?" Talamayas asked, spite dripping from his voice. "Really?"

"You don't understand what it's like being a prisoner, Tala!" Wren grew some strength, but Talamayas only tightened his jaw.

"I'm not going to kill you, Wren, and if you stay here, I will kill them." Tala motioned his hand to the mages around. "Perhaps not Forest, but if he gets in the way, I have no opposition to knocking him out."

"You wouldn't!" Wren growled, and Talamayas laughed so hard that the man whitened and took a step back.

"You know me, Wren. Mages mean nothing to me. None except you." The last was a hiss of anger, and steam rose from Tala's lips. "Rescind your request for protection or the blood is on your hands."

"Why do you have to be monster, Tala?" Wren's voice cracked, and Talamayas scoffed. "Fine, take me back, but you'll be damned if you think I'm going to go willingly."

Talamayas' eyebrows lifted and he let out a breath of incredulity. "Touch me and Vice will just knock you out. Then you have no control of what happens to you in my territory."

Talamayas grabbed Wren by the collar of his mage attire and dragged him stumbling back toward the door. The entire time, Wren sputtered curses, pleas, and then he cried. It was hard to watch, but the mages fighting for him when he'd agreed to go was all but moot. The words scathed her ears as they echoed long after they'd left.

Please don't make me go back there.

Kill me, Tala!

Please, just kill me.

I can't do this anymore.

Please.

Please

And then sobs as he collapsed into his fate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Word Count: 3218