Chapter 24

Walking away from the captain and down onto the main deck, Damien stopped and looked around. All around him, his closest friends were all energetically talking to Gabriel's scouts. His mind wandered, if his mate had grown up around him, then his scouts would already have friends. As it stood, they only had each other in this moment, and it made him happy to see that his scouts were able to find other people like them.

His eyes found Nyline standing next to Delta and Gabriel. She was still having an animated conversation with Delta, and he could only assume who ever Delta's mate was. Since the whole, Nyline can respond inner conversations, he assumed since that she was now surrounded by them, it would only increase.

He sighed as he continued to watch her. How was she able to do it? Get transported to a different world, have her uncle die, her entire life flipped on its end, and be functioning at that level? He just didn't understand. She was so strong as an individual that he couldn't fathom it.

"Are you alright?" Jake's voice asked from his right and he looked down at his favorite scout, with his soft blue eyes and medium brown hair.

"I don't think so," Damien muttered before he glanced around the ship. "I'm going below deck for a little longer."

"Do you mind if I join you?" Damien shook his head as he headed for the door that would take him to the lower landing and into a room. He had so much going on in his mind and he just needed some time to process everything.

Jake closed the door behind them as Damien sank down onto the bed and looked at the floor.

"What are you going to do if she chooses him?" Jake's voice was so small, and Damien looked at him to see that he was fidgeting.

"If? I'm pretty sure that she already has."

"Does that mean your giving up?" Damien shrugged his shoulders. "Talk to me." Jake spoke softly as he walked over and sat on the floor in front of him. "Tell me what's on your mind."

"What am I supposed to do?" Damien felt the emotions rise in his throat and he pressed his hands against his face to try and stop the tears that were threatening to spill over. "We've spent so much time looking for this one girl, and its all been for nothing. We've waisted countless months searching the world for her and…" He slid down off the bed so that he was on the same level as Jake, his back up against the wood of the bed frame. Jake's blue eyes held sadness in them as he reached over and placed a hand on his leg.

"It hasn't been a waste; it was an adventure." Jake smiled softly, "You got your love of flying from our trips, you learned so much about the aether world, you've spoken to countless other people in tons other kingdoms, slept under the stars. We've enjoyed our time with you. It was never a drag to go on those trips, we all went together and had fun." Damien shook his head.

"What if… What if, my real mate doesn't want me? What if they found another unmated person, and made a life together? I don't want to ruin another person's life just for my sake." Damien's shoulders shook as his breathing became uneven.

"You have to have a mate to rule." Jake said firmly and Damien shook his head again.

"Its not worth it. Not again."

"Would you really give up your right to rule?"

"What if they hate me for never finding them?" His voice hitched as he ran his hands over his face once more.

"Damien," Jake reached over and took his wrists, "Listen to me. The person who is mated to you is lucky to have you. Don't take Nyline's reaction to you to deeply to heart. You know why she rejected you so fiercely, it wasn't because of you, but because of Johnathan." Damien's shoulders sagged. "I'm certain, that the person that is mated to you will accept you without hesitation. They'd have to because you deserve it." Damien turned his watery gaze up to Jakes.

"How can you be so sure?"

"I just have a feeling, that they've been waiting just as long for you as you have for them. If you wan to go home and find your mate, then we should. We don't have to continue to follow Nyline to the edges of the earth again." Jake's face was set in determination as he spoke, and Damien felt his face fall further.

"I have to face my parents…" He whispered and Jake's hardened features softened slightly. "That's not even right, I have to face my king and queen as to why I came home without Nyline. I'll have to stand in that stupid throne room and explain what happened, why we took the airship," He shook his head taking a shuttering breath in. "They'll be so disappointed. I've never been enough for them and now this? My father might just take away my crown, kick me out of the castle, and banish me from the kingdom for being incompetent." Jake sat back on his heels and let out a whoosh of air.

"Then why don't you keep fighting for Nyline." Damien laughed harshly.

"How am I supposed to win over a girl that I can't even talk to?��

"Maybe now that Jonathan is gone, she'll talk to you?" Damien closed his eyes as he rested his head back against the bed.

"Do I even want Nyline as a mate? Yes, she is beautiful, smart, and cunning but she also attracts daemons… That alone is horrifying. How will we ever protect our people if daemons are constantly trying to break into our boarders. Is it even worth it at that point? To put my kingdom into a state of war. I just don't know." The tears that he had been keeping from falling, finally broke through and started to slide down his face.

"You're not wrong," Jake whispered before he fell silent. Several minutes passed as Damien cried silently and Jake just sat watching him with a distraught look on his face.

"Damien," He reached out and touched his arm. Damien picked his head up and looked at Jake. "Listen, you don't have to make this decision now. Right now, is the perfect time to just take some time to relax. Why don't you continue to try and talk to Nyline? Nothing serious, just small talk here and there. Take this time in Vaccoon to really think on what you want and what's important to you. Then decide. You know that we will follow you to the ends of the earth and back, and even if your father is stupid enough to banish you, we will never leave you. You are more to us than a job or a paycheck, so never worry about that."

"I know you guys would never leave me," Damien's voice was still shaky, but he managed to get the words out as he started to rub his face clean of the tear tracks. "I just… this entire situation is…" He groaned in frustration. "All of this just sucks." Jake's face broke into a small smile.

"It does, you're not wrong." Jake stood and pulled Damien up before he started to straighten his clothing. "We'll be arriving at Vaccoon soon," Jake reached up as if he were going to touch Damien's face before he pulled his hand back. "Put on your princely face and let's get through this together."

Jake waited for Damien to finish scrubbing his face clean, making it look as if he hadn't been crying before they headed above deck. Damien looked around before he glanced back at Jake.

"Just go ask her how she's holding up." He said softly as they closed the door behind them. Damien took a deep breath in and found Nyline was still at the railing. Delta had gone and Gabriel was a few feet away talking to the first mate.

"Alright…" he muttered to him self as he crossed the deck and stood next to Nyline. She only glanced at him and he could hear the music as it blared from her ears again. There was a long pause before Damien turned to her and spoke softly. "How are you holding up?" Nyline looked at him, her eyes slightly wide. "I know that these last couple of days has been really hard. I just wanted to check with you, and see if there was anything I could do for you?" Nyline stood up a little straighter and cocked her head to the side slightly. He wondered what she was doing, it was as if she were listening to something… Probably just the crew or the scouts, he brushed it off. As another pause fell between them before she spoke.

"Honestly, I'm a mess." Damien chuckled a little.

"If this is you a mess then I wonder what meltdown mode looks like." She flashed him a small smile.

"In this moment, breaking down, crying, smashing things, or maybe even using my movement skill to vault off this airship and run as quickly as I can to the fairy gate, would not do anyone any good right now." She sighed, "As much as I would love to do all of them, I think I'll wait until I don't have as many people around me before I really let myself feel the pain." Damien's brows scrunched together, and he paused as he searched for the words. His eyes fell on the patch-work bear in her hands.

"Where did you get that?" Nyline glanced down and her face softened.

"Dashiner went back to the castle to get it," she said very softly. Damien felt his stomach drop slightly. One of Gabriel's scouts had gone all the way back to the castle, and almost died, for a stuffed bear? "I know, I don't really understand why he would do it either," She continued responding to his thoughts. "When he gave it to me, he told me that he wanted me to feel welcome in my new home and thought that it would help."

"Why would it help?"

"I'm pretty sure my mother made this bear." Damien's breath caught.

"How do you know that?"

"Because it was made by someone who really couldn't sew," She laughed ever so softly. "and it was in the nursery." Damien's face softened at her words.

"I'm happy that Dashiner was able to retrieve it for you, you deserve to have something while starting your new life." he turned his eyes out to look at the mountains and trees, one side of his mouth quirked up. "Flying is one of my favorite pass times. When my scouts and I would go out looking for you sometimes we'd fly to the edges of the aether world. It's the freest feeling I think I���ve ever felt. The wind in your hair, the brisk air, how things get covered in frost when you fly somewhere over night. It's all just… refreshing."

"You always wanted a mate that you could go traveling the world with, right?" Damien turned his attention back to her. Her face was neutral, and she wasn't looking at him, just out over the world.

"It was something that I had wished that I would be able to share with my mate, yes, but there were many other things I'd hoped that my mate would enjoy like foreign foods and trinkets. Walking around in bazars looking at the shops and just marveling at the craftsmanship, the fine details that it takes to make many of the things that they sell. Maybe even buy something for them that catches their eye. I wanted someone who would eat dinner with me, be the last thing I see at night and the first thing in the morning. Someone who enjoyed reading, so we could go into the library and just find a good place to sit together with our noses in a good book."

"That's a lot more than the prime and proper princess that I saw in your mind when I first met you." Damien let out a sigh.

"I think you took that daydream a little wrong," He confessed, "It didn't matter if they wore skirts, or knew all the etiquette in the world, I just wanted someone who was happy that I was there." His heart clenched. "Someone who's face would brighten when I walked into a room…" Damien fell quiet before he straightened his back. "Anyways…"

"Your mate will be everything that you'd hope for and more, you know that, right?" Nyline said suddenly, her fierce green eyes turning on him and he couldn't help but feel the small smile he'd managed to keep up throughout this conversation slip slightly. Nyline just looked at him again, those probing green eyes seeing inside of his soul before she blinked and looked away. "You won't know if they'll take you back until you try." She said suddenly.

"There really is no way of hiding anything from you is there?" He said in a slightly flat tone and Nyline cracked a smile.

"Your voice is rather loud, I won't lie."

"So, what I just have to… not think when I'm around you?"

"That would be impossible. Even if you are not actively thinking about something specific a person's mind is almost never just blank. You cannot uphold conversations with people without having a train of thought, that is how you formulate your sentences, speak your words, and convey your meaning." The small smile that had appeared on her face faltered slightly. Then her body stiffened, her eyes turning until she saw Gabriel and Damien knew that they were speaking. He felt a pain in his heart at how much he wanted that.

"Alright," He muttered as her eyes dilated and her eyes turned slightly to one side as if she were listening to something else on the deck. He spread his fingers on the deck railing, the feeling of being ignored and alone welling in his chest. "I'm happy that you are doing okay for the time being." He turned to find Nyline looking at him again.

"I agree with Jake," She whispered, before she turned and walked away from him. His eyes finding Jake's who walked over.

"That didn't seem to go horribly."

"What did you say to her?" He asked his eyes wide. He cocked his head to the side. "She said that she agreed with you?" He frowned slightly.

"We are approaching the city limits!" The first mate shouted snapping him out of his mood as he looked around and started assessing the situation.

"Gabriel, could you direct the captain to your landing strip please?" Gabriel grinned.

"Yeah, I guess it would be difficult for us to dock with them not knowing." He made a humming noise before he turned and headed towards where the captain was. One glance around the deck showed that Nyline was now standing at the very front, her eyes on what was coming. He could see her gripping an old knife in her hands so tightly that her knuckles were turning white.

"Damien," He turned to see Gabriel walking towards him, and he gave him a quizzical look. "I gave them enough directions for us to chat before we dock. Look, I just wanted to make it completely clear that I'm not going to be giving up Nyline without a fight." Damien felt a weight settle in his stomach.

"I'm aware." One of Gabriel's eyebrows rose at his short answer.

"Are you?" He shrugged, then he seemed like Gabriel suddenly understood something in that moment. "You just don't know what to do now, do you?" Damien's mouth formed a thin line and he took a second to compose his thoughts before he sighed.

"No, I don't know what to do with myself right now. I spent my entire life chasing after someone else's mate. My entire life was just upheaved, not knowing where to go, what to do, or even how I should get there. I want to keep talking to Nyline, though I can say, this isn't even a competition anymore." He shook his head and Gabriel seemed to take piety on him.

"Don't you want to know who your real mate is?" Damien stiffened, "One that is prim and proper, that curtsies and giggles?"

"There was so much more to that daydream than Nyline saw." He breathed.

"Oh, I'm sure there would be. Spending your entire life building up a girl in your mind isn't going to be as shallow as that." Damien wasn't sure in that moment if he was happy that Gabriel understood or upset because he felt slightly picked on.

"Did you have a daydream of what she would be?" Gabriel grimaced slightly.

"No." His voice was softer than before as he crossed his arms. "I never let myself think for a second of me even getting a mate. In my mind, she was gone, and she wasn't coming back…"

"Is that why you never searched for her?" He shrugged.

"Who said I didn't search?" Damien raised a brow at him.

"If you had, you would have found her." Gabriel's arms tightened across his chest at those words.

"I got occasional flashes about her through out my life. I knew that wherever she was she was happy. She always felt warm to me, like she grew up somewhere where she was loved. Who was I to take that away from her?" Damien glanced at him before his eyes settled on Nyline. He knew that Gabriel was right. That the witches at the gate had been right about him barging into her life. He had pushed his motives onto her just because he'd thought that she would be just as excited to see him as he was to see her.

In that moment, Damien promised himself that if his real mate ended up accepting him that he would never demand anything of them that they weren't going to willingly give. He never wanted to force anything onto the person that he held most dear. These mistakes wouldn't happen again, he'd see to that.