Chapter 6 - Emilia

Lilas and Belath fall quiet after my question and I wonder if I shouldn't have asked, maybe it should have been something easier. I'm just about to let them know I've changed my question when Lilas lets out a hum and starts.

"Well… to put it simply Kor and I met first. We found Bel later through the Stones. The three of us have been together for over a thousand years." He goes quiet letting that sink in, all my soulmates are over a thousand years old. I must be less than a child to them.

"You should probably go right back to the start Li." Belath adds.

"You're right." Lilas tells Belath before returning continuing, "Kor and I first met before the Gods created Soul Stones. Kor was just over 200 years old, and I was around a 100 the first time and at the time I didn't think much of Kor, all I saw at the time was an empty-headed warrior. It didn't help that at the time Kor could barely hold his shift into human form for an hour so we couldn't really get to know each other." It's hard to think of Ruikor and Lilas not getting along when they know each other so well.

"I know it seems weird." Belath grins at me obviously seeing the confusion on my face, "By the time I met them they were already near enough reading each other's minds."

"Anyway, what changed everything for us was the creation of the Soul Stones. We didn't know what the Gods had planned when they summoned us." I sat up away from Kor leaning forward in shock.

"You and Kor were there?" I blurt out not quite believing it.

"Yes we were. To be completely honest Kor is the youngest son of the dragon Goddess, Sadan, and my mother is the daughter of the elf God, Filarion. That was why we were summoned to attend the meeting, they wanted family there when they created the Soul Stones. When Kor and I received matching Stones we were confused and thought they had made a mistake especially because they had made four Stones."

Behind us Ruikor begins letting out a low purr which I can feel rumbling against my back. I'd thought he was asleep, but he must have been listening to the conversation and is supporting Lilas while he's telling me their history.

"The Gods left soon after that, so I spent more time with Kor to help him through his mother leaving and I ended up falling in love with him. We kept the two remaining Stones with us and started travelling trying to find our remaining mates, the Gods had been right after all we needed each other so maybe we needed another two people as well. During our travels we found this place and started having the castle built."

"It was a good thing they did. I wasn't born until 600 years after the Stones were created so their search was pointless, not that they knew that." Belath continues now, "I was turned when I was 23 never having found my Stone before I was turned. Eventually we ran into each other one night while I was out feeding and claimed one of the Stones they were carrying with them."

"Finding Bel gave us new hope about finding our fourth. So much so that we had all the Stones used in jewellery, Kor designed and made them himself and I was able to create a series of runes for Bel's ring that allows him out during the day."

"We spent 300 years travelling around without any luck. Around that time there was talk of forming an order to help people find their Stones, with the amount of Stones it was getting more and more difficult for people to find their matching Stone. Having lost hope in searching ourselves we turned the final Stone over to the first temple with orders for them to make sure everyone came for their first ceremony at the temple."

"You were able to do that?" I ask not expecting them to have the power to do that even with how old they are and being related to Gods.

"Yes." Belath replies grinning as though he's remembering something fun, "We have a lot of pull due to our power, not just physical or magical power but also political power. Over the years we've made a lot of friends not to mention our relatives, my sire is among the oldest vampires and I'm the only one he's ever turned so he's very fond of me."

"You'll probably meet Bel's maker, Sliske, soon. He tends to visit every decade or so and he's slightly overdue for a visit so the news of finding you may bring him around faster." Lilas tells me, no doubt giving me a warning that essentially Bel's father will be visiting soon.

"So I think that's everything. The Stone stayed in the care of the temple until yesterday when you claimed it. We stayed here most of the time, basically retreating from society for the last thousand years."

"Thank you for telling me." I tell them then, feeling brave, I lean over and kiss Lilas on the cheek before turning and doing the same to Belath. Suddenly the three of us are falling backwards as the dragon behind us disappeared being replaced by Ruikor's human form. Sitting up I see Ruikor standing in front of me with his arms crossed a grumpy displeased look on his face.

"My turn." He states looking at me expectantly. Giggling I fall back onto the grass briefly before standing up and giving Ruikor a kiss on the cheek as well, behind us Lilas and Belath are laughing as well. I never would have thought the Ruikor would react like this to something so simple.

We spend a couple more hours together lounging together on the grass leaving deep conversations and history behind we talk about easier subjects. I learn that Ruikor makes jewellery, Lilas conducts experiments and Belath enjoys painting; just simple things that make them happy. In return I tell them about how I'd always loved doing embroidery and wanted to learn to sew dresses, something I'd shared with Belath earlier this morning but wanted to share with Ruikor and Lilas as well.

Eventually most of us head back inside going our separate ways; Lilas heads to his library, Belath invites me back to his room to work on the dress again and Ruikor shifts back to his dragon form, flying off somewhere. As we go upstairs Belath tells me that Ruikor has likely gone off to hunt part of his instincts as a dragon, to hunt and provide for us.

The two of us go straight back to his room and pick up where we left off, finishing taking the measurements Belath needs. He takes his time somehow managing to find many spots that made me laugh uncontrollably and he'd laugh along with me, apparently I'm ticklish at least that's what he called it. Once he's finished he asks me to choose a fabric for the dress but faced with so many choices I couldn't pick one so let him decide instead. I'm glad Belath chose instead of me when he pulls out a beautiful blue fabric.

To my surprise Belath takes my hand and gently tugs me out of the room then down the hallway to Lilas's room. Knocking briefly he heads straight into the room with Lilas only raising a hand in greeting, this must be normal for them. I'm eased into a seat opposite Lilas who hasn't even looked up from his book yet.

"Look after Emmy for a while. I'll have her dress done soon." Belath calls out as he walks back out the room. The whole thing leaves me a bit stunned especially as I started taking in the many rows of shelves all filled with books, there are even piles of books on the floor. If this is the smaller library I wonder what the bigger one looks like.

"Don't worry when Bel wants to finish something quickly he prefers to work alone. He'll be moving around at vampire speed to get it done and it can be overwhelming, so he usually does it when he's alone. I could start teaching you to read now if you want?" Lilas offers, I nod quickly eager to start learning.

Being able to read is uncommon in Stowu so it didn't seem important that I couldn't read either until I found my soulmates. Waking up yesterday and meeting them I've felt out of my depth around them because of my lack of education, they've put at ease but still I want to be better. Plus reading seems to be a vital component of Lilas's life and I'd like to be able to share it.

Smiling Lilas motions to the seat next to him so I move there, and he puts the book between us so that I can see it as well. Using his finger to show me each word as he'd say it asking me to repeat it back to him. It's slow going but I think I get the hang of some of the smaller words quickly, Lilas even says that I'm doing well even though the book, which is about politics, isn't ideal for teaching someone to read. Apparently next time he wants to go through the alphabet before trying another book, he thinks a fiction book would be better because of the story.

We've only made it through a couple of pages when Belath comes running back into the room. He pulls me up from the chair and starts heading back to his room with me in tow.

"It's ready. We'll be back in a bit." He shouts to Lilas at least giving a brief reason for stealing me away from the lesson. Getting back to his room he picks up the dress and hands it to me, "I'll wait outside while you get changed. Let me know if you need help with the ties." Rushing back out the room he leaves me alone in the room. Running a gentle hand over the fabric of the dress, feeling how soft and nice it is, I place the dress down over a chair before I take off my old dress. I pull the new dress on as fast as I can, moving in front of the mirror I'm amazed at the dress that Belath had created in just a few hours. The only problem I couldn't reach the ties at the back to full fasten up the dress.

"Belath could I have some help please?" I call out to him, excited to see what it looks like properly done up. Belath comes back in and makes short work of doing the ties before stepping back to admire his work.

"You know you can call me Bel right; I won't mind." He tells me, I've been thinking of using their nicknames but slightly nervous about it. Maybe I'll start with Bela-Bel's since he's told me I can. Finishing doing the ties he steps back to admire his work, "You look beautiful." I think it's mainly the dress though, it's so beautiful. Although not overly decorated it's still much better than anything anyone in Stowu owns and I never thought I'd see a dress like this let alone wear one.

Smiling I rush back to the library wanting to show Lilas the dress and I can show it Ruikor when he gets back from hunting. Already I feel like I fit in better after my bath this morning and now that I'm not wearing that old dress anymore.

"Look Lilas. Bel finished the dress, it's so beautiful." I can't resist spinning around admiring the way the skirt of the dress flares out slightly as I spin.

"You look lovely Emilia." He tells me giving me a gentle smile as I come and sit next to him, "I'm sure that Bel will make you as many dresses as you want."

"Oh… I already have many designs for more dresses." Bel says to us as he sits on the opposite side from us pushing the chair far enough away from the table so that he can easily swing his legs up onto the table. Lilas lets out a sigh at his actions but doesn't say anything to stop him or ask him to put his legs down.

The three of us settle down quietly in the library where Lilas continues teaching me to read while Bel has picked up his own book to read. We manage to get through a few more pages of the book before Lilas calls the lesson a day and continues reading aloud to me. The book makes no sense to me, but I'm enjoying the sound of Lilas's voice despite the content of the book. After only a few chapters I find myself resting my head on the table and falling asleep to the sound of his voice.