Hyacinth, Scarlet - Fire of the Four Seasons (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour ManLove) (8 page)

They nodded and, together, faded once more through the ethereal. In Visnah’s room, they knelt next to the bed where Alexei and Eva lay. Predictab
ly
, they looked worse. Frost now covered Eva’s side of the bed, while Alexei’s seemed scorched. Alexei’s hair almost looked like it
had
turned to liquid flame, the red color even more intense than before.

“There’s nothing we can do, is there?” Ohsyn said. “There real
ly
is no other way.”

Visnah nodded, even as pain coursed through him. “We just have to trust and hope.”

Visnah pressed his palm to Alexei’s and hissed when their skin made contact. He found himself forced to pull his burnt hand back. No wonder the sheets were in this state. Alexei’s temperature
had
risen great
ly
. If he’d been in the mortal realm, his brain would have shut down by now.

Zimah glanced at Visnah’s palm and took it in his own. Few things could hurt an earth spirit, but apparent
ly
, spiritual fire
had
that
ability. Visnah allowed his energy to mold with Zimah’s and felt his burn heal. As they finished, he saw
Ly
etah and Ohsyn
had
grabbed the twins, paying extra care not to touch their skin.

They rushed out of Visnah’s room and headed out.
Ly
etah hesitated upon reaching the exit, and the barrier between worlds. “Perhaps it would be best if you and Ohsyn stayed here with them, while Zimah and I go make the preparations into the mortal world. We don’t know how long they are going to last there.”

Visnah nodded and took Alexei from
Ly
etah. It hurt to know
that
he couldn’t touch Alexei without being burnt, but it hurt even more to acknowledge what they were going to do. As Zimah and
Ly
etah left through the portal, Visnah held Alexei as close as he could and prayed once more.

* * * *

Ly
etah exited the portal between the realms, close
ly
followed by Zimah. He knew they
did
n’t have much time before Alexei and Eva’s bodies yielded the battle. The thought gave him focus when all he wanted to do
was
scream at the injustice. In moments such as these, he understood the doubts humans always went through regarding the existence of divinity.

He
acknowledged
his own blasphemy, but he couldn’t help it. It just seemed too cruel. But
Ly
etah
needed
to cling to his faith and hope for the best. The Goddess always took care of them. She would not abandon them now.

Unfortunate
ly
, due to the nature of their task, he ended up the one assigned to deal with Alexei’s part of the vision. He waited while Zimah dissipated the snow, then proceeded to gather sticks of wood from the forest. They worked in silence, and
Ly
etah forced himself not to think of the purpose of what he meant to construct.

At last, he acquired enough materials and started to build. When he finished, a strong pyre rose in the middle of the grove with plenty of wood to fuel the fire.
Ly
etah threw a glance Zimah’s way and saw his wintry lover
had
finished as well. Zimah’s glum task
had
been to prepare a coffin made out of sheer ice.

“Start the fire,” Zimah said, his voice level. “I’ll go and get the others.”

As Zimah disappeared beyond the standing stones,
Ly
etah summoned the heat intrinsic to his element and directed it toward the wood. Fire soon engulfed the base of the pyre, and not a moment too soon. His three lovers emerged once more, the twins in their grasp.

They stared at each other, then at the coffin and the pyre. Visnah’s green eyes turned almost blue with sorrow.
Ly
etah made his way to Visnah’s side and reached for Alexei. “Let me.” He could not allow his gentle lover to do this. It would break Visnah’s heart even more.

Visnah opened his mouth to say something, but before he could speak, a moan from Eva drew their attention. Perhaps the heat from the pyre caused her to stir. Oh, Goddess. How were they going to do this with them awake? “Alexei,” she murmured, eyes dazed. “What is happening to me?”

Zimah took hold of the young girl. “Shh,
malen’kaya printsessa.
Don’t be afraid. Everything will be all right.”

He stood by the icy coffin and gave
Ly
etah a telling look. They
had
to this at the same time for it to work. And as much as they hated freezing a young girl alive, burning Alexei would be even more difficult.

Thankful
ly
, by some divine intervention, Alexei
did
not regain consciousness.
Ly
etah snatched the youth from Visnah’s arms. By now, the heat from the pyre
had
increased great
ly
, and it would have been uncomfortable for anyone else anyway. He couldn’t help but touch Alexei one last time. Alexei’s feverish skin even burnt him, but he held on. “Farewell,
solnyshko moyo
,” he whispered.

With his heart full of sorrow, he pushed Alexei’s body into the pyre. Behind him, he heard a light cry, then nothing. He turned and realized Zimah
had
done his part. Eva now lay beneath the heavy ice, locked inside, still beautiful, and forever cold.

The flame from the fire seemed to burn brighter and brighter. When
Ly
etah looked toward it once again, he caught sight of the evil flame tearing into flesh, destroying Alexei’s beauty. What
had
he done? What
had
he expected? Perhaps he’d hoped an angel would emerge and stop him from committing this sin.

He could not bear it. He couldn’t just stand there and watch this happen. He lunged forward, ful
ly
intending to jump into the fire after Alexei, but strong arms pulled him back, stopping him from doing so.

“Don’t,” Ohsyn said in his ear. “There’s nothing we can do about it now, just hope and pray.”

All strength went out of
Ly
etah. He felt as if the sun always inside him no longer shone. How could he push Alexei into the fire? Why
had
n’t he found another way?

He sank to his knees, his on
ly
comfort Ohsyn’s embrace. “Hush,” Ohsyn murmured. “It’s going to be fine. You
did
n’t do anything wrong.”

Ly
etah wanted to believe
that
, but the smell of the burning fire filled his nostrils, and he couldn’t get the image of Alexei turning into a charred corpse out of his mind. He
did
n’t think he ever would.

* * * *

Ohsyn held
Ly
etah close, his mind reeling with the events of the past hour. He couldn’t even fathom how
Ly
etah felt at watching Alexei burn on the pyre. Ohsyn’s own heart
was
breaking, and he
had
n’t pushed Alexei in. But
Ly
etah
had
done what none of them would’ve
been able
to do, and as crazy as it seemed, Ohsyn still
kept
hope.

He forced
Ly
etah to face away from the pyre, knowing the sight of it would just make things worse. He hugged
Ly
etah’s trembling body and whispered into his lover’s ear, “Do you remember how we met?”

Ly
etah nodded and let out a low, sad chuckle. “How could I forget?”

They’d all been so young and so new at being earth spirits. Each of them
had
been born out of their particular element, molded into a new life form by the creator. At
that
time, neither of them understood how their new tasked worked. But then the Goddess united them in one team to protect these distant lands. At first, they’d bare
ly
gotten along, but soon, they’d found a balance in and through each other.

“The Goddess knew what She
was
doing when She gathered us together. You have to stand by your faith. She knows what She is doing now.”

Ohsyn
did
his best to sound confident when he felt anything but. Tru
ly
, he couldn’t help but doubt. He wanted to believe with a desperate intensity, but when faced with the burning fire
that
consumed Alexei’s mortal form, it
was
n’t so easy.

He comforted himself with the thought
that
Alexei’s soul remained immortal, like all souls. If they’d indeed lost Alexei, Ohsyn trusted
that
one day, they’d find him again in a different land and a different time. They would be given a second chance. Ohsyn couldn’t even accept the alternative.

Ly
etah placed his head on Ohsyn’s shoulder, and Ohsyn threaded his hand through his lover’s locks, gent
ly
caressing him. He knew Visnah and Zimah needed him as well, so he felt thankful when the two joined him and
Ly
etah, and they knelt together in the grass. They just sat there for the longest time in the middle of the ageless grove at the border between the spirit world and the mortal realm.

At last, the fire of the pyre began to dwindle, and
Ly
etah stirred, looking back toward the burnt wood. There
was
no sign of Alexei, Ohsyn realized. He
did
n’t know if he should be happy or sad about
that
, but perhaps it would be for the best. He
did
n’t think he could have withstood the sight of Alexei’s dead body, and he kept his hopeful façade.

“He’s gone,”
Ly
etah murmured, his voice strangled and full of pain. “I killed him.”

“You
did
n’t kill him,
Ly
etah,” Ohsyn insisted. “This happened because of the fire inside Alexei. It burnt him out in the end. There
was
nothing we could do.”

“Stop saying
that
!”
Ly
etah shouted. He glowered at Ohsyn, his fury so intense it struck Ohsyn almost physical
ly
. “Stop trying to make me feel better. Show some sort of emotion!”

Ohsyn felt his own anger flare and tried to control it. They were all dual, just like the seasons whose energy they bore. In winter, beautiful snowflakes fell in a peaceful dance, but their perfection could be torn apart by the fury of the storms. Spring meant renewed life and hope, yet could bring dead
ly
floods. In the summer, the sun shone bright
ly
, regaling the humans with rich crops and pleasant weather. But the same rays could be destructive and cause drought and famine. And at last, autumn gifted the world with generous produce, on
ly
to take it all away when furious hail and rain fell. Similar
ly
, Ohsyn and his lovers could protect and do harm at the same time. In this particular moment, Ohsyn’s dark side
was
emerging.

Visnah got up and set himself between Ohsyn and
Ly
etah. “Calm down. Arguing won’t help us.”

“At least it’s something,”
Ly
etah shot back. “I can’t bear listening to you, all resigned and accepting.”

Ohsyn gritted his teeth at
Ly
etah’s unreasonable accusation. “And what would you have me do? Die? Do you think Alexei would want us to do
that
?”

“No,” a sudden voice said. “I wouldn’t want it.”

Ohsyn turned toward the pyre once more. The dying flames seemed to materialize into a figure until final
ly
, they revealed Alexei’s shape. He looked like an avenging angel, his entire body ablaze, yet still so very beautiful.

Alexei stepped down from the pyre, his eyes burning coals fixed on them. “Thank you for having the strength to save me. I don’t think I could’ve done this in your place.” The flames began to melt until at last, they revealed skin. “Thank you for everything,” Alexei whispered.

Ohsyn lunged forward, saving Alexei from collapsing to the ground. Instinctive
ly
, he pressed his lips to Alexei’s forehead, just wanting to feel the other man
was
there, safe. As he
did
so, he realized Alexei’s skin temperature
had
normalized. Striking
ly
, even if he’d come out of a pyre, Alexei seemed all right.

But beneath the appearance of normality, Ohsyn
did
feel the change. Alexei’s mortality
had
been traded for a higher level of existence. Ohsyn couldn’t identify it, not yet, but he sent a prayer of thanks and apology to the Goddess. They never should have doubted. The Goddess wouldn’t have given them Alexei if She intended to take the youth away.

Alexei gave him an exhausted look. “Please, don’t fight,” he said. After a short pause, he asked, “Eva?”