A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Something that Emily confirmed soon after Erik's words.

Her eyes were sad and downcast, while her arms still hung around Erik's neck. "But… it's not enough," she mumbled softly. "I'm a little calmer now, but I can feel the darkness encroaching on my mind again."

She looked back up and into Erik's eyes with a hint of despair. "Besides, you can't be there all the time," she continued. "I don't know exactly what happened to me, but the corruption has grown stronger. It can't be like it was before."

Erik smiled and removed Emily's arms from his neck before taking a seat next to her. He then easily picked the somber goth girl up and dragged her between his legs before wrapping his arms around her.

Emily yelped a little when she felt herself forcefully moved but otherwise remained despondent. Still, she felt safe and protected in his arms like this.

"Do you trust me?" he whispered in her ear.

It remained quiet a moment before Emily nodded, "Yeah. But only if you're going to give me another solution, don't give me any bullshit about how everything will be fine. Because you can't feel what I feel, and I know it won't be fine."

"Well…" Erik mumbled thoughtfully. "Do you remember Elora's first offer? Back when we gave you your first treatment in London?"

Emily frowned and thought back before her eyes opened wide. "You mean…" her words trailed off as if unwilling to talk about that time.

But Erik knew she remembered and nodded, "Yeah. You didn't trust us back then, and with good reason, but since you say you trust me now…"

Conflicted emotions passed through Emily's eyes as many thoughts struggled with each other. "Would… Would that work?" she mumbled hesitantly.

"It would," Erik nodded again. "The Bond of Service works far more fundamentally than the covenant. I suspect the covenant failing now is due to a combination of your corruption and Elora's wounds, but the Bond wouldn't have that problem. Plus, the Bond would shut out the effects of your corruption passively, unlike the covenant."

It remained quiet again for a while as Emily thought about her options. "Still, to become a slave…" she said softly.

"Not exactly a slave," Erik reasoned. "Nora is a slave, but with you, it will just be… a temporary security measure until Emma reaches the second rank. You'll be released as soon as the corruption is cleansed."

Emily sank deep into thought. She did trust Erik not to abuse his new power over her if she accepted. She knew he wouldn't suddenly force her to join any of his perverted crap.

Still… there was one other factor in all this.

"What about the bi— I mean, Elora?" she asked, trying to keep the anger out of her voice. "I trust you, but I don't want her to have that much power over me."

Erik chuckled inwardly a little as he realized he might have to play arbiter between Elora and Emily someday.

Unfortunately, for now, though, he had to shake his head. "Elora and I are bonded on a fundamental level. In some ways, we're more a single person than separate entities. Any authority I have over you, she will share, and vice versa."

Seeing Emily quickly regress into despondence and frustration, Erik quickly grabbed her chin from behind and turned her head so that he could look into her eyes. "But I promise you, Emily: if you accept, I will get her to lay off and stop teasing you."

Emily saw the sincerity in his eyes and felt her hesitation drain away. 'What other choice do I have, anyway?' she thought to herself. 'Run away? To where? Besides, I do… I do trust him.'

So she nodded, "O— Okay then."

"Good," Erik smiled and released her chin before leaning back on the cold and damp wall they were sitting next to, glad this was solved for now. Emily followed suit as she leaned back against Erik's chest with a small, contented smile on her lips.

Still, he had to wait for Elora to wake up, as she was the only one who could create a Bond of Service.

So he decided to ask about something he'd been wondering about. "So what did you dream about, anyway?"

A difficult expression appeared on her face. "I'd… rather not talk about it," she mumbled. "Suffice it to say, it was not a good dream, and I'd rather just forget about it. Although I'm sure, the corruption won't allow me to…"

Erik nodded with acceptance. 'Perhaps she'll tell me some other time,' he thought.

They remained quietly sitting there for a few more minutes before Emily spoke up, seemingly a little impatient and annoyed. "So… are we getting started, or what? I'm sure Elora is just itching to shackle me."

Erik suddenly remembered Emily had no idea about everything that happened to them, including Elora's wounds.

So he quickly shook his head. "Elora was wounded… She'll need another few hours to recover before we can do this."

Emily felt a tinge of glee at hearing the bitch was brought down a notch, but it was quickly stamped down by the pain she heard in Erik's voice.

So instead, she mumbled softly, "Oh…"

"Shall we return to the room until then, or would you prefer to wait here?" Erik then asked her.

Emily shook her head, "I don't want to be near Emma until this is under control."

Erik nodded in understanding and figured it should be fine to wait here. Emma would be asleep a little longer, and Astrid was watching over her anyway.

"Anyway," Emily suddenly spoke up while looking around after another minute of silence. "Where the hell are we? What exactly happened since I fell unconscious? I guess we got away from your mom's boot-licker?"

Erik chuckled at the way Emily addressed Frostfang. Then he began telling her everything that happened: from their deal with Björn to Elora's wounds, running across Finland, and finally arriving here in Muonio.

Emily remained quiet during the story, but when he was finished, she asked, "So I guess we're going after Frostfang, too?"

Emily had a reasonable understanding of Erik's personality by now. She knew he wouldn't simply let those wounds to Elora go.

"Yeah," Erik said gravely. "But we'll spend some time increasing our strength before then and hopefully also boosting Emma to rank two so we can finally fix your corruption completely."

"I'm looking forward to it," Emily nodded seriously, eager to finally get rid of this constant burden.

For the next few hours, they remained seated in that cold, clammy, and dark hotel room, with Erik's arms comfortingly wrapped around Emily.

They occasionally talked about this and that, but they mostly just sat in a relatively comfortable silence.

Finally, three hours later, Erik felt something stir in his soul, and quickly afterward, a teasing, playful voice sounded in his head, "Well, this looks interesting. What did I miss?"