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People run screaming. Some stand in horror as they watch Calamity slowly shrink into her human form. Brenn works to free Mira and Jesper, while I’m still chained. Calamity gets to her feet after a moment, her steps sluggish, and two guards come bursting through the castle doors.
She stands up straight, holds up her hand, and dark wisps of smoke coiling around it. “I suggest you start undoing his chains.” The guards skid to a stop. Trembling in place as they reach me, unlatching my shackles.
Calamity steps toward where the king sat on his throne. The crystals have become molten, but his crown must’ve fallen off and rolled to safety. She picks it up, her fingers sliding over the stones.
Her golden eyes meet mine as the guards back away, and I rub at my wrists, too tired to get up. I’m not sure my legs would work. Calamity stops in front of me, her skin covered in dark soot in some places and as she stands proud. I’ve never seen something so beautiful as the way she looks right now, her hair still turning back to the dark black locks I’ve wanted nothing more than to bury my hands into.
I haven’t even gotten off my knees, but I bow my head.
“I told your father I wasn’t interested in his crown. I have no idea how to run a kingdom, or how to be a dragon. But you… You’ve been doing it for years on a smaller scale, protecting those who couldn’t protect themselves. You deserve this.” She lowers my father’s crown onto my head, then kneels before me, bowing her head.
I jerk upright, confused, but I can’t think of anything else but the fact she’s here, before me, in arm’s reach. My eyes slide to her throat, breathing a sigh of relief when I see my mark still there.
“All hail the king,” Brenn yells, hitting his fist to his chest twice and kneeling. Jesper and Mira join him, then dozens follow as the crowd slowly creeps back in.
I can’t move… The crown means nothing to me, and I never expected it to be mine, but all I can do is yank her toward me, crush her to my chest, and kiss her lips like they’ll take the pain zinging up and down my spine away.
“I never should have left,” I whisper, pulling away just enough to look in her golden eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“But you came back and that’s what matters.” Her mouth curls into a grin, her eyes so bright with life I’m not sure how I’ll ever look away.
I need her to know that she’s all I’ll ever want in this life, but I can’t bring myself to find the right words. I pull her mouth to my throat, lengthen my neck. There’s no words for this.
Calamity hesitantly kisses my pulse, leaning back to flick her eyes to mine for just a short moment then her teeth sink into my throat, and euphoria explodes through my body. Lights burst, full of so many colors, and for a second I can’t breathe, my body coiled so tight. I melt into her, my eyelids fluttering shut with a groan.
She sits back, releasing me as I pant, desperate for air. My blood drips from her lips as she stares at my throat and I lift a hand, but the skin is smooth, healed already.
Following my gaze, she turns her head and I catch sight of her mark. It’s not silken skin, no longer just a scar. It’s flecked with gold.
When her eyes meet mine, I can feel her heart soar as she throws herself into my arms, straddling me as she crushes me into a searing kiss. My muscles are too weak to hold us up and I fall back against the stone, knocking the air from my lungs.
We’re true mates… Once in a lifetime–a DOZEN lifetimes chance…
“My mate.”
As she pulls away, I lift the crown from my head, placing it on her own. “Look at me, Chaos.”
Calamity peers down into my eyes. “This is yours. You might not know how to lead, but I’ll be there with you every step of the way, as Lord Everand of Frost Forge, as yourmate, and your king consort. I only have one condition.”
She’s breathless, and I can feel her desire coursing through the bond already. “What’s that?”
I smirk, tipping her chin and running my thumb along her lower lip. “I’ll spend every moment of my life putting you on a pedestal, fighting to put that crown on your head. You’ll bow for no one, because there is no one in this realm more powerful than you, but when you’re on your knees and I’m between these lips, you’ll look at me like you like I’m fucking king.”
Her golden eyes flash bright, her dragon peering through to look at mine. “Deal.”
Epilogue
Calamity
Towel wrapped around my body, I enter the bedroom. It’s the same one Brenn and I have stayed in the last few weeks, but it felt right. For now.
Though the sight that meets me isn’t even close to what I expected. Loric rests in the chair, tucked into the corner of the room. His skin clean, hair wet. There’s a book in his hand but I don’t think he’s reading it.
Next to him, bathing in the light along the windowsill, is Meg. The kitten is stretched out along the thin board, her soft striped fur gleaming as her fluffy tail swishes back and forth, but her yellow eyes are locked onto the hand inching closer. She hisses and Loric retracts his hand, his eyes shifting to her for just a moment, then he tries again.
The closer he gets, the more her lips roll back, but it’s the effort of trying to pet her that gets me.
“What are you doing to that cat?” I ask, letting the door close.
