Would he come first, or would I?
My mother had made it abundantly clear that Sinda would come first before my father my entire life. As a child, I’d never understood how that was possible. We were taught from a young age that finding our mate was of the highest honor and to be cherished. Perhaps it wasn’t the same for the human involved in the bond, only the drackya.
As if sensing my nervous thoughts, Sia’s head turned toward me. While the smile she gave Kaida was full of warmth, it was nothing compared to the way she looked at me now. Eyes wide, her braid whipping in the wind behind her, and utter joy lifting her cheeks as the edges of her eyes crinkled with her smile. The silver hilt of her sword gleamed at her hip, and if we weren’t in the sky, I would shift back, forever tempted to let her ride me in another manner.
She truly looked like a queen.
She looked like mine.
“Hey, handsome.”
I fucking preened beneath her, my wings stretching out further as a shiver ran the length of my body, causing my scales to scratch together. I hated how soft she made me, yet I also didn’t want to go back to who I was before she’d broken through.
“You find my dragon appealing?”
I internally groaned at the eagerness in my tone. We’d never discussed her thoughts of my dragon, and I’d just assumed she tolerated it when I needed to fly us somewhere. While I knew full-well that the curse was created to ensure humans were repulsed by us, that insecure part of me still yearned for her acceptance.
It already felt like a miracle that she’d shifted from the disgust upon looking at me in the council room to accepting my cursed human body. Could she grow to accept my beast in its entirety?
She shifted in the saddle as her smile tapered off, the action sending my hope plunging into the pits of my stomach, swallowed whole.
Perhaps I needed to focus on the wins I’d already achieved with her. They were enough.
I glanced back at the sky in front of us for a moment to check for any threats. The sun was beginning to fade behind quickly gathering gray storm clouds as we approached the southern tip of Andrathya that bordered Sanctum, setting me on edge.
“Appealing may not be the right word,”she hedged and I deflated, having my fears confirmed before she continued.“I find your dragon breathtaking. Your scales glitter beneath the sun, as if clear gemstones have been broken up and fused within them. The way you fly through the sky, as if you’re truly one with it as the clouds wrap around you like a friend. The ice thatglistens on the tips of your spikes, deadly and beautiful all at once.”
“Oh.”
Her tinkling laughter filled my mind.“Oh?”she parroted back.
I wasn’t prepared for such a description of myself, and for the first time I could recall, I felt bashful.“Thank you.”
Her hands rubbed across the scales near the saddle, making me rumble at the feel of her not only touching me, but accepting me as I was.“You’re welcome, dragon boy.”
Fuck, I swear I’d find a way to claim her in this life and any other our souls found themselves in. It didn’t matter that we still were unsure of the bonding that would undoubtedly happen. In this moment, she was mine, and I was hers, and everything else that existed outside of that could perish.
Streaks of lightning filled the darkening clouds over the mist-filled central territory of Edath. The rapid intensifying of the storm had me on high alert and second-guessing if I’d made a mistake in allowing the two of them to come. It was as if the sacred space sensed our intent to invade it, warning us to turn back.
To my knowledge, no dragon from Andrathya had ever entered the land. I’d asked those who dwelled within the mountain before we left, and even the most ancient of dragons couldn’t recall an instance of one of their kind, of our kind, venturing to Sanctum. I hoped that even if no one living had, that perhaps one of the elders before them had passed down information. All of their answers had been similar, steeped in fear of the energy that radiated from Sanctum.
I truly believed it was the portal to our elemental gods, or the new home of the witches after being hunted to extinction by dragons. There was no other logical reason for the tales of magic that existed within all of the myths and rumors of the territory.
“Call Kaida down, please. He must stay down as we approach Sanctum and the bordering kingdom’s lands. It is not up for discussion.”
She didn’t argue, instantly filling me with relief as I felt Kaida settle in behind the saddle. I touched his mind, finding it open to me for once.
“If we run into danger, you need to take your rider and protect her. Leave me behind. Do not go back to the humans of our lands, though, no matter what she says. They are not to be trusted yet.”
He didn’t respond, but that was to be expected at his age. I just had to hope he received my instructions.
Our trip had been uneventful thus far, having chosen to skirt the mountains on the western side, opposite my kingdom, to avoid the drackya. Upon crossing through the human’s lands, we’d simply used the low-hanging white clouds to blend in and soar through without issue. I had taken note of the ballistas that had been mounted to the castle walls, though. They hadn’t been present when I’d come to claim my wife, so why were they adding to their defenses now?
The thought was disturbing, and I’d tucked it away to discuss with Sia after we completed the current mission. There was no need to add to her mental load now, when we could do nothing about it at present. Already, her mind was too full of worry with her inadequacies as a human and her limitations, despite more than surpassing my expectations of her skills. It was my hope that in bringing the sword back for her that her heart would settle some.
My eyes quickly swept over the expansive jungle of Eruthya approaching in the distance on our left. Though the forest was thick, I knew their zephyr dragons could be hiding with ease amongst it, or camouflaging themselves with their scales. I detected no movement at the border, only noting small specks inthe distance flying around the hearth tree. Rain clouds scattered across their domain, pouring into the lush domain.
“I’ve never been able to see the other lands like this,”Sia admitted, her excitement and wonder clear.“That is the largest tree I’ve ever seen.”
