The wooden door creaked open toward us on its own accord, inviting us into a seemingly empty hall of ice, but I recognized familiar portraits hanging on the walls. They were larger versions of the ones between mine and Theo’s chambers in our castle.
“This is my throne room,” he explained, sensing my confusion as I glanced over at him. “It’s eerie, the way he seems to exist within our world, but through a thin veil that lays just over the surface.”
I had to agree with his sentiment. Was there anything the gods couldn’t see from their realm? It didn’t sit right with me, how much the undine elemental seemed to know about us, but I couldn’t dwell on it for too long. I couldn’t do anything to change it or block them out, to my knowledge, and there wasn’t a chance that the god would offer up how to do so.
Long ago I’d lived within the mortal bubble of my castle, with little knowledge of the drackya and dragons, let alone the elementals. Still, even then I was but a pawn to beings such as the elementals, and I hated to accept it. As long as he didn’t harm us, I’d try to forget that a watchful eye could be hovering above us at any moment.
At the end of the glimmering hall of ice we found the undine god sitting on a throne of ice, with Kaida sitting far too close to his side for my comfort. My dragon seemed lost in a vision as he swayed slightly, not taking note of our approach at all.
“What is going on here?” I asked, nerves taking flight in my stomach and spreading outward to soar through my body.
At the sound of my voice, Kaida seemed to snap out of his trance. He trilled and practically fell over his feet trying to run to us. While very graceful in the air, he still hadn’t figured out that dragons weren’t built to run on land.
Theo held out his hand, commanding the smaller dragon, “Do not crush her!”
I opened my arms wide as Kaida skidded to a halt, his claws digging into the icy floor to do so. “Hi, buddy!” I exclaimed, rubbing my hands on the thick skin between his eyes like he liked. He pushed harder against my hands, making me laugh.
“I missed you, Sia,”he gushed into my mind, melting my heart.
How had I somehow been blessed with two perfect dragons after growing up fearful of them? In my life before, I had never been able to comprehend a world in which humans and dragons could coexist. Life had a funny way of challenging me.
Relief had my body relaxing, seeing that Kaida was perfectly fine and hearing the happiness in his voice.
“I missed you too. Has he been treating you okay?”
“We had interesting talks of the future,” the undine god stated, eyes locked on Kaida as he steepled his fingers beneath his chin. “You are lucky to be bonded to such a strong dragon, mortal. If he weren’t bonded, I’d think of keeping him here with me.”
His words set off my internal alarms, but I forced myself to stay calm. If he wanted to force Kaida to stay here, why go through this?
“I am lucky,” I agreed, my words clipped with forced politeness.
I turned as Kaida left my side, keeping the god in my view as I watched the smaller dragon approach Theo. I hadn’t even realized that he had stepped to the side to give us our moment.
My breath caught in my throat as Kaida sniffed him, jerking his head back quickly. Theo lifted a hand, letting it linger in the air between them in an offering. Just when I thought my heart couldn’t be any more full, Kaida lowered his head, pressing against Theo’s hand and letting out the softest trill of acceptance.
My boys.
They separated moments later, coming to stand on either side of me. With Theo grabbing my hand and Kaida pressed into my side gently, we faced the undine elemental, together.
He pushed from the throne to stand at the edge of the steps, peering down at us. We stood strong, not cowering beneath his harsh stare. For the first time, a piece of me pitied the god as I looked up at him trying to lord over us. It seemed like a life lived in lonely eternity here. When I told Theo he was trapped in a prison of ice, alone, this is exactly what I pictured.
No friends or family to turn to. Occupying his time with the short lifespans of mortals and his creations, our years likely fleeting seconds to an immortal deity. Did he even have dreams or aspirations anymore, or did he just simply…exist?
It went to show, you could have all the power in the world and still be miserable.
“How did you break the curse?” I asked, knowing he wouldn’t entertain us much longer after he’d already demanded we collect Kaida and leave.
I couldn’t leave before knowing the answer. Or else it would haunt me forever.
He sighed heavily as his eyes roamed across the three of us. “I suppose I’ve stretched this out as long as I can, and you’ve risen to each trial I’ve presented to you. I will give you the answer as a reward.”
The anticipation built within me, my body tightening up as his lips parted to continue.
“You broke the curse by simply fulfilling the requirement of the witch: A human must bond with a cursed drackya of their own free will, establishing that true love can exist without the lies and deceit of their predecessors.”
It felt like being kicked in the gut as I processed his words. This couldn’t be the truth, yet his words lined up with the exacttiming that the curse broke. Theo’s own shock radiated through my mind, echoing my own feelings.
“So, all we had to do this entire time was complete our bond?” I asked, needing clarification that it was, in fact, that simple all along.
