“I’m a dr-dragonrider,” she says between sobs, trying and failing to dry her cheeks, because more just keep coming. “I’m supposed to be brave, not cry all the time.”
“You’re feeling every frightening and heartbreaking thing that’s happened to you, which is hard, but it’s a good thing. We’ll get through this together.” I smile and press kisses to her cheeks. “Also, you are very cute when you cry, and it gives me a reason to make a fuss of you.”
“You should make a fuss of me always anyway,” she says with a pout, and then looks surprised at herself. “I don’t know why I said that.”
I laugh softly. “It’s your Omega talking. Sometimes my Alpha takes over and makes me say things, like that time long ago when I rounded on you and demanded you call me Alpha.”
Zenevieve’s eyes widen. “I remember. You were so wonderfully ferocious. I would have called you Alpha. I longed to call you Alpha. Can I call you that now?”
I kiss her again. “Of course you can. You are my Omega and my mate.” I’ll tell her as many times as she needs to hear it.
She runs her lower lip through her teeth and glances around at the underside of Nilak’s wing. “It’s cozy in here with you, Alpha. Nilak’s made me a little nest. I feel like maybe I might be an Omega, but I’m not sure. I don’t know the way I’m supposed to feel.”
“You can feel any way that you want.”
She draws me down for another kiss. “Does Nilak mind us carrying on like this under her wing?”
“Nilak is happy for us. But she says she’ll bite my head off if I break your heart again.”
Her hands tighten desperately on my shoulders. “You won’t, will you? You’re not going to come to your senses and push me away again, are you?”
“I have come to my senses,aash’lin. I’m more in my right mind than I ever have been.”
I press a slow kiss to her lips, cradling her head in my hand. Zenevieve’s anxiety ebbs away, and I feel her grow wonderfully relaxed.
“All right,” she whispers. “But I don’t want to go back to Lenhale. Not yet. I want to stay with you right here until…until I’m sure.”
Until she’s sure that I’m not going to break her heart as soon as we return to the capital. In a day or so when her false heat passes off, and I’m still by her side, still calling her my mate, I hope she’ll feel less afraid.
“We can stay here as long as you need. There are dried rations in Nilak’s bags. There’s a stream not far away. I can fetch us water while Nilak stays here with you and Calyx. We don’t have to go anywhere.”
“A-all right,” she says, letting out a breath and relaxing a little. She hesitates and looks up at me.
“What is it,aash’lin?”
“Can you please kiss me some more?”
I smile and capture her lips with mine. She doesn’t even need to ask. I will kiss her for as long as she needs. I can taste her perfume on her lips. Faintly, but it’s there. I don’t know why she isn’t perfuming as strongly as Omegas in a false heat normally would, but nothing about Zenevieve’s situation is normal. It could be because of her lavish sickness. It could be because of her trauma or Emmeric’s magic, but it doesn’t matter to me what her designation is or what it looks like, as long as she’s mine.
After several minutes of passionate kissing, she goes limp in my arms, panting for breath. She looks like she wants more, but she also looks exhausted.
“You haven’t been sleeping well, have you?” I ask.
She shakes her head.
“Close your eyes. Rest for a while.”
Her hands tighten on my shoulders. “You won’t leave me, will you?”
“Only to fetch water and wash that stupid Alpha’s blood off me. It offends me that his scent is in your nest.” Zenevieve still looks afraid, and so I add, “I will hold you until you fall asleep, and then Nilak will guard you. You trust Nilak to keep you safe, don’t you?”
“I do,” she finally admits, relaxing a little.
“Rest. You won’t even know I’m gone.”
I hold her close to me and make my scent as rich and comforting as possible. She grows drowsy and drunk in my arms, burrowing into me and making sweet little noises. Her false heat has made her restless and upset, but finally she grows still, and her breathing evens out.
I watch her sleeping for a long time, gently caressing her face, and tucking her hair behind her ears. My mate, who I can care for and adore and make happy. Who’ll be fierce and beautiful by my side, and beloved by the flare. I’ve finally found her. I can finally see her for who she is.
