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She twirled the word that meant a ‘mated Darkan male’ savoring its feel and sound. She had been so surprised when he had presented her with the blades. The graceful yet deadly blades were black and forged from dragon claws, with emerald scales adorning the handle. They were slightly over a foot in length. Saieke had laughed in ironic pleasure. In another kingdom, a lover would have gifted her with rubies pearls and exotic gems, but her Darkan gifted her with weapons.
She loved them.
In their last moments, she realized he would never let her go. Something had shifted inside her upon that realization, and she knew she would defy rules to be with him…whether it was twenty or a hundred years from today.
Saieke lurched in her seats as the Kun galloped with such speed she estimated she would arrive home in a few hours.
“You stare princess.” The soft rasp of Lachlan’s voice had her smiling, completely at ease.
“I only admire your calm in the face of going into unchartered territory.” He was the Darkage’s peacekeeper. Who would have thought the Darkans had a peacekeeper? “You do not seem perturbed at all that you are going into a kingdom that will greet you with suspicion and fear.”
“I do not feel fear.” The smooth cadence of his voice held no inflection, and Saieke could not sense any chakra from him at all.
“I will miss your kingdom.” She smiled at him wistfully inviting him to converse. Which he ignored.
Drac’s family had given her several spectacular gifts— beautifully colored cloths, several layered caftans, flagons of their wine, and the tapestries that were given to her as gift for her king and queen were of the highest quality. No questions had been asked about her accelerated healing or that she spent hours in Drac’s chambers before her departure.
She had been conveyed to the carriage without any ceremony while Drac looked on with emotionless eyes. The emotions that whispered along their connection to her from him had made her ache, and it had taken an enormous amount of strength to enter the conveyance with Lachlan.
Saieke winced when they exited the Darkage into the sunlight. Enclosed in the dark, she had almost forgotten they were still in summertide. She squinted and her eyes watered at the vividness of everything. Her lenses contracted and expanded as her eyes adjusted to the harshness of the light.
“You are Drac’s mate.” A statement more than a question.
“I am,” she whispered, and then a blinding smile erupted from her lips.
“You are not displeased.” For the first time, she heard an inflection of curiosity in his voice.
“I love him.”
His eyebrow arched sharply over golden eyes. “The progeny of Boreas in love with a Darkan.” The mockery in his tone had her bristling.
“You mock me?”
“You will deny him.” He shifted in his seat observing the wild lands of Tarylion as they sped past.
“I will not. I am from wind and mountains, their progeny if you will. Yet I have found love with someone that I was told to hate and revile. I will not walk away from that because I am expected to. How will I bridge the hate? I do not know. But I will fight for it to be removed.”
Less than a thousand miles from the border of her land, Saieke encountered warriors that belonged to Boreas and Nuria. Their conveyance did not stop, but her people recognized her and flashed ahead, faster than the travelling Kuns, to the castle. Some stayed behind and kept pace with them.
Saieke gave Lachlan a swift glance. He remained stoic and bland, ignoring the warriors that stared at him through the carriage windows.
The Kuns were directed to follow the warriors of her kingdom to the inner sanctuary of her castle. They took the deep mountain pass, completely bypassing the city that would be buzzing with Boreans. Deep emotion travel through Saieke as she alighted from the massive carriage, into the inner courtyard of her castle.
She was home.
Saieke inhaled the crisp evening air deep. She looked up at her castle and almost wept in relief and joy. The back of it was embedded deep into a mountain and the waterfalls that shimmered behind it were resplendent. Birds chirped and the sun was bright and beautiful.
A small crowd gathered which comprised her parents along with several council members and more than a handful of Borean warriors. Something tightened inside as she saw persons dressed in flowing robes with the insignia of the Nurians.
Saieke delved deep and found her nervousness muted. She supposed that after being in the Darkage, it would really take much more now to frighten her. Lachlan descended, and there was finally a rustle of murmurs that swept through the small gathering. They would not know who he was. He was without insignia, and the fact that he was with her in the sunlight would never let them realize that a Darkan walked with her.
Saieke flashed to her parents. She could feel the piercing stares as they took in her appearance. Her heart ached at the knife-sharp pain of relief travelling through her mother. It was enough to make her slightly stumble. She had a lot to atone for, Saieke realized.
“My liege.” she said, as she swept into a graceful curtsy.
“Princess Saieke, welcome home,” her father intoned.
Her mother clasped her hands and kissed her cheek.
