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“Because the fire fae were dabbling in foolish magics,” Quye said. “They found and modified an ancient witchling spell and summoned the dragons from another realm, intending to tame them and use them in warfare against the other three Houses.” She smirked a little. “However, the magic backfired very badly, and instead of the fire fae bonding to the dragons as master and slave, they created a soul bond where the two became one.” She pulled out an ancient notebook and waved it in the air. “This is a journal written by a fire fae scholar that I’ve been translating. The author’s name is nearly identical to the grandfather of one of the dragons I interviewed while Adara and I visited them in their new realm, and the two of them have personality quirks that are far too similar to be coincidental.”
Quye spent the next few minutes reading a few passages from the book, passages that backed up her claims, then allowed the leaders to pass the book around and examine it for themselves.
“How would you describe what it was like when you shifted into a dragon for the first time, Einar?” she asked me once they were finished looking at it.
“It felt as if a hidden beast inside of me had awoken for the first time,” I said, thinking back to that day. “That beast is both me and not me. Our urges are often at odds, and it sometimes feels as if I have two different personalities inside me.”
Adara smiled. “That sounds about right to me, too.” She brushed a hand across the side of her leg, where her Umnar tattoo was. “I’m still trying to figure out how to live in harmony with mine.”
“Exactly,” Quye said. “Dragons are dual creatures—they have the soul of a fae, and the heart of a dragon, combined in one body. That’s why all the fire fae in Hearthfyre disappeared, why there wasn’t a single dead body found. They merged with the dragons and were reborn as different beings, the memories of their previous lives erased.”
A heavy silence blanketed the room as the House heads contemplated this. “So you’re saying the war we fought against the dragons, the thousands of years of bloodshed, was all based on a misunderstanding?” Lady Mossi finally asked.
Quye gave her a sympathetic smile. “I wouldn’t feel too bad,” she said. “The fire fae brought this upon themselves by trying to summon and enslave a race of beasts that they intended to use to conquer the other realms. If they’d succeeded, the war still would have happened. It just might have ended a lot sooner.”
“But there is no question now that Hearthfyre belongs to us,” I said. “And as the only ones with the ability to clear out the Shadows and make it habitable again, wehaveearned the right to live there.”
“I agree,” Lord Oren said simply. “I acknowledge Hearthfyre as its own kingdom, as well as your and Adara’s right to rule it as you see fit. I only hope we can negotiate proper trade agreements, so the rest of the kingdoms might once again benefit from the use of primal stones.”
“Of course,” Adara said. “We would be more than happy to trade primal stones in exchange for your help in healing the land.” She shifted her gaze to Lady Mossi. “I would be especially grateful for your assistance in establishing farm and grasslands again.”
“Well, I…” Lady Mossi seemed flustered, but Avani laid a hand on her grandmother’s arm.
“I think I speak for everyone in the room,” she said with a smile, “when I say that we are more than happy to negotiate. All in favor of acknowledging Hearthfyre as a fourth kingdom of the new Edirian Republic?”
All the House heads raised their hands. And just like that, after thousands of years of fighting, the Dragon-Fae War finally came to an end.
49
Adara
Two years later.
A warm hand slid down my outer thigh, sending tingles through my body and waking me from a deep slumber. Stirring, I opened my eyes to find Einar snuggled up to my chest, one arm wrapped around my waist while he used his free hand to trace the outline of my Umnar tattoo.
“I was wondering if you would wake,” he said, a twinkle in his golden eyes as he looked down at me. His hair was a rumpled mess, and I reached up to run my fingers through it and smooth it back into place. “You’re very sensitive here, you know.”
I squirmed a little as he tickled me, a laugh bubbling up from my chest. “I’m sensitive everywhere,” I said, wiggling out of his arms.
“Come back here,” he complained as I rolled out of bed.
“No.” I reached for the blue silk robe draped over the back of my lounging chair and shrugged it on, then walked to the balcony doors. “I want to see what’s going on out there.”
Einar grumbled under his breath as I pushed open the doors and headed outside into the fresh air. It was late morning—I’d slept in quite a bit—and an early summer breeze toyed with my hair, lifting it from my shoulders as rays of sunlight caressed my cheeks.
I leaned on the railing as I surveyed the royal family estate, which Einar and I had nearly finished rebuilding. Kaipei Castle was still our main residence—it was close enough to Hearthfyre’s border that it was easier for us to stay there, since we spent a lot of time traveling both around Hearthfyre and between the realms. Not to mention the monthly council meetings we were required to attend.
But we came to this estate as often as we could, which had become both my sanctuary and my center of learning. When I wasn’t tending to the estate or meeting with the other dragons, I was buried in the library, reading up as much as I could on the history and customs of the people I now ruled.
My chest swelled with pride as I took in the blossoming gardens and, beyond the newly constructed walls, the rolling fields filled with growing crops and small herds of game animals. An azure lake dotted with fishing boats glittered in the distance, and pristine white clouds scooted across the clear sky.
All of this had been made possible through the new Edirian republic, which had reforged the alliances between the realms. In exchange for copious amounts of primal stones, the air fae had cleared the ashes from our skies, the water fae had purified our springs and lakes, and the earth fae had revitalized our soil, making it possible to plant new crops. Yes, Hearthfyre still had its volcanoes and flowing magma rivers, but between my icefire and the help of the other fae, we’d made it habitable once more.
“You’ve done fine work here,” Einar said, coming up from behind me. The bond hummed with pride and affection as he wrapped his arms around my midsection and nuzzled the side of my neck.
“We’vedone fine work,” I amended, lacing one of my hands through his. A movement caught my eye, and I glanced down to find the estate’s gardener—an earth fae—tending to the rose bushes. Now that the war was over, fae could travel freely between the realms, and it made my heart swell with happiness when some relocated here. It had taken a year for that to happen, but it had been a huge step, a sign that the fae were truly beginning to accept the dragons as not just their neighbors, but their friends.
“I could never have done this without you,” I said, turning in his arms so I could face him. I hopped up onto the railing so that we were eye level, and brought his face to mine until we were nose-to-nose. “I may have brought the dragons back, may have even given them icefire so they could help me win this war, but it wasyouthey came back for. Your golden heart and selfless leadership that inspired them to cross back through that portal to fight for a land that had rejected them. They support me, and this alliance, because of their trust in you.”
