I’m alive, though I didn’t expect it. Opening my eyes, I see I’m inside an ancient room of lovingly carved stonework. Beautiful, those carvings are of Blood Dragons cavorting through the skies as they sail and twist up every column into each elegant vault.
Cracks are riven through the stone everywhere; a magical brazier gives light and warmth, thanks to the fire blazing within, but I hear the wind whistle through the countless fissures in the walls.
The deep silence of midnight breathes cold all around me, but someone is warm in bed with me. Naked like me, I feel Mikkel adjust his position, curling his lean body around me as he realizes I’m awake.
He reaches up, brushing sweat-drenched hair from my forehead, and it’s only then I realize I had a fever. I look over and see his tight, relieved smile. Beautiful but also uncannily handsome, with a face like theArchangels, Mikkel’s high cheekbones and cut features would make him look cruel, except for his lovely full lips.
His black eyes sparkle with relief as he kisses me, copper flaring in their depths. His full lips are so soft and kissable; I indulge for a long moment, just feeling his tall, exquisitely muscled body meld to mine.
Before I remember everything that happened.
“Where are Bjorn and Ström?” I ask, concern for my First and Second Drakes filling me as the horrible events of the past day return and a terrible ache grips my chest.
“With their families.” Mikkel strokes sweaty hair away from my face again. “Ström has had a lot to discuss with Annika and his surviving kin about the succession of their clan in the two days since the battle. Bjorn’s been with Svanhild and Olander, and in conference with King Huttr, about everything that went down. He’s been back and forth to Stockholm by portal a few times. Baldur’s gone with him a bit, to keep him stable as they sort everything out with the King.”
“I’ve been out for two days?” I suck my teeth, then try to struggle up from bed, but I can’t manage it. Weak as a two-day-old kitten, I can barely even sit up before my head swims and I have to flop back down again.
“Magical exhaustion is a bitch.” Mikkel chuckles as he strokes my cheek with his fingertips, before his dark eyes get serious again. “We’re all feeling it, Rikyava. We gave everything when we were out in that Bloodwalking. Then you gave more when you brought down Ström and Bjorn’s walls… and showed them how much you care.”
“I had to do it,” I assert as I lie with Mikkel, watching his dark eyes. “I couldn’t leave them that way, isolating themselves when they needed to be loved. So I broke their walls and showed them how much I love them.”
“Nearly killing yourself to do it, drakaina.” Mikkel chides me now as he gives his tight smile again. “Good thing you were still bound to Baldur and me, bolstering you when you emptied yourself out like that, giving your everything to Bjorn and Ström. And good thing we were all wearing our silver rings.”
“Hey, I’d do it for you and Baldur, too. And Lærke.” I reach out, cupping his cheek in my palm and giving him serious eyes. “I hope you know that.”
“I do know that. We all do.” Mikkel gives me the most honest look ever. His dark eyes glow with copper as a white luminous ring blazes in them. “I cannot thank you enough for bonding my sister, you know. Even though it’s not our actual Bloodbond… I feel it singing all through me, to know she is with us, and loved, as our family.”
Mikkel and I hold each other as he bares his heart to me. I see it shining in his eyes as he thanks me for bringing his sister in with us as family, showing me the fierce dedication he has towards her.
He is no longer torn between her and me; it’s no longer his mate versus his twin that he has to choose between. I see that beautiful wholeness shine in his eyes now, as his incredible heart pours into mine.
Bolstering me, Mikkel shows me how whole he has become and what a true mate that makes him now, as he floods his love and gratitude into me. And that wholeness is beautiful like all the midnight stars in the darkness, as his real self swamps me and I hitch a hard breath, amazed.
To feel his true heart blaze at last.
“Mikkel…!” I breathe, amazed by what I feel from him, because I’ve felt nothing like it before. Mikkel has always been dedicated, a powerhouse to be reckoned with, deadly and fierce. But this is like his entire soul just filled up with starlight—ancient, calm, and free, as he cinches close to me now.
Pulling our hips together, with his hands on my waist.
“You’ve healed two hearts, drakaina, with my sister and me,” Mikkel says then, as his dark eyes shine. “All my life, I knew how broken we were… but I never expected to be whole like this, never in my wildest dreams. Lærke feels the same. She and I have had a lot of time to talk in the past two days, as we watched over you and helped you recover.”
It’s then I know the twins have been the ones staying with me night and day, healing me as my other drakes were occupied elsewhere. It makesme beyond grateful for them, as a beautiful love fills me for my Third Bloodmate and my newfound sister.
“You’ve been an unlooked-for powerhouse duo in my life, although when we met, I thought you were only going to be endless trouble. Thank you.” Everything inside me glows, feeling Mikkel’s true love and knowing Lærke’s, as well.
Because I feel her also, now that she senses I’m awake through our sister-bond. I feel her coming, somewhere out in the ruined enclave of the Hollows.
Her heart shining like her brother’s—beautiful, fierce, and brave.
“No thanks are necessary, Hög Skjaldmær.” Lærke’s voice comes to me as she enters the room. Dressed in tawny Blood Dragon battle leathers, she looks like a warrior-princess with her long platinum hair slicked back and braided at the temples as she comes to the bed now, sinking to a seat upon it.
Lærke’s bright eyes are green-violet today, and evaluating as she reaches out, taking my pulse at my wrist. Staring deep into my eyes, she gives me a full sweep of her power as she assesses me; though I feel all the gratitude she pours into me from everything I did for her, via our sister-bond.
“Magical exhaustion is abating. Good,” she says as I feel her power ease. Both Mikkel and Lærke have vast healing talents, though Lærke’s is far stronger. She doesn’t need to be Bloodbonded to me to use it, as she smiles now, and Mikkel’s smile echoes it.
Both twins happy—in a way I’ve never felt from them before.
“And why shouldn’t we be happy?” Lærke reads my mind with her extensive psychic powers. Gripping my hand on the duvet, she holds it tight. “You saved me—me and Mikkel both. We were drowning in our wrath and bitterness before you came along. When you did, you showed us how life could be; not just an endless game of chess, but something bright and worth living for. Mikkel and I wanted that brightness in our lives. He admitted it before I did… part of why I think your magic bonded him. When we became sisters, however, I finally understood what I had wanted to be a part of. A real family—one who loves me for who I am, and I love them.”
