Her voice and eyes go soft, no doubt picking up on the echoes of my torment. “I’m okay,” she tells me again. “We’re together.”
My throat bobs as I nod, and she squeezes my hand again to comfort me.
Her wings stretch out slightly from where they’re tucked against her back, and the one closest to me reaches out to stroke my arm, just like her ribbons did. I release her hand so I can drag my fingers over it, and the ends curl around me as if trying to hold on.
My lips curve and I rub it between my fingers. The surface feels satiny smooth and supple, but there’s also an underlying core that’s strong and sturdy. It bends and sways, each individual ribboned strip spanning the length of the forged wing. But it looks like liquid gold dripped down, forming feathers up and down the lengths.
“Gorgeous,” I purr.
The wing brushes over me again, but this time…lower.
Auren’s head snaps over with a blush branding her cheek. “Stop that,” she hisses beneath her breath as it caresses my ass.
I chuckle as the wing snaps back into place against her. “They’re quite handsy,” I say through a smile.
“They’re new,” she says with teasing flippancy. “They just don’t know how to move yet.”
Her wings fluff up, making my grin widen. “I don’t think they agree with that statement.”
Auren looks back at them, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she smiles, which makes my heart melt. She loves them. I can see it in her expression. And they fit her perfectly. She doesn’t look strange, doesn’t walk as if they burden her or feel awkward. They flow with her effortlessly, as if they were always there, just waiting to come out.
Maybe they were.
Maybe it was similar to how I felt when I manifested the dragon.
As soon as that thought crosses my mind, a pang goes through me, though I try to keep the despondency from my face.
“You okay?” Auren asks, so in tune with me that she can sense my shift in mood.
The mourning stretches inside of me, emanating from the place where the dragon slept, right at the core of my healed selves. The spot now lies empty.
I’ve lost my dragon. But I have her.
I reach down and thread my fingers through hers. “So long as I have you, I will always be okay.”
So long as I have her, I can bear anything.
“How do your wings feel?” I ask.
Auren considers my question as she glances over at them. “They feel…like my ribbons. Like there aren’t just two, but still all twenty-four.”
I hum in thought. “Can you separate them again?”
Her steps falter slightly as she thinks about it, but then she turns focused. Her eyes flutter closed for a moment, and then, her wings stretch out and ripple.
I watch as her wings split apart into all two dozen ribbons again. They twist and flick like they’re excited.
Auren beams. “Did you see?”
“Beautiful,” I say as one of the strips comes over to stroke against my arm.
Auren pulls in her ribbons, and the lengths fuse into wings again, pouring down with dripping gold that forms the feathers.
She presses a hand to her chest and nearly skips in excitement. “I can have them both,” she says with wonder. “Wingsandribbons.”
Behind us, the people look on with amazement, whispers breaking out between them.
“You’re extraordinary,” I murmur, and I relish the blush that casts across her cheeks.
