“Wait, I thought King Gael was friends with Krispin. You fought against them? I thought the dragons fought mages.” Colin tilted his head and scrunched his brow.
“Mages? And who’s Krispin?” Reggie’s eyes were wide with wonder.
I released a long breath. “Okay, here’s the short version. First, Krispin is the current dragon king. I’m sure you’ll meet him.”
“You’ve seen him before,” Colin said soberly.
Reggie narrowed his eyes. “Was it when they were all yelling?”
Colin nodded.
“You’re going to have to elaborate on what happened with all of them,” I said.
“I will after you continue about this war,” Colin replied.
“Okay. Anyway, dragons once dominated this realm. They were so abundant. The only problem was that so were the Fae, and we loved the magic of the dragons. Well, one of the dragon kings, Krispin’s grandfather, sort of was a little off his rocker and blamed us for killing his mate. This started a centuries-long war. I was one of the commanders and fought in it.”
“You fought in it?” Colin exclaimed.
I nodded. “Yes, it was a hard time for all Fae. It was Krispin’s father who stopped the war. Krispin’s father went against his father’s orders and made overtures for peace. He actually ended up killing his dad because he tried killing his mate and him. After that, the Great Dragon King Calum ascended the throne and brokered the peace with King Gael’s father. One of the conditions was that the Fae would stay in the Fae realm.”
“Wow,” Colin said, and Reggie nodded in agreement, his mouth hung open.
“That’s wow…” Colin said again.
“How is this not common knowledge? Where were humans and… Vampires?” Reggie asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. We pretty much stayed in the fae realm, even after we heard that High Garden fell. There were only a few times that I knew that King Gael came to the human realm, and it was my brother, Zin, who came with him.”
Reggie nodded but stopped and bit his lip before looking at Colin. “Do I know King Gael, too?”
Colin’s eyes rounded, and I snorted a laugh. “You do,” I said between chuckles.
Reggie squeezed his eyes shut and cringed before looking back at me. “Is he the purple-eyed guy with the pointed ears?”
I shook my head. “Close, that’s his son, Gavin. King Gael, or as you called him, isSparkles.”
“Oh, my god. They’re going to hate me even—” Reggie began but abruptly stopped and stared at me. “You need the king’s permission to come here. What if…oh, God, what if he decides you need to go back and I can’t be with you?”
“That’s not going to happen,” Colin said before I could.
“Colin’s right, sweetheart. I’ve known Gael for a long time. He’d never keep me from my spark.” I paused and glanced at Colin. “Or, in this case, sparks.”
“But he and the others were already mad at me—maybe even hated me. Then I called him Sparkles,” Reggie said, his voice full of emotion and his eyes welling up with tears.
I slid from my chair and hurried to his side. I hated seeing my spark, my mate, hurt.
“They don’t hate you. They don’t even know you,” Colin said softly. Colin had joined us at Reggie’s other side.
“But—”
“No buts,mon chou. They were angry at me, maybe not even angry. They were scared. Zander, their friend and family, was hurt. He almost died and they needed someone to blame. It just came out as anger.”
“What Colin is saying is true. My friends care for me, and they’ll love you and Colin. They were scared. They don’t hate you. And trust me, Gael will not care at all that you called him Sparkles. He won’t keep us apart,” I reassured.
Reggie sniffled and wiped his eyes. “You really don’t think he’ll keep us apart?”
“No, he won’t,” I confirmed. “Even if he tried, nothing would keep me from being with you or Colin.” It was true. Deep in the very core of my being, I knew I’d fight anyone to be with my sparks, even the king of the Fae.
