His fingers dug deeper into my hair as he stared at my wet eyes. He dipped his head and kissed me, kissed my forehead as he cradled the back of my neck. Then he gripped me by the ass and lifted me into him so I could wrap my legs around his waist and hold him at eye level.
My arms circled his neck, and I buried my face in his shoulder, smelling his soap from the bath, feeling his heat warm me from the crispness outside. He held me like that for a long time, like he enjoyed my weight in his arms, enjoyed touching me in any way that made me feel good.
I eventually pulled my face out of his shoulder and looked at him. “I feel closer to you now.”
He stared into my face.
“The way I felt closer to you when you told me about your family.”
It was the middle of the night, and we were in bed together, the fire burning low in the fireplace. It’d been raining nonstop since the afternoon, and we could hear the raindrops pelting the roof and the windows. When the fire nearly burned out, Callum would wordlessly feed it with the wood he’d cut himself and hauled back to our home next to the castle.
He stroked his fingers through my hair before he trailed them lightly down the back of my neck, his callused fingertips sometimes feeling sharp against my flesh when he applied too much pressure. But I had the same calluses on my hands, the same scars, and I liked feeling his.
His dark eyes looked into my face the way they had all week, more intense than they’d ever been, like he’d never really seen me before. It was the first time in our lives that we had each other without limitation. Our hearts both beat as mortals, and my family had accepted the man I’d chosen for my husband. So it was this—forever.
He stared at me like that for a long time, probably for hours, never saying a word.
I loved the quiet companionship between us, the way we could just be together and be content. Whether we made love or cuddled or just looked at each other, it all felt right.
He interrupted the quiet with his soft-spoken words. “Marry me.”
I’d been waiting for the moment he would finally ask me, because every time I tried to initiate it, he didn’t react. He just let my words fade into the silence between us. I didn’t need a proposal, felt it was beneath us and the connection we shared, but now I understood why he’d waited—because he’d wanted my father’s blessing.
It was a night like any of the others we’d shared together that week, but tonight was the one he chose to reciprocate what I wanted. I slid my fingers into his hair as I lifted my leg a little higher over his hip. “When?”
He cradled my face with his palm, looking at me, utterly transfixed. “Now.”
“Right here in this bed?”
“Yes.” His thumb swiped at the corner of my mouth. “I’ve lived without you for so long.” A distant moisture came from theoutskirts of his eyes and lined his gaze. “Every night, I stare at you and wait to be pulled back to the underworld. Every night, I hold my breath and worry something will take you away from me. But the battle is won and the war is over, and I finally have you. Queen Lily Rothschild…Goddess of the Southern Isles.”
My father looked at me with a love so deep and real that I knew no one would ever love me the same. But I felt the depth of Callum’s love every time he looked at me, every time he spoke to me, every time we breathed the same air. It felt deeper than the flesh, even deeper than the heart. All the way to the soul. “Then I take you, Callum Riverside, to be my husband…for as long as I may live.”
He brought us closer together, his forehead resting against mine as he closed his eyes and cherished what I’d just said. “And I take you, Lily Rothschild, to be my wife, to serve you as my queen, to protect you with my life, to love you every day, as long as I may live.”
I was given a new set of armor, made not just with Khazmuda’s and Zehemoth’s scales, but with scales from all the dragons. My armor was no longer black, but a beautiful collage of colors from the various dragons who had donated their own hard scales. My family crest was still in the center with Khazmuda flying overhead.
I stood and looked at myself in the mirror, catching my mother stepping into the room to escort me to the ceremony.She came up behind me and looked me in the eye in the mirror, her eyes watering in pride. “All hail the queen.”
I looked at myself in the reflection, seeing a woman I hardly recognized. I’d been forged in the hottest fires of the earth…and had grown into a brilliant diamond. My long hair was secured back in a thick braid like I was going to battle.
“You’re ready, Lily.”
I took a breath before I gave a nod.
“Why do you hesitate, honey?”
“I don’t hesitate,” I said quietly. “It’s just hard to ascend to the throne and not think about everything else that led to this moment. The men and women who fought for the Southern Isles with me. The dragons that served…and fell from the sky. I’m responsible for them all now.”
Her hands moved to both of my shoulders. “And you’re the only one worthy of that responsibility, because you feel it.”
She released my shoulders then stepped aside so I could leave the mirror and walk out the door.
But I remained for a moment longer, looking at myself for the final time as a woman and a princess, not tasked with the responsibility of so many others. When I’d finally had enough time, I stepped away from the mirror…and said goodbye.
My mother watched me walk past her, her eyes watering again as she saw me go. Then she took her place behind me, following me as we left the castle and took the path outside the gate to the village below.
People were gathered as far as the eye could see. The largest crowd of citizens I’d ever seen in a time of peace. I hesitated as I stared down at them all, waiting for me to join them.
