“And what about you?” I couldn’t help asking. “Do you ride often? I can’t imagine I would if I could fly, but then again, I haven’t seen a dragon once since arriving. You seem to fly as rarely as Cyrus did.” Calix barked a laugh, surprising me.
“I actually shift often and go flying.” Calix chuckled. “Liv often joins me as well. My other sister, Ndrita, you’ll meet her sometime soon, I’m sure, but she lives in Keris. Her husband is the Lord there. She flies with us whenever she visits. Kerisisn’t quite as ideal as Tairngire for flying, so she always takes advantage when she arrives.”
I was taken aback by the excitement and pure joy on Calix’s face as he spoke of flying, and even more so, of his sisters. It was clear he loved them and missed Ndrita when she wasn’t around.
I wondered how old she was when their parents died. Calix was one hundred and twenty, and Liv had just been born—how often did Fae typically have children? King Astraeus and Queen Stelara had six children, but I knew King Aelius and Queen Aurelia only had the one.
“Tairngire’s location is said to have been chosen for its cliffs.” Calix continued, breaking my train of thought. “My ancestors found it was perfect for taking off and flying over them, hence the name Dragon Cliffs.”
“And will I ever get to see said dragon form?” I couldn’t help but coyly ask, looking over at him with raised brows.
I wanted to know if his dragon form looked anything like the dragons I dreamed of. To see a dragon in person—it would be a dream come true.
“You will.” Calix laughed joyfully. His eyes cut to me, a smirk forming on his lips, “What do you say to me—” He licked his lips, and I zeroed in on the motion. “Taking you for a different kind of ride?”
One of his eyebrows rose with his smirk. I couldn’t believe him—he literally ran away from me last night, yet here he is making sex jokes.
“Pfft! You couldn’t handle it.” I sniped back at him. His chuckle in response was deep, and I did my best to keep my eyes forward, I couldn’t stand to see that playful gleam in his eyes right now.
“Tonight.” Calix suddenly proclaimed after a moment of silence. I looked over despite myself, and saw he looked entirely serious now. “Flying at night among the stars, it’s an experience you won’t forget. I promise you that.”
His eyes bore into mine so intensely that I felt trapped within his gaze, completely unable to look away. At least until he dipped his head downwards, and I watched silvery white strands sway with the movement, the breeze coming through tossing them in front of his face and back again. When he lifted his head, his face was painted with regret.
“Calix—” I began, swallowing hard, suddenly sure where this was heading.
“Asteria, I owe you an apology.” He didn’t let me deter him, and his voice was so contrite, I couldn’t stand it.
“You don’t. Really.” I insisted, walking faster toward the stables.
Calix grabbed my arm, stopping me in my tracks. I closed my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath as I gathered my courage, and my dignity, before looking back up. I couldn’t help the draw I felt toward him, nor could I stop myself from being swept into his orbit every time I looked into his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Asteria.Truly. I shouldn’t have drunk so much my inhibitions were affected. I should have known that around you—” Calix paused, swallowing hard. “Fucking Nox.” He ran a hand through his long hair, and I watched it trail through his fingers.
“I can’t explain the way I feel about—or—or toward you.” He struggled with his words, leaving me a bit in awe that it wasmethis powerful Fae king was stammering over. “I should have the willpower to keep things friendly between us. Because that’s all it can be, Asteria. Somewhere out there is my soulmate, and a man is only as good as the way he treats his mate.”
He laughed softly, shaking his head, “That’s what my father always told me. And I strived to ensure I was nothing but loyal to her—whoever she is. But Nox.” His eyes barreled into me, like they were stripping me down to my soul. “You test me in dangerous ways. Since the very day we met.”
I couldn’t deny that I felt the same.
“I’d like us to be friends still, though.” Calix concluded with a wince. I nearly laughed—friends? How in the Otherworld would we be able to managethat? But what choice did we really have? And, well—he looked so wretched talking about this that the part of me that wanted nothing more than his happiness (and where hadthatcome from?) had me nodding with a slight smile.
“I’d like that.” I told him softly, cursing myself internally.
Shy smiles graced both our faces as we continued our walk to the stables. As we rounded the corner, my lips parted in shock at the size of the stables in front of me. I heard Calix chuckle and dragged my eyes away from the building to look at him.
“We’re outfitting an entire army plus the rest of the city.” Calix explained, mirth dancing in his eyes. “Most of the horses in Tairngire get stabled in one of three places. Either here, or in one of two estates in Starshine. Those estates have large stables where they rent out stalls. Some of the other estates have stables as well, but they’re strictly private and much smaller. Further out of the city there are other, larger stables, but it’s impractical for the people here to use those. We offer free stabling for our residents as well, so most people use the stables here.”
“That’s very generous of you.” I raised my brow, a smile growing across my face. I couldn’t imagine how much money he must have to be able to offer such things freely and not care about the loss of it.
“Horses are essential. It seemed unnecessary to charge people for something like that.” Calix just shrugged modestly. He wasn’t wrong. Horses were the best mode of transportation outside of wagons or carriages, and even those required horses. They were necessary for anyone wanting to go farther than walking distance.
I looked up at the stables as we approached. Next to the palace, which was a near glowing white, with pink, purple, green, and blue shining within it when you looked closely, the stable wasquite the opposite. It was black but made to look like cosmic dust, interspersed with the same colors as the star opal—the same colors found in the galaxies above—only done in smaller amounts that circled and swirled into the dust motif. A large sign reading “Cosmic Dust Stables” hung above the large barn doors.
Rings stretched for miles behind the stables, with posts delineating different areas. Some people were out there now, and I could just make out that trainers were calling out different instructions.
Walking through the double doors, I found that the stalls expanded down the stable’s corridor, and it was open at the other end, where another set of large double doors were pushed open to the rings. There were walkways leading off to the left and right, where additional stalls were housed. Calix led me to the left, and as we passed, I counted five more long rows this way.
Calix brought us to the farthest row. Each stall had a name plate in front of it, and as he led me through, I looked idly over the names of the different horses kept here. We finally came to the end, and there was a larger stall here with a pair of horses inside instead of just one. My eyes dipped to read the sign in front: Elatha and Arianrhod.
