“Okay.” I sighed in defeat. “Do I need a dress or is one I have good enough?” Ilta’s squeal made Lilith cringe, making me wonder if her Fae hearing was amplified by wolf hearing.
“We’ll all get new dresses!” Ilta exclaimed. “It will be so much fun! We can take you shopping in Moonglow, it’s the best shopping experience a girl can have. Right, Liv?”
“It’s my favorite thing about this city.” Liviana told me, looking more excited than I’d seen her yet. “You definitely have to let us take you, Asteria!” I helplessly nodded my agreement and the two of them instantly began talking styles, cuts, and colors as Harpina rolled her eyes.
“I’ll make sure it’s a night to remember.” Baach promised Ilta, his eyes still glued to her, and I watched a soft blush take over her cheeks.
I couldn’t help the small smile as I watched them all. I’d never imagined having so many people in my life—and especially didn’t imagine caring about them. But once my heart had cracked open for one person, it seemed it couldn’t be locked back up again—the floodgates were open, and they all streamed right in.
I had never been this happy when I was alone though, even having Soren in his limited capacity as a lover was nothing like this. Years spent with only my dreams to keep me going and losing myself in my fantasies left me with a bitterness I wasn’t ever able to shake. Loneliness gnaws on the soul, seeking to dim its light. But now, all these people—even the Fae I once hated—had pushed that loneliness away.
For the most part, anyway. Watching Ilta flirt with Baach, I found myself strangely longing for—someone—to have a person in my life in a romantic capacity beyond just sex. I hadneverwanted something like that before, and had shut down any inclination for it long ago. Love was for the Fae alone.
Except in Night Kingdom, humans were equal with Fae, allowed everything they were—including love. And now I found myselfyearning. I nearly snarled at the thought, I wasn’t a girl to sit around pining for some moon headed man of darkne—…someone—not anyone specific, of course. That was not me, was the point.
“How about thatride?” Calix whispered huskily into my ear, causing me to jolt in surprise. The smirk on his face made me glower at him, but I couldn’t help the excited trembling of my hands or the smile twitching onto my face at the thought.
“Come on, my réalta. Let’s get you into the sky.” Calix’s smirk transformed into a genuine smile as I squealed in happiness—my eyes rapidly widened to the size of the dinner plates on the table, my hand coming up to slap over my mouth like it could contain the embarrassing sound. The others laughed, Baach nearly falling into Eryx as he doubled over in laughter, but Calix just smiled warmly at me, and something in memelted.
“Flying is one of the best things in the world, and I can’t even imagine not being able to do it.” Calix said quietly. “I know you love flying as well, and you’ve been kept from it for too long. Come, let’s get you up where you belong.”
I cursed myself as tears pricked my eyes, but I reached out and grasped Calix’s outstretched hand. His fingers curled over mine, warm, but calloused from years of wielding a blade and hard work other kings refused to bother with themselves.
Those same kings would certainly never allow a human to ride on their back. I couldn’t explain how thankful I was for this opportunity, but he seemed to know implicitly. He lifted his other hand, sliding his index finger under my eye and brushing away the single tear that had escaped. No words passed between us. There was simply an understanding—one between two people who felt they belonged among the sky. There were other things in that stare—wishes, hopes, and dreams, along with the crushed realizations of never having any of them. It felt like it lasted an eternity, but finally, Titan pointedly cleared his throat, and we waved our goodbyes as we walked out the door.
Calix led me down the sparkling halls towards one of the many back doors, though this one was just as grand as the main entrance. Only instead of the phases of the moon, it had a swirling galaxy in sparkling purple and green etched into the black door, even the runes here were done in alternating purple and green. The guards posted here opened the doors for us andCalix led me past the back gardens and onto where the cliff stopped and spilled out to a sea of stars.
The aurora was shimmering in the air—pink, purple, green, and blue strands gleaming and swaying through the night sky, while the stars glittered radiantly—brighter and numbering surely thousands more than I’d ever seen. I’d loved the night sky all my life, and I’d never seen it look so ethereal that it took my breath away as it did now.
“The magic of my kingdom.” Calix said quietly, looking over at me and watching my reaction. “It makes the nights more beautiful than anywhere else, with more stars, more glimpses of other worlds, and the aurora is a constant here instead of just appearing once in a while like in other kingdoms.”
“And now I can fly among them?” I asked with a large smile as I gestured to the twinkling sea of stars filled with dancing bands of colored light.
“Oh, yes.” He enthused, his smile growing. “I can’t wait for you to experience this. If you think you loved flying before, you’ll be hounding me for rides every day after this.” His laugh was filled with joy, and I wanted to swallow that joy whole, wanted to take his mouth with mine and experience what that emotion felt like on his tongue—because he seemed to nearly glow with it in this light. The shadows played around him, as they often did, darkness clung to him like a lover, but it only seemed to enhance the beauty he so clearly radiated.
“Let’s go, then!” I shook myself from my thoughts, eager to be up in the sky.
Calix smirked as he began walking backwards with a swagger in his step, though I wasn’t sure how he maintained it when moving in reverse. He paused quite a distance from me, and then—it began. I watched in awe as he began to shift, rapidly taking up much more space as an Otherworld damneddragonreplaced where the beautiful Fae king just stood.
It was—fucking intimidating, to be honest, but he must have sensed that somehow, as he rumbled in what I distinctly felt was amusement. How I could tell that’s what it was, I had no idea, but I brushed it off as I took him in. He was truly massive—like his wings, he was mostly black with purple interspersed throughout. Long, membranous wings shot out and stretched before curling back into his bulk, giving me a glimpse of the scalier side. He shifted until he was leaning down, his leg and wing positioned to allow me to…climb.
I swallowed hard and reached a trembling hand out, gasping as it connected with his scales. They were warm to the touch, but not uncomfortably so. His huge head turned toward me, and he made that rumbling sound again, his lips peeling back and exposing giant teeth that could snap me in half with one bite—but I had no fear. Even I ran my eyes up his body and to his head, taking in the sharp horns there. To my amusement, they actually formed a crown across his head—each one tipped with purple like jewels dotting the spikes of a crown.
I looked down and met his eyes, inhaling sharply—just like with Lilith, his eyes remained the same color. Large purple irises stared back at me, slitted and double lidded, making them seem much more alien, yet somehow it still seemed like him—like Calix. That thought gave me the nerve I needed, and I planted my foot, using my hands to boost myself upwards.
When I reached his back, there was a sort of natural dip behind the neck that I took advantage of, swinging my leg over and sitting down. I marveled over the fact I was astride a dragon, let alone that I was astride Calix. I’d analyze that thought later. I ran my hands over his heated scales, a purring noise whistling out from his maw that made me smile and continued petting his scales.
“Hold on.”Calix firmly instructed, his voice echoing in my mind as he shifted upwards. A row of spikes ran down hisneck and ended just before my seat, and figuring that’s what he meant, I grabbed onto the ones closest to me. With a powerful beat of those giant wings, he was launching over the cliff, and we were sailing through the air. I held on for dear life, my legs burning at the stretch—he was considerably wider than a horse. But it didn’t take long before any discomfort was a blurry memory.
I gasped as we flew higher, and the stars surrounded me completely. I reached out a trembling hand, thinking of my dreams with Luna, of the darkness that reached for me, of dancing among the stars. And as Calix swooped gracefully through the sky, it felt like I trulywasdancing among them. I could feel tears streaming down my face, but I couldn’t summon even a shred of embarrassment.
This was everything I’d ever wanted, to fly up among the stars and be free—and here I was, doing exactly that. It was beyond anything in this world or any other. Majestic. Amazing. Incredible. Unfathomable. No words could truly describe the feeling that moved through me, the feeling of belonging—of…peace.
I held out both my arms as Calix glided smoothly through the skies, like I’d spread my own wings to fly. I could vividly imagine the weight of wings on my back. I focused so hard on it, that it was like the feeling becamereal. It felt like that weight was truly there, but they were struggling. They wanted to break free and fly—but couldn’t.
Because I didn’t have wings, no matter how much I wished for them. But this—this was more than I could have ever hoped for. No matter how much my skin twinged, and my back ached—I was accustomed to that pain after all—no matter how real it felt that I had wings that wanted to burst free and fly in that moment, I would appreciate what I had. And that was a king wholet me fly on the back of his dragon and experience the amazing joy of flight for myself.
Chapter 28
