A stream of fire exploded from my mouth, while all my bones seemed to…shift. Starlight exploded out around me as my body changed. As the world grew farther and farther from me. My back ached with pure release as something unfurled and lifted me from the ground.
Wings beat as I rose higher.
Wait… Wings?
Confused, I looked down to see my body.
Silver scales highlighted with purple shone under the light of the sun. I paused, looking at myself in shock, only to feel my much heavier body begin to fall.
“Flap your wings!” Calix called from below, and I instinctively listened as my new wings, finally freed, beat against the air.
Calix watched me with awe written all over his face. I let out a roar, fire blasting out of my maw.
I was… adragon?
How was this possible? Only royals from Day and Night Kingdoms had dragon forms.
So many things began clicking into place. I let my body soar on autopilot as I worked it out in my own mind. Remembering…
Emmie gossiping about Day not having an heir.
The prince and queen of Day Kingdom staring at me on Placement Day.
Soren being sent by Queen Aurelia to rescue me.
Was this really happening?
I let myself land, my massive body taking up more space than I could phantom as my tail hit a tree, accidentally knocking it over. I winced and willed my body to shift back, taking in a long breath as my body actually listened.
I blinked rapidly. Trying to sort out my thoughts.
“You’re so beautiful, my réalta,” Calix murmured, awe and wonder still all over his face as he walked closer. “Your dragon form… it’s like none I’ve ever seen. All our dragons here in Night have black scales, matching the inherited power of darkness. Day’s are gold, matching their sunlight. But you…”
“I’m silver,” I rasped out, still feeling the effects of fire blasting from my throat.
“You are.” He agreed with a nod. “It’s gorgeous.” His hand came up and moved a bit of hair behind my ear, his finger trailing down my cheek to my jaw. “Your magic is like nothing we’ve ever seen before, Asteria. You wield starlight, and your dragon’s scales are silver. You’re the one my birth prophecy foretold of. A queen of stars…” He trailed off, and I could see too much in his eyes.
His hopes. His dreams. His… whatever he may be feeling for me. Something I refused to guess at.
“What does this mean?” I asked, swallowing hard. Ignoring that bit about the prophecy for now, though we would certainly be returning tothatlater, I focused on what needed to be dealt with at this moment. “My parents… am I…?”
I struggled to get the words out. Calix seemed to understand, taking pity on me, “I believe you to be the heir of Day Kingdom.”
I was already thinking it, but… the words still hit me like a fist to the gut.
“How?” I breathed, “How is that possible? They don’t wield starlight, or have silver dragons! They…” I began moving, unable to stay still. Calix’s hand fell from my face where he’d been cupping it as I began to pace back and forth. “There’s never been a woman heir! And how do you even know I’m the heir? I could just be a child of some Day noble, right? I mean, or maybe of the queen, butnotthe heir? The queen definitely wanted me to go to Day; it’s why she sent Soren, but?—”
“What?!” Calix growled, shocking me out of my rant. I paused, sensing a predator about to emerge in a way I hadn’t been able to before. I looked at him, seeing what I could explain as a dragon seething. I swallowed hard, suddenly very turned on despite myself.
He stepped toward me, nostrils flaring like he could scent exactly that. Thankfully, he didn’t mention it, but I nearly wished he had when he instead asked, “Soren? The boy you were with in your village? When did you see him? What does Queen Aurelia have to do with it?”
Oh… this was a mate thing, wasn’t it? I looked up at him, his sharp cheekbones looked especially cutting as his lips rose in a snarl. Despite how menacing he looked, he was still the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
I risked lifting a hand to his cheek, tracing the defined line of his cheekbones. He nuzzled into my hand in a way that seemed more animal than Fae. “I saw him briefly.”
His snarl returned once more, and I let my thumb trail over his lips, soothing him. Letting instinct guide me, letting the desire I’d been trying to suppress guide me. “He showed up at Cyrus’s. He was instructed to take me back to the queen of Day. I couldn’t leave, obviously, but I told him I was going back to Night the second I got free anyway.”
Calix seemed to calm some, and after a moment where he digested my explanation, he asked with a rough voice, like his animal still rode him, “And he just left you there? Thisboy,”he spat the word out like a curse, “who claimed to love you?”
