My eyes snapped open as his words truly sank deep into my core. I allowed myself to let go of that tight control I always tried to keep over my emotions. In this moment, I allowed myself to let go of the hatred, pain and fear. To focus only on the pure awe as I let myself be free for the first time in my life, embracing the magic in my veins.
A wave of power greeted me the moment I felt every burden fall away, leaving me feeling weightless in the wake of it.
From deep within me, a blast of swirling starlight shot out, stretching into the depths of the night sky. It lit up everything around us, the stars twinkling as my light blanketed the entirety of the Tairngire skyline.
The usual din from the city quieted, like everyone had stopped speaking at once—until a loud cheer sprang up in unison, loud enough to reach me at this distance, as the people of the city saw for the first time what I was truly capable of.
What I had to admit they surely assumed…
What their future queen was capable of.
“My réalta,” Calix breathed, and I could feel his amazement, along with that same warm feeling tinged with lust, as if it was my own.
A heady feeling took over me as I watched my magic arc across the sky. I swore I could feel every star making up its light like it was my own. A giddy laugh tumbled from my lips until Calix spun me around and claimed my laugh for his own, his lips silencing me as I gave into the force of my dorchadas.
And a sweeter surrender I had never known.
* * *
I lostmyself in Calix’s embrace. The euphoria of my starlight pulsing through me, mixed with the newly opened bond between us, led to a swirl of overwhelming emotions that, for once, I let drown me like a wave. I let myself experience them completely instead of trying to force them down and suffocate them.
I was so enthralled by Calix’s kiss in fact, that when he stepped back, I dragged him right back into me. He gave in, letting my lips overtake his and opening his mouth for my tongue when I licked at his bottom lip. We fought for dominance, but neither of us really managed to overpower the other.
Calix’s hands gripped my waist, the large breadth of them spanning my back easily. But those same hands also pushed me back once more. Leaving me wholly confused as I looked up at him.
He was panting, his eyes fully dilated and swimming with color, so I let myself reach for the bond. I could feel him warring with himself. Wanting to be lost in me as much as I wanted the same with him. But also knowing?—
Fuck.
Knowing I wasn’t there yet.
I let my eyes fall closed, realizing how unfair it was to let him in this way while not being ready for what he needed. He deserved a mate at their best, and I was still trying to figure out my place in all of this. But the strange thing was that I felt no resentment from him at all.
Only acceptance and patience, and that same warm feeling that had my heart pounding.
“I don’t know about you, but I could really do with a…release,”Calix purred as he sauntered back slowly, a smirk beginning to tilt up his lips. “What do you say? Time to play with fire?”
He winked, and then I watched as he shifted into his dragon form. Growing larger and larger while I stayed in my Fae form.
I shook my head, getting my breathing under control from the pleasurable loss of air he’d caused.
He flapped his wings, black and purple scales glittering with the reflected night sky as he hovered lowly over the cliffs.
I focused on my dragon side and felt the telltale tingle before my bones began to grow and shift, my dragon form emerging. Where Calix’s scales appeared to reflect the cosmos, deepening the black but glittering more vividly with color under the night sky, my own seemed to become more luminous, the silver scales shimmering as if they’d become starlight itself.
My wings flapped in the air, and the feeling was just as incredible as the power running through me. I’d spent years wanting nothing more than to be able to fly, andfinally, I could do so whenever I wished. I wanted to laugh from sheer delight, but a roar erupted from my mouth in its place.
Calix’s roar sounded beside me, and I was sure had anyone seen it, my smile would have been a terrible thing to witness, giant dragon fangs bared. He flew sideways and dropped under me, the talons on his wings scraping along the more sensitive skin on my stomach, causing a delicious thrill to run through me.
I hadn’t fully closed the bond again, so I could feel the playful excitement surging through Calix at getting to fly with me.
Two mated dragons flying through the skies together.
It was almost easy, in moments such as these, to forget all the things that held me back. To forget what was coming. And as I let a burst of flame surge outwards, I tried not to let that old fear creep back in. The one that had kept me alone all my life.
To love was to risk loss.
And I couldn’t imagine a greater love than what I could potentially experience at this Fae’s side.
