Chapter Two
Calix
Taking flight,I left my armies behind for the shivering woman in my arms.
My mate.
My mate.
That truth pulsed inside me. A beacon leading from my soul straight to hers.
The soul-shattering relief I felt when the bond connected was like nothing I’d ever felt before. The rush of power, emotion, connection—love. It fired through me and scorched everything in its path, replacing it all withher.
I’d struggled since the day I’d met her. The pull to her was so strong that staying away felt like the worst kind of torture. It all made complete sense now, but how could I have known she was my mate?
All mates could recognize one another on site, and despite being drawn to her, I didn’t, couldn’t,recognize that bond. She’d been human, and everyone knew a human and a Fae couldn’t be soulmates.
I never could have imagined that she was actually Fae. That our bond had been buried beneath layers of magic like I’d never seen before. How was it even possible? I’d never heard of a spell to make a Fae appear wholly human. Rounding their ears, burying their magic, and dulling their shine.
Asteria wanted answers, but so did I, in truth. I’d spent the time since she’d come to my kingdom fighting the pull to her, all to be loyal to my mate. Thinking they were out there, also looking for me. Some Fae girl, possibly far to the North, who couldn’t make their way to my kingdom, not with me shutting the borders.
Asteria, however… she’d been an obsession I couldn’t quit. After the Festival of Faunus, I couldn’t imagine going back to a life without her.
Why would I ever want to stay in the darkness when she brought me such light?
I hadn’t been able to decide what to do. Stay loyal to my mate, not knowing when I might meet them—possibly years after a human’s lifespan, or give into the draw I felt to Asteria.
But then she was taken. And a black hole opened up inside of me. Sucking everything good into a void of nothingness. Without her, none of it was worth it. She had thoroughly consumed me, inside and out.
I’d recognized then that there was no going back for me. She may not have been my mate, but I couldn’t imagine a connection more profound than the one between us.
I’d made my choice.
Only to realize there was no choice to be made.
Somehow, Asteria was Fae. Miraculously, she was my mate. I’d felt her starlight shine down on me, bathing me in the light she had always radiated. Nothing had ever felt more right, more true.
At least until she blocked me out. I knew she was overwhelmed, and I couldn’t imagine what she was going through. Not when she wouldn’t let me feel it with her.
And oh, did I want to feel her. I wanted every single bit of her—body, heart, and soul.
I was certain she hadn’t yet realized how deeply the need ran in me to consume her fully. I’d told her before that I was not a good man, that I was adragon. And dragons guarded our hoards jealously.
My kingdom. My people. Mymate.
The trail of scorched bodies paving the way through Evenfall attested to that.
My wings flapped through the air as I held Asteria tightly to my chest. Her shaking didn’t stop, but it did slow the longer we flew on. I had the presence of mind to try to calm her despite the tumultuous thoughts swirling through my mind.
“Look to the stars. Let them comfort you,” I whispered, knowing her connection to them would bring her more comfort than anything else right now. I’d certainly found respite in the darkness when my own back bowed under the pressures I faced.
And the sky was certainly sprinkled with plenty of stars as we flew on. We passed over the villages and cities of my kingdom as we made our way to Tairngire. Where she would finally be safe.
I didn’t know what Cyrus had done to my mate in the days he had her. Rage rose quickly at the very thought, and I had to bury it before fire erupted out of my mouth. My dragon reacted too strongly to the thought of Asteria at Cyrus’s mercy. It had taken me over completely when he’d taken her.
That part of me had been all too anxious to have my mate back by my side. My soul was able to recognize her on instinct, even if the mind did not.
Thankfully, her shuddering came to a stop as her head unburied itself from my chest and hooked onto my shoulder, staring up at the stars I knew she loved to watch and lose herself in.
