As I rushed out of the palace, I paused, thinking of Asteria. She deserved to be here for this. Not only as my future queen, but this was her fight too, and this was her brother sending them to us. To her.
“Eryx, go grab Asteria. Fill her in on the way,” I informed him briskly, making my way to inform the guards. Eryx dipped his head with a smile, before taking off to find her.
It didn’t take long for them to arrive, Asteria clad in her armor, which I made a real effort not to look at too closely. Now was not the time to get turned on.
“We’ll fly over. It’ll be good practice for you.” I let her know, and she paused uncertainly. I smiled down at her, taking her chin in my hand and lifting her head to make eye contact. “You have this. I know you do. And I’ll be right beside you the entire time, my réalta.”
She gathered herself, visibly straightening and squaring her shoulders. I smiled wider, impressed as ever at her fortitude. I didn’t think I’d handle what she was dealing with half as well as she was if the way I’d handled becoming king and my sisters’ guardian proved anything.
I stepped back, shifting until glittering black and purple scales replaced skin. I huffed teasingly at Asteria, and she rolled her eyes before stepping back and shifting herself. Sparkling silver and purple scales overcame her, but those blue eyes shot through with starlight were still looking back at me.
“Looking good, Asteria!” Eryx called, a smile lighting up his face. “Though I have to say, you might be giving me a size complex!” He shifted into his hawk form, tittering as he flew up above us.
Asteria snickered, which in her dragon form came out more like a grumble. I sent my laughter through the telepathic connection we had in our animal forms.
“He’s just jealous,”Asteria replied, saucily. “Though maybe it’s you who should be.”She flew upward and circled until I followed her, moving to lead the way west toward the mountains. The humans were going to be skating past Caersidi to arrive at the border closest to Tairngire, just south of the mountain range. It wasn’t far from us, and the guards I had rallied would be arriving without much trouble in an hour or two.
“Me? What do I have to be jealous of?” I asked her, bemused.
Her giggle echoed in my mind, and I wished it would stay there as she answered, “I think I might be bigger than you. I don’t want to make you feel inadequate.”
I snorted. She was visibly smaller than me, even in her dragon form. Dragons got larger with age, and I had four centuries on her. Only Aelius was bigger than me.
“I think you might be delusional, grá.” I lowered my voice into a faux-serious tone. “We’ll have to work on that; see if you can be saved before total delirium sets in on you. It’s an insidious illness.”
Her laughter was reward enough, but she sobered after a moment. “What does that mean? Grá?”
I froze for a moment, not having realized I’d called her that.Fuck. I didn’t know how to answer. I was trying to give her space and time to work things out on her own. I didn’t want to pressure her into being with me. And calling herlovewas implying a level of feeling that I was sure would have her running for the hills.
Or flying for them. As far away as her wings would take her.
I had been trying not to think, trying desperately hard not to, in fact, about my feelings for Asteria. I knew they were growing, quickly, in the time we had before she was taken. The fact I chose her over my supposed soulmate was all I needed to know to confirm that what I felt for her was deep and all-consuming.
But I tried not to put a word on it. Just thinking that word,love, opened the floodgates to a wealth of feeling I was currently trying to suppress.
But of course, I fucking loved her.
How could I not?
She was the light in my darkness, the star to my moon. Her fire matched my own, and together, I knew we could do the impossible. We would burn this world to ash and build a better one in its ruins, together.
And none of that even touched on who she was at her core. A fierce woman with a resolve and integrity that put my own to shame. Her capacity for care and kindness, even after all the horror life had thrown at her, was larger than should be possible. She so easily became part of our little family, seamlessly slotting in like she was always meant to be there. She saw and truly understood me, recognizing my pain and my faults, and she accepted them without issue, breezing past them while somehow also not minimizing my own feelings on the matter.
She saw into the dark heart of me, and she stared into the abyss without blinking.
Love was the only possible reaction to such a thing.
Forget prophecy. Forget the bond, even. That alone had my heart cracking open for her, inviting her into it and enclosing her within.
Best of all, she didn’t mind the darkness she saw there. What was it she had said?
“Darkness does become me, does it not?”
She was absolutely right; the darkness became her like none other. It just allowed her to shine ever brighter against it.
But I couldn’t say any of that right now, so I merely said, “I’ll tell you later.”
Hopefully, that later wouldn’t be too far away.
