“All right,” I huffed. “You can call me your butterfly.”
“My sea butterfly?”
“Fuck, Vax. Call me whatever you want, as long as I can call you mine.”
Vaxarion's smile was incandescent. Even more beautiful than his words or those damn sea bugs. “You see? You do just fine, my sea butterfly.”
I shook my head and wrapped my arms around his waist. “How have I never heard of those things?”
He stroked my hair back. “Not even I know all the creatures of the sea.” Then he leaned down and kissed me.
“Your Majesty!” Yavess came running into the parlor.
Or was it a sitting room? A living room? Fuck, I couldn't remember what Vax had called it. It was a room full of his stuff and it had some seats in it, too. All the better for His Majesty to sit and watch the butterflies.
Vax broke our kiss slowly, then looked up. “Hello, Yavess.”
“Oh, Your Majesty!” Yavess clasped his hands before his chest. “I'm overjoyed to see you outside of your apartments.” He paused to look us over. “So, you have . . . ?” He lifted his brows.
“I've told Zix that he's my mate, yes,” Vax said.
“Thank the Gods,” Yavess muttered.
“You knew?” I glared from Vax to Yavess. “You toldhim,but not me?”
“I didn't have to tell Yavess,” Vax said. “He scented the mating.”
“Scented it?” I scowled. Then I realized what he meant. My stare shot back to Yavess. “You could smell his cum on me?”
Vax snorted a laugh as Yavess went red.
“It wasn't cum,” Vax said. “That was my essence. Mating essence. Zix, it held a piece of my soul.”
“It did what now?” I whispered. Then I remembered Lock. He was immortal now because the King of Racul had shared his Dragon immortality with him. I just hadn't known the King had shared it through cum. I mean essence. “Wow. No wonder it was the best sex of my life.”
Vax chuckled, then said, “Yavess, I'd like to celebrate our mating as soon as possible and introduce Zixin to the dread.”
“Yes, Your Majesty! I'll plan a feast for tonight.”
“Wonderful. Thank you.”
“My pleasure, Your Majesty.” Yavess bowed and hurried off.
“They truly love you, don't they?” I asked. “Because you cared for them. You made sure they were safe while you hibernated.”
Vax shrugged and led me out into the corridor. We headed after Yavess, but at a much slower speed.
“Are you going to explain how you infected me with your soul?” I asked.
“I don't believe it requires an explanation. Within my mating essence were little pieces of my soul. The magic merged those pieces with your soul when you absorbed my essence, and we were united for all time.”
I blinked at him.
He smirked. “I suppose it did need an explanation.”
“You . . . your soul is really in my soul?”
“Yes.”
