Then she laughed, tears spilling over, and nodded. “Oh, Jakob. Yes. Absolutely yes.”
The cheers erupted. Sven whooped far too loudly. Bryn wiped at her eyes while Brooke and Violet hopped around in excitement.
Jakob slipped the ring onto her finger and rose before he pulled her into his arms as the celebration swelled around them.
His dragon grunted in acceptance of the inevitable.About time.
For the first time in a long while, Onyxheim felt complete.
And Jakob knew that whatever storms still waited beyond the horizon, they would face them together.
EPILOGUE
Mallory had claimed the east tower for her studies, mostly because the light was better there.
Morning poured in through tall arched windows, turning the pale stone floors to gold and catching on every glass vial and polished instrument laid out with painstaking care. The tower no longer looked like part of a castle, it looked like a sanctuary of learning.
Books were stacked in neat piles, notebooks were scattered across the tables, and sketches were pinned to boards with careful notes written in Mallory’s writing.
Dragon physiology fascinated her not for its power, but for its mercy. And incorporating that knowledge with the benefits from the original plant she had found was gaining momentum.
Dragons healed differently. Faster. If she could understand how dragons survived wounds that would kill a man, like how their bodies knit themselves back together, then perhaps she could develop a way to integrate those benefits into modern medicine cures without giving away the royal secret. Perhaps fewer soldiers would return from wars crippled and broken. Perhaps fewer children would learn too early what pain could steal.
She stood at the balcony now with charcoal smudged across her fingers, a notebook tucked under her arm, and the weight of thought softened by the warmth of the sun. The world below the palace stirred awake, but up here there was only sky.
And birds.
They gathered along the stone rail as if summoned, bold little things with bright eyes and quick hearts. Mallory murmured to them softly, nonsense words braided with gratitude, telling them about wings and weather and the joy of being alive at all. A sparrow hopped close enough to peer at her and a jay cocked its head, sharp and curious. She smiled, utterly unguarded, as though she had known them forever.
Life was beautiful. Their wedding had been fast and intimate, with a royal ball for the entire population of Onyxheim. She rubbed her swelling belly. In a few months, they would have their first heir. Love was a wonderful thing.
From the shadowed doorway behind her, Jakob watched.
He watched the way Mallory leaned into the breeze and how she listened, not just with her ears, but with her whole being. She noticed things others overlooked like the nervous flutter of wings, the shift in air before a storm, and the ache beneath a healer’s practiced smile. Dragons had ruled for generations, and he had lived his life with strength and duty.
Mallory, without ever trying, had undone him.
A breeze lifted her hair and the birds scattered and rose in a rush of wings and flutters. He stepped into the open.
“Did you talk to her?” Mallory didn’t even turn around. He grinned. She could sense him as well as he could her.
“I did.”
“And?” She turned and he saw the hope in her eyes.
“Meg is coming around. She’s still hesitant to give away too much, but she knows that the Ruecrags are done. She hasn’t repented yet, but I think that she will.”
“So, I might still get my sister back.”
He put his hands on her shoulders. “Meg has a lot to answer for with the courts, but we’ll see. I hope that you do.”
She gave him a smile. She had become comfortable with her sister’s plight and no longer carried the burden of worry. Whatever happened next was on Meg’s shoulders, and Mallory was good with that.
And then he shifted.
The change rolled through him like restrained strength. Scales unfurled in a burnished cascade of blue and bronze, each one catching the light as though the sun itself had chosen him. Wings burst free and blotted out the sky for a heartbeat before folding back with deliberate care.
The other reason she had chosen this east tower. The balcony was huge and secluded. No one could see anything.
