“Who are you really?” she marveled.
A ghost of a smile played on Timur’s lips as he seemed to ponder her question for a moment.
“I’m a fae,” he said. “And avirutudragon. I’m Prince Rha’s general and a new resident of Teneris. I am many things. Butfirst and foremost, I’m Elaine’s mate. And right now, I need her above all else.”
His great wings beat the air, lifting him off the chair. The wind they created blew back our hair and clothes. Timur swept me into his arms and off the ground.
“Say goodbye to Dawn and Prince Rha for us please.” I waved at Ciana and Kurai as my fantastic man carried me up into the sky with all of Teneris watching us from below. “You’ve just plunged the entire city into shock.” I laughed into the wind rushing by my face.
Timur snuggled me into his chest. “Let them watch. I’m done hiding.”
He kissed my neck, and I hooked my legs around his hips. My core pressed against his straining cock, sending a hot wave of arousal through my body.
“Take me home,” I murmured, melting into his embrace.
Because finally, we had a real home, Timur and I. The home that we’d made together.
Epilogue
Timur
In the month since Elaine’s return to Teneris, Ciana and Kurai had a wedding ceremony on the main plaza in front of the palace. It was the most beautiful celebration I’d ever seen, and I’d seen quite a few state events in my lifetime.
Kurai looked dignified and magical in his golden attire of a Joy Guardian. Ciana was a vision from fairy tales in her white-and-gold dress with a wide skirt and a long train that stretched across the entire main plaza of Teneris. Elaine told me it’d been Ciana’s lifelong dream to marry in a dress like that, and I was glad she finally got her wish.
The most beautiful, however, were the expressions of utter joy on the faces of the bride and groom when they swore their undying love and commitment for each other.
“Is this something you’d like to do too?” I asked Elaine, who was sitting on my lap in my new chair.
I’d had a new self-moving chair delivered from the Lorsan Wetlands, complete with a brand-new set of bracers to navigate it. Having the chair was easier than flying in some situations,like right now when the entire palace and most of the city gathered here to witness the ceremony of the Joy Guardian of Teneris marrying the love of his life.
Elaine had a different chair placed for her next to mine. But at some point, I hadn’t even noticed when exactly, she crawled onto my lap as she’d often done before. It just felt more natural for us to be as close to each other as possible whenever we could.
“Would you like to have a wedding some day?” I kissed her hair that she’d pinned up high and decorated with strings of sweet-smelling honeysuckle flowers.
She gave me a cheeky smile. “Are you proposing?”
“Proposing? Are you asking if I’m proposing to have a wedding?” I asked, realizing that our conversation had turned into a lot of questions and no answers.
She laughed softly. “We can talk about it later. But I’ll just say that it really doesn’t matter to me. We can have a ceremony and even a party if we feel like having it one day. But I don’t need any of that to know that you’re mine and I’m yours already.”
She was right. Elaine was mine in every way that mattered. And I was hers. My mating fever had passed shortly after the queen’s arrival to Teneris, and my mating cluster had disappeared for now, with my crotch no longer glowing at every inopportune moment. My desire for Elaine never left me, of course, and I knew it never would. She was my one true mate.
On the last day of my mating fever, her own tendrils appeared. She had three—one in the back of her neck and two on her left arm, just like me. My mate now had full access to all my emotions, just like I had to hers.
Elaine’s and my assumptions proved correct. Her emotions didn’t harm me. On the contrary, her love and compassion had stopped the poison’s progression in my body. I kept everything I’d gained from the dragon so far—my wings, the fire breathing power, and all the less desirable attributes like the tail and thescales. But the pain never returned, and I’d had no new changes since. Nothing at all.
The queen’s healing hags who’d examined me all concluded that the poison was now gone from my body, and with it the risk of an untimely death was gone too. None of them could explain how it happened, calling it a miracle. But I knew exactly who my miracle was. My Elaine. She was my salvation long before anyone knew it.
Queen Abeille still remained in Teneris, and so far, no date had been set for her return to Kalmena. Meanwhile, Prince Rha sent several of his councilors and Joy Vessel Keepers to Kalmena to ensure the city is managed well and to establish a new order in the queen’ssarai, one where humans were no longer manipulated and where they had full control of their bodies and their emotions.
In Teneris, the queen participated in all Prince Rha’s council sessions and attended many of the meetings that the prince held with his generals, including me. She was a smart woman with vast experience in warfare and governance. I was glad for the prince to have the queen’s experience and approval on his side now.
Through Prince Rha, the queen finally granted Kurai and Dawn full access to the Temple of the First Priestess. After visiting the temple and its massive library. Dawn only asked for a book of handwritten notes to bring with her to Teneris.
One night, Elaine and I found Dawn on her patio swing. She raised her eyes at us from the book she was reading, her cheeks stained with tears.
“She did it, Elaine,” Dawn said softly, not bothering with wiping off the tears from her cheeks. “Melanie came back to Alveari Kingdom, but the River of Mists brought her to theTime Before the Beginning.That’s what the shadows called it then. Look.”
