Page 66 of Mating Her Dragon

“Still yes?” Garrett asked him quietly.

The answer came before Han seemed to have decided on it. “Always.”

Garrett caught the word the instant it left the Dragon King’s mind. So, apparently, did Han, because there was a beat of silence inside his own chest that felt distinctly like a Dragon catching himself.

“Yes,” Han corrected, steadier. “Today, yes.”

Garrett almost smiled at the ceiling of the Airstream. Even his Dragon King had learned the difference between forever and today. He supposed that made two of them raised right, eventually, by one very stubborn woman.

Sydney woke a little while later the way she always did lately, all at once, no drifting. Her eyes opened, found him already watching her, and narrowed with immediate suspicion.

"Why are you already awake and staring at me like that?"

"Still yes?" Garrett asked, instead of good morning.

She blinked at him, only one eye fully open. "You haven't even made coffee."

"Sydney."

She opened the other eye.

"Still yes."

She paused with a smile on her gorgeous face. Then chuckled, "Now coffee."

He laughed– actually laughed, low and real, the kind of sound he still wasn't entirely used to making. Then he got up to make her coffee, because apparently that was what today required of him first.

He was grateful, walking out of the Airstream a few minutes later, for how ordinary the morning insisted on being. Bonnie and Maggie were already up, arguing cheerfully about whether the cake needed to be moved out of direct sun. Carrick stood near the fire pit trying to look solemn and dignified while a Council Commander instructed him, with complete confidence, on where the chairs should go. Ginnie was laughing at both of them. Somewhere past the trucks, a coffee pot that had clearly seen better decades made a sound like it might be dying.

It didn't look like the morning of anything historic. It looked like people he loved, being normal, being loud, in the sunlight.

Garrett had spent centuries preparing for battles. He had never once, in all that time, prepared for a morning like this. No protocol covered how much that undid him.

Shaking hands with Kellan of the Blue Thunder Clan and Raven of the Onyx Dragon Clan of the Duntulm, he accepted the garment bag with his uniform for the Mating Ceremony. He was glad to see Kellan. He was someone he’d known and fought alongside for centuries before he was held captive. And although he’d never met Raven, he’d heard much about him, and the mountain of a man exceeded everything Garrett had ever been told.

Unzipping the bag, he took out the ceremonial uniform of the Dragon Guard and stopped. He looked at the gold braiding around the collar, which perfectly matched the epaulets on both sides, and at how they contrasted with the rich black fabric of the garment, and felt a surge of pride. Pride that he would once again be wearing the dress uniform of the Dragon Guard, but also that he would be showing respect to the Dragon King with whom he shared his soul.

First, he put on the black turtleneck and matching pants. Then he put on the black patent leather belt with its gold buckle and the matching knee-high boots, polished so brightly he could see his face in the toe.

Lastly, he slid the surcoat over his head and let it flow to the tops of his thighs. Turning to look in the mirror, he couldn’t help but smile. “I do look like one of King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table, just like Syd said I would.”

Leaving the Airstream, he waited outside for Sydney to emerge. She had made him stay in the front while she took the bedroom, stating, “You can’t see me in my dress, Goofball.”

Pacing back and forth, he thought about his vows. Reciting them in his mind, he had just turned to head back towards the front of the Airstream when Sydney appeared in the doorway, and Garrett forgot, entirely and completely, how language worked.

She wasn't a Fantasy Princess. He was distantly grateful for that, in whatever part of his brain was still operating. She was Sydney, and that meant she was perfect.

Her long, blond curls hung loose, with just the sides pulled up into an intricate braided updo held in place by a pearl-and-gold barrette. Her gown was breathtaking, but it also looked like it had been chosen by a woman who still intended to be able to run in it if she needed to.

The off-the-shoulder white gossamer gown gave him a mouth-watering view of the freckles dancing across her peaches-and-cream shoulders and made him think of all the ways he wanted to touch and tease each precious little dot. The corset-like bodice fit perfectly and displayed her ample bosom as an offering he found hard to refuse. It was embroidered with small red flames in honor of Han, who was also being asked to choose today.

A wide, black satin ribbon cinched her waist, and the long skirt hugged every one of Sydney’s luscious curves with a slit that went up to the middle of her thighs. He imagined her hiking up that skirt, throwing it over her arm and running as fast as she could if she had to– and he loved her all the more for being prepared.

All in all, she looked like her beautiful self– the woman he’d fallen in love with at first sight. She looked like the only thing in any Realm he had ever wanted to look at for the rest of his life.

"You okay?" she asked, watching his face do whatever it was doing.

"No," Garrett said honestly.