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"Then what—"

"My venom," he murmured, bringing my wrist to his mouth and pressing a kiss to the fading bruises. Through the bond, I felt his pleasure at my realization, warm and smug. "It does more than create the mate bond, Wildflower. Accelerated healing. Enhanced resilience. Longer lifespan. Your body'll recover from injury faster now, resist illness more effectively." His eyes met mine, dark and intent. "You're still human, but you're also mine. And I take care of what's mine."

We made love again in the warm, candle-flickering dark, and this time every sensation arrived doubled. Mine and his together, each amplifying the other in a feedback of pleasure that built gradually and broke beautifully, and afterward we lay quiet and breathing in the wreckage of his very fine bed linens, both of us present and accounted for and exactly where we'd chosen to be.

"I really won't be able to walk tomorrow," I observed.

"The venom helps with that too," he replied smugly.

I laughed again, and felt his amusement, and understood that this was going to be a feature of my life now. Being known that deeply by someone. Back on Earth that knowledge might've freaked me out. But not here. Not now. With Kavan, it felt exactly right.

I shifted closer, tucking myself against the solid warmth of his chest. His arm came around me immediately, pulling me tighter, and I felt the satisfied rumble that moved through him before I heard it. One of his hands traced lazy patterns along my spine, the touch possessive and gentle all at once.

"Comfortable?" he murmured against my hair.

"Mmm." I pressed my face into the curve of his neck, breathing him in. Leather and pine and something uniquely Kavan. I felt his contentment mirror my own, a warm golden thread connecting us. "Very."

His other hand found mine, our fingers threading together. I watched our joined hands in the candlelight, his so much larger, the scales along his forearm catching the flickering glow.

"Sleep, Wildflower," he said softly, his lips brushing my temple. "I've got you."

And wrapped in his arms, surrounded by his warmth and the steady pulse of our bond, I did.

Epilogue

Leila

Two months had passed since Verrater's execution, and I still couldn't reconcile the woman I'd become with the kindergarten teacher who used to worry about lesson plans and parent-teacher conferences.

I stood at the window of Kavan's private chambers, our chambers now, watching the sun rise over Argia. Below, the city was waking. Smoke curled from chimneys, and the market square was already filling with early morning vendors. From this height, I could see the entire capital spread out like a living tapestry, and the weight of what I'd become settled over me like the heavy silk of my coronation gown.

Queen. They called me queen now.

The coronation had been a week ago, and I could still feel the phantom weight of the crown on my head. An intricate piece of metalwork that looked like dragon wings frozen in flight, studded with gems that caught the light and threw rainbows across whatever room I entered. It was beautiful and terrifying and so heavy I'd thought my neck might snap the first time they placed it on my head.

Kavan had stood beside me throughout the ceremony, his hand steady on my lower back, his presence through our bond a constant reassurance that I wasn't alone in this. That I'd never be alone again.

"You're thinking too hard," Kavan's voice came from behind me, rough with sleep. I felt his arms wrap around my waist, pulling me back against his chest. Through the bond, his contentment washed over me, his love, the bone-deep satisfaction of having his mate in his arms.

"I'm thinking about how I used to spend my mornings making sure twenty-three five-year-olds didn't eat paste," I said, leaning into his warmth. "And now I'm a queen. It's a bit of an adjustment."

"You're not just a queen." His lips brushed against my temple. "You're my queen. There's a difference."

"Is there?" I turned in his arms to face him. His white hair fell loose around his shoulders, his golden eyes still soft with sleep. He was bare-chested, and I let myself admire the view. The hard planes of muscle, the scars that told stories of centuries of living, the way his skin seemed to glow faintly in the morning light.

"Yes." He cupped my face in his hands. "Because you're not just ruling beside me. You're changing everything. The dating app alone has—"

"Don't remind me about the dating app before I've had coffee," I groaned, though I couldn't help smiling. "Rhucard sent me another message last night. He's got over three hundred matches now and wants help narrowing down his options."

Kavan's laugh rumbled through his chest. "Three hundred? That's excessive even for him."

"I may have made his profile a little too appealing." I bit my lip, remembering the description I'd written. "I called him a 'warrior prince of the northern wastes with a heart as wild as the mountains he rules.' It was supposed to be dramatic, not turn him into the most popular bachelor in the Alliance."

"Rhucard is the most eligible bachelor," Kavan said, his eyes dancing with amusement. "That something to make one worry."

"Well, when you put it that way..." I trailed off, laughing. "But it's working. The app launched a month ago, and already twelve human women have arrived on Drakhone. They're completely smitten with their matches, and dozens more applications come in every day from women all over Alliance territories."

The success of the dating app still amazed me. What had started as a desperate solution to an impossible problem had become something beautiful. A bridge between species, a way for dragons to find their mates without violating Earth's protectorate status. Earth remained closed, untouched, protected by the Alliance's strictest laws. But the women who'd chosen to come to Drakhone had done so with full knowledge and consent, trading whatever life they'd been able to build post-abduction for something new and exciting. Almost every single male dragon under the age of five hundred had signed up. The Alliance provided the technology upgrades, and I provided the human perspective on what made a good dating profile.