Page 110 of King of Fire and Flames

“Yes, but you almost did. Later. After you left me and escaped on Enyd the blind eponar.”

She laughed as if I’d said something funny, and I squeezed her tighter, so fucking thankful that after everything we’d been through, she was finally safe. And mine.

“Have faith,” I told her, chuckling. “If we fall to the ground, I promise I’ll shield your body with mine.”

Her fingers clawed my neck.

“I’m only teasing,” I said. “I’m fine. You’re fine, Leaf, and we’ll be home before you know it.”

There was zero chance that I’d drop her. Ever.

I would destroy anything, including myself, if it would keep her safe. Keep her with me. Every auron kanara in my city. Palaces. Kingdoms. Galaxies.

“The view is so beautiful up here,” she whispered, not staring at the glimmering stars or the lanterns of Farron Gilt Market far below, but at me. Her master, her slave, her dearest friend and forever ally.

On the day I’d bought her, when we arrived at the river, instead of showing fear, she taunted and defied me. But had I known what she would come to mean to me, I would’ve begged then and there for mercy.

But back then, I was foolish, my heart rotting in a cage of bitterness. My fucked-up mind focused only on revenge. Nothing else.

Since then, Leaf had taught me many priceless lessons. And I couldn’t wait to show her everything I’d learned.

With my gaze fixed on her precious face, navigating the skies by body memory alone, I could only agree with her statement. “Yes, the view is unmatched in all the realms.”

Moonlight painted the Aureen mountains ashen gray, then a little farther along, it turned the palms beside Auron K’s river a shiny, iridescent silver. I fucking loved the sight of Light Realm towns tranquil in the deepest of night, knowing their inhabitants slept peacefully in their beds. Happy and content.

A short distance away, before I even saw them, I felt the corroding spikes of Bonerust’s gates spearing to the left. To distract Leaf, I quickly pointed to the desert in the opposite direction. I didn’t want her to be reminded of the short, but distressing time she’d spent in that shithole of a town.

She snuggled closer, her cheek warm against my chest, and I was glad I wasn’t wearing my breastplate. I only hoped that when the fae of Taln found my plate of gold feathers, they would take good care of it. And if they didn’t, heads would roll. Just kidding—the new King of Storms and Feathers was a pussycat, not a villain.

Below, the desert’s dark hills undulated like rippling velvet cloth thrown across a gigantic table, then before long, Coridon’s golden domes and spires impaled the indigo sky, amber and bronze glinting amongst the shadows.

“Nearly home,” I said, flying higher before swooping down fast.

Wind tore our hair, and Leaf screamed at the shock of the sudden descent. I laughed, decelerating and gliding around the golden pillars of the pavilion that was once her gilded prison. Her heart pounded against me when the breeze parted the sheer curtains and we glimpsed inside my apartment, gently lit by floating balls of lighting.

Thunder growled in the distance, rumbling closer, seeking me out, and I had to focus hard to push the power away as it shuddered along my spine.

“Are you causing that?” she asked.

“Not on purpose.”

As far as I could tell, in my absence, no harm had befallen Coridon, my people, or my quarters. I could hardly wait to hold my Aldara inside my bedchamber. Wrap her in my wings. Feed her grapes. Kiss every inch of her creamy skin. Marking her. Blanketing her in everlasting love.

Each glide past my apartment showed soaring columns supporting three levels of black-and-white marble. Palm leaves glittered in the river room, and the double staircases still swept up to the sitting room connected to the pavilion, where the auron kanara stirred, sensing my arrival. And finally, my crescent-shaped bedchamber, where I planned to give Leaf a very pleasurable welcome back to Coridon.

We were home at last.

All was well. Exactly as I’d left it.

I just hoped Leaf felt that it was her home, too.

Adjusting her body in my arms, I squeezed her a little tighter. “When you lived in the pavilion,” I said. “I loved watching you sleep. It was an addiction. I couldn’t stop. Every night flying around, fooling myself my obsession grew because of the hate I bore humans and the gold chasers that killed my family. Yet looking back now, I know I loved you from the moment I saw that first flash of fire in your eyes through the bars of that fucking market cage.”

“I bet you loved seeing me chained to the pavilion, too,” she teased. “Helpless. At your mercy.”

“No. All I thought about was setting you free. But you wouldn’t stop defying me. Keeping you there was the only way I could ensure your safety until you realized what was at stake.”

“Our hearts?” she asked.

---