Page 24 of A Story of Mates and Temptation

I feel her warmth through our bond before she lands on the edge of the cliff near me. I walk over and climb onto her back, noticing children peeking their heads out to watch behind my shocked mum and Hettie. I can tell from her eyes alone that she didn’t expect my dragon to be this big. Hettie waves and I wave back. Using my other hand, I run my fingers over her scales before settling into place on her back, pressing my body close in a near hug. “You don’t know how great this feels to be back with you,” I whisper.

“We haven’t even flown yet,” she teases before leaping off the cliff in one smooth dive that nearly throws me off, but I hold on tight, the instinct kicking in. The air whistles in my ears, and I laugh—because besides having sex with Ziven, this is the most alive I’ve ever felt in my life, and it is addictive. Being a dragon rider is an honour.

A roar shakes the ground, and I glance up, catching sight of Ziven on the back of his shadow dragon before they tail behind us. His dragon catches up quickly, and Maeve snaps at him when he comes close. Ziven shakes his head, moving his dragon away.

“Be nice,” I warn.

Maeve huffs. “Those dragons are cowards compared to the rest of us who fought and trained. They hid. They take too much.”

“It’s also Ziven’s dragon, so it would be appreciated if you didn’t try to bite him when he has my mate on his back,” I remind her, and smoke blows out of her mouth as her only answer.

Her tone changes as she flies lower. “It has been decided you are to see our secret with the king.” She dives downward without warning. I grip her scales tightly as we plunge into one of the tunnels and into darkness, only the sound of her wings, the heat of her body, and the smell of dragon to remind me I’m not free-falling into darkness alone. We go deep into the land—so deep that my lungs begin to ache as it warms with every second until heat is pressing in onto my skin.

Finally, we emerge into a massive cavern, larger than the one where the town is. Lava pours down the walls in glowing red streams, and it smells like fire. Each intake of air hurts my lungs from the heat. Dragons of all colours are perched on jagged ledges, their eyes watching us, but most of them are brightly coloured, like the sun.

And then I see them. Eggs. Hundreds. No, thousands of them in circle patterns fill the centre of the cavern, which I realise is also shaped like an egg. I stare, speechless, as we circle above and on the far edge. I spot something familiar. Four red eggs, glittering like Maeve’s scales. “Are those your family?”

“Yes.” I glance over my shoulder at Ziven behind us. He’s looking down at the eggs, and he looks up at me, his eyes wide with shock too. The dragons below stir, not at Maeve, but at the shadow dragon following behind us, and I know we are not welcome for long. They are protective of the eggs, and I don’t blame them one bit. Maeve doesn’t linger long, and she turns, taking us out of the cavern, back into the tunnels, but through a different path. This one glows with red light, flashes of fire casting shadows along the walls, and I see where we are going this time. “The Moon andSun kings didn’t just make a haven for the people, for the fae,” I tell her what she must know. “They made one for the dragons, too. Those red eggs mean the Twilight Dynasty helped.”

A future. For everyone. “Are there Dawn Dynasty eggs?”

“And Dusk too. Every egg, every chance of a future for our kind. We could stay here forever in peace,” she admits. “Many dragons wanted this, and it was a choice. We all decided to fight with our riders and not abandon you to your war.”

I don’t know what to say to her as we fly back to the town, and she lands on the cliff, Ziven and his dragon landing nearby. “I preferred Brythan for your mate.” She leaves me and flies off, Ziven’s new dragon chasing after her like he has a death wish or something. I look at the town for the first time, noticing all of the lights. There are lights hanging everywhere, a smell of flowers in the air, and Ziven walks up to me. He tugs my forehead against his. “Your friends and mother are waiting to dress you, and Hettie was the distraction. Today, you become mine in every single way, and I become yours. We are getting married and mated, Storm. I do not want to fight this war without knowing if I die, you are bonded to my soul the same as I am to yours.” He looks into my eyes. “Say yes?”

There was never an inch of hesitance in my heart or soul. Only joy. “It’s always yes.”

Chapter Thirteen

Page Thirteen. Burn bright, my fire.

“Where did you get this dress from?” I ask my mother as I stare in the mirror, completely lost in the gorgeous dress. I never liked dresses with colour, because they reminded me of the slavery I grew up in, but this dress is pure white. It looks like a cloud, and it is as soft as one. I might never be as pure as this colour, but it is fitting for today. For Ziven and me, and the new start to our life that begins from this day. We want forever, and I thought my wedding day would be simple. I don’t need a dress, or anything fancy, I just need Ziven. I only want him. But, this dress is unmistakably the prettiest thing I’ve seen in a long time. I was surprised by all the planning Ziven has been doing behind my back to get this wedding ready today, and he has been conspiring with my mother. I can’t tell anyone how happy it makes me feel to see them both getting along so well.

She smiles at me, touching my cheek. “I made it and it mirrors the same one I wore to my own wedding. Admittedly, it is better. It took a long time, years, but being a seamstress was always howI put a bit of extra money away, even back in the breeder camp.” She touches the soft fabric, and I admire it right along with her. She spent the last hour making adjustments to my size and fixing loose ends, and I thanked her a million times, even when she said to stop.

It’s beautiful—white, with layers and layers of delicate fabric, held together with a bodice in the middle that pushes up my chest and is laced at the back. The dress falls to my feet, moving with me, and my shoulders are bare. I know my mother has seen some of the vampyre scars I have when I got changed, but she did nothing but tell me how brave I am. It was healing; some deep part of me needed my mother to look at me with nothing but love, no matter how broken I might be. I don’t think of myself as broken anymore. No, I’m healed now, but the scars are not forgotten. They are there, like cracks smoothed over in a vase, noticeable, but no one really cares unless they stare close. Only those I love will see I was ever broken. It’s how I want that to be.

My hair is tied up in a complicated braid bun, thanks to Avaluna’s expertise in braiding, with a few strands curling around my face. “I didn’t know why I started making it,” she continues. “This fabric…it’s woven from spiders’ cobwebs from deep within the caves. It cost a fortune to get even a small amount of it, as it takes days for them to find the webs. But I worked, I did odd jobs because I wanted to make this dress. I didn’t know you were alive, but something told me to make it, just in case. I never thought I’d be lucky enough to be standing here on your wedding day, watching you marry a man you are so in love with, who loves you just as much.” She pauses with tears in her eyes. “I never told you much about your father. He desperately wanted a better world for you. That was all he fought for—for you, for me, for his family. Being powerborn, oh, hehated his life before we met. We both did in our own way, but he needed a reason to fight, a reason to live. He said it was me, and then he saw you, and that was it. He had two reasons. The day you were born, the moment I first saw you, is not something I’ll ever forget, and I vowed to the deities that I would not ever leave you. I know it was the same for him, even when he left this world. I know he never…” She trails off, then shakes her head. “This is your day. My beautiful daughter, becoming a queen, and I wanted to share something your father used to say about us.”

I wait. “That fire lurks in our souls, shines as bright as our hair, and one day it will burn this world anew.” Her smile is so bright. “Burn this world anew, my daughter. A queen. A woman who never let this world dull her fire.”

“I love you, mum,” I whisper through sobs. “And I wish my father got to see this day…I wish I knew him.”

“I love you too. No tears, though.” She wipes my cheeks. My tears have already fallen, and she brushes them away. “I will tell you a thousand stories about your father. One day, stories are all we have left of those we love. We cling to them and share them. It keeps them alive.”

“Then tell me a thousand of him. Of you both.” I hug her tightly. “Thank you for always fighting for me. You taught me how to fight, even on your worst days. I am blessed to have you.” She cries in my arms and I cry with her, knowing we needed this moment to connect. I hear music playing from outside, a melodic sound, and it’s loud. “I think that’s our cue.”

“May I have a moment before you go?” Daegan is standing in the doorway alongside Catherine. “You look very nice, Story. I’m sure you want to throw me out, but I promise I’ll only take a minute of today from you and Ziven.”

“Leave us, it’s okay,” I gently tell them both.

“We’ll wait outside,” Catherine suggests as Daegan steps in and Catherine holds the door until my mum has stepped out. I wipe my wet cheeks with the back of my hands as Daegan awkwardly stares at me.

He steps closer. “I wanted…”

“If you have anything bad to say, please don’t,” I cut in. “Please don’t, Daegan. This is the happiest day of my life, and I don’t want it tainted with anything bad, like us arguing. If you’re here as my ex, wanting me to choose another path, then I’ll personally kick your royal ass off the nearest cliff. I choose him in this lifetime, in every lifetime I am blessed to live.”

“This is for you.” He hands me a small silver box with a long breath. “Before, when royals got married, they would accept tokens from older families. It was said that if you got married without a token, it was a sign of bad luck against your entire marriage and you wouldn’t be blessed with children. Ziven doesn’t have any family to give him a token, other than Hettie, and she’s too young to understand this.” He continues to hold out the box. “I will never, in any of my lifetimes, make up for anything I did. But I want to bless your marriage going forward. If you think that means nothing, then you can leave it here. But for my parents, who would have given Ziven something, for Ziven’s parents, who definitely would have blessed him with something too…take it. Please.”

---