Page 548 of Flirting with Darkness

The moment Kyllen and I slid off the dragon’s back, his massive body shrank. His wings folded behind his back. His scales softened, melting back into his skin.

The dragon was gone, and a man emerged in his stead. His golden-red hair was the same shade as the dragon’s scales used to be. The sprinkling of curly hair of the same color covered his broad chest, thinning to a trail along his lower abdomen. The king wore no clothes.

I averted my eyes before my gaze reached any lower down his naked body. Obviously, gargoyles lost their clothes when shifting into their much larger dragon forms.

“Thank you.” I inclined my head, then kept my eyes on the king’s face.

Kyllen had his hood on, but King Galan wasn’t taking any chances, keeping his eyes closed. It was a wise move, considering he was in the heart of Lorsan, the land of gorgonians who turned living creatures to stone with just a look.

“It was my pleasure, Your Majesty.” King Galan bowed gracefully, not at all perturbed by his lack of clothes. “Like your husband said, you owe me no debt. We’re even. Now, I shall be on my way to bring my people the good news that our Dakath Mountains are safe from the invasion of sky fae.”

“You’re always welcome in Lorsan,” I offered.

As could’ve been expected, the king declined with a smile, “Thank you, but I’m afraid I’d rather keep my distance. As gargoyles, we turn to stone every night at sunset. So I’m not a stranger to being a statue. However, I prefer not to be put into that state permanently by an accidental look into gorgonian eyes.”

Kyllen shrugged. “Wise words. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

I touched King Galan’s hand. “I’ll still say ‘Until we meet again,’ Your Majesty.”

He brought my hand to his lips.

“Until we meet again, my queen. King Kyllen.” With a nod to my husband, the gargoyle unfurled his wings again. Turning his face upwards, he opened his eyes and took off.

I didn’t wave goodbye, knowing he wouldn’t look back. Instead, I turned to my husband.

“Thank you for bringing me back.”

“Always.” He drew me to him. “Years ago, I promised to keep you at my side. And I’ll spend my life keeping that promise.”

* * *

“Mother. Father.” Lily rushed into the bedroom, following the guard I’d sent to let the children know about our return.

Radax followed her closely, with Aila on their heels.

“What happened?” Radax rushed to me. “How are you home so soon?” He glanced at his dad.

“We got a ride from a gargoyle.” Kyllen grinned. “Those guys are fast!”

“A gargoyle?” Radax turned to me for an explanation.

I smiled, leaning into Kyllen’s side. “It’s a long story. Why don’t we have dinner served out on the patio? Then, we can talk.”

“I already had dinner.” Aila stood between us, moving a confused gaze from her father to me. “The nanny said, I should go to bed soon.”

Kyllen patted her head, stroking her tiny babysenties. “We’ll ask the nanny to let you stay up a little longer tonight. For a second dinner. It’ll be small, for just the five of us.”

“Sounds wonderful.” I took Radax’s hand in mine while placing a light kiss on Lily’s cheek. “It’s been ages since we did that.”

A queen’s dinner was a state affair. In Ufaris, we usually dined surrounded by hundreds of courtiers. I was looking forward to having only my closest people with me tonight.

Seeing us relaxed and smiling, the tension on our children’s faces had eased.

“A family dinner?” Radax grinned.

Kyllen nodded. “We’ll tell you what happened at the Summit and after.”

“Spoilers,” I added quickly. “There is a happy ending to all of that.”

“Sounds good.” Lily smiled, too.

I released a breath, letting happiness take over and fill me with light. We were safe. We were together. And we were home.

Life was good.

THE END

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