Page 39 of Shifting Desire
Ari
The Crown Fits
The bond is a livingthing inside me now.
It thrums beneath my skin like a second heartbeat.Glows in my chest like molten gold.Every breath feels different, richer, deeper.Like I’ve stepped into a version of myself I didn’t know I’d been waiting for.
I am Arinaghwyndrelle Caelthrone.Half human, half fae, and mate to the dragon king.
And I am done pretending to be small.
It’s been three days since Malichai ripped the world apart to get to me.I remember it all in flashes.The chains.The crypt.Ravik’s shadow magic crawling across my skin.The moment Malichai arrived, fire curling in his fists, eyes glowing like wrath made flesh.
And then...Forgiveness.Allowing the bond to fully settle over us.I haven’t stopped shaking since.Not from fear but from power.
“Your magic’s stabilizing,” Malichai’s witch says from across the apartment, where she’s brewing another disgusting herbal tonic.“But it’s going to take a while to find your center again.The claiming accelerated everything.”
“I don’t regret it.”
“I didn’t say you should.You just need to breathe through the adjustment.”
“I’m fine.”
She arches a brow.“You shorted out your apartment wards just by sneezing this morning.”
“Okay, mostly I’m fine.”We both laugh.
It’s the first real one since everything went down.
She brings me tea.I take it from her.I sip and grimace.“Still tastes like boiled feet.”
“Beauty is pain.”She winks and I pin her with a mock glare.
“You’re a sadist.”
She winks and heads for the door.“Malichai’s downstairs.He’s been pacing for the last hour.Said he’d wait for you to call, but honestly?He looks like he’s ready to burn down the block.”
“Sounds about right.”
When she leaves, I sit quietly for a moment, letting the silence settle.Letting the new magic swirl around me without fear.For the first time in my life, I don’t feel fractured.I feel whole.
And I know exactly who I want to share that with.I grab a few things and stuff them in a duffle bag before heading downstairs.I find him standing outside like a statue carved from sin and fury.
All black again, suit perfectly tailored, tie midnight blue, probably matching his optimistic mood.He looks up the second I open the door.
I don’t even speak, I just walk straight into his arms, and he catches me like I’m the only thing keeping him grounded.
“Hi,” I whisper.
His chest rumbles with a sound that’s not quite a word, more like a breath of relief shaped into devotion.
“I missed you,” he says.
“I was upstairs for twenty minutes.”
“Still.”
I lean back just enough to see his face.There are dark shadows under his eyes.Tension in his jaw.The kind of exhaustion that doesn’t come from lack of sleep.It comes from caring too much.
