Sorry for the long delay on updating. I've been very focused on some of my other exclusive books that need a bit of love as they are just starting out and do not have a following yet. I have also been extremely busy with the start of the new school year. I do, however, promise to publish more regular updates for the rest of the month.
[Cordelia] Primus. He was dead to me for so long that it feels strange to see him alive. Not just alive, thriving, laughing, and full of love. And yet, it also feels like it could have been like this forever--a happy family. Royal, yes, but otherwise normal. Seeing moments like these makes me wonder what it might have been like between us had we been born at a different time, when our people weren't at odds. Would we have been introduced at a ball or through some other arrangement? Would we have known we were mates from the first time we danced? I've never seen Primus this content. If I could freeze time, I would leave us at this moment, a mother and a father rocking their babies to sleep, placing them one by one in bed, kissing each little forehead before leaving them to rest. I wish we could say here like this, far away from all our troubles on the surface, free of the responsibilities of rulership and war. I place a hand on his back as he sets two more of our younglings next to
[Lyra]She glowed like a thousand falling stars when she lept after her mate, wrapping him in her arms.Our sister. Stella.It is a shame we may need to kill her.Because she doesn't remember who she is, or who she can be, she is more of a danger to us than a savior. And there is no way that she can truly remember herself if she's mated to that Terran. She doesn't know what it means to be a sun dragon under Terran rule if she can love one of them."Tis not her fault, Sister," Cosima advises. "Remember how Vega was when we found her, wandering the streets, believing she was human? She also had no idea what it meant to burn like the sun while trapped, chained to the Earth. Her mind had blocked the pain.""But she is his mate," I gasp in disgust. "She chose the Terran Prince over her own lineage. She may not be salvageable.""Hate the sin, not the sinner," Vega speaks up. "She knows not what she does."We didn't know our sisters had survived until our mother visited us in dreams. Cosima a
[Carnelia] The shadows call me now. I'm no longer alone when I leave the light. "A consequence of spending too much time too close to the void," Thalan explains as we turn the corner. "I was wondering how long it would take for you to hear them. Had I known you were a universal dragon sooner, I'd have pulled you from the dream immediately, even at the risk of your mind." We pause by a dark window. Everyone is asleep or close to it now. I left Primus with our children. I long to return to them and to reassure my mate that I will not leave him. I don't know how we are going to make this work. My heart is torn in two. But one thing I've never been more certain of is the importance of our little family. Even if I have to burn this world and forge another from its ashes, I'll find a way for Primus and I to rule together in peace. "The void," my words echo as it bounces along the crystal-covered cavern walls. "You keep mentioning this void, but I saw only Primus' dream." "Then how did
[Carnelia] "Primus" Moving as a shadow I find myself by my mate's side. I became the shadow. My husband is curled up in the nest with our children, snuggly resting by their side, lending them his warmth and protection, but as soon as he senses me in the room, his eyes snap open, glowing green like fresh leaves. "Carnelia."He slowly untangles himself from our brood, and I want to smile at the sweetness of it all but I'm terrified. Not only by what I just heard from my uncle but by what I might become. A creature of shadow. A creature of the void. "You came back to me," he cups my face as he brings himself closer, touching me tentatively like I might turn into vapor and disappear. For all he knows I might, I hurt his heart when I walked away. "I will always come back," I wrap my arms around him, taking pleasure in his solid strength. I need him to anchor me. Without him and our children, I might float away, becoming darkness. I need this. Breathing him in deeply, his warmth comf
[Athony] The universe can be cruel. Sometimes the mate she chooses for you is a dream. Sometimes she is your nightmare. Often she is both. Eleanora keeps me around because I am useful. She is very stubborn with a willpower of steel--excellent qualities in a queen, but terrible ones in a mate. But she is loyal to those she finds useful. Why else would she still keep Segundus' corpse rotting in a vat of amber fluid? We thought it had been lost to the fire, but the universe isn't just cruel but capricious. She saw fit in her infinite wisdom to hide his corpse below several layers of earth, down a long lost tunnel leading to tracks that go to the sea. We found it a moon cycle earlier, and the joy in Eleanora's eyes was only overshadowed by her smile of victory. "We must have the Technician," she insists. "When that beast is in our grasp, we will win this battle and reclaim our rightful places." "You deserve to be Queen of us all," I bowed before her. As she touched my shoulder to r
[Carnelia] Ona and I began to make plans immediately. We would all leave under the guise of returning Ona and ensuring her safety. Because our children are so very young, we would be taking them with us as well. Once returned, we'd close the gates again. As far as we understand, the Moon Dragons cannot phase into the Celestial Kingdom. The only way to get to the Celestial Kingdom without the gates being opened is by using a 4th form. Yes, the Moon Dragons have a 4th form, but that doesn't mean they'd just be able to enter the Celestial Kingdom without resistance. There are other defenses in place as well. They'd have to bring an entire army of Moon Dragons. And there is no reason great enough for the Moon Council to approve such an open act of war against fellow Celestials. The plan wasn't bad for one cobbled together from excuses, driven by hunches and fear. Elfholm isn't safe for our family any more, not with the Elf King so determined to keep me here. A drake like him wouldn't
[Carnelia]The darkness takes me again, but this time, I have learned how to navigate it. The seemingly limitless void takes on shape and form. If I can find my anchor, I can find my way.Remembering the last time the shadows tried to take me, and how I used the shadows to take me to Primus instead, I focus on his voice, his scent, and the way I feel in his arms. He will be my anchor, my mate.The darkness slowly recedes and the silence is replaced with the sounds of my children crying as Primus calls my name."Oh gods, Carnelia," he weeps along with our babies as his hands grasp mine.Looking up, I see a dark, unnatural cloud looming just above the exit to Elfholm. Thalan doesn't plan to let any of us escape after all. I thought my uncle had at least a little bit of honor, but if I think about it, I can see the advantage of keeping us here. Ona and Primus he might let go, but me, my babies--we're his blood. His brother's legacy. Had I been born powerless, he might have let me go, but
[Carnelia]"I refuse," I hold my head high. "Allies do not treat one another like prisoners. If you wanted my help, you should have asked rather than chain me to this realm.""We're sorry, Your Majesty, but we feel it is necessary with your history to keep you contained. It is for your safety as well as the safety of all gathered here," an elderly drake steps forward, the starflower jasmine glowing blue throughout his long tendrils of hair."It took three of us to bring you back from the shadows when you unleashed your small nightmare," he explains. "We must keep you powerless or risk your wrath. We know the pull of a mother to her children. Why did you try to flee? You are safe here?""Why would any mother feel a need to leave quickly with her children and family--fear for their safety." I glare directly at my uncle. "As you say, I am too powerful. If someone were to threaten their lives," I refuse to remove my eyes from my uncle, who matches my gaze with his steely hardness, "I might