Chapter 17 - Bargain DamonSomething in me snapped. Call it fear for my kingdom, fear of losing someone close to me again because of a stupid encounter, but I snapped. All I saw was read as I charged for Alora. She tried to move away from my grasp, but she was too slow. My hand wrapped around her throat, and in the next movement, she was pinned against a bookshelf. "Alora," The pixie screamed in horror. But I didn't pay her any mind as I turned all my focus to the pirate beneath my palm."I'm tired of your games. Tell me where the ring is, or so help me, I'll-" I snarled. Alora cut me off. Her chest pressed against mine, our breaths matching each other. Heavy and fast. A moment of panic filled her starlight eyes before she caught it."You'll what? Kill me. Lock me away in a tower and throw away the key." She scoffed, forcing a smile. The stars in her eyes seemed to twinkle pulling me in closer. She licked her lips, and my eyes fell to them for a moment—the overwhelming need to taste
Chapter 18 - HellstoneAloraAfter our forced agreement, I was shown to my room. One that, of course, shared a bathroom with Damon. The King of Dragons was down the hall. Apollo, Damon's general and the soon-to-be Captain of the Royal guards, was across the hall. I had no idea where Drabek was because he seemed to vanish into thin air at will, but Kier and Balthazar were on the other side of him, and Lir was bunked with Helga. I argued with them about that and tried to get her to stay with me, but they refused. Perhaps it was a smart move on their part because if given a moment to flea, she and I would take it. But with her out of reach, I was forced to stay and do their bidding or abandon my only friend and make her face the consequences of my actions alone. And I would never do that to her, and they knew it. I already felt guilty for dragging her into this mess, even though she claims she put herself here. 'Do you know where the ring is?' Damon's question still circled my mind. I
Chapter 19 - MadeGarrenAlora looked at me as if I had a third head. I had sensed her magic before, a few times in my life, actually. It was old, much like my own, and extremely powerful, but it seemed she either didn't know that or had enough control over it to make it seem that way. My guess was the former of the two because if she did understand the full potential of her magic, she wouldn't be here right now, or at least I wouldn't have been able to detect her. But it wasn't just her magic that intrigued me. It was Alora herself. Since becoming some form of deity myself after the whole Ryuu fiasco, I had been able to detect everyone's essence. It told me what they were, dragon, werewolf, vampire, and so on. But with her, I couldn't see it; I had never encountered that before. And when I took the bruise to my ego by asking Balthazar about it, he said he didn't know either.Though, I called bullshit to that because as much as I didn't like to admit it, Balthazar did know everythin
Chapter 20 - VulnerableDamonI didn't get a wink of sleep last night. My mind was too busy to allow me such a thing. I kept finding myself staring at the door to the bathroom and talking myself out of barging into Alora's room and demanded answers. But the thought of being alone in a room with her made me reconsider it. I found myself thinking of how much she seemed to call to me. Like she was my own personal siren. It made me feel so many emotions, the most prominent one being guilt. It felt like I was betraying my mate whenever Alora pulled me under her spell. Even though she was gone, I couldn't help but let the guilt overcome me. I gritted my teeth as I thought about our encounter in Garren's study. How she had me so distracted that she could use my own weapon against me. Never in all of my years of training/combat had that happened. I was always on guard, constantly aware of my opponent's actions. But Alora got under my skin and into my head, clouding it with rage. It made me
Chapter 21 - LostDamonI couldn't believe we were actually doing this. Trusting a thief and a pixie to help us, but I had to get back that ring and the only way to do that was to give Alora what she wanted. "We go in together. No tricks got it." I bade "Got is, Princeling. No funny business, or you'll punish me." The way she said it made me tense. I could hear the double meaning in her words, another way to get me going, even if she didn't mean it. Balthazar and Drabek didn't even try to hide their smirks, and she flashed them a smile. "I mean it," She rolled her eyes at me in response. "Are you going to hand over Helga or just keep chastising me like a child?""Watch your tongue, Pirate. If we didn't need you, you'd already be dead." Apollo warned. Alora didn't miss a beat; her silver-tongued mouth always seemed to run hot when she felt threatened. It was one of the many things I noticed about her the past couple of days."But you do need me, Poppet. So until you have that ring,
Chapter 22 - AloraThe realization hit me all at once. One minute I was ready to escape with Helga, a fool's choice but one I couldn't live with if I didn't at least try. The next minute I was being thrown through space. The cold clung to me as I felt my magic be ripped away from me right before Damon and I got spit out into an unknown realm. I could hear my mother's words haunting me as I was forced to face the male before me. Fear settled in as I realized how badly I messed up. And when he asked me what I did, I froze, unsure what to say because I didn't know. Everything got jumbled as Helga released her pixie dust, and my thoughts shifted, and I somehow brought us to this strange place.I had never messed up this badly before. I had never messed up at all, actually. Everything always went according to plan, but maybe that was the problem. Nothing about this was planned. The ring. The deals. Me ending up in the dragon realm. It all just happened.Damon's fist connected with the st
Chapter 23 - Friction Damon"Alora," I muttered, trying to get her attention. She looked at the small shack before us, but her eyes were far away again. Her mind had clearly wandered back to whatever haunting moment she relived earlier. Her shoulders were tense as she got lost in whatever she was thinking about and despite all my better judgement, seeing her like this bothered me. It reminded me of all the times I got lost in my past. All the time, I needed someone to pull me out of those memories but found myself alone.I gritted my teeth, my hands flexing as I gave her another minute to come too. Her hands started to tremble, and I cursed as I stepped forward and forced her to look at me. My eyes connected with hers as I called her name again. "Alora," I snapped. Her pupils dilated before she gasped for air. She blinked a few times, her long lashes sweeping across her freckled cheeks. Her breaths came out heavy as she tried to ground herself again. Her pink lips slightly parted a
Chapter 24 - TruceAloraI didn't know what to make of Damon after our confrontation in the shed. He caught me in a moment of vulnerability. I was lost in the haze of my nightmare before I fully realized what I had done. It was probably the only time I was thankful for being trapped in the realm of nightmares. It stopped my magic from attacking him first. I was able to play it off as a warning never to touch me again, but it was all the same in the end. As much as I wanted to believe that I was always in control of my emotions and magic, I wasn't. So me threatening his very well-being was the only way for me to protect him from whatever might happen if I lost control. But in the moment of weakness, I forgot that Damon wasn't just some young fae with no way of gaining the upper hand. He was a trained warrior, the Captain of the Royal guards and the soon-to-be King of Gardenia. He was trained to be the best of the best, and though I managed to catch him off guard again, he quickly reg
Epilogue Three weeks later Damon The pressure of the crown was building as Alora and I settled into our new roles. My father was no longer here to keep the council at bay with their demands. But despite it all, I had found that I enjoyed this new life I had been given. The new responsibilities allowed me even more control over the Kingdom than the Captain of the guards ever could. All be it; I did miss the battle prep and daily training. But I still found holes in my busy schedule to take Alora out to the training fields at least once a week. I knew that eventually, our routine would become steady, and we would have more time to relax, but new rulers came with change and to have change, you needed to vote on old and new laws to pass. Alora and I had already made some big changes, like incorporating technology from the human realm into our daily lives to allow us easier communication with other realms. But there were still a lot of issues with the old ways of running our Kingdom
Chapter 49 - To Love and Cherish ErikPeace was something that was talked about constantly. During wars, it was what we fought for. While ruling a Kingdom, it was what we strived to maintain. But I had never truly known peace until now. The thought of finally being ridden of this pain inside of me, knowing that soon I would be with my love once again, was freeing. The final night with my family started out slow, but it eventually picked up and ran right into the night. There was laughter and tears exchanged around the table as we shared stories of my past and everyone got a chance to say goodbye, getting the closer they needed.And as everyone turned in for the night, I found myself alone again; unable to sleep, I found myself outside. I stayed up looking out at the stars waiting for the sun to rise. I closed my eyes, letting the warm breeze brush across my skin, engraving it into my mind. "So you really are going to spend your last moments alive, sitting in a field of flowers like
Chapter 48 - GoodbyesErikI watched as the sun set beyond the forest, the oranges and pinks of the sky blending together as the sun bid it farewell. It had been a long time since I had nothing to do, no responsibilities with the crown or of the guards. I thought it might help me move on from the hell that the last year had been without Athena, but now I realize that was a stupid notion. It was lonely, and the weight of losing my mate weighed heavier on my heart now than it did while I still ruled.I kept as busy as a retired King could, helping Damon when he needed to seek council or helping Apollo if he needed a hand with training recruits, but I knew that they both didn't really need my help. They just didn't want me to feel left out. Apollo was a natural at his role, and so was Damon. Despite what Damon said when he first discovered he would be the next in line to inherit the throne. He took to it as a bird took to the sky. He was a born leader and shined when he was in control o
Chapter 47 - Home Alora It had been a month since I had been crowned Queen of Gardenia, the days seeming to slip away as the kingdom welcomed the summer solstice and our ruling.I was busy learning my new role, Damon's father and Grandfather helping ease us both into the important roles we both now held. However, it was easier having Helga by my side. I was happy to have her as my royal advisor, and Rachel had said she was a natural already. I knew she would be, though; she always loved to take control and never gave up the opportunity to tell someone off. It was also working in my favour because Lord folic was so busy fighting with her that he always missed out on voting for new laws or changes to existing rulings. Damon loved it, and it made the council meetings less gruelling. It was absurd how many times we had to have a council meeting. At least once a day, and most of the things brought up were trivial problems. By the end of the day, I was just happy to get some alone time
Chapter 46 - The CrownDamon It felt like an eternity had passed as I waited in the royal chambers with my father. It felt even longer when we exchanged goodbyes at the throne room, and I waited at the dais while he sat on his throne. Melody stood in front of my father, a smile stretched across her face, glowing brightly. The room was full of people, some from the council, others from royal families, friends, family, and people from our Kingdom. All watching and waiting for the ceremony to begin.I was in a black royal jacket that was made with silver threading, and our family crest stitched into my left breast pocket. The wolves were placed proudly amongst the roses and the sword that separated them as they howled at the moon. My silver crown was placed on my head, but that would be changed once mine and Alora's vows were complete and only after the mothers accepted us as the new King and Queen to signal the dawn of a new era. Drake stood to the right of me, his mate, my mother's
Chapter 45 - Long Live The Queen Damon "Again," I commanded as Alora worked to keep the wings she had summoned to remain on her back. She had learned quickly how to handle the phoenix flames since she had already worked with the fire element. But now came the hard part, only half shifting. I did it all the time, especially in battle, morphing my nails into claws and elongating my canines. But nothing about that was easy; it came with time and practice, but Alora wanted to have it mastered. With the coronation and our mate ceremony happening tomorrow, she wanted to be better at it. Not only to prove to the council and our people that she was a worthy Queen but also to herself. I didn't want to be the one to tell her to slow down, not after she had spent so much of her life ruled under someone else thumb. But I had warned her of the risks of exhaustion and told her that when I saw fit, we would end the training for the evening.Alora begrudgingly accepted my condition, and I kept tr
Chapter 44 - Worship AloraI flipped through the pages of the phoenix book the jinx family had kept for generations. There was so much to process, like what abilities I now possessed because of what I was. It made my head hurt; there was so much to learn, so much to figure out. I was now different than normal fae; I was now a shifter. But, unlike most shifting fae, my order didn't communicate with me. Instead, it was a part of me; we were one and the same. I would still live an immortal life, only having one enemy that could stop me from ever being reborn, permanently ending my life. A Basilisk. A venous snake shifter that, like me, was rare, most believed them to be extinct. But now that I existed, one would be born, if not already—the universe now having to find balance in all forms. It was mindblowing the things I had already read about. For example, I could enchant items with my flames, similar to everlasting fire. But unlike everlasting fire, I couldn't break wards or spells w
Chapter 43 - WarningDamonI sat at the dais, my legs hanging over the edge as I waited for Cedric to arrive with the artifacts Alora and I asked for. Balor was right when he said the Jinx family would bargain for their priceless information. The smug look on their faces was wiped away and replaced with wide gaping mouths as they stared at the amulet in shock.Diana had muttered a curse under her breath. One I was sure she wanted me to hear because she said it so close to me. But I bit my tongue as I handed over the amulet, not wanting to risk them being stingy with their end of the deal.Alora was waiting in the Library, looking over whatever other books Audra had found for her. Now that Alora had her dream magic again, she was more determined than ever to find out what else she was capable of doing. I couldn't help but admire her for her devotion and eagerness. I was still reeling in from the mind-blowing realization that not only was Alora a rare Pheonix shifter, but she was also
Chapter 42 - Full CircleAloraIt's funny how even after you have overcome your deepest fears that they can still creep up on you. That was how it felt right now, anyways, as we arrived at the Dream realm. It was a ghost town, everyone seeming to either vanish with my mother's magic or flee as soon as they were freed from their promise to her. The streets were quiet, the ports empty, and the palace looked haunted. The golden paint was already losing its shine and fading with the faded magic. The windows were dark and unwelcoming as we approached the not-so-gilded gate. It was now that I felt the fear of my mother creep up on me. The well of my fears bubbled in the pit of my stomach. For decades I walked through these gates and made my way to my mother's throne room to report my findings and give her the things she requested I steal. The motions all felt so familiar, but with Damon by my side, they also felt different. I knew he could sense my hesitation as we approached the giant w