Chapter 18 Dragons’ Reign #3
“Are you nervous?” Valerius asked.
“I really hope I remember my vows. I practiced them, but I’m not sure I’ll remember,” Caden confessed.
Valerius cupped his face. “I already know them. As you know mine.”
“So if I freeze like a deer in headlights you know to just kiss me, right? Save us both?” Caden laughed anxiously.
“Absolutely. Just as you have saved me every day.” Valerius kissed him then.
Caden’s eyes closed and he leaned into the kiss.
Inside his mind, he saw Raziel and Iolaire.
The two Dragon Spirits were wide awake and gazing at everything with rapt attention.
Raziel leaned down and nosed the side of Iolarie’s snout.
They turned to each other and pressed their foreheads together in a Dragon kiss.
“Valerius! Caden! We cannot do this without you!” Chione called from the doorway.
“We’re coming,” Valerius said as they broke apart.
They walked down the hallway together, hand in hand, but they had to separate as Valerius would be walking ahead of him. Caden was the last person in line. His eyes tracked the Black Dragon King until Valerius vanished through the doors to the throne room.
Flashes from cameras were going off repeatedly and Caden was half blinded as he kept an eye on his parents’ backs. He tried to remember his vows, but they slipped through his mind like grains of sand through an hourglass.
All I need to tell him is that I love him and will forever. That’s it. Just hold onto that, Caden told himself.
He was just outside of the open doors of the throne room.
Pews rather like one would see in a church had been set up on either side of the throne room before the dais.
Cameras lined the outer edges of the pews, packed so tightly together that Caden could hardly see the mirror behind them on the right hand side or the doors out onto the courtyard to the left.
He could see past his parents all of the Dragon Shifters walking up the aisle, looking glorious and noble and ethereal.
Even Illarion appeared sober and full of great age and wisdom.
In the mirror, he caught glimpses of their Dragon Spirits who joined Iolaire and Raziel to watch the nuptials.
He was pleased and surprised to see how Xipil cuddled against Iolaire.
Mephous sat comfortably against Raziel. Lana and Eldoron, of course, were a matched pair.
Evern and Zephyra were like the wise older parents watching over their flock.
Caden nearly laughed as he caught sight of Vozyth, too!
She was in the entrance to the lair. Raziel and Iolaire inclined their heads to welcome her in.
And it wasn’t just her! All of the Dragons that they had saved from the Behemoth came inside to watch.
The banana yellow one definitely did have its eye on Lana.
He was so enamored of what he was seeing in the mirror, he nearly missed it when it was Valerius’ turn to walk up the aisle. The flashes became utterly blinding again so that Caden saw Valerius’ forward movement in stuttering images. Yet every one of them was burned into his mind.
His sister, smiling and graceful, advanced up the aisle next.
She scattered red and white rose petals before her out of a basket.
Caden saw that Wally, Rose and Landry were all sitting on “his” side of the aisle and were beaming at her.
Wally was recording it all on his phone.
He stood up and called Tilly’s name to get her to “smile for the camera”.
Caden chuckled and shook his head. As if the entire world wasn’t recording every second of this day!
It was his parents’ turn to walk down the aisle together. They gazed back at him for long moments with smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. Then, hands clasped, they walked up the aisle together as the cameras rolled and flashed. With every step they took, Caden grew more anxious.
Would he manage to walk up the aisle without tripping over his own two feet? Would he be able to walk at all? He could totally see himself freezing!
If I do, Valerius will come get me and carry me down the aisle. He’s there for me. Always and forever.
He met Valerius’ eyes where he stood at the end of the aisle beside Illarion. Justice St. John stood on the dais as he was going to marry them. He gave Caden a brief nod when it was his time to walk.
I love you, Caden. Come to me, Valerius sent.
Caden kept his eyes on Valerius as he put one foot in front of the other and somehow managed not to trip or freeze or fall flat on his face.
He made it to the end of the aisle and Valerius stepped out so that they were facing one another.
They naturally reached for one another and took each other’s hands.
Justice St. John gave them a broad smile. “Everyone, we are gathered here today, to join the Black Dragon King Valerius and the White Dragon King Caden together in holy matrimony. I have officiated at many weddings, but none that has given me such pleasure.”
Caden saw only Valerius’ face. His own hurt from smiling so broadly.
“Marriage is a sacred compact under the laws of humans and Spirits. It is not to be entered into lightly. And in this case, it brings two great leaders of the world together to rule as one,” Justice St. John said.
“Both of you have already faced great challenges together and led us all out of darkness and into the light,” Justice St. John continued.
“I have no doubt that each of you will guide yourselves and each other with great wisdom in the future. And your union shall be a shining example to all of service, duty, loyalty and love. My understanding is that you have your own vows, yes?”
Caden’s mouth went dry. He should have brought a set of cards with the vows written on them!
He should have written the vows on his inner arms or something!
How crazy was he to think he could remember something now when he was gazing into Valerius’ beloved face?
But he was tearing up so he wouldn’t have been able to see the cards anyways!
“King Valerius, would you like to go first?” Justice St. John asked when no one said anything.
“Yes, thank you,” Valerius said softly.
Was I supposed to go first? I can’t remember! Caden babbled.
But then Valerius’ mind touched his and calmness fell. Everything is going exactly as it should.
“Caden, I once spurned love. I thought that true love was what happened in a badly written story. It did not exist,” Valerius said.
There were chuckles all around. Even Caden laughed.
“Or if it did, I was not worthy of it,” Valerius continued, which elicited soft “awwws”. “But then we met. In battle, no less, which is fitting as everything that has ever mattered in my life has been connected to a fight.”
More laughter. Caden felt tears running down his face.
“You represent change to Raziel and I. We didn’t know if we wanted it, but then… we realized that we couldn’t live without it, without you and Iolaire,” Valerius told him.
Caden let out a watery gasp and nodded.
You two. You and Raziel both.
“Raziel and I pledge with all we are, with all we could ever be, to love you and care for you all the days of our eternal lives,” Valerius told him.
A glance at the mirror would have shown that Iolaire and Raziel were gazing at each other with the same exact expression as their human counterparts.
“King Caden, you have vows as well that you wish to say?” Justice St. John urged.
“Ah,” Caden got out, which had everyone laughing as he attempted to clear his throat and wipe away tears at the same time. “I love you, Valerius.”
Valerius smiled and tears streamed.
“Iolaire and I have loved you and Raziel almost from the very start,” Caden said. “I was so scared of my life changing. Iolaire would have let me hide and pretend that nothing was different. But you… You made me want to be the ninth Dragon Shifter. You helped me believe that I could be.”
Always. You are the best of us, Valerius sent.
Caden tightened his hands on Valerius’. “Iolaire and I pledge to love you and care for you all the days of our eternal lives.”
Caden caught sight of his parents crying. Tilly was now looking like a racoon and proud of it. Landry was gripping Rose’s hand so tightly that she was likely cutting off Rose’s circulation. But Rose didn’t seem to mind as she was beaming at him like the sun. Wally was weeping openly and filming.
“Who has the rings?” Justice St. John asked.
Illarion and Mei came up on either side of them.
Both of them had velvet ring boxes. The one Illarion carried was white while the one Mei had was black.
Both he and Valerius took the boxes from their fellow Dragon Shifters.
They nearly opened them at the same time.
Caden gasped. Valerius let out a low sound of appreciation too.
Valerius’ band was gold while Caden’s appeared silver, or more likely platinum. But while they, at first, appeared smooth and unmarked, as Caden gazed within them, an image swam to the surface. It was of two Dragons, Raziel and Iolaire, who rested their foreheads together.
“Mei, this is beautiful. How did you even do this?” Caden asked.
Mei smiled. “Magic.”
Valerius chuckled. “I half believe you, Mei.”
“You should. Because it's true. Like the crowns, we just knew how to make them,” she said.
“I have to admit that she even impressed me,” Illarion chortled.
Mei rolled her eyes. Then the two of them retreated, leaving Caden and Valerius alone before Justice St. John. Caden held the ring for Valerius while Valerius did the same for him. Caden wasn’t nervous any longer. He felt sure and certain.
“Do you, King Valerius, take King Caden as your husband to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish forever?” Justice St. John asked.
“I do,” Valerius said.
Caden slid the ring on his right ring finger.
“And do you, King Caden, take King Valerius as your husband to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish forever?” Justice St. John asked.
“I do,” Caden whispered.
Valerius slipped the ring on Caden’s right ring finger. He saw the Dragons inside of the rings surface and kiss. In the mirror, Raziel and Iolaire did the same.
“I now pronounce you husband and husband, partners and kings for life!” Justice St. John pronounced. “You may now kiss!”
The whole throne room erupted as he and Valerius kissed until they needed air to breathe and then kissed some more.
Caden knew that the Helix was blazing in the sky above them.
Flower petals were thrown as he and Valerius turned back towards the crowd and lifted their joined hands together into the air.
The other Dragon Shifters surged around them. They linked hands with each other and with Caden and Valerius. The nine of them stood there. Joined. It was a new era. And whatever came they could face it. Together.
I love you, Valerius.
I love you, Caden.
They kissed again, long and deep, and Caden knew it was forever.
Later that night, when the moon was full and the stars were bright, all of the Dragon Shifters went out onto the courtyard together. They took off those lovely clothes that Anwar had taken such care to make and placed their crowns on top of them.
Then they shifted, one by one, and lifted off into the air. For the first time since the War, all of the Dragons flew together over the Earth, all nine of them this time. And instead of fear, people felt awe and happiness and safety. These were their great protectors.
And all of them thought, “Let the Dragons always reign.”
Thank you for coming with me on this wonderful journey. I hope you enjoyed the story and that it and the characters will stay with you like they stay with me.