CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE ISI #3
The castle shrank to nothing, and with it, everything I’d known my entire life was gone. The cage I’d lived in, the mask I’d worn, and the role I’d been forced to play for too long.
I clung to Trew’s forearm wrapped securely around my waist, laughter bubbling up from my chest even as tears streamed down my face. Joy and relief and disbelief all tangled together inside me.
The adrenaline from our escape still coursed through my veins like liquid fire, making every nerve ending twitch.
“Hold tight,” Trew said, his voice rough by my ear, and the command sent a shiver of want through me.
I pressed back against him, and his sharp intake of breath told me he felt it too, this electric current that had nothing to do with dragon flight and everything to do with the man whose body curved protectively around mine.
When the wind tried to buffet me sideways, his grip tightened, his other hand splaying across my ribs below my breast. The placement was protective, but the heat of his palm made my pulse stutter.
The battle-high from facing down my father, Lord Alfred, and the guards was transforming into something altogether different, a reckless need that made me want to turn in Trew’s arms despite our precarious position so far above the ground.
“So,” Trew said, his voice warm with amusement. “That dress is truly hideous. When we marry, you’re wearing something that doesn’t look like it was designed by someone who hates joy.”
Stunned, I could barely think for a moment. “When we marry?”
His arm tightened around me. “You’re mine, love. We established that already.”
“We did, though I don’t recall marriage being part of all that.”
“Of course it is.”
I twisted in his arms, and his mouth found mine with a fierce, claiming kiss, one full of promise and heat.
A cheer rose from Kyreth beside us. I broke away from Trew long enough to see our friends waving, their grins wide enough to split their faces.
Pherin and Gavelle flew beside us in their smaller forms, a teal and silver minxpip and a charcoal cinderhawk, both of them radiating smug satisfaction.
Did well, Pherin said in my mind. No bites but screaming. Shouting. Very satisfying.
“He hurt you,” Trew said. “I really do want to kill him, for this and everything else.”
My hands still trembled from adrenaline, the vulnerability tying into the lingering tension in my limbs.
“Get in line behind Pherin,” I said. “She’s eager to bite off his head.”
“That would work too.”
For the first time, I didn’t feel a twinge of sadness at the thought of me or someone else killing him.
I didn’t owe that man anything any longer.
I looked back one final time. The castle sprawled far behind, the gardens still in an uproar.
A tiny figure stood in the center of it all, his arms lifted.
Even from this distance, I could feel my father’s anger.
We’d thwarted his plans, and he’d find a way to make me pay. There was no arguing with that.
But in this moment, with Trew’s arms around me and freedom spreading before us like the open sky, I didn’t care.
The wind tangled through my hair, pulling the rest of the strands free from Mae’s elaborate styling. Trew’s heartbeat thrummed against my back.
“When we land,” dark promise bloomed in his voice, “I’m going to spend hours taking the rest of these pins out of your hair.”
The words made heat pool low in my belly. “Just the pins?”
His laugh burst out of him. “Among other things.” His fingers found the pulse point at my throat, and he stroked once across my racing heartbeat.
“When you hacked off the skirt of that dress with the sword, I’ve never wanted anything more than I wanted you in that moment.
Fierce and furious and absolutely lethal.
” His teeth grazed my earlobe. “My warrior princess.”
“And you’re my dragon king, arriving in a blaze of fury and flames. My heart pretty much stopped when I saw you striding down the aisle. And when you told the world who you are, I nearly swooned.”
He snorted. “You, swoon? I’m surprised you didn’t gut Lord Alfred.”
“He ran away. Self-preservation was driving him when nothing else could.”
“He lost, and we won.”
“We did.” I peered around. “Where are we going?”
“Home.”
The place where I could be myself. Where magic wasn’t a crime. Where I could stand beside this man and build something real.
The sun climbed higher, painting the sky in shades of gold and peach. Lakast’s wings beat steady, carrying us south and to whatever future awaited us there.
War. Danger, for sure.
But also choices.
And love.
I leaned back against Trew’s chest and smiled.
Let my father bring his war. Let him try to cage me again.
I’d meet him with fire and steel. With the magic he’d tried to suppress. With Pherin at my side and friends who’d risk everything.
And with the king who’d walk into certain death to protect me.
I wasn’t running away, I was running toward everything I was meant to be.
Crown princess of a kingdom that feared magic? Not any longer.
Queen of one that embraced it? Yes, that felt right.
Distance and clouds swallowed the castle.
And I didn’t look back again.