60. Love Again #2
“Your worth to me was never tied to your divine powers, Azael. Your snow-white wings dazzled me when we met, but it’s what’s in here—” I place my palm against his chest “—that drew me in. I was destined to find you, but I choose to stay because of the person you are.”
For a moment I think Azael is going to cry as his eyes redden at the corners as does the tip of his sharp aquiline nose. But then he closes those startling sapphire eyes, taking in a deep breath.
Once he opens them, the vulnerable angel is nowhere to be seen but a soft smile plays around his full lips. Lips that I very much want to kiss.
Dropping my hand from his face, I stand up and he towers over me, taking my hand, albeit hesitantly.
“I have something I wish for you to see. Would you come with me, Azizam?”
I nod, unable to form actual words, rendered mute by my own thoughts.
He leads me to a copse of cherry trees that are no longer in bloom but lush with greenery and clusters of cherries.
He kneels in the grass without a word and opens his hands. A ripple of soft movement and a burrow appears in the earth—snow-white rabbits hop free, ears twitching, noses quivering. One hops toward me boldly and presses its head against my ankle.
“They’re gentle,” Azael says quietly. “They’ll stay as long as you want them to.”
My throat tightens as I stare at him incredulously. I crouch despite myself, fingers brushing warm fur. The rabbit doesn’t flee.
“I––I don’t know what to say.” More rabbits crowd me and Azael proffers a bunch of carrots that I accept with a chuckle, letting the rabbits happily munch on them.
I stare silently at Azael, as he watches me. He remembered I once coveted them as pets, only to be cruelly taken away.
He gifted me something that I lost long ago and never even knew I wanted back. Holding my hand out to him, I wait patiently as he comes closer, engulfing my fingers with his.
I tug lightly and he leans down, a bemused expression on his handsome face. Pressing a light kiss on his cheek, I whisper, “Thank you, Azael, for giving me a slice of my youth back.”
He looks astonished for a moment then kisses my forehead, not saying anything. But I can feel the sheer joy in his soul through the invisible tether that connects us.
A few days later, after feeding the babies with Alistair and Archie’s help, I tell them stories my mother used to tell me. As they watch me with rapt attention, their adorable faces slowly turning sleepy, I notice Rinn leaning against the doorway.
“How long have you been standing there?” I walk toward him, wanting to somehow offer comfort since he feels sad.
An advantage of the soul tethers is that I’m mostly clued into how my anchors are feeling if the emotions are running high.
“Long enough to listen to your stories.” He remarks with a sad smile.
“I had been looking for you to help with the babies since Shiloh often seeks you out––you being the resident demon besides me.” I roll my eyes and a genuine smile appears on his face. “But I couldn’t find you anywhere.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” He walks toward the crib where our daughter gurgles happily. “But first let me say sorry to my daughter.” He flicks his gaze back at me, then focuses his entire attention on her.
Guilt had eaten away at me, yet I felt elated upon learning my anchors hadn’t named the babies.
“It didn’t feel right without you around, Kitten.” Silas had said gruffly and it had been my turn to sniffle, trying but failing to keep the tears at bay.
We had agreed to name our little soul-fae-demon as Shilohren. The cubs had been given the names Ruidhart and Nyxara.
And our tiny miracle dragonling had been named Auromere.
“Did you miss me, darling?” Rinn tickles Shiloh’s feet, getting a squeal out of her. “Of course you did! Sorry, Daddy was not nearby. Daddy was getting a present for Mommy. I know, I know…I will get something for you too, next time!”
Shaking my head at the fearsome demon doing baby-speak, I take in his huge frame leaning over the crib.
I miss seeing his beautiful horns. I know how losing a vital appendage feels like. When Vroc had cut off my tail in the dungeon, the agony had been excruciating. It has still not fully grown back. But one day it will. I can’t say the same for Rinn’s horns.
A particularly high pitched giggle has me huffing, “You’ll make them so excited that they won’t take their afternoon nap!”
“Alistair will just sing them a lullaby.” Rinn smirks as Alistair starts humming.
Rinn leads me out of the nursery. “Hearing you tell those stories, I kind of wished I had a mother like you while growing up, Flame.” He says looking at me as we arrive at the newly installed garden swing that Archie set up for me.
“I wish you had a better childhood, Rinn. I don’t understand how a mother can not feel protective of her child.”
He kneels on the ground, motioning for me to sit on the wide wooden swing. “Hold out your hands, Flame.” He requests softly.
As I open my palms, he places something on them––two slim onyx bracelets, warm to the touch, faintly humming.
“My horns,” he says, voice stripped of bravado. “Shorn and spelled willingly. They answer only to you now. If you call, I will always come. No matter where I am.”
My stomach twists with disbelief. The astounding amount of control over him, given freely.
My fingers tremble when I pick one up. It feels heavy with meaning, with promise. A summon he cannot refuse.
“Rinn…you really want me to have this much power over you?”
His onyx eyes shimmer with a raw emotion. “You reign over my heart and my soul, Flame. My body is just another aspect of me that already belongs to you, but I want you to have sole dominion over it.”
I gently wipe the tear that slips free from the corner of his eye.
“I don’t know if I can bridge the gap that stands between us anytime soon, Rinn. But this…” I rub one of the smooth bracelets between my fingers. “This is a stepping stone to bringing us closer.”
“That’s all I can hope for, Flame. May I?”
When I nod, he takes the bracelets and slips them over my wrists.
His answering smile is dazzling as he kisses my wrists softly and a pleasant shiver runs down my spine.
About a month later, I’m strolling past the whisper-berry vines when a large looming shadow blocks the sun. Looking up I see Baz circling the sky in his huge dragon form. In a few moments he lands a little away and bows low, massive head dipping until it rests against the earth before me.
“Care for a ride, Starling?” He rumbles and I climb onto his neck, laughing as he glides in lazy circles, soaring in the sky.
We fly.
High and free and wordless. Nostalgia hits me hard. I have to hug his neck, flattening myself on his scales to remain on his back. Flying with him feels like recovering a part of me I had lost.
When we land, he takes me through his heavily protected dragon cave and as I stand amid the riches and untold treasures, he leans down until we are eye to eye.
“My hoard,” he rumbles. “All of it is yours, Starling.”
“Huh?”
“Everything around you, I considered to be precious for centuries. But compared to you, all these riches fail to hold my attention. You are my heart. My true treasure. I offer you my dearest possessions, to do with as you please.”
I gape at him, dumbfounded. He has given me prized possessions as courting gifts before, but to be offered an entire dragon’s hoard is unheard of.
He shifts to his human form, kneeling before me on one knee.
“Starling, we share an eternal history. You gifted me a miracle and I can only offer you material possessions instead.” He says self-deprecatingly and my heart goes out to him, feeling the remorse in his soul.
“Baz…I know how much your hoard means to you.”
“But it’s nothing compared to you, Starling. You are the only star in my night sky. The one I’m always soaring toward.” His silvery eyes glimmer at me earnestly. “If you can look past my wrongdoings in this life, I promise to cherish you like the most precious gem known to any dragon. Ever.”
“I need time, Baz. I am not there yet. Some scars take time to heal.”
His understanding smile eases something in me. I press our foreheads together, leaning my weight on his shoulders, as he whispers, “I’ll wait for you for eternity, Starling. Take all the time you need.”
With that heartfelt assurance, something loosens inside my chest. I still have ways to go, but the journey doesn’t seem that daunting anymore.
I acknowledge something to myself that I have been wary of. My love for my anchors is rooted in my soul. It had frayed but not faded away.