Chapter Sixteen
Vil
I wasn’t pacing.
I was burning off nervous energy by walking up and down the corridor outside my room, where three dragons were supposedly putting the finishing touches on Vanessa and her outfit for the evening. Given how long they were taking, I would probably wear a path into the carpet before she emerged.
Was it so wrong to be eager to see what my mate looked like? I could only imagine the smile on her face as she began to truly understand that she was receiving the focus and attention she deserved. I would do my best to always ensure she was treated as such so that she never forgot.
“Come on,” I muttered, clenching and unclenching a fist as time ticked by.
It had nothing to do with the ball. The Nine and their stuffy sycophants could wait hours for all I cared. Tonight was about my mate and, to a lesser extent, myself as the prince. Or soon-to-be prince. To formally ascend to the throne, we would have to pay a visit to the God-King.
There, we would take the Test. That was the one part that I had no foreknowledge about.
I would have no control, no nothing. I would be going in as blind as Vanessa.
All I knew was that the immortal ruler would test our mate bond, judging us to be Eternal Mates.
If we passed, we would sit on the throne and rule for a century, as had my ancestors.
And if you fail, neither of you will return. Ever.
I shoved that thought aside, knowing full well that such a thing would not happen.
She was my Eternal Mate and not a thing could convince me otherwise.
Both halves of me knew it and recognized her as “the one.” I had never been filled with such energy as when I was with her.
Consider the path I was walking, back and forth, forth and back, over and over again.
What other dragon woman had compelled me to act as such?
The answer was none. None of them lit the fires in my core or stoked the heat of my blood, bringing it to a boil. I had shared embraces and passions, both as an exploratory youngster and later in pursuit of my mate among the eligible female dragons.
But none had struck me as Vanessa had. That first night, alone in my room, staring at the mirror, working up the nerve to stand in front of it and see my future, had been an experience I would never forget.
When my reflection had faded to reveal nothing but her eyes, I’d been entranced.
I never wanted to see myself in another’s face ever again after that.
It was hard to explain the singular urge to be with her that had come over me, amplified when I set eyes on her in person for the first time.
Perfection was something I would never have used for another. Until I met her.
“Calm,” I said, pausing in my pacing to look in the mirror mounted on the hallway wall. Its ostentatious gold-worked frame was carved into all manner of dragons, swooping and diving, perched on towers in the corners and flying along the edges in perfect contrast.
In the center of it was my reflection. I tugged on my deep red suit, the burgundy material perfectly tailored to my body by Galli, just as she was doing to Vanessa’s dress.
Matching pants and sharp brown shoes added to the ensemble.
I’d forgone the usual vest that a formal occasion would require and had instead paired it with a pitch-black shirt and a burgundy bowtie.
Hopefully, she approves.
The click of a deadbolt had me spinning with alacrity to face the door, a smile already tugging at my lips though I couldn’t see a thing yet.
“Vil?” Galli called, slipping through the door and pulling it closed behind her.
“I’m here,” I replied, coming to stand directly in front of the door.
“She’s ready,” Galli said, grinning from ear to ear.
“Good.” It was all I felt I could get out without betraying my inner nerves. I had to remain composed and focused on the outside. There were expectations of a prince, after all. “I would like to see her.”
“Oh, you will,” Galli taunted. “I’ve outdone myself this time.”
“I have no doubt,” I rumbled, motioning to the door.
Pausing for dramatic effect, earning her a deeper growl from me, which she promptly shrugged off, Galli pushed the door open to reveal my mate.
Vanessa stood in the doorway, looking up at me nervously through a forest of thick lashes that drew attention to the bright blue of her eyes.
But it was the rest of her that made my nostrils flare as I took it in.
Galli had dressed her in a jaw-dropping black single-shoulder piece. The shimmering material swooped down to hug her chest. More skin was exposed on her hip with a cutout that curved around to expose her entire lower back.
A nearly thigh-high slit exposed copious amounts of her smooth legs, drawing attention to the lithe muscle and putting her gorgeous olive skin on prime display.
Around her neck sat a thin choker necklace set with a ruby that matched my suit, and she wore a skintight wristband with tiny rubies set into them. Her fingernails and toenails were painted the same color.
Black heels that brought Vanessa up much closer to my height completed the ensemble.
My growl shook the paintings on the walls, causing the dragon woman to sway back, and Vanessa actually took a half step to steady herself.
“You look …” I couldn’t finish my sentence, for no words adequately conveyed the perfection before me.
“I’m glad you like it, my prince,” Galli said in a whisper as she, Curi, and Tinny retreated into the room to give us privacy, shutting the door as Vanessa came toward me.
“Vanessa,” I said, shaking my head and looking her up and down again. “I don’t even know what to say.”
“You look very handsome,” she said, her hands pressed flat to her sides, clearly uncomfortable under my extreme attention.
“Thank you,” I said. “But I don’t hold a candle to you.”
She tugged at the side cutout as I spoke, trying to pull it down of all things. I almost wondered why she was more concerned about hiding her torso and more willing to expose the skin nearer to her crotch, but when the smile reached her lips, my mind went blank.
Tinny had given Vanessa huge, loose curls that cascaded down, each strand seeming to catch the light every time she moved her head. I was absolutely entranced and couldn’t remove my eyes from her.
But the smile never reached her eyes. I snapped into focus.
“Are you okay?” I asked, stepping closer and taking her hands in mine. “Were they mean to you? Rude? Did they hurt you?”
“What?” her eyes opened in shock. “No, no, of course not, Vil. They were wonderful. Amazing. Honestly, it was really nice to just talk with people.”
I didn’t let her see how that comment hit me like a jab to the spleen. It was unlikely she meant for it to hurt, but knowing that I hadn’t been paying enough attention to her and her needs dug itself in, not letting go. I would do better in the future.
“Then what’s wrong? Is it the dress?”
She shook her head. “No. It shows a bit more skin, perhaps, than I would care for in certain places, but no, Vil, it’s amazing, too. I can’t believe Galli did this all in just a few hours. It’s unbelievable.”
“She’s good at what she does,” I agreed.
“It’s none of that,” she said. “And yet it’s all of that. All of everything.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s too much, Vil. All of it. I don’t deserve all this. I didn’t do anything to earn it. It’s not right.” She shook her head.
The distress in her tone took the blow her earlier comment had made and turned it into a knife, then dragged it sideways through my midsection. My mate was unhappy.
“Vanessa,” I said, running my hands up her bare arms to her shoulders, gripping them tightly before pulling her into a hug.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I thought I could handle it. But dragons, princesses, all of it, it’s too fast. Too much, too fast. I need a break.
I need to relax, to calm down, to think.
Do we have to go to this ball? Can we just, I don’t know, go somewhere and be?
Without the public spotlight. I feel so bad.
Galli spent all that time on this dress and the others on my hair and makeup, but Vil, I … ”
“Say no more,” I said, taking her by the hand and guiding her through the fortress, away from the waiting ballroom.
It would make the Nine unhappy, and they would probably say I disrespected them and thus wasn’t fit to be the prince because I couldn’t adhere to the requirements of the position or some other bullshit, but I could handle that. What I couldn’t handle was my mate being upset.
“Thank you,” she said, full of relief.
“Don’t. I’m the one who put this all on you,” I said, cursing myself for pushing too far, too fast. I didn’t want to scare her off, and I was too close to doing exactly that. “Come, I’ll take you to my favorite place. I find it calming. Hopefully, you can do the same.”
“Thank you,” she repeated emphatically.
“Anything for you,” I said. “Anything.”
As we walked, I stayed quiet, leaving her to her thoughts and giving her room to speak if she chose. In the silence, my mind began to wonder if perhaps I had acted too fast. Should I have spent more time on Earth, doing things the human way? Would that have been better?
Perhaps. But the longer I was away, the more brazen the Nine would have become.
They were already seeking to make a play for more power during the transition from my father to me.
If I’d given them a few weeks alone, who knew what sort of mess I might have come back to.
No, it was the way it had to be. I would just have to work extra hard to fix it.
We reached a staircase, and I took her down it and then another after that, deep into the underground of the Iron Fortress. The air around us grew warmer, but not uncomfortably so.
“Watch your step,” I said as we rounded a corner to find ourselves approaching the end of the hallway.
The hallway spat us out onto a short ledge high up on the side of a cavern wall. That alone was a sight to see, but what ran through the cavern truly turned it into a place of marvel and reflection.
“Is that lava?” Vanessa asked, staying cautiously away from the edge.
“Yes,” I said, taking off my jacket and moving to the very end. There, I plunked the jacket down and sat carefully next to it. “Come on, have a seat.”
“Umm.”
“Give me your hand,” I said, reaching for her and helping her into a sitting position on top of my jacket.
Below us, a river of red-orange magma flowed past in a slow meander, occasionally bubbling and popping. The air was warm and full of moisture, but that high up, it was quite bearable.
“This is your favorite place to come and relax?” she asked nervously, still clutching my hand.
“Yes, it’s most peaceful and contemplative.”
She looked over at me. “How so?”
“The flow of the magma,” I replied, gesturing at it. “Raw earth in its most basic form, but it’s on its way to being something else. Something new. What it was meant to be. Just like us. Always changing, always becoming the new version of ourselves.”
I met her eyes as I spoke, and for a moment, the world stopped spinning.