Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Aurelius’ Bedroom, Shadow Court
Freya
I stare in wonder through the silky red of my veil at Aurelius’ bedroom, as he carries me in his arms through the doorway. Golden, woolen ribbons hang down from the frame in a fringe, brushing across me in welcome.
Through my veil, it looks like the room has been set alight.
“Oi, watch her head,” Daire calls from behind Aurelius. “And don’t drop our Omega.”
“Watch your mouth, my Emperor, or I shall carry you over the threshold next.” Yet Aurelius tightens his hold on me.
“Promises, promises.”
“The nest looks beautiful,” I murmur. “Did you decorate this yourself for our wedding night?”
“Of course,” Aurelius replies.
The bedposts have been wound with Dragon Blood Roses. Garlands of fresh myrtle and fragrant bay leaves hang from the walls. The floor and bed are covered in a sea of rose petals; their scent is intoxicating.
I purr.
My arms are draped around Aurelius’ neck, as I rest my head on his chest.
Our marriage ceremony was perfect.
Well, almost. Because Lanlin was missing from it.
I pressed my thumb over the Ankh mark, while I made my vows to Aurelius and Daire, making one to Lanlin in my heart.
I know that Daire did the same.
Was our vampire able to feel it?
Daire spins past Aurelius, sending the rose petals from the floor twirling around him in a flower vortex. “It’s like being inside a murdered rose garden.”
“Exactly the romantic look that I was going for,” Aurelius dryly replies.
“No complaints.” Daire drops onto his side on the bed in a cloud of petals.
“It suits you, the Golden Dragon who no one in this kingdom should challenge. You put your bastard uncle in his place during your coronation. You were brilliant. The way that you trapped those councilors in their own games, then chopped off their heads, was bloody poetry.”
I should have known that Daire would like that part of it.
When Aurelius swung the sword, Daire’s eyes glittered like the heads of his enemies truly were the best gift that he could have been offered.
Yet I also hadn’t been disgusted to see Aurelius execute two traitors who had been plotting to kill him and force him into a bonding.
By the moon, it had felt like he was taking back the power in his court.
I am fucking here for that.
Except, had it been Aurelius…or Hadrian?
Does it matter?
I glance at the Dragon Emperor who is carrying me toward the bed.
Who is holding me now?
Who do I want to spend my wedding night with?
Gently, my dragon lays me down on the cushion strewn bed. His outline shimmers through the flame-colored veil, disguised.
My breath hitches, when his fingers play with the veil’s edges.
“I embroidered this for you.” His voice is low. I bet that he is adorably blushing. “In our tradition an Omega keeps the veil and passes it on to their child. I wanted to sew a new one, however, because what we have together is new.”
“That’s why there are golden wolves on it.” I smile, remembering how pretty I had thought the veils when Daire helped me to put mine on.
“And ravens on mine.” Daire reaches up to touch the front of his veil.
“Don’t take it off,” Aurelius commands. “That’s my job.”
Aurelius leans forward and then by agonizingly slow degrees, lifts my veil.
It is like the world is being reborn.
I blink, as our gazes meet.
Aurelius folds the veil over my head, and I see him with fresh eyes.
This is unmistakably Aurelius and not Hadrian. His eyes aren’t molten or swirling, and I am right that his cheeks are dusted with pink.
He brushes the back of his knuckles down my cheek. “So beautiful. You have no idea how much I wanted to see your face throughout the ceremony and during the vows.”
“You can see me now.”
“And for the rest of our lives.”
He kisses me, tenderly.
I indulge in the smoky taste of his lips.
During the weeks spent in the cold Consort House, as much as I made the best of it, I missed being in my dragon’s royal nest.
“I missed you.” My chest is rising and falling fast. I drop my hands to Aurelius’ shoulders, stroking them. “I fucking missed your nest.”
His eyes crinkle at the sides. “I could barely sleep knowing that you weren’t here.”
“I did my best,” Daire says, quietly. “To make a home for you, Spark.”
“But it wasn’t my home.” Aurelius doesn’t look away from me. “It could never be a royal nest.”
“Is that right?” Daire’s voice is icy and unreadable.
“Don’t go anywhere.” Aurelius taps my lips, before kissing me again quickly.
I stretch, luxuriating in the piles of soft bedding, cushions, and petals.
I watch in interest, as Aurelius pulls back to sit next to Daire.
Daire is now perched stiffly on the edge of the bed.
“I thought that you would have flung off your veil just to show me how much of a rebel you still are,” Aurelius taunts, reaching toward Daire.
I shake my head in amusement.
He still doesn’t understand my Raven King.
In a wild flurry of movement, Daire snatches off the entire headdress, along with his crown, and hurls it across the chamber, revealing his snarling face.
I thought that Daire would never have taken off his crown, after how much he treasured Lanlin’s.
His gesture shocks me.
Then Daire leaps across the bed and dives on top of me. “Hello, my wife.”
“Hello, husband.” I kiss him.
He kisses back, passionately.
Desperately.
“My soulmate.” Daire links our hands together, pushing our snowflake bond marks to rub deliciously against each other. “My Omega. What in the name of the Shadow Devils are you doing? Get up and get over here.”
I blink at Daire in confusion. Then I realize that he is looking over his shoulder at Aurelius, who is kneeling amongst the petals.
My eyes widen in shock.
Is this another ritual that I don’t know about?
Now I know for certain that this is Aurelius rather than Hadrian because Hadrian would never get on his knees like this for his mates.
Aurelius’ hands are balled on his lap.
He hangs his head, and his golden hair spills over his face. “You once asked me to kneel. I need you both to know that you no longer need to ask me.”
Daire sits up to straddle my waist, and his expression becomes fond. “Bloody idiot. But you’re our idiot.”
My lips curve into a smile. “I know how hard this is for you.”
Finally, Aurelius raises his head, and his gaze is searing. “Do you wish that you had Hadrian here now to spend your wedding night with you?”
I wet my lips, wishing that I hadn’t just been debating the same thing.
Aurelius drags on his flinty mask like he can read the thought on my face. “I see.”
“No,” I rush to say, “you don’t. Can’t you understand that you’re both at the same time? But it’s you that I love? I just married you.”
Aurelius firmly pushes himself to his feet.
I hate that his expression has become emotionless again. “Did you? Or did you in fact not care which of us you were marrying?”
“What does it matter?” Daire shrugs. “We’re all bound together by fate.”
Aurelius’ eyes flash. “I’ve spent my life fighting not to become the Golden Dragon of fate. I have been trained harshly to avoid letting out that side of my nature. Don’t you understand what it’s like to have a destiny?”
Daire bares his fangs. “More than you’d know. And you’re not Hadrian. You’re reincarnated. You can become anyone you want to be, aye? Don’t let fate, destiny, or any other bollocks bat you around like a cat with a mouse.”
“Like our darkness has been?” Sadness washes over me.
I raise my Ankh mark to my mouth and kiss it. My heart is in my mouth, as I wait to see if Lanlin will respond.
Does he know that today is our coronation and wedding?
Does the thought hurt him?
Finally, a tentative kiss presses back onto my skin over the mark, followed by a firmer bite.
I smile in relief.
At least Lanlin knows that I haven’t forgotten him on my wedding night. He feels like at least he is in this nest with me.
Aurelius narrows his eyes. “Why do we need to talk about him? This is my wedding night.”
“Our wedding night,” Daire corrects. “I seem to be the one who is sitting on top of our Omega right now. Play nice, or we won’t invite you into the nest.”
Aurelius’ cheeks flame in outrage. “I made that nest.”
“It’s beautiful,” I concede. “But you’re also the person who claims that our other Alpha is your best friend and promised not to hurt him.”
“Have I laid a claw on him?”
“You should have been a fae.” Daire looks impressed. “You’re brilliant at loopholes.”
“You haven’t hurt him,” I grit out, “but you’ve let Wraith and the other Guild assassins torture him. You’ll watch whatever these sick Imperial Games are to celebrate our wedding.”
Aurelius storms to the bed.
His shadows coil out of him, winding around Daire to shove him off me.
Daire’s eyes light with vicious joy. “I was hoping that you’d try a move on me. But I don’t need to act fangless anymore.”
Daire’s own shadows weave out of him, blocking Aurelius’. His wings flap, shimmering with magic. Although he is still weakened by the iron in the walls of the palace, he isn’t holding back like he has been up to now.
Aurelius stumbles in shock.
Fire kindles in his eyes, before he tries to snatch Daire by the scruff of the neck and drag him away from me.
Daire twists, crouching in front of me like an enraged cat.
“Try it,” Daire hisses, “and discover that every time I bite, it isn’t pleasurable.”
The two men fix each other with sharp gazes.
I glance between these two deadly men, pushing myself to sit up.
“Are you putting on a gladiatorial battle for me? Hot as it would be to watch, especially if you stripped naked and added oil, to see who won the right to fuck me, I’d rather that I took both of you into my bed.
By the Shadow Gods, however, I want Lanlin, and that means that he survives the fucking games tomorrow.
Why don’t you just order them to be halted? ”