Chapter 48 Astraea
Astraea
After all the trials and terrors, being reunited and surrounded by my friends reminded me why every hardship was worth the suffering.
As I’d been prescribed bed rest by Lilith, they’d decided to bring the tales of their own ventures to my rooms. This resulted in Davina lying at the foot of my bed, Lilith sitting by the side on the ground with some cushions, and Rose sitting on the armchair by the fire while Zath sat by her feet, his elbow propped on the side of her seat.
Drystan was here too, eager to hear about all the dragons that were freed as he scrawled in his journal from his lean against the wall near Nadia, who perched unconventionally on the dresser.
As they told me about their quests to their designated temples, we sipped tea, and I couldn’t stop catching the subtle flirtatious movements between Rose and Zath. He tucked closer into her, an arm draped over her thigh, while she played absentmindedly with the short lengths of his hair.
“Is there something else I need to catch up on?” I prompted.
Rose wore a sheepish smile while fighting the instinct to deny what was obvious.
“We might all die in a war against gods, so why deny any of our pleasures, no matter how many thorns they come with,” Zath mused, squeezing her thigh.
“Still insufferable,” she muttered.
“But you love me.”
“Don’t get too ahead of yourself.”
Zath shifted, laying his head back on her thighs with a sigh. “I’m just waiting for you to catch up.”
My heart swelled with so much love for the both of them. For everyone in this room.
Zath was right: war was on our doorstep and we couldn’t waste a second on any negative feelings.
“I doubt they’ve all bonded,” Drystan said, completely lost in his own thoughts about the dragons. “There could still be a chance of other vampires finding bonds with them. I’m hoping for it. It’s about time the world started to see we are all one people. There are no chosen ones.”
My wound from Auster emitted a sharp pain and I rubbed over it absentmindedly.
“The blue dragon that chose Auster, Edasich…” I trailed off.
“She can bond again,” Drystan assured. “It might take a while for her to heal and trust again, but it’s been recorded in the past that dragons have had multiple riders, or never have had any at all, but those are typically the most vicious dragons.
Rastaban is a prime example. They don’t crave companionship, only their own power, and they will slay kin for it.
They’ve even been known to lure humans into a false bond for their own gain before killing them. ”
“All those dragons and we never got one,” Zath said to Rose with a sigh.
Drystan knew exactly how many of each color were roaming now, but the knowledge already left me with so much to keep track of.
“Lilith did,” Davina said casually.
“You didn’t mention that,” Drystan accused. “Which one? What’s her name?”
Lilith giggled. “His name is Altais. The yellow one we freed in Pyxtia.”
Wonder filled my mind as I imagined a sky of colorful and colorless dragons dominating our skies.
“That’s incredible,” I said to her.
“Where is he now?” Drystan quizzed, scribbling more notes.
“Eating or sleeping, I presume. He likes the forest, though he’s seemed a little distressed ever since he woke up. I’m still figuring out this bond between us so I can know what’s wrong.”
“The yellow dragons will be suffering the most without the sunlight,” Drystan informed. Then he asked, “Any other particularly vicious or wary looking dragons I should know about?”
Everyone shook their heads.
I turned my attention to Davina, about to ask about the fae resistance, but I was distracted by her fingers lacing with Lilith’s. My brows curved in a questioning look, and a blush fanned across Lilith’s freckled cheeks.
“Is there something you two have to share as well?” I teased.
Davina smiled fondly at Lilith, brushing her thumb along her fair cheek, like it was habit. “I guess war has a way of making people say ‘fuck the doubt and take the leap,’” she said boldly.
We all chuckled at that and I was bursting inside. After this last month of travel and failure and quests and trials, feeling a slow spiral into helplessness, all I needed was to come home. To see all was never lost so long as I had everyone in this room—my family.
Even after two days of mostly rest—since Nyte all but held me hostage in my rooms to heal—I still had to lean a hand on the council table everyone stood around.
Drystan, Nadia, Zathrian, Rosalind, Davina, and Lilith were here.
The others had not returned. Filling up the rest of this meeting were generals of the Maiden’s resistance from across the continent.
Vampire leaders Laviana had sent while she was still working on convincing others, and a couple of celestial higher ups from Auster’s court, who swore fealty to me.
We gathered to share knowledge to figure out how the Gods of Dusk and Dawn might plan to attack.
“Katerina—Dawn—has still been sighted in the Luna province, maintaining her guise,” Drystan reported.
Zephyr was still being safeguarded with his children in Nadir’s home. I didn’t want to risk Dawn coming after them. I just couldn’t wrap my head around her objective in being idle in the Luna province.
“And Dusk?” I asked.
“He’s fully taken on the guise of Aquilo,” Elliot informed. Nyte had tasked him with leading a scouting team for Dusk. “The armies of house Sera are gathering, and what’s worse, Notus has joined him. I believe he knows he’s allying with the God of Dusk and not Aquilo.”
“He’ll ally with anyone to overthrow me,” I muttered sourly.
“But the gods haven’t been sighted together?” Drystan said.
There were a few head shakes around the table.
I couldn’t fit the puzzle in my head and it was tormenting me. The gods had created me together; now they’d come to land temporarily to destroy me, yet they didn’t seem allied themselves for that mission.
Rubbing my temple, I couldn’t concentrate with the ache building in my head.
“We’ll resume tomorrow,” Nyte announced, a subtle dismissal to everyone.
I was about to object, but they had already started leaving. Zath cast me a small smile. Did I really look that unfit? I believed I was maintaining an admirable facade, but inside, my body felt like a sinking weight, as if my very organs were succumbing to the slow, deliberate pull of collapse.
Turning, I leaned back against the table with a defeated sigh. Nyte was in front of me a heartbeat later. When everyone left and the doors groaned shut, Nyte stepped closer to me, saying nothing but leaning his head down and inhaling deeply as if savoring my scent.
“You’re tired,” he said after a pause.
“I’m fine.”
I wasn’t though, and we both knew it. Time was slipping away. It was a cruel illusion—how something that never altered its pace seemed to vanish more quickly when we needed it the most.
Nyte took my hand, and I didn’t bother to ask where we were going. We wound through a few halls until we came to the broken throne room.
It was icy in here, with most of the back wall and part of the roof caved in. It wasn’t snowing right now, but the previous days had flooded white crystal snowfall into the room.
“We’ll need to get that fixed,” he said.
I didn’t think I would see that day.
“I quite like the view,” I said anyway.
“Then we’ll knock away the rest and fit glass in its place. Any other refurbishments?”
My smile didn’t quite reach my face. Imagining this hall bright and warm while watching the seasons pass through the glass wall was a wonderful vision.
The purple throne still sat proudly and untarnished atop the dais. Nyte led me toward it, up the steps; then he coaxed me to sit. Leaving me there, he descended back down, and I didn’t know what he was up to.
He simply stood there, staring, his face unreadable.
“You are absolutely exquisite,” he said quietly, like the thought had accidentally leaked from his mind.
“Come here,” I said, holding out my hand.
Nyte came back up, bracing both hands on the arms of the throne to lean in and kiss me. He seemed so … calm. At peace with whatever fate we were headed to. It inspired the same in me, and I kissed him with more need to make every second count.
He lowered, parting my knees with his hands to settle between them before they trailed up my sides, pulling me toward the edge of the throne.
“I want to take you right here,” he muttered huskily.
“On your throne. Worshipping you.” My breath stuttered with his mouth tracing featherlight along my jaw and down my neck.
“My Starlight.” His fingers reached for the laces of my front bodice.
“My mate.” He slipped the material off my shoulders with slow attention.
I shivered at the whistle of cold from the outside contrasting with his hot breath across my bare chest. “My queen.”
“Anyone could walk in,” I said breathlessly, but I lacked any true objection.
“They could.”
“It’s cold.”
“I’m going to fix that.”
Nyte’s fingers grazed over my chest, and I looked down with him.
The dark vein crawling toward my heart reached the top of my breast now.
When I spent time studying it in the mirror this morning I realized why I found the grim mark of death beautiful.
The line heading for my heart was like a barbed stem, and the site where the blade punctured bloomed like dark petals.
As is if a stemmed black rose fell down my body.
Nyte’s lips pressed to the top of the stem, and I didn’t expect him to be so calm at the sight. He pulled back to hold me with eyes of nothing but adoration and promise before claiming my mouth in a surge of passion.
I moaned and let him undress me, tugging at my dress bodice until it came undone enough for him to close his mouth around one nipple while his hand massaged the other.
My legs wrapped around him tighter, as I was desperate for friction between my legs.
Nyte groaned at my neediness and began to bunch up my skirts, slipping his palm along my inner thigh.
Nyte pulled his head back suddenly when his fingertips brushed along the crease between my thigh and stomach. His golden irises were ablaze with desire.
“Were you expecting this, since you left your rooms this morning without underwear?” he asked thickly.
I smiled coyly. “Not here in particular, but I quite like your choice.”
Nyte made a strangled sound, kissing me. “You are the life and death of me, Astraea Lightborne.”
Without warning he pushed my skirts around my hips, slipped an arm around my back to pull me right to the edge of the throne; then his tongue lashed at my core, and I cried out unashamedly, driving my fingers tightly through his hair. My other hand gripped the arm of the chair for purchase.
He slipped a finger into me, teasing me slowly while his mouth devoured. Nyte undid the fastens of his pants, and I watched his arm flex, pumping himself while he pleasured me, and that surged me toward a climax.
“Yes, right there,” I panted when two fingers hooked into me now, hitting a spot inside me that built pressure in my lower stomach, and his mouth sucked with the right amount of—
Whatever that twist of his fingers was threw me over the edge I was steadily climbing. My back bowed awkwardly with the pleasure seizing my body tight. He kept licking, stretching out my orgasm to near delirious heights.
I had barely had the chance to come around from it when he lifted me by the waist, guiding me to the side of the throne.
“Bend over for me,” he ordered.
I did as he asked, planting my hands on the purple velvet cushion with my abdomen folded over the arm. Nyte lifted my skirts around my hips and parted me when I widened my stance.
“So damn beautiful,” he murmured.
A blush fanned across my face as he had to be staring between my legs.
His cock pressed against my entrance and he pushed inside slowly, savoring every inch until I was full.
Nyte fucked me like that for a while, the hall echoing with a mix of our breathless pleasures.
He called me sweet names and said scandalous things.
Every word he spoke was like vibrations directed right to the sensitive bud at my apex, and I was so close again.
My hand reached back, stopping him from his next plunge into me.
“I want you to sit there this time,” I said in a needy breath.
Straightening, I felt there was something so erotic about witnessing Nyte fully clothed on my throne, fisting his cock and watching me with eyes swimming in pure adoration and lust.
I climbed onto his lap and he lined himself up for me to sink back onto his cock. Our eyes kept locked on each other, twisted with pained pleasure, until I took all of him.
“I love you,” he murmured, kissing my chest.
“Now, then, and always?” I breathed.
He smiled, as brightly as the moonlight that flooded through the open stone behind us.
“Yes, my love.”
I kissed him deeply as I moved, taking my time to feel him and feel powerful. Where we were, on the throne that was ours, I was overwhelmed with joy.
We came together, hearts bruising against each other, passing breath between our mouths hovering shy of touching. Neither of us moved. Nyte showered my skin with tender kisses as the heat we created started to cool.
Right now I had never been more grateful to be mortal. I was created by gods, but they made me in this image. To love and feel and break. I would rather live this fleeting single existence surrounded by love than spend an eternity alone, within the stars, feeling nothing.
It was then I thought I understood … the true reason why I was created at all.