Page 115 of Courting the Dragon Prince

Letting out a breath, Onyx turned towards Luther. His husband sat cross-legged beside him, eyes closed, hands resting in his lap. The evening sunlight cast a golden glow on Luther’s dark skin and hair.

“So how are you finding it?” Onyx asked.

Luther exhaled. “Honestly, my arse is fucking numb and sore.” He opened his eyes.

Onyx chuckled. “Your body gets used to that in time.”

“Really? You didn’t just decide a cushion might be a better idea than developing a rock-hard arse?” Luther smirked, gaze darting towards Onyx’s arse. “Not that I’m complaining. You have a magnificent arse.”

Luther rose with a groan. “My legs and back are stiff too. How do you do this for hours?”

“Practice.”

“Well, I asked for a taste, and I think a taste is more than enough for me.” Luther stretched his spine. “I’ll stick to being a dragon, thank you very much.”

“Well, you lasted maybe five minutes.” Onyx stood. “That’s more than I thought you would.”

Luther shoved Onyx and laughed. “I guess I was just never meant to be an earth elemental.” His gaze swept the temple. “It’s a nice temple though. Peaceful. Calm. I like that it is open to the sky. And the trees are a nice touch too. Breaks up all the harsh stone.”

Luther gestured to one of the piles that were scattered around the temple. “The random piles of rocks and boulders are interesting.” He paused. “They are a little messy though.”

“There is a reason those are here. We use them for channelling,” Onyx explained as he walked towards the rocks Luther had gestured at.

Luther came up beside Onyx. “And are there temples like this all over the city?”

Onyx nodded. “Yes. But this one is considered the castle’s main temple. My family have been meditating here for generations. I used to come here as a child with my sister, my mother, and my father.”

Onyx stared at the stones as memories sifted through his mind.

“I don’t have many memories of my father,” Onyx said. “He died when I was very young.”

Luther took his hand.

“But I remember him channelling the rocks. He’d make them float and then stack them.” Onyx took a breath and lifted his free hand towards the rocks. He didn’t actually need to move his arms, but he’d always found the action helped him focus.

Onyx felt the pulse of the stone flow through his body. Slowly he lifted the stones one after the other into the air, stacking them on top of each other. “Tourmaline and I would watch Father in awe. ‘Can you feel the energy moving through them?’ he’d ask. He’d try and describe the feelings.

“We also said we felt it. But I think it was more wishful imagination than anything else. Tourmaline and I were so desperate for our powers to come in.” Onyx chuckled. “We’d peg rocks at each other and pretend we’d done it using the power.”

Luther laughed and squeezed Onyx’s hand.

“My father would pile the stones so high.” Onyx stacked more stones until they towered over their heads. “Of course, I was a child. Maybe it wasn’t that high. But it seemed like it reached to the very clouds above.”

Onyx smiled, remembering that brief period of time when his family had been whole. “Then my mother would hurtle a rock and slam it into my father’s stack, causing them all to topple and crash.”

Onyx released the flow of energy. With a clatter, the rocks fell into a heap once more. “Mother and Father would laugh. We’d laugh too.”

Onyx lowered his hand. “Father’s strength was in his ability to use precision and control when channelling the stone. Earth elementals like that are better at construction and building, since they know how much force to use without going overboard. They built this castle, this city, the temples, everything.” Onyx gestured around them. “Some are also good at crafting. They rearrange and reshape the stone to create objects like cups.

“Mother, like me and Tourmaline, has always been better with just brute force. We’re not so good with construction or crafting. We lack the precision. Everything we build tends to collapse or be structurally unsound. Or just look horrible. But we are good at hurling rocks.” Onyx stared at the inert rocks. “It was useful during the war.

“Mother always said that she and Father were very different, in both temperament and with their powers.” Onyx turned to face Luther. “My parents had a marriage arranged.”

“Like us,” Luther said.

Onyx gazed into Luther’s green eyes. “Mother said it was love at first sight.”

Luther’s lip quirked up. “So not like us.”