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Chapter Two

Calix

Taking flight, I left my armies behind for the shivering woman in my arms.

My mate.

My mate.

That truth pulsed inside me. A beacon leading from my soul straight to hers.

The soul-shattering relief I felt when the bond connected was like nothing I’d ever felt before. The rush of power, emotion, connection—love. It fired through me and scorched everything in its path, replacing it all with her .

I’d struggled since the day I’d met her. The pull to her was so strong that staying away felt like the worst kind of torture. It all made complete sense now, but how could I have known she was my mate?

All mates could recognize one another on site, and despite being drawn to her, I didn’t , couldn’t, recognize that bond. She’d been human, and everyone knew a human and a Fae couldn’t be soulmates.

I never could have imagined that she was actually Fae. That our bond had been buried beneath layers of magic like I’d never seen before. How was it even possible? I’d never heard of a spell to make a Fae appear wholly human. Rounding their ears, burying their magic, and dulling their shine.

Asteria wanted answers, but so did I, in truth. I’d spent the time since she’d come to my kingdom fighting the pull to her, all to be loyal to my mate. Thinking they were out there, also looking for me. Some Fae girl, possibly far to the North, who couldn’t make their way to my kingdom, not with me shutting the borders.

Asteria, however… she’d been an obsession I couldn’t quit. After the Festival of Faunus, I couldn’t imagine going back to a life without her.

Why would I ever want to stay in the darkness when she brought me such light?

I hadn’t been able to decide what to do. Stay loyal to my mate, not knowing when I might meet them—possibly years after a human’s lifespan, or give into the draw I felt to Asteria.

But then she was taken. And a black hole opened up inside of me. Sucking everything good into a void of nothingness. Without her, none of it was worth it. She had thoroughly consumed me, inside and out.

I’d recognized then that there was no going back for me. She may not have been my mate, but I couldn’t imagine a connection more profound than the one between us.

I’d made my choice.

Only to realize there was no choice to be made.

Somehow, Asteria was Fae. Miraculously, she was my mate. I’d felt her starlight shine down on me, bathing me in the light she had always radiated. Nothing had ever felt more right, more true.

At least until she blocked me out. I knew she was overwhelmed, and I couldn’t imagine what she was going through. Not when she wouldn’t let me feel it with her.

And oh, did I want to feel her. I wanted every single bit of her—body, heart, and soul.

I was certain she hadn’t yet realized how deeply the need ran in me to consume her fully. I’d told her before that I was not a good man, that I was a dragon . And dragons guarded our hoards jealously.

My kingdom. My people. My mate .

The trail of scorched bodies paving the way through Evenfall attested to that.

My wings flapped through the air as I held Asteria tightly to my chest. Her shaking didn’t stop, but it did slow the longer we flew on. I had the presence of mind to try to calm her despite the tumultuous thoughts swirling through my mind.

“Look to the stars. Let them comfort you,” I whispered, knowing her connection to them would bring her more comfort than anything else right now. I’d certainly found respite in the darkness when my own back bowed under the pressures I faced.

And the sky was certainly sprinkled with plenty of stars as we flew on. We passed over the villages and cities of my kingdom as we made our way to Tairngire. Where she would finally be safe.

I didn’t know what Cyrus had done to my mate in the days he had her. Rage rose quickly at the very thought, and I had to bury it before fire erupted out of my mouth. My dragon reacted too strongly to the thought of Asteria at Cyrus’s mercy. It had taken me over completely when he’d taken her.

That part of me had been all too anxious to have my mate back by my side. My soul was able to recognize her on instinct, even if the mind did not.

Thankfully, her shuddering came to a stop as her head unburied itself from my chest and hooked onto my shoulder, staring up at the stars I knew she loved to watch and lose herself in.

Her affinity for the sky made complete sense now. She was a Celestial Fae. I had my suspicions about which kingdom she came from, but her magic didn’t match. It was the most curious thing. I had never seen magic like hers before. Pure starlight had erupted from her body.

But no Fae had the power of starlight. Asteria, her namesake and the goddess of stars, wasn’t one of the gods with dominion over a kingdom. Not directly, anyway. Though, she did oversee both Night and Day Kingdoms, and was worshipped in both as a secondary goddess.

Something was amiss. Or, if not amiss, then something was certainly stirring. First, Liviana’s visions. The gods had directed us to Asteria. They made sure Liviana knew she was of vital importance. And if what I suspected was true… then she certainly was. Only in more ways than I’d anticipated.

And she was my mate on top of all that.

I would not let her go. I didn’t care what the future may hold. She was mine . We would find a way through whatever came. Together .

I just had to get her to open back up to me. This wall between us felt like Tartarus. Since we’d met, she’d been all I could think of. Even dealing with a looming war, the threat of chaos, and the challenge of freeing human slaves, my mind would not leave her.

I refused to let distance grow between us now. I tightened my hold on her, and whether she realized it or not, she snuggled deeper into me in response. It settled something in my chest that had rioted from the moment she blocked me off. Soothing my soul when it wanted nothing more than to connect with hers.

But her whole world had been turned on its head. A good mate should think of their mate’s needs first. And she needed time and space to come to terms with this. She had spent years hating the Fae, only to find out she was one of us all along. That she’d been enslaved as a result of what was done to her… it enraged me beyond belief.

She deserved the world. And instead, someone had buried her brilliance and let her suffer under the yoke of slavery.

It could not stand. I would find out who did this to her. And most importantly, why .

* * *

I landed gently, not wanting to jostle Asteria. She quickly jumped out of my arms, and before I could pull her back, a blonde hurricane barreled into her. Asteria’s laugh was like music to my ears, and a smile came to my face just watching one grace hers.

Ilta and Priscilla had both launched themselves at her, and Asteria laughingly struggled to wrap her arms around them in return. I desperately wanted to keep her to myself, the mate bond driving me, but I shut down my impulse to hoard her like the treasure she is. She deserved this.

The two blondes held Asteria tightly, swaying back and forth. Eryx, Baach, Titan, and Harpina would be back with the army soon enough, and I knew they would equally want time with her. And, of course, Delia and Lilith would also demand some of Asteria’s attention. I would need to readjust to sharing her with everyone else now that the bond was screaming at me.

My head tipped to the side as Ndrita slinked up to me, my eyes still focused on Asteria. Making sure she didn’t somehow disappear, but giving my sister enough attention to know I was listening.

“You found her.” Her relieved sigh was loud, and my eyes found hers momentarily before skirting back to Asteria.

“I did.” I nodded back in confirmation. I could feel her eyes drilling into the side of my head, but I couldn’t bear to tear mine off Asteria. My feet slowly followed as the girls herded her through the giant black double doors of the glittering palace.

But as Asteria walked through those doors, the silver runes that lined the edges in the ancient language of the gods, that had supposedly been inscribed into the doors when the palace was first created, began to glow. The silver glow lasted only as long as she was in their presence, and I paused, taking in the phenomenon with awe.

“Did you see that?” I questioned, looking to Ndrita as my brow furrowed. Only to find my sister’s jaw slack in shock. She nodded slowly, dragging her blue eyes away from the runes along the door, and back to me. She swallowed hard.

“She’s not the same. I was going to ask about that, but this…” She trailed off, looking at me. The look in her eyes was one I was familiar with. I raised a hand before the doors, letting my fingers connect to the silver runes. My fingertips trailed over them, the silver smooth and yet… strangely warm .

I looked at Ndrita, who still had that look in her blue eyes. The same one she gave me when she was growing up, after our parents had both died, when it was just Liviana and us.

She believed I had the answers to everything. Still looking to her big brother to set everything right in the world. I closed my eyes, my forehead hitting the doors. I breathed deeply, trying to get my spiraling thoughts under control.

My mind was going in a million directions at once.

“Calix, those runes, they’ve never lit up like that—” I cut Ndrita off before she could continue.

“I know, sister.” My voice was weary as I lifted my head and turned to her. “She’s Fae.” I breathed out.

Her eyes grew wider than I’d ever seen. “What? But—” She cut herself off this time, seemingly at a loss for words.

I noticed the crowd we were beginning to draw. Of course. Their king returned from battle, having rescued our only hope, and now he was leaning wearily against the door. I could only imagine my guards’ thoughts as they stood a few feet away, lined up and ready to move the moment I did.

“Come, sister.” I sighed heavily. “I’ll explain on the way.” I ushered her into the palace. I’d lost sight of my mate, but I knew I would find her shortly. She was home, and that was what mattered.

She was home.

The shining walls of the rotunda greeted me upon our entrance. The elegant decor was meant to make those entering awed and yet comfortable. My mother had redesigned this room for explicitly that purpose. She’d been an amazing queen, dedicated to her people and her kingdom. They’d deserved to have her for far longer than they had.

We all did.

Thinking back to the prophecy, I couldn’t shake the thought of a new queen, even as I mourned the last.

Ndrita followed alongside me as I walked down the carpeted halls. Passing tapestries and portraits of our ancestors and ignoring them all. My destination was the only thing I cared for as I explained to my sister what had happened in Dusk.

Her hand landed heavily on my arm when I finished, stopping me in my tracks. I looked down at her hand, then back up to her face. I so often saw the young girl I was left to help raise in the absence of our parents when I looked at her. It hadn’t been fair. Not for any of us. A new babe and a little girl, all to be raised by a young brother, newly made king. I’d had no idea what I was doing and had been buried under all the responsibility heaped upon me after our parents' deaths. I’d done my best, but I knew they deserved better.

I still struggled to see the woman Ndrita had become sometimes. Seeing only the tears that tracked down her face as she asked when Father would be home, and knowing he would never be returning. Sometimes, I hated him for putting that look on her face.

Other times, I loved him for the legacy he left me, for the father he’d been to me while it lasted. My mother’s death had hit us all hard, but none so hard as him. I’d been forced to watch him fade away slowly in the aftermath.

Chasing death like it owed him a debt.

Maybe in his mind, it had.

Having now felt the mate bond myself, I understood in an entirely new way. I breathed out, letting some of that old resentment go with it, and sent my apologies to my father in the Otherworld for ever holding it at all.

He’d done the best he could. Just as I had. Just as I would.

But I refused to lose my mate the way he lost his. A growl rose in my throat at the very thought.

“Brother, you must give her time,” Ndrita pleaded, pulling on my arm as her eyes met mine. The guards around us shifted uneasily, their armor thankfully silent as night, per my specification. But I could see them out of the corner of my eye. Thankfully, their loyalty was assured. I knew they would never speak a word they heard.

Regardless, this was not the place for this conversation.

“Ndrita—”

“No!” she snapped, and my eyes widened at her response. “Do you understand what has happened to her? Her entire life has unraveled before her eyes. Her parents? They can’t be her real parents. Not if she’s Fae. The very Fae who enslaved her, and now, she’s one of them. I can’t imagine what she’s going through. On top of that, the power coursing through her…”

I growled, frustration rising rapidly, “That is why I need to see her. That power will?—”

“Do nothing over the next day. Give her that, at least. I know you want an excuse to go to your mate, Calix. Truly, I understand.” Her eyes widened, urgency underlining her tone. “But if you force her to talk before she’s ready, you’ll have more of a battle ahead of you than needed.” She sighed, blue eyes looking up at me and beseeching me to listen. “Just, give her time. Let her emotions calm a bit.”

“I should be there for her,” I whispered, defeat lacing my words. Fae hearing allowed Ndrita to pick up the words with no issue, which was another thing Asteria would need to adjust to. All her senses would have amplified, her very body altering. I sighed, my head dropping as I gave in.

I hated it, but Ndrita was right. Asteria needed time and space to come to terms with what had happened. She had requested it even. I needed to push down that instinct from the mate bond that was screaming at me to go to her.

Ndrita smiled in relief, hooking her arm through mine as she began to lead me to the war room. “Now, we need a debrief. Maybe, as king, you could handle such a thing, big brother?” She raised a brow teasingly, and I scowled back at her.

She giggled, pulling me along down the hall. I gave in, walking with her to the war room, where I found the lords and ladies who’d stayed behind when we left to attack Dusk Kingdom.

I considered myself a lucky king. My lords and ladies were loyal. Truly loyal, in a way that was rare among courtiers. But I’d established friendships with all of them, and they went farther than most would expect. I’d worked hard to extend what my parents had started, making our kingdom the very best it could be. Loyal and respectful. Prosperous and magical. My people wanted for nothing. Their urges for violence were curbed with our attacks. We had plenty of money and trade to go around. There was nothing we lacked.

And yet still… the prophecy the Oracle gave at my birth had been in everyone’s minds for years. Until Liviana’s visions of Asteria, at least, which shifted everyone’s focus. I’d been relieved of the break from it, in truth. The waiting and anticipation everyone held for a queen. One who was foretold to stand with me, who’d see the entirety of Celesterra changed forever, to our benefit.

A queen of stars to light up the night.

I nearly snorted at the thought now. I supposed the Oracle had that right. If I could ever convince Asteria…