Page 23

Chapter 23

Malric

W ork had slowed down. Or more accurately, I had slowed it down. I’d taken a page out of my mate’s book and finally learned how to delegate. I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t been nervous at first. I’d been bearing the weight of it all on my shoulders pretty much alone for so long and was afraid everything would fall apart if I didn’t.

Spoiler alert: it didn’t fall apart. In so many ways, things were better.

What used to be a team of one had grown into a team of five, which left me with more time to focus on other things, like looking toward the future for the clan and spending time with my family.

Every discussion item I brought up with my team had already been taken care of. I was becoming pretty useless around there. Just a simple figurehead now. There’d been a time in my career when I’d have felt threatened by that, but not any longer. Now? Now I saw it as a sign of success.

Best of all, it meant I could go home early most days and be the mate Ollie deserved.

Except today. Today, I had a stop to make first.

I closed my laptop, waved goodbye to the receptionist, and made the short walk from Dragon Headquarters to the Emberstone mausoleum where my late mate was laid to rest.

I didn’t come here often. Even though Chastain was important to me and would always be important to me, it was hard to visit his resting site. And really, he wasn’t there, he was with the goddess, but visiting him there made the conversations I had with him feel more intentional.

I carried him with me every single day, but standing in front of his resting place always brought the weight of the loss back fresh. There was no pretending he was on a trip or that one day he would walk back in the front door and say, “Just kidding.” Not there. There the cold hard truth slammed me in the face.

My throat grew tight, and my stomach churned just knowing that I would be standing before his remains today. But it was important.

Chastain had been cremated, as was tradition. Burned by the dragon fire that flowed through my veins. He had picked out his own urn, which had one of his scales grafted onto it. As if I could ever forget the beautiful soft mulberry color of his scales. Everything was simultaneously how he wanted and didn’t want it. Being dead so young hadn’t been his desire or mine. But there were some things in life we didn’t get a choice about, and this death was one of the biggies.

In the beginning, I’d start to head there and turn around, the weight of it too much. Over time, the weight lessened, but it was ever present and always would be. Today was different, though. Today, I needed to be there, and it felt right to go.

I picked up a bouquet of flowers along the way, making sure it included all of his favorites. When I stepped into the stone building, I was surprised to find someone already there. Not just any somebody either.

Standing at Chastain’s plaque was my mate.

“Ollie?” I said.

He whirled around, eyes widening. “Mal! What are you doing here?” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, that’s a silly question. I just mean, I didn’t expect you to be here, and I got startled.”

I stepped forward. “I didn’t expect anyone either.”

He sighed and turned his gaze back to the plaque. “It just felt like the right time to visit. Kier and Tav got home early, and... I had this printed.” He held up a framed photo.

I blinked back the tears as I took it in, not even able to see what was inside, but knowing Ollie, sensing it would be exactly what was needed.

He held it out to me, and I took it from him. Inside the oak frame was a picture of our three grandchildren huddled around our egg.

I smiled.

“I just thought maybe...” He hesitated, his voice cracking, tears streaming from his yes. I reached around him and set the frame on the ledge next to Chastain’s plaque and placed the bouquet of flowers beside it.

“Thank you, mate,” I said quietly. “Today marks ninety-four years since he’s been gone.”

“Really? I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”

“There’s no reason for you to have known. Dates don’t really mean much when you’re this long-lived.”

“Maybe on some level I did,” he said softly. “Maybe that’s why I was drawn here today.”

“He would’ve loved those little kids,” I said. “He never shied away from a game of peek-a-boo. He even let the kids climb over him when he was in dragon form.” He’d loved it, knowing his dragon was what brought all of their giggles out.

Ollie grinned. “I know another dragon who is the same way.”

I’d gotten it from my mate.

“Chastain would have loved them so much. We’ll have to tell them all about him. And our little girl, too. Chastain is a part of you, Mal. An important part. There’s no reason to ever erase that.” He wrapped his arms around my middle and placed his head against my chest.

I kissed his temple, throat tight. “Thank you. That means the world to me, Ollie.”

When Ollie and I first got together, I’d tried not to bring Chastain up too often. It felt like I was talking about my ex on a date, even though he wasn’t an ex. But still, it was discussing another man, and that had to hurt. It was Ollie who would ask about him. At first, I thought he was trying to be nice, to be sensitive. And he was both of those things, but that wasn’t the reason he asked.

He was afraid I’d feel like I couldn’t still cherish my late mate, at least not around him. That I would suppress those emotions to comfort my mate. He told me that Chastain was part of the man I was and would always surround us, that not saying his name or telling his stories was disrespectful.

My mate was so much smarter than I was.

The two of us stood there in silence, paying our respects. Then Ollie went up on his tiptoes and kissed my cheek. “I’ll see you at home, okay?” he whispered.

He was giving me the time I needed with Chastain, without hesitation or question.

I nodded. He walked away, and I stayed a little longer.

“Chastain, I heard you, you know. I heard you letting me know you gave your approval to be with Ollie. Thank you for that. I miss you. Every day I miss you, still. But Tavian was right, you wouldn’t want me living some sort of half-life. I half wonder if you were the one to send me Ollie.”

I looked at the picture my mate left. “We’ll be sure to do as Ollie said, we’ll make sure your grandbabies and Ollie’s and my daughter know all about you. I wish you could be here, to be part of their lives… our lives, and this will make it possible in some small way. I love you, Chastain, and I always will. Rest in peace, my love. Rest in peace.”

My mate was waiting for me when I got home, and I walked straight into his waiting arms. He held me close as the tears fell, both his and mine. When the tears had dried up, he walked me into the bathroom, set a shower for us, and while the water came to temperature, brought our egg in with their tiny porta-nest.

“Let me help you get cleaned up.” He slowly undressed us both before leading me into the shower and under the cascading warm water.

Starting with my hair, he washed me tenderly and lovingly, dried me off, and brought me to the nest where the two of us and our beautiful pink egg cuddled up, and I drifted off to sleep, feeling so completely loved just as I was.