Page 9

Chapter Nine

We spent so long talking to Druth and the other females that we opted to spend the night in the village instead of traveling back to the portal and home.

Plus, I wanted to spend more time here.

Talrinir had a stone and let Jol know our decision. It piqued my interest that she was communicating directly with the lonely king. Perhaps he wasn’t so lonely now?

Although they offered a bed, I chose instead to shift into my snake form and sleep beneath the stars, coiled up and relaxed. I chose a place near the fire, though I was warm enough without it. The moonlight made my scales shimmer and the billions of stars added to the light’s reflection.

“You truly are magnificent,” Trey praised as he lay on his side beside me, stroking a hand along my scales.

“And huge,” Kayden said. He canted his head as he looked at my coiled state. “I think you grew since you returned home.”

I hissed at him, which made all three of my mates smile.

“You appear more at ease here than in our world,” Mason commented. “I can sense how relaxed you are, whereas at home you were on edge, even after the war was over and we were on the hybrid lands.”

He didn’t seem upset by it, more curious.

“Yes, that makes sense as she is the rightful heir to the throne, so the magic in this land recognizes her. Plus, all of us worship her as we did Third to Reign,” Talrinir said as she joined us. “Actually, I believe she is worshipped more highly than Third to Reign now.”

“We’d thought you had gone to bed,” Kayden said.

She shrugged a shoulder and flipped one of her dog-like ears over her shoulder like I might my hair. “I couldn’t sleep just yet.”

“Why does it make sense that she feels more at ease here? She’s a princess in our world as well, so why wouldn’t she feel the same in both worlds?” Trey asked. A hint of jealousy seeped through our bond, startling me a bit.

“She’s a princess in your world, but how many times have there been attempts on her life, attacks by those who either didn’t like what she was or who her family was?”

All of my mates scowled, likely remembering the attack at my birthday party and the few others that had happened over the course of my life.

“Here, she was attacked a couple of times due to the Grand Advisor’s trickery, but now … now she is a goddess. There are none who dislike her. She isn’t ruling over us. She isn’t making laws or rules we don’t agree with. She did not save us for her personal gain. She rescued us because we are her people, because we were in need. She sacrificed a part of herself and left that reminder permanently glowing in the soil. She is safer here than your world and always will be. You, as her mates, and her descendants are as well.”

She was right, I did feel safer here. It wasn’t just the lack of attempts on my life, though. It was just the way the magic thrummed through the land. Yes, there was magic in our world, in Jinla, but it was so modernized that you could almost forget that magic existed. Well, at least until you saw a man turn into a dragon or teleport next to you. There were many magicless humans in the world who lived amongst us, but would never experience shifting or magic. Though, they were definitely the minority. With so many humans mating with shifters, I doubted it would be long before humans were almost extinct. Not that I wanted that, but it seemed likely based on what we had been seeing.

Here, everyone was a demon, no matter what powers or form they took. They didn’t discriminate based on what kind of demon they were, they were just a demon. Unlike those in our world who hated hybrids so much that they had been hunting us. My father had died because of such hatred. Most demons here were equal, except for the Council and Jol. Would that change? Was he going to alter their structure now that the Grand Advisor was gone?

There would be a lot of changes to both worlds with ours now being connected, that was for certain. I hoped the changes were for the better of the world, though.

“The magic in the land recognizes her because of her blood?” Mason asked.

Talrinir nodded. “If she had fought the Grand Advisor here, I think she would have defeated him quicker as the land would have given her however much magic she needed instead of her needing to use Jolmach as a conduit.”

Crap, that would have been nice to know before. I would have pulled him into this world first.

“She even has a temple being built,” Talrinir whispered as she looked up at the stars.

We all stared at her and I felt our combined disbelief through our bond.

“Temple?” Mason asked.

She nodded and dropped her chin to look at us again. “Some of the demons who had been part of the attack, who had seen her ordering your people not to kill them, are building it. Those who personally witnessed her goddess transformation and her mercy. There are currently multiple shrines built that people leave small gifts at. I’ve personally seen at least three shrines.”

People were leaving gifts at shrines for me? That was … insane! I was just a regular person. Sure, I had transformed, but I wasn’t able to do that anymore.

“Her sacrifice, losing an ability, a part of herself, to save us, will never be forgotten by our people.”

Hearing they had created shrines for me was somewhat uncomfortable. My family had saved their people many times without such thanks. What I had done wasn’t that special.

“There is also a residence being constructed,” Talrinir continued.

“A residence?” Trey asked.

She nodded, and her ears flapped a bit in her excitement. “For you and any children you may have.”

Kayden looked at me. “Did you decide to live here without telling us?”

Talrinir responded in my stead. “We have been constructing it without her knowledge. This is the first she has heard of it as well. While we would love for you to live here permanently, this residence is also for when you are visiting. I’m sure King Jolmach has no issue providing you a room, but we wanted you to have your own space. It is up to you to determine how often you stay.”

Living here did sound nice. I could be here to continue helping them rebuild and help with the orphans, something I planned to discuss with Jol tomorrow. Plus, with the portals, I could visit my family whenever we wanted to.

But … I had to also take into account Kayden, Mason, and Trey’s desires.

Trey was a prince after all, even if it was unlikely that he would end up ruling.

And living here would mean losing some of our comforts, like videogames. At least until we figured out a way to get them electricity.

“Thank you for letting us know. We will have to discuss it,” Trey said with a polite smile.

She stood, stretched, and smiled. “Great! Well, I’m going to try to sleep. See you tomorrow.”

“It is really peaceful here,” Mason commented and set a hand on me. “I can understand why Lily feels so content.”

“Talrinir is right, it’s late and we should sleep. We can discuss it tomorrow.” Trey stepped away, shifted into his dragon form, and curled up. I also felt him put up a wall through the bond, keeping us from knowing what he was feeling.

“Grumpy,” Kayden muttered before following suit.

Was he grumpy, or was it something else?