Chapter Forty-Six

C HAPTER F ORTY-SIX

Chrysos Street at night is bustling with life as my brothers bid us goodbye and retreat to the castle after a few rounds of Liars’ Dice.

Darius told me he wanted us to stay behind for a little bit to witness the different districts without him having to use glamour, or us having to run from danger at every corner.

Not long ago, this would have never been possible. But now it’s quite surreal. It’s a dream just to be with Darius and see him smiling at the people of Emberwell as they greet him and give him their thanks and praise for restoring their home.

A young girl with long golden hair stops us in the middle of the street. She must be about five, and she looks up at us with beaming blue eyes and a toothless smile. ‘Can I say hello to him?’ She points to Tibith perched on Darius’s shoulder.

Tibith, gleeful as always, giggles, and Darius nods at the girl before he gets down on one knee to match her height. The little girl grins, reaching a small hand towards Tibith’s head to pet him.

My heart swoons at the sight.

‘What’s your name?’ Darius asks her.

‘Mira,’ she replies, and during that second, her mother calls from down the street.

Darius chuckles. ‘You remind me of someone, Mira. Someone extraordinary.’ When he looks at me, I realise it is me who she reminds him of. Back when we were children, I gave him the golden coin that I now wear proudly around my neck.

By the time our stare breaks, Mira’s mother is catching up to her daughter and apologising, thinking she had disturbed us.

‘She was very nice, Darry.’ Tibith waves after them. ‘Maybe she can be a friend.’

I place both hands on my hips. ‘Don’t you have plenty of friends already?’

‘There is always room for more, Mrs Nara!’

I throw my head back, laugh and turn to find Darius staring at me with a smile. My eyes narrow, and my lips purse at him in amusement. ‘Did she really remind you of me?’

His smirk promises a smart-assed answer. ‘Same toothless smile.’

I nudge him playfully, which only causes him to snatch my wrist and pull me straight towards him. My body fits into his perfectly as his lips come down to kiss mine for a yearning second.

A satisfied hum leaves my lips as I look up at him.

‘You know,’ he drawls. ‘Now that you’re a power source of immortality yourself, I can imagine our future filled with smaller versions of you and me running around.’

My heart reacts like never before, dancing with a new-found rhythm that pulsates joyfully. Each beat rushes through me, and I think of the day Faye told me how mortals and shifters could never bear children. It would kill us before the child was even born.

Yet now . . .

‘What makes you think they’ll be running around?’ I whisper with a smile against his lips.

He smiles in return. ‘Because they’ll be adventurous, just like their mother.’

I bite my lip, wanting that more than anything: to grow our family. Perhaps one day, in the near future, when things are more settled between the kingdoms, we can.

‘What about me, Darry?’

Tibith shakes the hem of my dress, and Darius and I break apart, chuckling as we look down at a glossy pair of eyes.

‘ You’ – I point my finger at him – ‘are always going to be number one.’

He smiles and nuzzles his head against Darius’s leg.

I think about how perfect our little family is as Darius and I stare at each other for minutes in silence.

Then he whispers, ‘I want to show you something, Goldie.’ He interlaces his fingers with mine. ‘A place, actually.’

I regard him with suspicion. ‘Where?’

A smile tugs at the corners of his lips. ‘It’s a surprise.’

We cross a river – one of the northern rivers – and my eyes widen as soon as we land. Against the background of dust and basaltic rocks, the ground flows like liquid silver, tracing a winding path through the empty land.

Volcanoes that I know are called Helland stand sentinel on either side up ahead, their peaks shrouded in a mist that blurs the line between land and sky. I had always wanted to visit when I was little, and I was sure I would as a Venator, but so much happened in between that it made all trips up here impossible.

Tibith runs past me, scouting the area, leaving me to admire as the day wanes and the sun dips below the horizon, causing the river to mirror the sky’s fiery shade.

‘What do you think?’ Darius asks me.

I shake my head, stunned. ‘It’s beautiful,’ I breathe and turn to him. ‘When did you first come here?’

‘A few years ago.’ He comes by my side and takes my hand, leading us towards the banks of the river. ‘I wanted to see where my bloodline came from.’

I gaze at the river, its gentle ripples dancing with a form of magic that differs from any other kind.

‘That day at the arena,’ Darius says. ‘Crello mentioned that before us, there was a mother.’

I cut him a glance, but his eyes are locked on the river. We’ve barely spoken about the conversations we had with the deities, much like I never told my brothers about seeing my father. It would only make them miss him more.

‘A mother?’ I whisper.

Darius nods. ‘The first dragon.’ He looks at me. ‘The one that started it all.’

I gaze into Darius’s eyes, picturing what this dragon might have looked like and how all dragons came to be; but most of all, the beginning of the Rivernorths.

Darius raises my hand to his lips and closes his eyes. He presses a kiss against my skin and sighs in what sounds like relief. ‘When I first came here,’ he swallows, ‘I used to think about how I never thought I’d see you again.’

A vast array of emotions swirls within my veins as I move closer towards him, my lips now touching his hand on mine. ‘And yet you did,’ I say quietly . . . lovingly. ‘You were always meant to find me.’

His eyes shut as he smiles, lowering our hands to pull me in close. Our noses touch as he whispers, ‘I already said this once, Goldie, but you found me .’ He kisses me long and hard, revelling in our love, but even this does not feel like enough. For us, our kisses always feel like our first – that night in the woods, his full lips on mine and the palpable desire we passed off as hatred. It’s a fire that never dies out.

As he breaks our kiss, I make a noise, needing more, until he angles his head to the side and shows me a bubble of water floating in his hand.

A surprised laugh rips from my throat as I watch it move and become different shapes. The silver glow from the river glistens inside the ball, and I see mine and Darius’s reflections smiling at it.

‘Show-off.’ I pretend to glare.

Darius gives me a half-smile. ‘I do have part of Crello’s power now.’

I lift a brow. ‘And I Solaris.’ To rattle him, I push power towards my fingers as I stretch them out to the ground, crafting a small flower to bloom in the dry land. Instead, all I manage to do is impress him. Pride flickers through the gold sparks of his eyes, and I shake my head at him.

‘I was thinking.’ He cocks his head, seeming to pull me even closer to him. ‘I think it is time we had a proper wedding, don’t you think?’

‘Is this another way of you wanting to show off again?’

He laughs. ‘Not this time, Goldie. Is it a crime to want to marry you again?’ He lowers his head and a whisper of a kiss touches my neck. ‘And again.’ Another kiss, this time on my collarbone, enticing me all that much more. ‘And again.’ A final kiss on the lips. ‘And again.’

It is hard to decline the offer when he puts it that way. Though the truth is, I would marry him a million times if I could.

‘My brothers would love to see us get married,’ I admit, and a hum rumbles deep in his chest. ‘And I do enjoy hearing your wonderful vows.’

He grins.

‘I will be there.’ Tibith frowns from below. ‘Won’t I, Darry?’

Darius chuckles. ‘You’ll be front and centre.’

‘And after?’ I ask, raising my brows in amusement.

Darius’s gaze flickers over to me, arrogance sparkling in his eyes. ‘We will dance together.’ He grabs my waist, and I tip my head back with a laugh. ‘All night, if you are up to it.’

I nudge him playfully in the chest, shaking my head, but my attention quickly shifts as my eyes catch something in the distance. I pause, gazing towards the volcanoes. A wisp of smoke billows out of the top of one, and I swear I see a dragon silhouette disappear in the mist.

‘Have any of our dragons left the castle?’ I ask, my voice sounding detached for a moment.

‘Not that I know of,’ Darius says. ‘There are likely others out here that are separate from ours. Why?’

I furrow my brows, staring for a second longer at the volcano. I shake my head and look back at Darius when I don’t see anything. ‘Never mind. I just thought I might have seen . . .’ I let my words fade away, a soft smile gracing my lips instead. ‘It’s getting late; we should head back. Illias will panic if I’m not back for our nightly chats.’ Or to complain about how Iker clearly cheated at Liars’ Dice, making no one a winner.

Darius watches me, his usually light eyes turning dark as if he senses something is amiss, but I have already changed the subject by the time he tries to ask.