Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty-Three

SIYANA

My body and mind were engulfed in a whirlwind of emotions as Theo's lips devoured mine, leaving me gasping for air.

My husband.

My mate.

At that moment, I felt like I was finally whole for the first time, with his arms wrapped tightly around me. Our smiles were blinding, radiating pure joy and triumph as he pulled back to look at me. We had overcome all obstacles to be together, our souls now merged as one.

But amidst the euphoria, I noticed a tangible link between us that pulsed with raw power, the remnants of the magic that had bound us together, I assumed. It was a magnetic force that solidified what we had always known: we were destined for each other.

"How is this possible?" I asked, my heart racing with disbelief that everything we’d wanted had come to pass. "The curse shouldn't have broken so quickly. The undine god hasn't even appeared yet to know that we completed the bond."

I had to wonder if he was watching us now as a shimmering door of ice appeared on a wall nearest us, the soft rays from the moon illuminating it. The god’s voice carried on the howling wind seeping in from outside. “Come claim your seer and be gone from my realm.”

Kaida.

My heart leapt at the opportunity, and I all but shoved Theo off of me. I rushed to my feet to get dressed, feeling a little bad at my immediate rush to leave our little bubble to ensure Kaida was okay. “I love you, but I?—”

I stopped mid sentence, realizing what had just come from my mouth. Was it too soon to say that, after everything that happened?

Shit. What if it was?

We stood there, staring at each other in the near dark, me with wide eyes and Theo with absolutely no expression on his face, but his cock hardened again as the seconds passed.

It seemed he wasn’t against the words, but he didn’t rush to return them, making my anxiety grow doubly in my chest. My hands came together, my fingers twisting around each other as I fought the urge to look at the ground.

“I mean, I love you as a person,” I back-tracked, heat rising to my cheeks and the tips of my ears, the flames of embarrassment too big to hide. “I?—”

He took one long stride toward me, grabbing my face roughly and cutting me off. “Don’t you dare take it back. Say it again.”

A lump swelled in my throat at his demand, but I swallowed it down, reaching for the bond between us to quell my nerves. What did I have to hide? We were already married and now had a mate bond between us. These were just words.

So why was I so nervous?

“Fine,” he said quickly, cutting off my nervous internal battle. “I’ll say it. I love you, Siyana Takkar. You are the air I breathe, the ice that fills my veins, and the reason I wake up each day, looking forward to what it might now bring to me. Before you, I existed in the shadows of my own life, wishing that I could find a way out, but too afraid to take the steps.”

An array of emotional and heartfelt thoughts swirled through my mind, but my mouth let out the first sassy thing that came to it. “Takkar, huh? I don’t recall agreeing to change my name.”

My words were in complete jest, but truly I had never even thought of such a simple tradition, considering we’d skipped the formal wedding ceremony.

He raised a brow as his hands fell to my waist. “I don’t recall asking you if you agreed to our marriage either, but here we are. You should know by now that I will claim you in every way I can. If they aren’t a beast that can smell my scent on you at all times, I will ensure they at least know you’re mine through name.”

A chuckle rose within me. That was my possessive mate.

“I love you, Theo Takkar,” I admitted, my voice clear and confident this time as I brought my arms up to rest around his neck. My fingers threaded in the soft, white waves of his hair at the base of his neck. “Thank you for seeing the good and bad?—”

“Bratty,” he corrected, smirking.

I ran my tongue along my top teeth before clicking my tongue at his cheekiness. I deserved that.

“Yes, thank you for loving my stubborn and bratty sides, as much as I likely drive you crazy with them,” I relented before lifting to press a quick kiss to his lips, melting into him briefly before dropping back onto my heels. “You challenge me and make me a better person, and I hope you never stop. I hope we continue to push our boundaries of comfort, growing from the discomfort it brings. I hope we are strong enough to fix the damage between our peoples now, uniting the two halves that were always meant to be a whole.”

“We will, darling,” he promised, “We will do it all.”

While I’d forever love being his wench, the new, softer nickname had a nice ring to it, making my heart flutter. I hated pushing past the feeling, pushing past what was a momentous occasion, but the undine god still had Kaida, and our life wasn’t complete without him.

Quickly, we threw our dirty clothes back on, making me long for clean clothes and our bed. Soon enough, I promised myself. For now, I’d just remain grateful that this trial was over and that we were all going to leave here together–as long as the elemental stopped toying with us. The curse was broken and we had no use for him, but I couldn’t help but wonder what he’d demand next for the sake of entertainment. We’d passed his trials, and I wanted to go home.

Would he truly just let us leave that easily?

After tugging my fur vest on, I pulled my damp hair over my shoulder, wishing for the first time that Theo had the fire of an ember, so I could dry my hair.

“I heard that. Don’t you dare wish for a different dragon or we will never leave this room as I remind you why I have everything you’ll ever need,” he warned before tossing my boots at my feet.

“But I didn’t say it!” I defended as I watched him pull on his clothes, sulking a bit that we couldn’t continue to get lost in each other's bodies. “I didn’t even think it to you mentally!”

He tied the strings of his black trousers before tucking in the bottom of his white tunic. “You didn’t have to. Perks of the bond being complete. You can still learn to block me out, though.”

My mouth popped open. “So you heard my entire internal panic about saying I love you?”

“Yes, now let’s go see our little menace,” he said, grabbing my hand as I stood back up, pulling me toward the door.

He didn’t give me a chance to dwell in my embarrassment, which I was thankful for. As digesting this new aspect of our bond took every iota of my brain power.

The wooden door creaked open toward us on its own accord, inviting us into a seemingly empty hall of ice, but I recognized familiar portraits hanging on the walls. They were larger versions of the ones between mine and Theo’s chambers in our castle.

“This is my throne room,” he explained, sensing my confusion as I glanced over at him. “It’s eerie, the way he seems to exist within our world, but through a thin veil that lays just over the surface.”

I had to agree with his sentiment. Was there anything the gods couldn’t see from their realm? It didn’t sit right with me, how much the undine elemental seemed to know about us, but I couldn’t dwell on it for too long. I couldn’t do anything to change it or block them out, to my knowledge, and there wasn’t a chance that the god would offer up how to do so.

Long ago I’d lived within the mortal bubble of my castle, with little knowledge of the drackya and dragons, let alone the elementals. Still, even then I was but a pawn to beings such as the elementals, and I hated to accept it. As long as he didn’t harm us, I’d try to forget that a watchful eye could be hovering above us at any moment.

At the end of the glimmering hall of ice we found the undine god sitting on a throne of ice, with Kaida sitting far too close to his side for my comfort. My dragon seemed lost in a vision as he swayed slightly, not taking note of our approach at all.

“What is going on here?” I asked, nerves taking flight in my stomach and spreading outward to soar through my body.

At the sound of my voice, Kaida seemed to snap out of his trance. He trilled and practically fell over his feet trying to run to us. While very graceful in the air, he still hadn’t figured out that dragons weren’t built to run on land.

Theo held out his hand, commanding the smaller dragon, “Do not crush her!”

I opened my arms wide as Kaida skidded to a halt, his claws digging into the icy floor to do so. “Hi, buddy!” I exclaimed, rubbing my hands on the thick skin between his eyes like he liked. He pushed harder against my hands, making me laugh.

“I missed you, Sia,” he gushed into my mind, melting my heart.

How had I somehow been blessed with two perfect dragons after growing up fearful of them? In my life before, I had never been able to comprehend a world in which humans and dragons could coexist. Life had a funny way of challenging me.

Relief had my body relaxing, seeing that Kaida was perfectly fine and hearing the happiness in his voice.

“I missed you too. Has he been treating you okay?”

“We had interesting talks of the future,” the undine god stated, eyes locked on Kaida as he steepled his fingers beneath his chin. “You are lucky to be bonded to such a strong dragon, mortal. If he weren’t bonded, I’d think of keeping him here with me.”

His words set off my internal alarms, but I forced myself to stay calm. If he wanted to force Kaida to stay here, why go through this?

“I am lucky,” I agreed, my words clipped with forced politeness.

I turned as Kaida left my side, keeping the god in my view as I watched the smaller dragon approach Theo. I hadn’t even realized that he had stepped to the side to give us our moment.

My breath caught in my throat as Kaida sniffed him, jerking his head back quickly. Theo lifted a hand, letting it linger in the air between them in an offering. Just when I thought my heart couldn’t be any more full, Kaida lowered his head, pressing against Theo’s hand and letting out the softest trill of acceptance.

My boys.

They separated moments later, coming to stand on either side of me. With Theo grabbing my hand and Kaida pressed into my side gently, we faced the undine elemental, together.

He pushed from the throne to stand at the edge of the steps, peering down at us. We stood strong, not cowering beneath his harsh stare. For the first time, a piece of me pitied the god as I looked up at him trying to lord over us. It seemed like a life lived in lonely eternity here. When I told Theo he was trapped in a prison of ice, alone, this is exactly what I pictured.

No friends or family to turn to. Occupying his time with the short lifespans of mortals and his creations, our years likely fleeting seconds to an immortal deity. Did he even have dreams or aspirations anymore, or did he just simply…exist?

It went to show, you could have all the power in the world and still be miserable.

“How did you break the curse?” I asked, knowing he wouldn’t entertain us much longer after he’d already demanded we collect Kaida and leave.

I couldn’t leave before knowing the answer. Or else it would haunt me forever.

He sighed heavily as his eyes roamed across the three of us. “I suppose I’ve stretched this out as long as I can, and you’ve risen to each trial I’ve presented to you. I will give you the answer as a reward.”

The anticipation built within me, my body tightening up as his lips parted to continue.

“You broke the curse by simply fulfilling the requirement of the witch: A human must bond with a cursed drackya of their own free will, establishing that true love can exist without the lies and deceit of their predecessors.”

It felt like being kicked in the gut as I processed his words. This couldn’t be the truth, yet his words lined up with the exact timing that the curse broke. Theo’s own shock radiated through my mind, echoing my own feelings.

“So, all we had to do this entire time was complete our bond?” I asked, needing clarification that it was, in fact, that simple all along.

Theo growled at my side, and I elbowed him gently. “This isn’t the time to piss off a god, sweetie.”

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t give a shit if we piss him off, honey . I’m over his antics. We didn’t even need him to begin with.”

“So everything you put us through was just a game to you?” I asked, my voice filling with venom. All of the anguish and fear we’d felt and overcome. It was all for his twisted pleasure. “Instead of telling us that to begin with, you forced us through your trials?”

“You can judge me all you want, mortal, but until you know the feeling of eternity, your opinion means nothing to me,” he defended, eyes narrowing at the clear judgment in my tone. “Though you may not see it, my actions weren’t entirely selfish. I navigated you into scenarios in which your true devotion was put to the test, paving the way for you to get exactly what you needed in the end.”

Theo cut in as my mouth opened, effectively silencing the tirade I was ready and willing to go on. “Was Sia ever in true danger from the ember dragon?”

The undine god chuckled darkly at that before turning and walking back up to the throne, seeming to grow bored of us already. “No. It was a figment of my imagination, as is everything in this territory that you can see. It may have seemed real at the time, but I can’t create embers, only undines.”

It was such a simple truth that I kicked myself mentally for not realizing that in the moment. I’d been so focused on the safety of Kaida and keeping Theo whole that nothing else crossed my mind.

“That sword was never long enough to pierce through to a real dragon’s brain. It simply stopped because we had achieved my intended results at that point.”

I bit down on my lip hard enough to draw blood, the warm metallic liquid dripping into my mouth and spreading across my tongue. I’d given that battle everything I had. Although Theo had jumped down in the end, I’d carried such a sense of pride in thinking I’d slain the beast.

To find out it wasn’t true was a staggering blow to my ego.

“Now if you don’t mind, I’m being summoned by another elemental, who claims to have found a witch for us all to watch.”

He was so nonchalant, proving once again that we were all just playthings for the gods. For the first time, I wished myself a witch, so that I could curse him to feel all of the heartache, the entire gambit of emotions, he’d needlessly put us through, just to find out in the end that we were pawns simply being used for entertainment.

Theo tensed at my side. “Is the one who set the curse on the drackya of Andrathya still a threat to us? You owe us that answer, at the very least.”

A swirling portal appeared in front of the elemental as he glanced over his shoulder at us once more. “No, she was the last undine witch to die.” He stepped to the side, gesturing toward the portal. “Now, I’d suggest you leave before I decide I don’t like either of your tones and decide to keep you here as I’ve done with the previous visitors I’ve received.”

His words were like a jolt of lightning to my chest, but it was a heavy reminder that we’d never heard of anyone returning from Sanctum. As much as a fiery hatred for this elemental burned within me, we were all still allowed to leave, and for that I owed him my gratitude.

“Let us depart,” Kaida urged, nudging me forward with his large head.

He didn’t have to tell me twice as the heavy glare of the god had me tugging Theo up the steps. As we passed by him, our eyes met, and I found myself hoping that I’d never have to stare into them again. It felt like a miracle to be walking out of here with our lives. Because something in my gut told me that if we ever saw the undine god again, that wouldn’t be the case.

I gave into the swirling sensation of weightlessness in the portal, holding on tightly to Theo’s hand as I closed my eyes and waited to feel the ground beneath my feet once more. A bright white light flashed before I heard the crackling of a fireplace. My eyes opened, taking in the now-familiar chamber before Theo tugged me to him and lifted me up. I wasted no time in wrapping my legs around his waist and burying my face in his neck, though I found myself missing the small scales that used to be there.

“We did it,” I whispered against his skin. “We’re home.”

A huff of air blanketed us, and Theo turned us as I glanced over at Kaida sitting politely to the side, like he was waiting his turn. We looked back at each other and dissolved into laughter as Theo slowly lowered me to the ground before pressing a kiss to my forehead.

“Such a cock-block, still.”

I walked over to Kaida, giving him scratches and a kiss between his eyes until a throat cleared behind me. Kaida’s snout nudged me to turn, though my brow scrunched together in confusion as I did.

With the light streaming in from the balcony, basking us all in the early morning glow cresting on the horizon, Theo dropped to one knee.

“I know this is a little late and more than backwards, seeing as we’re bonded already,” Theo hedged nervously as his cheeks flushed. His hand raised up, a dazzling sapphire ring pinched between his fingers. “But I wanted to know if you will marry me, willingly this time?”

I closed the distance between us and dropped to my knees, grabbing his face and pulling his lips to mine.

“I couldn’t think of anything I want more."