Epilogue

SIYANA

Seven years later…

“You know the laws,” I growled out with the tip of my blade pressed to his throat, not pulling back as he swallowed hard, making the sharp edge of my blade draw a thin line of crimson to the surface.

Fury burned in my veins, so icy-hot I wondered briefly if it was the magic of the bond sparking.

“I know, but have mercy, my queen,” he pleaded weakly, staring up at me with barely concealed hatred in his dull, gray eyes.

Did he really think he was that good of an actor? The second I took my sword away, he’d attack. His back was against the wall for breaking our law and stealing a human from our southern territory. It had been years since we’d had to hunt down a drackya and dole out justice.

I bared my teeth at him as my jaw clenched. “Do you think you’re above the other drackya that met their own fate for the lives they destroyed? That you deserve to be released?”

The need to skewer him here and now was strong, but I resisted the bloody urge, forcing myself to take deep breaths.

“Are you okay, darling?”

The concern in Theo’s voice served as the perfect grounding point for my frazzled emotions. “I’m fine. It’s just bringing up old wounds.”

“No,” the criminal answered, dropping the thin facade and allowing his full disgust for me to bleed onto his face as it twisted into a sneer. “I just thought you a stupid bitch.”

Kaida and Theo let out low, warning growls from behind the drackya, their large forms menacing and providing me backup. I held my free hand up, halting them from ripping his head off for insulting me. That was one thing about my boys—they didn’t allow anyone to disrespect me.

A chilling laugh fell from my lips as I moved the tip of my sword up his throat to rest under his chin, forcing it up more as I stared down at him. “I didn’t become the queen of all of Andrathya—humans, drackya, and dragons alike—by being a stupid bitch.”

My father had conceded the throne quickly to Theo and me shortly after our return from Sanctum. We’d traveled there after we discovered his plans to attack the drackya, thinking he could catch us, unsuspectingly. Brenson had been integral to feeding us the information from the inside, after rising in rank to attend council meetings.

I rolled the hilt of my sword in my hand as I grinned at the memory.

Well, perhaps conceded wasn’t the correct term. I’d taken my birthright from him, with my dragons forcing him off of the throne, cowering and shaking in fear like the pathetic man he was. It was insane, to think of the dutiful princess I’d been the last time I’d seen him, being taken by our then enemy for the hopes of doing right by our people.

When I’d sat in the throne he’d warmed up for me, watching him oscillate between pleading for me to understand and apologizing for the wrongs he had done to me, I’d only had two words for him: Thank you .

Because of his disregard for my life and the marriage he’d forced me into, I was exactly where I needed to be, living a life of love that I would have never been able to find if I’d stayed. After making peace with realizing I could both hate him and be thankful for his actions concurrently, I’d told him to take my mother and leave. I didn’t care where they went, as long as it wasn’t in Andrathya.

The human woman trembled at my side, bringing me back to the present, hugging the scraps of her bloody dress to her body that his talons had cut into when he’d snatched her. She was brave to stay here after we’d rescued her, with two fearsome dragons still on either side of the drackya who had taken and harmed her. It was still odd to see Kaida full-grown, bigger than Theo now. He’d always be our baby, though I’m sure the woman next to me wouldn’t view him as such.

I expected her to flee, but as I observed her, there was a defiant blaze in her gaze as she looked at the sniveling man beneath my sword. It would serve her well as she forged a path ahead after being attacked.

“Our tribunal agreed to exile those in the past who did this,” I informed her, watching her closely to see her reaction. “It serves as an extended death sentence, forcing them into the other kingdoms’ lands, where their dragons will see an undine and attack. It is now law throughout Andrathya. He knew the consequences for what he did to you.”

She nodded once at me, still keeping her eyes trained on the drackya. “So that is what will happen to him?”

“The first thing I will do is kill you before I leave,” he spat at her. “If you would have just been quiet and accepted the bond, I wouldn’t be in this position.”

There were the words I needed to hear to forgo allowing him a meager existence in exile.

I pulled my sword back, smirking at the confusion clouding his eyes. Sweeping my blade down, I took his head from his shoulders before wiping the blood off on the grass to the best of my ability before sheathing it.

The woman let out a startled gasp, taking steps backward as the head rolled toward her feet, his long dark hair collecting twigs and leaves as it did. Her wide brown eyes swung to me, searching for answers it seemed as her mouth opened but no words came.

“I find it interesting he thought me stupid,” I mused, as my dragons circled to stand at my back, “considering if he’d polished up on his knowledge, he’d know that the subsection to that law is that exile is only given to the drackya that accept the verdict without further harm being incited.”

I felt no regret over the path Theo and I had agreed to, to seek justice for my people’s lives lost before the curse was broken. Forming a tribunal had been easy, already having trusted allies that we knew would take the positions seriously, helping us see all sides and coming to joint decisions. Together, Theo, Alstrid, Sinda, Brenson, Lucius, Tillie, and I had decided exile to be fair.

Mira had declined our invitation, far too invested in her position as commander, the first woman to hold the title. After her meteoric rise through the ranks, we’d finally achieved our joint dream of training other women to join our army. The hopes were to never need our now-strong forces, but I had the utmost faith that we’d now be prepared, as our humans and dragons found their bonds as riders resurfacing.

To Theo’s utmost dissatisfaction, Brenson had proved worthy of a rider bond, leading the charge in helping others become fearsome pairs that now watched over our borders.

As king and queen, Theo and I traveled between the southern and northern castles, spending half of the year in each, but thankfully in our absence, those on our tribunal helped keep a watchful eye, upholding the new laws we’d all created.

“I shouldn’t find it so incredibly alluring to see you behead someone, considering I am not innocent myself.”

While my husband felt immense guilt over letting the women he’d released into the wild, thinking they’d return to us, that guilt had only grown over the years. He truly understood the depth of being alone in this world, every time a report came from our patrols, that they’d found an exiled drackya, dead at Andrathya’s southern border.

I lifted a hand to the shimmering silver scales of his snout as he swung it down to rest on the ground at my feet. “We’ve been over this, Theo. You held no malice in your heart when you let the women go, thinking you were offering them mercy. We all make mistakes—it’s learning from them so they aren’t repeated that matters.”

“So, what now?” the woman asked, lifting a shaking hand to tuck a strand of her pale blonde hair behind her ear. “Can I go home?”

I tilted my head at her question as my eyes swept over her injuries. The blood that soaked into the edges of the ripped sections of her clothing made them seem worse than I’d originally thought, but I still wanted her to be cared for before we had an escort take her home.

“Will you consider staying and letting us tend to your wounds and provide you with a safe place to rest before making the journey home?” I asked, tentatively hoping she’d trust us after we’d protected her. “We have an inn for humans in town that will have everything you need. You’ll be safe there until you feel well enough to travel back. We will, of course, assign a guard to your carriage at that time.”

Though we’d come far in a short time in unifying our people after the curse broke, it was slow-going enough that any non-bonded humans rarely or purposefully journeyed to us here. I wouldn’t be surprised if she resisted, not trusting the other drackya here.

Her lip quivered at my offer before her hand lifted to brush against her eyes misting with sudden tears. “Yes, I think I’d like that.”

“Oh,” I answered lamely, shocked at her willingness to trust us, and the drackya in town, after what had just occurred. I was quick to correct my tone, not wanting her to misunderstand me. “I mean, that’s great!”

A soft smile pulled at her lips as I walked toward her, gesturing toward the path that would have us in town within minutes, as we were at the edge of the forest already. “If I may ask, what made you agree to stay?” I asked hesitantly as we began to walk side by side. “I can only imagine your distrust of our people here after what just happened.”

She was silent until we drew to a stop atop the hill that overlooked the bustling city. “I figured that in the end, there are always going to be good and bad souls, no matter the appearance of the body they’re trapped within—humans and dragons alike.”

“There is hope for the future of Andrathya, after all,” Kaida said, praise filling his words as he ambled to my side, the ground trembling lightly. “We must keep moving forward.”

He’d grown so wise, so quickly. I leaned against his leg as I answered, “You’re right. We can’t give up now.”

“Wait—” I called out as the woman began toward town on her own, realizing I didn’t even know her name. “What’s your–”

“Sylvie,” she provided, cutting me off as she looked over her shoulder at me. “I’m sure I can find the inn on my own. You’ve done enough. Thank you, all three of you.”

As she turned back and began her walk, my eyes began to burn with tears as we watched from afar. The second she crossed onto the cobblestone paths, people rushed to her side to offer assistance, quickly walking her down the road to the inn.

This was what we’d fought so hard for.

“Can I shift back, now?” Theo asked, drawing my head to find him behind us. “You know I hate being seen in dragon form next to Kaida when we’re in town.”

“No. If I’m not allowed to be naked in front of others, then neither are you. We left in such a hurry that we forgot a change of clothes. We can go home now, though. She is in good hands.”

He grumbled in my mind before I climbed up Kaida’s tail to my seat. “You never ride me anymore, wench.”

My head whipped to him just as he hunched down, preparing to launch into the sky. “Last night begs to differ.”

“ I think my memory needs a refresh when we get home.”

As we quickly soared through the sky toward our castle, I reminded him, “No time for that. We’re already running late. We need to fly to the southern castle. Brenson’s wedding is this evening, or did you forget?”

His response was dry as we landed on our balcony. “Forget is a word for it.”

“He is literally getting married to Mira tonight,” I scoffed. “When will you ever accept him as a friend in my life?”

“Ask me in another year,” he retorted after shifting back, making me shake my head.

Men.

Kaida snorted out a puff of icy air as I dismounted, as if I was going to forget to give him a goodbye kiss. I never did.

I pressed my lips to his snout. “Behave yourself. Treat her with respect and she will come around eventually.”

Despite being invited to the wedding, Kaida had opted to stay behind, suddenly finding himself fascinated with a sweet water dragon that had been born the winter after him. It continued to boggle my brain how quickly dragons developed physically and mentally. If he were a human, he’d be considered a large toddler, but within his species, he was the equivalent to an adolescent.

Selfishly, I wasn’t ready to share his time, but he deserved to find love. One day, when Theo and I were no longer here, despite our extended lives, Kaida would need the love and support of a mate to fill the rest of his days with happiness. Though he was likely still many, many years away from choosing a mate to settle with for life, I couldn’t believe it was even on the horizon.

A heavy knock echoed through our room as Kaida took off. I turned toward the sound, finding Theo already pulling on pants before padding over to the door. He yanked it open, and in true Tillie fashion, she wasted no time bustling through the room.

As her eyes fell on me, she let out a frustrated huff of air. “How did I know you wouldn’t be ready? You never change!”

She shooed Theo from our room with her hands. “Get! I need to work a miracle to get her ready in time. Go find Lucius and help him with your nephew.”

I smiled at the mention of little Gawain. He was ten months old and full of the most precious skin rolls. He’d begun to drive his mom and dad crazy recently, as he began to tune-in to his affinity for water. If I thought about it for too long, it still freaked me out to know that human mates could carry drackya offspring. Though they remained in their human form for at least the first five years of life, it was still odd to think one day they’d be able to shift into a dragon and that they’d been carried by a human at their conception.

“She could go exactly as she is now and she’d still be the most beautiful woman in existence,” Theo rebutted before the door shut behind him.

Tillie’s lips pursed as she dragged me over to our bathing area. “It’s sickening, how in love you both still are all these years later.”

I flicked her with the water on my fingers after feeling the temperature of the bath she must have prepared earlier. “Don’t act like Lucius isn’t constantly falling over himself just to make you smile every day.”

A gentle smile lifted her lips before she sighed. “You’re right. It’s just been hard to find time for us since Gawain was born.”

I quickly shed my clothes and stepped into the tepid bath, knowing we definitely didn’t have time to fetch new, warmer water. “Let us watch him for a night, so you can have time together to reconnect. You know we’d be happy to.”

While Theo and I weren’t ready to have our own children, we loved showering our nephew with love before returning him back to his parents. Being an aunt and uncle fit our desires perfectly for now.

Soon enough Tillie had worked her magic, getting me dressed and ready for an event as queen. The long bell sleeves of my dress shimmered like ice beneath the sun as I moved them in the light, admiring the new material. Fixing a hairpin that she’d stuck in tightly enough to give me a headache, I let out a huff. While the style did need to last as we flew down, I’d rather have a mess of hair than be in pain. That was the main difference between Tillie and me, but I hadn’t bothered arguing with her on it, choosing to wait until she’d left to find Lucius and Gawain to leave.

Our door clicked open and I spun around, finding Theo with a supply pack ready to go. “I’m not forgetting this again. I refuse to be stuck as a dragon, forced away from your side for even a moment tonight. You’re far too beautiful to be left unattended.”

He tossed it onto the floor as heat crept into my cheeks with his hungry gaze sweeping over me.

“My queen,” he murmured, pulling me into his arms before pressing a kiss to my forehead. “It will be hard to keep my hands off of you and remember our titles tonight while in public.”

“Tonight I don’t want to be the king and queen,” I breathed out, tangling my fingers into his soft waves as I pulled his lips down to mine. “I just want us to be a dragon boy and his wench.”