Chapter 41: Star-crossed Mates

[Orion].

[The night before].

Kora is late. Kora is often late, but tonight she is later than usual. I knew I would be getting to our meeting spot early, but tonight I have watched the moon rise and crest and still, there is no sign of her.

Our meeting place is a little lake on the mountain just a small flight from the castle. We first found this place together shortly after I arrived. I chased her here. We had newly discovered one another, and not quite ready to take things any further, so our chase ended with a game of tag and a heated kiss in the cool water.

Usually, we meet in the forest near the castle, near the false grave of my uncle. It is close and private enough to keep our conversations secret. This has been fine as we have gotten to know one another, but over the last few days, our meetings have ended more passionately than before with a frantic energy that begs for completion. I don't think this can go on much longer. We are both so close to going into heat that if we do not make this bond more official, we might go mad with desire and do things that we'd regret.

When Kora told me to meet her here tonight, I saw it as a sign that she was ready to take that next step.

Sighing, extend my wings. Lifting off the ground, I can see the surrounding cliffs and the castle beyond. There is no sign of any other dragon in flight.

No sign of her.

It is not unusual for her to be at least a little bit late. There have been things that have come up in the past, last-minute work things that have kept her longer than she expected.

Tonight, however, is the latest she has ever been.

Maybe she has forgotten.

Maybe she has changed her mind.

If she is rejecting me as her mate, I need to know so that my mother can send me back to the celestial realm and have me locked up until the scent of her has been driven from my system.

When I saw her in the hallway today, a surprise since she usually doesn't leave the square, she explained that she was taking a new position as one of the Queen's maids. "I have to square things away with The Magician," she explained. "But meet me at the late tonight. If I don't make it for some reason, don't wait up for me, and don't come searching!"

I covered her in my scent and left my mark on her lip before I let her go, promising to see her soon.

I also promised I wouldn't follow her but I'm worried about her. Something is telling me that whatever is happening with her hurts so bad that she needs me.

She needs her mate.

Since we aren't officially bonded, she doesn't wear my bangle, and I do not wear hers, so we have no way to communicate with one another as a mated pair normally would. But because we are fated, we still have a small sense of one another, even when we are far apart.

I'm worried about her. That I feel her pain is enough to make me break my promise not to seek her out.

I know she has her secrets. We both do. She doesn't know who I am either, not really.

But I refuse to have her suffer unnecessarily. If I can help her, I will.

The Magician's tent is one of the easiest to find, especially now that most of the other tents have long been gone, evacuated after the attack on the royal family. Despite being a small tent, it is brightly colored and decorated, designed to draw attention. When he travels the countryside, he needs to draw big crowds, Kora once explained, so he makes sure that he can't be missed.

As soon as I land, I move the tent flap and call out her name. "Kora! Korallis!"

There is no response. No noise at all.

The tent is full of curiosities from around the world--the heads of mythical creatures and strange new inventions from far-flung lands. The Magician has been everywhere, it seems, even the depths of the Kraken Kingdom. The floor is so cluttered with evidence of his adventures that I almost miss the greatest curiosity of all.

The Magician himself.

Lying on his side, very, very still. Unnaturally so.

Dear gods, did she kill him?

I walk up to the figure cautiously, hoping that maybe he is simply passed out or resting or something else that is easily explained. When I get closer, it is obvious that he is not breathing. Bending down, I place a hand on his arm.

And my hand keeps going, not finding any flesh to stop it.

"What is this?" I move aside his sleeve and discover that his arm has no flesh, just a metal framework of bent bars and gears. I continue to explore his body, discovering that it is like this everywhere. The only solid areas are his face and hands, but upon closer inspection, it is clear that they are not made of flesh at all, but some clever approximation of it--some kind of springy substance that has been painted in to look real from the stage.

Only someone standing close to him would know the difference, and The Magician never comes offstage except to reenter his tent.

Kora is the one who does all of the interaction with the crowd. It is her job to be the friendly, beautiful face that helps sell show tickets and bring glory to his performances.

Does she know that he isn't real?

"I see you found him," a cold voice says behind me.

Turning, Kora steps into the light, her face drawn and weary.

"I know I shouldn't be here but..." her eyes look hollow and lost. "What happened?"

"Ori," she steps forward into my open arms. I might not know what is happening here, but I could never reject her, especially with her pain so clearly etched across her entire body. "Please, just hold me. No questions. I need to feel your heart next to mine."

I pull her into me until our bodies are flat against one another, perfectly aligned. She is the first drakaina to ever match me so well. It feels natural, her curves matching my every hollow as if we were carved of a single stone.

I bury my face in her hair, between her long, curved horns as her tail wraps around my legs. Inhaling deeply, I feel the moment when we both relax, when we let everything else fall away.

Mate.

My Mate.

Growling, my muscles stiffen and I pull her in even tighter. "Mate."

"Ori," she sounds scared. I am scaring her.

"Mate," I repeat. I want to say more, but something has come over me, something I cannot fight.

It's too late. I've entered my first heat.

Using all of the willpower that remains within me, I push her away and shout. "Run, damn it! Kora, I'm in heat!"

Curling into a ball, I wrap my hands and wings around myself, struggling to keep from touching her again.

"Ori..." her voice is shaking. I don't want to scare her, but the beast inside of me, the one that wants to trap her and rut her senseless, finds her fear intoxicating.

This is not how I want this to be. I don't want to force her. I want to honor her, damn it.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" I shout again. "Damn it, Kora, I...argh!"

There is no more thinking.

Standing, I turn towards her.

She takes a step back out of the tent. With her eyes still on mine she lifts off the ground, flying as fast as she can to our special spot.

"Good," I lick my lips as I follow, taking to the air. She wants me to chase her.

She must want me to catch her too.

My blood is pounding in my ears, my body feeling more and more alive as I chase her through the clouds. The faster she flies, the more pleasure it brings me to think of when I finally get her underneath my claws, when she submits to me, giving herself over completely.

Then she will be mine. Fully mine.

I am already hers. She only needs to claim me.

My mate is fast and strong. She is soon so far ahead that I can no longer see her. But I know where she is going, and I can still smell her intoxicating scent.

She was made for me, and I was made for her. There is no distance great enough to keep me from her.

I was a fool to think otherwise. It wouldn't have mattered if my mother had locked me in the celestial kingdom. I'd have just taken my fourth form and found Kora, found her, and taken her with me.

"KORA!!" I roar more than speak as I land by the shore of our special lake. "KORALLIS!"

"Over here," she rises from the lake, looking very different. She is in her more beastial form, her body more like that of an eel forming one long tail from the bottom of her breasts into the water. She has two arms that end in with long thing clawed hands, and her blonde hair glows around her like water, even as she rises above it. Her wings hold her aloft even though it is quite obvious that she is a creature designed for the water.

I knew she was part Kraken. But knowing the truth is different than seeing it.

"Kora."

"Do you want me, mate?" she queries, her voice as demanding as it is inquisitive. "Now that you have seen what I am?"

"You are my mate," I growl in response, taking my own more bestial form, a dragon made of storms and fire, large and black with scales of gold and gray. "And I intend to claim you."

"Then do it, mate!" she hisses, challenging me. "Catch me and I'm yours."

She dives into the water. And if I were any other drake, maybe she would have gotten away.

But I am not just any celestial. I'm a storm dragon. I am a creature of water just as much as I am sky and fire.

I swim after her, letting my fourth form move through the water like electric fire, drawn to her as lightning, pulling at her fins as she sweeps her body away from mine, swirling and looping around me only to dash away again. She moves faster, but she cannot outswim me, even in her element.

She stops at the mouth of an underwater cave. I follow her in. When we emerge on the other side, we are both exhausted, but we are also still hot with desire.

Rushing forward, I pulled her into me, my teeth sinking into the back of her shoulder. She roars, arching her back, lining her openings up with my members, waiting for me to impale her with my love and claim her as mine.

"Korallis," I use the only name I have for her. I want to do this right, I need to say the words. "I, Orion Majere Daax, take you, to be my mate. As I fill you, and fertilize your eggs with my seed, I promise to protect our brood, to keep our clutch safe, and to claim them as my heirs. Do you consent to be my mate, to raise our young together, to be my chosen consort from now until the end of our lives?”

"Yes," she pants. "Orion, I consent. But my name is not Korallis."

I pause, my tips aching to fill her as I wait for her to continue.

"My name is Princess Juliana Korallis Majere, and you, cousin, killed my father."