69. The true mate

Despite knowing that she was most likely going to get killed if she stayed in her room, Reya foolishly hid in her bathroom with a pathetic dagger in her hand.

Over the course of the night, she grew frustrated standing up so she picked a few sheets and made her bath tub comfortable which in all honesty, was foolish. Kairo, the poor bird was apparently not getting enough food and had ran off to search for prey around the castle.

She stayed up thinking about the Beta Prince that had threatened her and wondered what it might have been about. What was his agenda? What had she done that inconvenienced him? Had Bethanie told him about their not so cordial relationship? Was he just acting out as a mate?

*No,*.

If there was anything the doctor was certain of, it was that The Royals were far more intelligent than other dragons. They had ulterior motives, acted in ways that lesser born dragons did not understand until they explained themselves.

Something was awfully wrong with the Royal family and Reya was determined to get to the root of it. When she grew weary of her anxiety and tedious thinking, her eyes began to grow heavy.

Reya was certain she had only been sleeping for less than a minute when she was suddenly jerked awake by swiftly moving hands gagging her mouth with a cloth. She suddenly grew alert and thrashed, flailing her arms wildly to fight off her assailant.

But the mysterious kidnapper was strong, swift and too huge. In a flurry of movements, Reya was picked up and thrown over a shoulder.

“Argh!” She screamed through the binds on her mouth, banging aggressively on the back of the kidnapper.

Suddenly, she felt as though her body was being pulled in by a strange force. Even though the feeling was familiar, she did not stop fighting.

She extended her dragon’s claws and swiped madly at her assailant’s back, creating dents on his armor and reaching for his skin.

He let out a low hiss of pain but surprisingly, he did not hit or harm her in an effort to keep her quiet.

He began to run swiftly, so fast that she was unable to thrash against him. When they

Passed through a brightly lit room and Reya noticed that they passed through a wall, her eyes widened in realization.

The First Prince had been the one to kidnap her! When her first wave of adrenaline had calmed down, she began to feel the sparks of their bond.

Just as she was about to smack him, she was suddenly thrown into a bed.

Prince Krainen let out a low hiss and bent over, a small laugh escaping his lips.

Reya seethed, her face burning bright red with rage.

“Are you serious? You kidnap me and you laugh about it? What’s funny?” She hissed, struggling to get her legs out of the tangle of her blankets and her dress.

“Sorry,” he smiled, a faint dimple popping on his cheek.

“I just thought your kitten episode was cute,” he explained, throwing off his armor.

“I know you’re mad at me. But there was an explosion in your room,”

Reya’s face paled, suddenly going still.

“What?-“

Her voice was interrupted by the sound of a loud explosion, something more large scale than the explosion that comes with shifting into your dragon form.

The blonde Prince smirked again, brushing his hand through his hair.

Before Reya could say anything, Roanna bursted into the room.

Reya’s eyes lit up with excitement, her expression softening.

“Rey Rey!” Roanna chided excitedly, leaping towards Reya.

“Roe Roe,” Reya teased right back, tearing up a little when she saw her friend.

Roanna enveloped Reya in a hug and the poor, exhausted Doctor nestled into her arms, tears pooling up in her eyes.

“I missed you. Where have you been? A lot has happened,” she whispered.

“Visiting my mate. I’m sorry,” Roanna sighed, patting Reya’s head.

Apparently, all the Beta Princesses had found their mates. Unfortunately, there was a law in place that did not allow lower Royals to have offsprings with their mates before the higher, first grade Royals had their own children. This was done for fear of a lower Royal challenging a Higher Royal for the Golden Throne. It was easier to not fully complete their mating and take their new ranks than to do it and prevent having children. However, Beta Prince Reagan was choosing to fully mate with Bethanie.

“The Queen sent a message to you through me. Unfortunately, Jessica’s shadow figured out something was amiss in your room and she explained everything to me- to us. So here I am, meeting you here,” her blue eyes twinkled.

Gods, it was so good to have someone that was easy, sweet and kind around her.

“What happened?” Reya asked, her expression dropping.

It was always one thing after the other in the Golden Castle.

“The Oracle sent a list of requirements for the objects needed in completing the ritual tomorrow. It says that you and both Princes need to bring an object that is directly linked to you. This means that the Princes will present their Sol Swords but you don’t have one, do you?”

Reya frowned, realizing she had nothing. Kairo had reappeared beside her by swooping in through the window, his beak bloodied after a wild night hunting. Certainly, the bird was supposed to be a secret. Using Kairo or his feathers was out of the box.

“I was thinking,” she produced a small box.

“You grew this flower, did you not?” Roanna explained, opening a box and revealing a wilted carnation.

“It was one of the objects found in the things in your laboratory. Prince Krai explained everything to me,”

Reya let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, it’s enough. How did you collect it?” She asked.

“The Lord of The Sea sent it to you through Jessica,”

Smart, considering she wanted nothing to do with either of the prince’s allies. It seemed the princes listened to her after all.

Collecting the box, Reya placed it on her thighs and slit her wrist.

“Why did you do that?” The Prince startled, his eyebrows drawn in a frown.

Reya chose to ignore him and press her bleeding hand over the wilted carnation.

Slowly, the roots planted into the soil underneath it and the stem of the flower straightened, turning green.

Each petal rejuvenated until they turned white and- glowing.

“How?” Roanna asked, her eyes widened in awe.

Reya simply shrugged, her own powers boring to her.

“I bred and created these types of carnations through some biological means. I call them the blood moon carnations. They don’t need water, sunlight or manure. My blood is enough. And it shines, just like the moon,” she explained with a soft smile, glancing up at The Prince.

He was staring at her with a small, adoring smile, mismatched eyes shining with fascination at his mate.

When Roanna noticed the look between both of them, she coughed awkwardly and rose to her feet.

“I’ll let you have some time to yourself, I suppose. *Even though I’ve been gone for more than Two weeks,*” she added bitterly.

Reya sent her a soft apologetic smile before adding.

“ I’m homeless at the moment. You’ll grow tired of me in this castle soon enough,”

“I doubt it,” Roanna kissed Reya’s cheek before leaving.

The silent was suddenly palpable- even the Phoenix had gone to a corner and was watching them quietly.

“Reya,” he said slowly, running a hand through his hair.

“I suppose I should thank you for saving my life over and over again,” she shrugged, staring at the life she had just created- or rejuvenated.

“You don’t need to. I’ll always want to protect you,” he dared to inch closer, catching his breath and hoping Reya would not try to leap out of his reach.

“I just want you to know that I am sorry. Absolutely sorry. I tried to push back my guilt and focus on other things but I couldn’t , I still can’t. I’m so sorry for hurting you. I should have told you,” he exhaled, shaking his head.

“Why didn’t you?” She asked, slanting her head at him.

He shook his head, those luscious blonde curls following his movements.

“There’s no reason that can justify it. At the time, I thought it was reasonable and I thought I was protecting you. But now I realize that I was afraid of a confrontation and I was giving myself excuses. I suppose it would have been better if I opened my mouth and admitted the truth at the start. You were just so- you didn’t want me Reya. You were adamant on returning to the Red dragon lands. I didn’t want to lose you. I knew that if I told you at the time, you would have left,” he confessed.

“I suppose I understand,” she said with a soft pout.

“But I’m still angry. I’m Afraid I’m not feeling the most generous right now. I do... I see myself forgiving you. I suppose I can find it it in myself to do so,” she went further.

His expression softened and he nodded.

“Would you let me call you Red?”

“No,” she said quickly, so quickly that his face fell.

“I’m sorry. I just don’t want to be associated with the color after everything that happened at the Red dragon clan,” she explained with a soft sigh.

“I understand,” he forced a strained smile on his face.

“You can call me Aidan, my true name,” he said, surprising her.

“I think it would feel better to me if you did,”

“Aneira’s happy you offered.... Aidan,” she tested his name and to her surprise, she did like it.

“Alright. Good night,” he pressed forward and allowed a fleeting kiss on her cheek.

Reya let out a soft sigh, certainly wanting more.

But Aidan withdrew, caution written all over his face.

“It’s for the best,” he said.

And she nodded in response, agreeing with him.

“This is Roanna’s suite by the way. I thought I should inform you, considering you don’t want to pick sides at the moment,” he said.

“That’s thoughtful,” she forced a small smile on her face.

The Prince inhaled and turned away, storming through the walls like a ghost.

****************

The ritual to test the bond was a powerful magic that could destroy buildings, The Oracle had said. Therefore, she planned on using the Arena.

The Arena was an open air stadium, a place where jousting tournaments used to take place. It was in the shape of a circle, small boxes for the House of Royals carved delicately. The rest of the circle was an array of thousands of seats built progressively towards the sky.

The centre of the arena was where fights, trials, executions and sports games were acted out.

It was more of a patch of sandy land barricaded by a wall.

The arena was located in the middle of the capital and so the Royal dragons traveled through a convoy to go there.

Despite sleeping so well, she had woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Her body ached all over and it was as though a Migraine had been implanted in her head. She had thrown up four to five times and had to forego eating.

Reya was always known for her weak stomach and constant throwing up but one look at her and it was obvious that something was wrong.

She blamed it on the possibility that it was her nerves, considering that she was so certain she was going to die.

But despite her doubt for herself, she pressed forward. In all honesty, Reya was feeling depressed. The past few weeks had been horrible for her and she needed a breath of fresh air.

Luckily, Reya was not required to sit in the arena before the full moon was at its brightest. The Queen had put a tamper on her heat symptoms to help.

So she waited in one of the rooms below the arena, dozing off because Jessica’s shadow Sienna was watching her.

“It is time,” a hand held her shoulder, jerking her awake.

Reya blinked and straightened, her eyes weary.

“Alright,” she rose to her feet.

The arena was packed with Royals and commoners alike, filling every last chair.

A mate bond testing as she had heard had not been tried since The fall of The six pillars which only meant it had been over a hundred years since then.

Reya glided through the sandy field, inching towards a table where her mates were standing.

The crowd cheered and hooted, excited for some drama to happen. Apparently, the bond testing had leaked through the entire capital.

Reya glanced ahead to the boxes of the Royals, noticing they were rather aloof to everything. They just wanted to get everything done and over with.

Inhaling, she pressed herself in the midst of her mates and placed her object, The blood moon carnation on the table.

The Lord of The Sea held on to Reya’s hand, stroking the interior of her palm. Even despite the fact that the Queen had tampered down her heat, the prince’s touch on her was doing scary things to her hormones.

“I don’t know why you’re scared,” he whispered lowly, only enough so that she could hear him.

“But I know you’re mine. Don’t worry about anything,”

“You don’t know what I know,” her voice cracked, tears seeping into her eyes.

“I do,” he let out a bitter chuckle.

“I’m a son of the most powerful witch in the realm of the five pillars. She made us immune to dark magic the day she stripped off our power. We took serums to kill our magic powers. In return, she gave us immunity. I understand she’s doubtful because this is her magic, but I still doubt any of it is real,” he explained.

“I hope so,”

And suddenly, it was silent in the arena.

The white mist of The Oracle seeped into the Arena, charging the entire place with her divine powers.

The mist began to pool at a centre, concentrating into a large ball until it exploded into her wiry, cloaked form.

“My people of Draconis island,” her ancient voice boomed as she rose her hands into the air.

“Tonight, we shall call on Selene’s name while she rides her chariot over the moon, hoping that she can intervene and tell us the truth!”

After bowing briefly towards the Royals, she turned towards The Princes and Reya.

Reya’s heart began to beat wildly, threatening to leap out of her chest.

“Present your objects,” The Oracle commanded.

The First Prince lifted his Sol Sword, the flames of his beautiful weapon burning brightly.

Low murmurs ran through the arena, fascination evident in the crowd.

Inhaling, Reya opened her box and produced the blood moon carnation, the beautiful thing shimmering under the moonlight.

The petals bloomed and even started to incline towards the moon.

“Ah, a daughter of the moon,” The Oracle seemed to smile as she regarded Reya’s object.

Even the crowd seemed amazed at its beauty. Lastly, The Lord of The Sea presented his newly crafted sword or rather- *a trident*.

As soon as he lifted his new object, the weapon lit up with the flames of a Sol Sword.

“Fitting for a child that loves the sea so much,” The Oracle chuckled.

Everyone seemed confused, curious and amazed.

The Oracle lifted her hands and waved her palms over it and soon, the white mist that enveloped her surrounded the objects.

The heavens began to tremble loudly with thunder, lightning striking occasionally at the floor.

The Oracle was chanting heavily, enthusiastically, encouraging the aggressive lightning running amok in the arena.

A female voice in a strange language began to hiss and snap from the heavens, causing a few to pale in terror.

“Selene is angry,” Prince Aidan explained.

“She’s furious that anyone dare test a bond. She promises to tell Helios, the sun titan god and punish the ones that caused this,”

And suddenly, lightning struck the three of them.

The crowd screamed in outrage but alas, the princes and Reya were unharmed. In fact, Reya only felt tingles all over her body.

White and golden mist flowed out of all of them, forming a gargantuan picture in the midnight sky.

It was a picture of three dragons intertwined. Two Golden Royal dragons stood beside a white dragon, one that was just as big as them.

They were intertwined in a warm embrace, even though the Golden dragons only seemed to focus on holding on to the white dragon. From their stance, there was a clear animosity between the Golden dragons but they all seemed to enjoy clinging to the white dragon.

“The gods have answered! Reya is the true mate of the Princes of Draconis!”

The crowd screamed and yelled, chanting Reya’s name over and over again.

“Queen Reya! Queen Reya!”

The white dragon formed on the picture in the night sky had the same coloring, the same glow that Aneira had. But the dragon had five horns and was just two feet smaller than the Golden dragons. Reya would have claimed that the dragon wasn’t her, but she saw the blood moon carnations intertwined in her horns.

That could only mean one thing. A dragon with five horns and at that size was a Royal dragon. Reya, was a Royal dragon too.

******

*I love this chapter so much! There's also more surprises coming soon!*