Page 32 of The Sapphire Dragon Prince
“You can do this, my love,” I said, pressing my cheek against the glass as well, as if I could embrace him and lend him whatever power I had left through the glass. “I believe in you.”
I opened my eyes and turned my head to look through the glass, even as the pain became unbearable. The image of Misha being beaten by his father was there and it almost broke me, but the other image, of Misha standing on his own and shouting back at his father grew brighter and brighter. My beloved wasn’t just holding his own, he had taken the small, pretty dagger from his pack and was pointing it at his father.
I couldn’t hear what he was saying to the vile man, but I could feel the love and the strength from his heart as he spoke.
“Yes, my love,” I said aloud, pushing harder at the glass. “You can do this. You are amazing and powerful. You can overcome this.”
A moment later, Misha raised the dagger and thrust it at his father.
The mirror that I pressed against suddenly shattered, sending shards of yellow-black glass flying in every direction. I squeezed my eyes shut and raised my arms to protect myself, certain the shards would tear me to shreds and leave both me and Misha bloody and broken.
But when I opened my eyes the shards of glass fell to the ground as softly as snowflakes, and neither Misha nor I had a spot of blood on us.
“Misha!” I gasped, gaping at the sight of my beloved standing in a pose of action, the dagger in his hand. He panted heavily, his eyes wide and filled with determination. “Misha, my love!”
I surged forward as Misha turned to see me. At the sight of me, arms stretched out for him, no mirror between us, Misha let out a cry of relief and triumph, but one that was laced with far more painful emotions. He lunged toward me, throwing his arms around me when we met, careful not to bring his dagger too near me.
“Azurus!” he cried, clinging tightly to me and weeping. “He’s gone. He shattered.”
“Yes, he’s gone,” I said, hugging my omega so tightly that I might have squeezed the air from him. I lifted him into my arms and he wrapped his legs around my waist, weeping freely against my shoulder. “You defeated him,” I said. “You and you alone. You are amazing, my love.”
“I couldn’t let him haunt me anymore,” Misha said, then lifted his head to look at me. “I don’t want him and his cruelty holding me back from the life I am supposed to live.”
There was something beautiful and fierce in my mate’s eyes as he said those words. I could feel it through the bond that now joined us, growing stronger with every beat of our hearts. There was a life we were supposed to live and an amazing omega that Misha was meant to be. I could feel that part of him emerging as he smiled at me.
He did more than just smile. With all the aggression of an omega who knew exactly what he wanted, Misha slanted his mouth over mine in a kiss that had my head spinning in no time at all.
“My love,” I managed between kisses, holding him tightly and kissing him back, exploring his mouth with mine and with the excitement of the bond that had opened between us.
I could feel everything. I could feel Misha’s lips and tongue against mine, his warm body grinding against mine as I held him, and even more importantly, I could feel his heart swelling with joy and pride in himself for defeating his enemies. I could feel how deeply the two of us were meant to be together and how beautiful the life ahead of us was going to be.
“I feel so free,” Misha panted between kisses, cupping my face with one hand as he gazed deep into my eyes. “I don’t think he can ever hurt me again, at least not the way he did before.”
“No,” I agreed with a smile. “He can’t hurt you. You are far too powerful, and you are mine.”
Our mouths smashed together again in a desperate and needy kiss. It was no accident that Misha’s body was growing warmer and warmer by the second. At last, after so much trial and tribulation, he was going into heat.
But there was other business to be settled first.
“A shard!” Misha gasped, pulling back from me. “We need one of the shards to take to your mother along with the other items.”
I almost laughed as he pulled out of my arms, stood on his own feet, then twisted and crouched to pick up one of the thousands of pieces of glass that lay around our feet. I already had a fairly good idea that the items from the quest were secondary to the quest itself, but my mate was right, we had things to finish before I swept him off to my lair for the hottest heat that anyone in the magical kingdom had ever seen.
“Do you think this will be good enough?” Misha asked, standing with a small shard of black glass in his hand. “It seems so small.”
I smiled. “I think it will be perfect,” I said, brushing my hand through his dirty, mussed hair then cradling his face.
I leaned in for another kiss. I could hardly stop myself. Now that the worst was over and the quest was complete, now that I could sense my beloved going into heat, even if he couldn’t tell himself yet, I just wanted to kiss and touch him and join with him.
I didn’t want to waste any more time, so as I ended the kiss, my hand still on Misha’s face, I looked up at the twilight sky and called out, “Mother, we’ve completed your quest. We’re ready to go home now.”
As expected, the towering, cavern walls around us shimmered then vanished and my mother’s garden throne room took their place. The intimidating greys and pile of sickly black glass shards melted into the soft, green grass and rambling flower beds that always surrounded Mother. Even the darkening sky took on a more romantic glow as the colors of twilight gave everything in Mother’s garden a rich, magical feel.
Mother sat on her mound of grass, her usual animal companions with her. She smiled when she saw us, though, and quickly rose to greet us.
“My children,” she said, arms outstretched. “How well you look.”
Misha gasped and pivoted so that he could bow to Mother like he would to a queen, but Mother merely laughed and clasped his face, lifting him to look directly at her.
