Page 26 of Fire and Fate
The Alpha scents are still there, still caressing us with invisible hands. They feel warm, welcoming, and nothing at all like the predatory aggression I've been taught to associate with Alphas. These scents speak of protection, of passion, and of a home I didn't know I was missing. I have a suspicion of just who these scents belong to but I refuse to read into it. Not yet. Not until we actually make it through the impasses of those mountains.
I close my eyes, letting out a heavy breath before opening them again to find ourselves back in the small room we bought for the evening. Reality crashes back even as Kaia snores against my chest, my magic and my touch once again soothing my Omega.
Everything we've known about dragons and the other creatures that live beyond Valoria's walls might be wrong. We've been told they're monsters, mindless beasts that exist only to destroy and hoard. But the dream, if it was truly a dream, showed me something different. It showed me a place of beauty and power, ruled by beings who are as intelligent and complex as any wolf shifter. If that indeed is where the dragons reside.
Because those scents in the dream didn't smell anything like a wolf or any other shifter I've ever met. They were something else entirely. There was a warmth to them, an invitation rather than a threat.
Maybe we've been preparing for the wrong thing entirely. Maybe the true danger isn't what awaits us in the mountains but what we've already left behind in Valoria, in a king so consumed by greed that he sends his own people to die for a treasure that might not even exist.
Kaia stirs behind me, turning to find her sitting up in bed, my beautiful Omega looking at me with a haunted look in her eyes. "You were there," she says. It's not a question. "In the dream. The palace. You were really there with me."
"I was."
"How is that possible?"
"I don't know. But Kaia, I think we're getting close to whatever has been calling you. And I don't think it's what we expected at all."
She curls up tighter against my chest. "Those scents in the dream were from an Alpha but they weren’t wolves."
"Dragons," I say quietly, finally voicing the idea that’s been running through my head. No one has ever mentioned that the dragons could shift but it would make sense on how they’ve hidden themselves for so long. "I think we were in a dragon's palace. And I think those Alpha scents belong to the dragons who live there."
"But that means—" She stops, the implications catching up to her.
"It means they have culture, society, and magic that can reach across distances and pull us into shared dreams. It means everything your father has told the Valorian people about dragons is either lies or ignorance."
Kaia is quiet for a long moment. Then she lets out a bitter laugh. "Of course. Of course, it would be lies. He wants their power, their magic. He can't have that if people see them as intelligent beings deserving of respect rather than monsters to be destroyed."
"What do you want to do?" I ask, running my fingers through the edges of her hair. "We could turn back now. Return to Valoria, tell your father what we've learned. It would be safer than continuing forward."
She looks at me like I've lost my mind. "Turn back? Sol, we're so close. Can't you feel it? Whatever is calling to me, it's just ahead. We've come too far to stop now."
"Even knowing that we might be walking into a dragon's space?"
"Especiallyknowing that." She reaches up, taking my face in her petite hands. "Those scents in the dream, they didn't feel threatening. They felt welcoming. And my magic responded to them, recognized something in them. I think I'm meant to meet these dragons, Sol. I think that's what this whole journey has been leading toward."
I study her face, looking for any sign of doubt or fear. But all I see is determination and a strange kind of peace.
"Then we continue forward," I tell her. "But we do it carefully. We don't know what awaits us in those mountains, and I won't risk your life based on a dream alone, no matter how real it felt."
"Agreed." She squeezes my hands. "But it was real. I can still feel your fingers inside of me, Sol.” A devious smile spreads across her lips but I quickly shut that down.
“Later, princess. We both need our rest if we’re going to finish our journey tomorrow.” She throws me an adorable pout, tilting her head up for a kiss. I gladly give it to her. “Sleep, Kaia. Tomorrow, maybe we’ll have answers.
Zara
The library is quiet except for the rustle of parchment and the occasional scratch of quill on paper. Sunlight streams through the tall windows, illuminating dust particles dancing in the air. I've been sitting at this table for what feels like hours, listening to Torvin and Mira debate the same points over and over again while my mind drifts to far more pleasant places.
It's been a few days since the mating ceremony, and I've spent every possible moment lost in Alessia. When royal duties call, I attend to them with the efficiency expected of a queen. But the moment I'm free, I find myself drawn back to her like a moth to flame. We make love in our chambers, in secluded corners of the palace gardens, once even in the throne room late at night whenwe thought ourselves alone. She's insatiable, and I'm more than happy to indulge her every desire.
But beneath the passion and pleasure, there's an undercurrent of anticipation I can't shake. Alessia's certainty about our Omega, about feeling her presence in the Shadowlands, has planted a seed of hope I'm trying desperately not to let take root. Hope is dangerous. Hope leads to disappointment.
Still, I find myself thinking about it more than I should.
The new set of warriors from Valoria have already started arriving at our borders. We track their movements through our scouts and sentries, watching as they stumble through the outer reaches of our territory with the kind of arrogance that suggests they've never truly faced death before. The youngling dragons are more than happy to roast whoever comes too close to the edge of Embrath, treating it like sport rather than serious defense.
It would be amusing if it weren't so wasteful. These warriors die for nothing, chasing a lie their king has fed them. They never get close enough to see that civilization exists here, that there's an entire kingdom thriving within these walls. Our kingdom is set much farther inside the territory, hidden by mountains and magic and thick mist. People passing by or attempting to take on a dragon never penetrate deep enough to discover the truth.
We prefer it that way. Let them believe we're mindless beasts hoarding gold. Let them underestimate us.
