Chapter 2
Serena's POV
After the ceremony, I don't spare a glance at the smirk on Rein's face or the glee Lilith can't quite hide. I climb straight into the carriage headed for the black dragon territory.
The black dragons' land sits at the northernmost edge of the continent, in the depths of a fortress people call the Abyss Keep. I've heard it stays wrapped in black fog year round, with the shadows of giant bone dragons sweeping across the sky, and jagged black rock spearing straight up at the sky. A dead zone even sunlight can't get through.
The carriage stops in front of a massive obsidian gate. Austin jumps down first and turns to offer me his hand.
I take it and step out, and a bitter wind hits me immediately. I flinch on instinct, my nine tails curling tight around myself. A second later, a heavy black cloak settles over my shoulders, still warm from his body, carrying a faint smoky scent that's somehow his.
Austin pulls his hand back fast, like he's afraid his scales might cut me, and keeps half a step of distance between us. His voice comes out low and tight. "This place... it's rough here. If you're already regretting this, I can send you back to the fox lands right now."
I pull the cloak tighter and look at him, that hard face with something almost nervous underneath it, and can't help a small laugh. "Prince Austin, we already made a vow in front of the Beast God. Foxes don't break their word. Unless you're the one who's having second thoughts."
"No! I'm not!" It bursts out of him almost before he can stop it.
He seems to catch himself a second later, ducking his head, something flustered flickering through those dark red eyes. "I just... I don't want you to be scared."
I never expected it. The black dragon tyrant everyone says will wipe out a city if you look at him wrong, and underneath it all, he's just a kid worried he did something wrong.
Once we're inside the keep, it's nothing like the horror stories. If anything, the place has this old, quiet kind of luxury to it. Austin doesn't say a word the whole way as he leads me up to the master bedroom at the top of the tower.
When he pushes open the heavy carved door, I stop dead. The room is packed with magic stones, every color, every element, top quality. Blazing red fire cores, ice blue polar crystals, fae life stones glowing soft green. Treasures rare enough to start wars out in the world, just piled up in the corners like ordinary rocks. And at the center of the room, the huge, soft bed is covered in the down of cloud pegasi, the rarest kind there is.
"I didn't know what foxes like..." Austin stands by the door, looking almost lost. "But I heard you all like shiny things, and soft beds. This is... everything I've saved up over the years. If you don't like it, I'll go buy something else tomorrow."
I look at this man, feared across the whole continent, standing there like some huge dog laying his best find at my feet, and something warm rises in my chest, impossible to put into words. In my last life, I gave Rein everything I had and got nothing back but contempt and demands. Now I haven't done a single thing, and Austin's already handed me his entire world.
"I love it, Austin. I really do." I walk up to him, tilt my chin up, and look him straight in the eye.
He goes still, holding his breath, something like fire flickering deep in those dark red eyes.
"Since we're already mates, I think it's time we started the soul bond." I smile and reach up, wrapping my arms around his neck.
Austin's whole body tenses, and the wild power around him stirs, restless. He tries to pull back on instinct. "Serena, don't get too close. My power is unstable. I don't want to hurt you."
"You're my husband. You're not going to hurt me." I rise onto my toes, close my eyes, and rest my forehead gently against his.
The next second, my power flows out through where we're touching, straight into him, no holding back. Austin lets out a low groan. I can feel the chaos in him, that wild, destructive force, and the moment it meets mine, it settles, like a wild animal finally calming down.
His hands, which haven't known where to go this whole time, finally land on my waist, testing. Then they tighten hard, pulling me flush against him.
"Serena..." He says my name low, his voice thick with something desperate and reverent all at once.
I open my eyes and look up at his face, so close to mine, and murmur, "Austin, take that armor off. It's digging into me."
In the morning, when I wake on that soft bed, Austin's already out on the balcony. No armor, just a thin black silk shirt, his build showing through it. He's using his power to hold a piece of fruit steady in midair.
He turns and sees I'm awake, then crosses the room fast, drops to one knee by the bed, and holds a cup of warm fae nectar to my lips. "Hey, baby. Did I wake you up?"
