Pretty Spelled by K.A Knight
MISHAL/NYRE
We celebrate all night. We dance, drink, and laugh. We eat good food and listen to music. The stars shine when we move outside to watch as Atlas creates his own fireworks.
I watch them explode in a brilliant array of technicolour, but nothing compares to the little one in my arms. I look down at her. Her face is tipped back to the sky, and she wears a wide smile, her eyes reflecting the lights. She is my light, she is my firework. She is the reason I breathe, the reason I live. I wrap her tighter in my arms, my love for her so strong, it could span lifetimes.
I never thought I deserved a mate, but then came my Dabria. She was thrown in with me, in the dark, after suffering so much, and just as broken as me. We have grown together, we have put back the pieces and fallen so deeply in love you, could never separate us.
Not just you, Nyre reminds me.
Of course not, I agree.
She brought my dragon back to me, taught him to love as well. She is the only person who could have ever tamed the first great dragon. Who could make this world burn for her and her alone.
She brought me back to my family.
I have my sister, my brothers too, and now five other sisters. I have never been so surrounded by people. Sometimes in a crowded room, even when surrounded, you can feel the most alone, but that is never the case here. We have spent so long apart, we will never do that again. Together, we are whole, but apart, we are broken.
We are learning to love, to live and find peace…as a family.
Lilith might have been the key, but our mates are the reason we fought. The reason we started living again.
Sometime later, my little one is weary, and the others are breaking away to ring in the new year together, so I pick her up and head back to our house. My heart beats in time with hers, that darkness wrapping around us so comfortably.
My love overflows.
For her.
For my life.
For my future.
I love her,Nyre whispers.
I do too, I reply.
He flashes through my eyes, looking down at her, but he’s had his time with her today, so this time is mine. “Love you,” he growls, and she giggles, leaning into me further.
“I love you, my dragon,” she murmurs. “Now and always. We can go flying again tomorrow, and I’ll finish telling you the story about the princess and the dragon.”
He settles then, accepting it, and she leans up and kisses me. “I love you,” she vows. “Thank you for saving me.”
“I didn’t save you, we saved each other,” I inform her as I head inside, walking straight upstairs, knowing what she will want before we sleep. It’s the same ritual every night, tasting the air and her freedom, watching the stars twinkle. My existence used to be pretty painful, but now it’s perfect because of her, my love.
My mate.
“I like that,” she says softly.
As do I…
As do I, little one.
* * *
Dabria
It seems there has been a baby boom around here. I never knew I wanted a child until Nyre told me I was pregnant, but now…it feels right. I have so much to live for—my mate, my family, and now my child.
We are making this world a better place for them so they can have better lives than I did, than we did, so they never have to know the darkness and pain.
Our family has been through so much, and each of us has our own scars, yet we are helping each other heal. It hurts sometimes when they call me sister, but I know it’s what she would want, and seeing Mishal with his brothers again makes all the pain worth it. As does the happiness growing within me at being here, at finding new friends, brothers, and sisters.
Ones that understand the struggle. Ciar is helping me learn my powers, and Alejandra is a great listener. Cassandra never fails to make me laugh and feel less awkward. Bella and Remi teach me my own strength, and Lilith…Lilith inspires me every day.
If a woman who has been through so much can get up and smile, so can I. We know the touch of darkness, and together, we help each other through.
We aren’t perfect, but perfect isn’t real, and I want real. I want to feel it all. I want love and happiness, and bad days and good days, all with him. My mate. With Mishal and my Nyre, who soars the skies for me, taking me all over this world.
Loving me the way I love them.
Stroking my belly, I laugh. I’m so big. Dragon seed, Nyre says, carries faster than a human’s. Who knows what this baby will even come out like, but I’m okay with a dragon, a human, a vampire, anything. I will love it unconditionally.
Herunconditionally, I should say. Alejandra felt it and told me it’s a girl.
We already decided on a name. “Hear that, little one? We will love you so much.”
“Little one? That’s my nickname,” Mishal murmurs, wrapping his arms around me as we stand on the roof. He’s protecting me, loving me as always. His heat warms me as I lean back into him, watching the brilliance of the stars and moon.
“Your daddy is possessive and jealous, you’ll figure that out, won’t you, Rachel?” I whisper, stroking my belly, knowing my sister is looking down on us, proud of what I have become. Of the love I have allowed myself to accept and feel, and the family I am starting again.
She will always be my sister, the strongest, most beautiful person I know. I couldn’t think of a more perfect name to honour her, to remember her with. My humanity died with her that day, but this baby growing in me? It’s our hope, our light in the dark that my mate and I live in.
Monsters, they call us.
I call us miracles.
Just fourteen lost souls brought together by fate, destiny, and purpose. Joined forever, never alone.
A family.
