Dragon Chains by Grace Goodwin

Epilogue

Katy: you better not be late

Emily: taking care of something. it’s an emergency

Katy: always is*eye roll*

Three months later…

Katy stood in front of the full-length mirror as Emily adjusted her wedding veil, secured by her crown, one more time. Her dress, a ball gown fit for dragon royalty, was custom-made by the finest designers, the huge black diamond pendant and earrings Ryker had given her secure about her neck and ears. All she was missing was her ring, and that would be placed on her finger within the hour. “Are you sure you’re all right with this, Em?”

Emily gave her a gentle squeeze, careful not to mess up either of their dresses or makeup. “I’ve told you a hundred times, you and Ryker are meant to be together, but you just won’t let it go, so now I feel like I have to confess something to you or this is going to haunt us both forever. Sit, dear Sister; this might take a moment.”

Katy sank onto the edge of the chair and looked at her twin. Her sister wore a dress nearly identical to her own, only slightly less massive, and black. As in, dragon-made black. Emily knew everything now. Her mother, too. Katy had insisted. She couldn’t live a lie. Never again. “What is it, Em?”

Emily glanced at their mother, who rested comfortably on the sofa, her gentle snore reassuring both girls. She was still recovering from the fire, but thanks to Draquonir influence and wealth, she was receiving the very best treatments.

“Emily! Spill it!” Katy couldn’t take the suspense. Her sister was always so dramatic. If she had something to say about her and Ryker, she needed to say it now, before it was too late. Her heart pounded in fear.

Emily took a deep breath and let it out. “Okay. Here goes. You know how when I called you and said I needed your help, you told me ‘no more breaking up with my boyfriends’?”

Katy’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Yes?”

“Well, I had already decided not to go through with the whole thing, but I spent the advance on Mom’s hospital bills…”

Katy didn’t think she could get any more tense, her whole body on edge, but she was wrong. “Go on.”

Emily adjusted her dress, smoothed and rearranged the heavy train. “I had put them off three times already. They refused to wait any more. And I figured since he wasn’t really my boyfriend, you wouldn’t really be breaking up for me.”

Katy fumed. She knew Emily sometimes had a strange way of making things work out exactly the way she wanted, but none of what she said was making any sense to her. “If you wanted out, then why did you insist I go over there and sign the damn contract?”

“I told you,” Emily huffed, “I already spent the advance. The only way I wouldn’t have to pay it back was if they cancelled the contract. I figured all I had to do was send you in my place to sign the contract, and then you would be you and everything would work out.”

Katy slowly rose from the chair, her hand clenched around a small ivory pillow. She took a menacing step toward Emily, her emotions equal parts rage and joy. She took another step closer to her target. Emily was going to pay this time. “Let me get this straight, Twin: you sent me to your fiancé hoping I would screw things up and he would break up with me? I mean, you?”

“Yeees? Sorry about that.”

That was the last straw. Katy smacked her sister with the pillow. Once. Twice. “Evil! You brat!”

Emily screamed. Laughed. Grabbed the pillow and a tug-of-war ensued. “Katy! You can’t be mad at me. Look how it turned out! I was right! You messed everything up, he cancelled the contract, and you got a billionaire dragon husband who is not only completely in love with you, he made you immortal!”

Emily screamed again as Katy got control of the pillow and hit her again, her eyes flashing with dragonfire.

Ryker, Vector, and Fury barreled through the door like the house was on fire, roaring a battle cry, searching for the source of danger.

Katy and Emily froze, mid-fight, at the spectacle. Their mother, asleep until then, sat up gingerly and yawned. “Is it time?”

Ryker was the first to recover. He straightened from his defensive stance and adjusted his necktie. “We heard screaming.”

Katy stared at Ryker, her heart on her sleeve as she watched him fidget nervously. “Everything is fine, mate.”

He came over and kissed her tenderly. She dropped the pillow to wrap her arms around him, her anger with her sister gone as quickly as it had arisen. Today was not the day for anger. Today was about her and Ryker and spending the rest of their lives together.

Ryker cleared his throat, his eyes soft. Full of love. “We are ready for you, Mia Regina. Do you not hear the dragon song?”

Katy cocked her head, listening. A deep, guttural rhythm soaked into her being, some of the notes so low she could feel them in her chest but couldn’t hear them, while others rang out in a perfect harmony. “It’s beautiful. What is it?”

“The unmated dragons, both male and female, sing our family song. It is traditional. They sing our ancient Draquonir lineage. They sing of hope. Our future. They sing of finding their own true mates. They sing of us.”

Katy blinked away tears, happy tears. “Go ahead then. We’ll be right down.”

Ryker kissed her once more, their fingertips clinging together, both reluctant to end the connection.

Katy watched Ryker and his Guardians walk out and quietly close the door behind them. Emily, who’d been silent until now, whistled softly.

“Damn, girl. He’s got it bad.”

“He’s a hunk.” Their mother offered from the sofa.

Katy and Emily turned in shock to stare at their mother with identical slack jaws and open mouths. Their mother did not talk about men. Not since their father had passed.

“Mom!” Emily’s exclamation was followed by giggling.

Their mother rose to her feet and held out her hands, one to each of her beautiful, precious daughters. “Come along, you two. We don’t want Katy’s hunk to get away.”

They walked together, the twins each holding one of their mother’s arms, both as an act of solidarity and to make sure she didn’t lose her balance.

When they reached the entrance to the courtyard, two large Guardians waited to open the double doors, each dressed in shimmering clan black.

Their mother sighed. “If I was thirty years younger, you boys would be in trouble.”

A grin from one of the men was the only response as Katy and Emily surrounded their mother in one final group hug.

“Let’s do this,” Emily said.

“I love you girls. I’m so proud of you. So happy.” She started to cry, and Katy shushed her.

“Mom, don’t you dare do that. I’ll start crying too and ruin my makeup!”

“Go on then. Go.”

With one final squeeze for the women she loved, the women who had supported her, loved her, and made her who she was, Katy turned to face the doors and nodded to the Guardian. “I’m ready.”

“Very good, Mia Regina.”

That title coming from lips other than Ryker’s was going to take some getting used to.

The doors opened, and she was enveloped in sound, the dragon song a chorus of voices more beautiful than a Mendelssohn choir, the song, far older. She could feel the ancient weight of the chorus as the melodies flowed over and around one another, each dragon lifting a unique voice to the skies to offer thanks for their new queen, their new hope for a brighter future.

As their tradition required, Katy walked down the center of the aisle with her family walking behind her in a show of support for the union. Coming from the opposite direction, Ryker walked with Vector just behind. And behind Vector? Dozens of Draquonir in stunning black gowns and suits, some in ceremonial armor carrying sparkling swords, others in modern suits or gowns with glittering black diamonds on their cuff links, their earrings, bracelets. Everywhere she looked, Katy sensed dragonfire. Magic.

The effect was startling. Ethereal. She felt like a fairy princess in a magical story with the fairy-tale prince waiting for her in the center of the courtyard.

Their people, their combined families surrounded the couple in a circle, all parts supporting the new family, the new beginning at their center.

Ryker held out his hand to Katy, and she placed her palm in his. He slipped the ring she’d chosen onto her finger. “Keeper of my heart. True mate. I am eternally yours.”

Around them the song rose to a crescendo, the magic of dragonfire building in Katy’s chest as the dragon within Ryker poured his own vow into her once more. Protection. Honor. Immortality. Love.

The dragonfire engulfed her from head to toe. Her slippers. Her gown. Her flesh. But it did not burn.

Across from her, Ryker shifted, his dragon towering over her small frame in the courtyard, the dragon doing its best to look regal. Perfect. Katy could sense his need for her acceptance in front of the others. Even dragons needed their mate to love them, accept them.

“Ryker. Dragon. Keepers of my heart,” Katy began, “I am your true mate as you are mine. I am eternally yours.”

The circle opened just enough for one man to walk forward. Katy recognized him as the dark elf. He was a prince and one of Ryker’s oldest friends.

He’d also come to the estate to shove his black sword straight into Ryker’s heart. Katy hadn’t quite forgiven him for that.

Sparkles and flashes of light surrounded them. The circle disappeared in a magical fog. When it cleared, the elf, Katy, and her mother and sister were the only creatures left who didn’t have scales.

They were surrounded by a circle of dragons. Huge. Fierce. A terror for any enemy. A powerful clan bound by ties of blood and honor.

Ryker lifted his head to the sky and roared.

As one, the others lifted their heads and joined him, the sound unlike anything Katy had ever heard before.

“Katherine Toure, I am Prince Alrik, protector and executioner of this dragon clan. Do you accept this dragon as your mate? Do you accept his dragonfire and his children? Do you vow to protect the knowledge of our existence from all who would threaten us?”

Katy stared up into the jeweled eyes of the black dragon, the beautiful beast she knew as her love in another form. “Yes. I do.”

In a flash Ryker stood before her, not as a dragon but as a man. Her man. Her mate. The love of her life.

She held out her hand this time. Ryker took it, and the elf, Prince Alrik, wrapped their hands together with a golden chain Katy recognized as the one Ryker used to wear around his neck. She knew what those chains meant now. Knew that nearly every dragon in this clan was forced to wear them. That her union with Ryker was the first in hundreds of years. That before this day, the Draquonir had nearly given up hope. For many, the executioner’s blade was the final and only honorable choice left to them.

Silence descended on the courtyard, and Prince Alrik spoke.

“I bind you with dragon chains. I bind you with dragonfire. I bind you with love.”

Ryker could not tear his eyes from his bride. He stepped forward and pulled her into his arms, kissed her with every ounce of love and reverence he had in his heart.

Katy’s dragonfire erupted to surround them in heat and desire and love, the black flames dancing around and between them as within, his dragon howled with contentment and the dragons around them roared their approval of the union.

Katy was now a queen. A member of the Draquonir. Ryker’s one true mate.

Forever.