The Warrior King (Inferno Rising) by Owen, Abigail (online e book reading txt) 📗

and clung. She hummed low in her throat, a sound of pure contentment.

If only they could stay here forever. Happy. Safe.

Samael reached into the pocket of his pants. “Before we go, there’s something I’d like to do…” Would she take this the way he intended? Nervous wasn’t a feeling he was used to. But some small corner of his heart still wondered if she’d chosen him because she really believed they were meant to be mates, or because she had to.

“What?” Meira watched him with curious anticipation.

Samael held out the ring he’d found on the floor of her room, the orange of the amber stone catching the firelight. Meira’s lips opened in a silent gasp.

“I found this.”

She lifted her gaze to his. “It was my mother’s. We pooled our money and bought it for her as a gift when we had to leave where we’d been staying. A place Mama had liked more than most. A memento for her.”

“Will you wear it now? As a symbol of our mating?”

Meira didn’t smile but held out a hand that trembled slightly. Once the ring slid home, she lifted her hand to stare at it. “I’ll never take it off.”

…

“You’d better be joking,” Skylar snapped, her expression about as shocked as Meira had ever seen from her unshakable sister.

Ladon’s reaction wasn’t much better. His crossed arms dropped to dangle at his sides, a thunderous glower descending.

“We are mated,” Meira repeated.

With a shake of her head, Skylar set to pacing.

A small growl escaped Samael, but Meira put out a hand as he stepped forward, stopping him. “Please don’t ruin this,” she pleaded softly. “Just wish us happiness and luck and many blessings upon our union.”

Skylar stopped in front of the mirror, seeming to take in Meira’s expression and her need, then grimaced. “You are right, of course. I just…” She shook her head as though trying to access thoughts that weren’t coming. “You caught me by surprise.”

Ladon seemed to reset at his mate’s words, recrossing his arms. “Congratulations,” he said. “Was this for political advantage, or—”

“I believe we’re fated,” Samael said.

Meira honestly still wasn’t sure that was a thing, not for phoenixes, but it didn’t matter either way. She’d wanted him, had been an unraveling mess over the idea of losing him. He was hers now, and she was his. “Samael is next in line for the black throne, and now with a phoenix as a mate, we are hoping to reunite the clan. We will go to Ararat today.”

She waited for another round of shock, but neither blinked at the news. Which meant Sam’s rightful place had become common enough knowledge. That might help.

“No.” Skylar slashed a hand through the air.

“This is our decision,” Meira pressed, and Skylar startled.

Her sisters had a tendency to take her acquiescence for granted, because she’d always gone along with their plans. Not this time.

“Not a lot of information is coming out of Ararat.” Ladon stepped in. “It’s gone quiet and not in a good way. Separately, we are getting reports of riots and other violence within the mountain. Dragons leaving in greater numbers daily. Disappearing. It’s not safe.”

Meira looked to Samael. She didn’t even need to search his expression. Clearly there in the darkness of his eyes lay a hard resolution. They were of one accord when it came to this next step.

Samael took her hand. “The Black Clan needs a leader, or the situation will only continue to degrade. We’re going.”

Skylar and Ladon exchanged their own glance and silent communication. Then her sister sighed and faced them. “When?”

“Now,” Meira said.

Skylar closed her eyes, resignation flitting across her features. But she nodded.

Meira steeled herself for the next part. “If something happens, tell Kasia and Angelika I love them. You too.”

Skylar’s eyes flashed open. “I wish you were here,” she said softly.

Skylar, who was never soft. She was steel. Suddenly Meira was glad she’d left the glass between them solid rather than open a full portal, because if she could feel her sister’s emotions in this moment, she might chicken out. “Me too,” she whispered.

“Be careful,” Skylar urged. “I love you.”

“I will.” Meira took a deep breath and stepped back. “Good-bye.”

With a flick of her will, she changed the view.

Instead of the cavern suite of the King of the Blue Clan, a new caverned room reflected in the mirror before her. The skinniness of the view didn’t give her much to go on. All she could see from this vantage point was a basic bathroom. No gilded anything. No marble countertops. A stand-up shower only, blocked by a rock wall that would probably come up to her chin.

She glanced at Samael, who nodded. “That’s it.”

“Right. Let’s go.” She held out a hand, but when she went to step into the mirror, he tugged her to a stop.

Flipping her hand over, he placed a kiss in the center of the palm, then closed her fingers over it. “Just in case.”

And he meant that. Even through his walls, his fear, mostly for her, was palpable. Hers was, too. Gods help them if this didn’t work.

How could she lose him now? Not only because they’d mated, but because they were starting to become a part of each other. Sharing their lives, their worst moments, their fears. Not holding back. To glimpse a life with him as her other half only to have it ripped away would destroy her.

But they had to do this.

Forced single file by the skinny mirror in Kasia’s armoire in the cabin, they stepped through. After helping her down from the roughly hewn stone counter, more a part of the cavern wall than anything added after the fact, Samael led her into the suite itself.

He paused in his bedroom and took her face in his hands, kissing her long and soft, lingering over the touch before pulling back to smile down at her. “Welcome home, mate. You look good here. Right.”

A sudden lightness coming from Samael, a wellspring of satisfaction, dispelled the weight of worry. Only for a