She Who Owns The Dragon's Heart

Chapter Eighteen (XVIII)

Acheron

I tried to console her, but her sorrow was my own. The only thing we could do was wait for the council to hear Kristine out before they made their final decision.

"Break is over, Acheron. Council is requesting you back." A guard called out. Sapphire pulled back and I wiped the remaining tears away.

"Come on. We will win. One way or another." I told her, tucking her under my arm, bringing her back to the chamber.

I sat her down first before sitting beside her, taking her hand.

"We will resume. Kristine, stand." Chains rattled as she stood. "Were you aware of the clause in the contract signed by your father and Acheron?" Elder Silas asked.

"No, Elder Silas." She stated.

"Were you present when the contract was signed?"

"No, Elder Silas." She lied.

"That is a flat out lie!" Acheron roared. "She was present when it was signed! She was the one who insisted on the courting and insisted to be there!"

"Rein in your temper or be removed, Acheron." Elder Kane on the far left warned before turning to face Kristine. "Do not lie to us, Kristine. Were you there when the contract was validated?" He asked.

"Yes... Elder Kane..."

"If you were present, then you would have known about the clause. Yet, you still provoked his true mate, and then attacked her out of nowhere months later, unprovoked. For a Dragon, you are a despicable, dishonorable whelp who doesn't know her place!" Elder Kane stood. "You signed your own fate, Kristine." Sapphire was holding her breath now.

"The council will vote. Justice for Acheron, Sapphire, and their family?"

Six "Yay's" came around.

"Sapphire, Justice will be yours." Her breath was released, tears streaming down her cheeks. "What do you deem her punishment?" Elder Kane asked. Sapphire stood.

"She doesn't believe in true mates... I want all the males from this world, unmated and those who mated without finding their true mate, to line up at her cell until she finds him... Then I want her raped until she's with child... and then I want to rip it out of her like she did me... and leave her to die, just as I was." She spoke with pure vengeance in her voice.

"Speaking like a Dragon..." Elder Themosticles, the elder on the far right sounded amused.

"So mote it be." His fist slammed down on the table, ending the session. Kristine was taken away with pleas, but they fell on deaf ears. People from the seats above jumped the rails to join us, Enyo being the first to jump. She pulled Sapphire into a tight hug, unable to believe it.

"There were rumors it wasn't going to happen." Enyo was crying.

"It's over..." Sapphire breathed, her knees buckling. "It's over..."

Victory was earned, but Sapphire had no will to celebrate. Neither did I.

King Delugare, King of the Elves, had offered the palace in celebration, but we stayed in quiet peace out in the courtyard. I picked at her mind, but all I felt was unease, and no emotion.

"We can go home if you want to, Saph." She rustled against my leg. I had shifted to give her somewhere soft to lay.

"I think I want to return to earth for a couple days..." She said quietly. "Let the whole thing about this blow over." But it never would. That was the thing, it just would never blow over. The loss of a child stays with you forever.

"Sapphire, you can't return to your mortal life. You'll be miserable."

"I'm miserable now, Acheron!" She had looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "Justice has done nothing for me... It won't bring him back!" I tightened my wing around her.

"No, it won't. But that doesn't mean we srop trying to be a family. That doesn't mean we stop everything and give up." She was crying again. "It only means we try harder. I only get you. You only get me. I can't let this consume you because if it does, I lose you... I'm not as strong as my mother, Sapphire." I told her quietly. "I hate to say it, but a broken heart from a lost mate is nothing compared to the loss of a child... We deal with that possibility because usually, half a clutch doesn't hatch. My brother and I were the only two to hatch out of seven." She closed her eyes, crying against my scales. "We will have another, Sapphire. We will be whole again." I let her cry it out. It was a promise that I would make come true, even if it took a thousand years to fulfill.

*

Sapphire

I woke in the house, fresh, crisp sheets on the bed. He must have flew us back after my breakdown last night. But, he wasn't in bed. He wasn't in the house. I went outside and shifted. When I did, I felt a lot larger than before. I looked in the reflection of the lake to find myself ten times my original size.

I didn't question anything. I just took off, flying around until I spotted him.

*

I found him at his family's land, sitting in his humanoid form, in front of his father's pool. I landed a ways away, shifting back, and put my dress on. Coming out, he paid me no attention, deep within his own thoughts.

I put my hand on his shoulder and he turned his head, still silent. He reached up, wrapping his hand around my forearm. I sat beside him, joining him in silence.

For about five minutes, I let him stay silent. "Why have you come out here? Specifically?" I leaned on his arm.

"It's quiet out here... Damian and Anora liked to be a bit more closer to the city, but I prefer the solitude of the countryside when I need to think." I nodded once, acknowledging his need for solitude, at least from the other people. "I keep thinking there's a possibility, but fate doesn't always work in our favor." I took his hand, resting it between our legs.

"Maybe it will, maybe it won't... But... Maybe I can save a child from suffering the same fate I did." There were always orphans around... I could at least give them the chance I didn't really have.

"I know, Sapphire... But I still want at least one of my own... To continue my legacy... to continue my blood line." I squeezed his hand. I knew the importance it was to male dragons to have an heir, but some things could not be helped...

"I know, Acheron." I whispered, laying my head on his shoulder. My heart ached to give him what he wanted, but I just couldn't... "I know." 

I wanted to give him the world, like he was trying to do for me... But I just couldn't...