Wildfire

Seventeen

It takes a moment for me to understand where I am when my eye finally creeps open, the other one still is swollen and uncomfortable to try and open, but much less so than last night, the eyelid willing to flutter if I try hard enough, though my blinks do nothing to clear the bleariness that has engulfed my sight...

What I focus on rather, instead of all my bumps and bruises and the throbbing at the back of my head... Is the warm body I am currently nestled against, my Prince's kind visage somewhat clear to me if I squint hard enough, his quiet snores letting me know that even though he's still propped up against the headboard more or less in a sitting position holding me so carefully he's actually asleep, the lighting in the room suggesting early morning to my fuzzy field of vision.

His body is bare underneath mine and so warm that it feels as if he's trying his best even unconsciously to melt me into a puddle right here on his bed while we rest, the feel of his heat soothing under my all of soreness.

I hadn't expected to wake up in Emrys's arms even though he promised to never leave my side ever again, and the fact that he had kept his word brings me great joy despite how the promise came about, my nuzzling into his embrace enough to make him stir just for a moment before settling back down, his hand seemingly acting on impulse alone to flutter up to my head to stroke my hair just once before falling back to my hip and curling around me.

I cannot stop the noises once they start to leak from my chest, the appreciative croaks and happy chirps rising from my beast as he finally has a chance to process and react to the fact that we had in fact been claimed by the beast that had called to us what feels like a century ago after last night, the joy in our shared belly over the safety that we feel nestled so closely to our fiancee's heart overtaking me just enough for me to lose control of my lips, the Prince starting to come to as my hums turn into tiny phrases.

...

Emrys

...

I had stayed up well into the night with Akeno discussing the details of his family's move here to the castle, Rayne's family members themselves his dowry... And to be honest, after asking my father in law to inform the guards to let in no one but my Father if he has an emergency after dismissing him in the early hours of the morning to rest with the rest of his family in my outer chamber, cots having been brought up at the kind direction of Kanaye's careful mind I hadn't expected to wake up until at least after midday... And I had thought that it would be tears that would wake me, whether they be from pain or a nightmare brought on from the memories sure to haunt my young bride for quite some time while he recovers from our traumatic engagement.

Instead, I wake up to the most wonderfully watery noise of happy chirps and the gentle tune of my bride's dragon, his song one that makes my mouth water as my arms tighten ever so softly around his waist, his soft voice singing, "I have been found! I have been found and I shall be loved!" into the flesh of my shoulder, a most adorable chant.

I find it impossible not to answer him, my own soft croonings of affirmation to his proclamations making him tremble and cling to me once he realizes I have woken, soft kisses being pressed into my skin in his unexpected happiness, the preciousness of this moment memorialized in not only my mind but his family's minds as well when they spill into the room to investigate the early morning serenade that only grows louder and louder led by a very bleary-eyed Akeno, the confusion on their faces showing that they too had expected the tears of the morning to be of the pained variety.

Other than needing to adjust the blankets that cover the lower halves of our bodies I see no reason to send my in-law's away, their smiles slow to join mine as they take in the sight of their youngest celebrating his own engagement, the cheer in the voice of his dragon as it bubbles from his lips outshining anything and everything that my ears have ever had the pleasure of hearing as he squirms in my arms.

...

Rayne

...

By the time my beast is satisfied with its jubilant display of the happiness we hadn't been able to revel in last night, no one seems upset in the slightest that I've woken them with my uncontainable glee over being so cherished all throughout the night... Over the care that Emrys is taking of me even now, one of his hands trailing up and down my sore spine as he chuckles into my hair.

I know I should be weeping with the injustices done to me last night... But so much of it is blurrier than my vision at the moment, the feel of my fiance's protective hold on me doing so much to combat the rawness I feel towards last night as a whole... I know that I am safe now and that is all that matters.

I do not wish to linger on what has happened, not if we can move past it, the assurances that had been whispered to me as I had been falling asleep last night still ringing true in my mind... That the other branch families would be stripped of everything if they so much as looked in my direction with anything short of reverence... That Emrys himself will make my safety his responsibility... That I'll never leave his protection ever again... That he'll marry me blind, dipped in blue dye, or wearing nothing but rags... That nothing that could happen to me or between us could ever drive him away from me... That I am beautiful no matter how swollen my face is... That I am wanted and safe and in his care...

That I'll be his Queen, and that no one will ever take that away from me.