by Meg Ripley
"Angela," Aurora finally spoke as she stared through the window at the stars, "Do you know what's going on?"
Angela had been the family's housekeeper Aurora's entire life and she was desperate for some type of reassurance from the woman who was oftentimes more a part of her life than her own mother.
"Please don't ask me, Aurora."
Aurora turned from the window and stared at her.
"You do know. Tell me."
Angela shook her head. She held the tin of crackers Sara kept in the library for her occasional afternoons of reading in her lap and looked down at it rather than at Aurora.
"Your mother would never forgive me."
"This isn't about her, Angela. This is about me. I'm getting married tomorrow. I am literally giving away my life because of a promise to my father. If there is more to it than friendship and politics, don't you think I deserve to know?"
There was a long moment of silence and then Angela reached onto the table beside her to pick up a glass of bourbon she had poured from the cut crystal bottles arranged on the table beside what used to be Lee's favorite chair. She drank the contents of the glass in one long swallow and placed the glass back on the table.
"When I was a little girl my grandmother used to tell me stories about dragons. She would read me fairy tales and describe these tremendous creatures with massive wings and huge claws that could breathe fire."
She paused and Aurora lowered herself to the floor beside her.
"Yes?" she asked, encouraging Angela forward.
"I thought they were just stories, until…"
"Until?"
"Until you were born."
"What do you mean? I'm not –"
"No. You aren't, but…" she trailed off and gazed at Aurora with a blend of sadness and fear in her eyes. "I can't tell you anymore. I'm sorry. Please, Aurora. Just marry Greyson. He will give you a good life and you won't ever have to worry about any of this again. Just be a good girl and marry him."
Angela touched her cheek and Aurora felt tears pooling between her skin and Angela's hand. Outside the window the stars had disappeared and the darkness was fading into dawn. It was her wedding day.
****
By the time Aurora made it to the bridal suite at the country club, she was weak with exhaustion. She hadn't been able to eat and her body was shaking as she sat at the vanity allowing stylists to do her hair and apply her makeup. The eyes that stared back at her in the mirror were empty.
Her mother scurried around the room delegating tasks and ensuring everything was perfect. More than ever Aurora felt like the roses on the coffee cup; all faded pink, flat petals, and useless thorns. When Sara helped her into her dress and tightened the corseting behind her back, she felt the final bit of hope slip away.
"You look beautiful," her mother whispered as she lowered Aurora's veil over her face, her voice carrying no hint of acknowledging the night before.
Aurora didn't respond, but picked up her bouquet of red roses and let Sara guide her from the suite. They walked outside to the ceremony site in silence. Aurora thought about her father and how she always dreamed that she would hold his arm as she walked toward a groom that made her heart flutter rather than sink. Music rose around her and hundreds of unfamiliar faces turned to her. Each step felt like she was sinking further into the ground beneath her. Finally, she made it to the arch of white flowers at the end of the aisle.
Greyson offered a smile, but Aurora couldn't return it. She could hear the officiant talking and the words disappeared around her. They meant nothing anyway. Out of the corner of her eye she could see slim white tapers flickering on a table set up just on the other side of the arch. She turned her gaze to the flames and felt the familiar tears pooling in her eyes. Across from her, Greyson was repeating the vows the officiant read out to him. They were meaningless and impersonal, but she still didn’t want to hear them.
Suddenly Aurora heard whispers rippling through the rows of guests. For a moment, she thought she had missed her vows, but then she noticed Greyson was looking into the sky. A low, rhythmic sound finally registered above the whispers. The guests were staring up at the sky, searching for the source of the sound.
"Keep going," Greyson said, turning his attention back to the officiant.
The officiant started reading Aurora's vows, but she held up a hand to stop him.
"Wait," she said.
Dark shapes had appeared over the tree line and were approaching rapidly. She saw one of the bodyguards who was a constant presence at every event she and Greyson ever attended put his hand to his hip. A few of the others followed suit and Aurora looked at her mother in the front row. Sara was looking at the approaching shapes in horror.
A moment later the shapes were close enough that Aurora could see them clearly. She gasped, her heart surging forward so hard she felt a pain through her chest. The guests saw the same thing that she did, and there was suddenly chaos.
Arach landed at the end of the aisle amid the frantic crush of screaming guests trying to run from the ceremony site. He spread his wings and turned to his face to the sky, roaring as flames shot from his mouth. Two other dragons landed nearby, trapping the guests near the tangle of overturned chairs.
"Aurora!" Sara screamed, launching herself forward.
Aurora stepped away from her mother's reach, but felt Greyson's hand clamp down on her arm.
"Say your vows, Aurora!" he shouted at her over the deafening sounds.
Arach roared again and took a massive step toward her. Aurora looked at him, then back at Greyson. Her father's words resonated through her mind. She opened her mouth, but before words could come out, she looked down at her hands. One gripped her bouquet so tightly the thorns bit into her skin and rivulets of blood were trickling down her palm and onto her wrist.
Pulling her arm away from Greyson, Aurora dropped the flowers, gathered the flowing skirt of her wedding gown in her hands, and ran up the aisle toward Arach. As she approached, he lifted one claw and used it to slash the bloodied dress. She tore it the rest of the way so that the skirt stopped at mid-thigh and kicked off her shoes.
Aurora vaguely heard her mother screaming for her in the background, but she didn’t stop. Grabbing onto Arach's wing, she climbed onto his back and tightened her thighs around him. Arach leapt off the ground and Aurora watched his wings stretch as he took to the sky. She held on tightly and closed her eyes, letting her head fall back so the wind could pull the pins from her hair and let it tumble around her.
She was free.
****
Aurora felt herself wake up, but didn't open her eyes. She didn't want to see what was waiting for her. If it was her bedroom ceiling, she didn't think she could take it.
"Aurora?"
She heard her name and it immediately registered that it was Arach's voice. A hand touched her face and she opened her eyes. He hovered over her, gazing down into her face with those intoxicating eyes. She was in a bed, but it was certainly not hers. Instead of crisp blue cotton sheets and an eyelet coverlet she rested against black satin.
"Arach," she breathed, the relief so deep she could feel the tension seep out of her as she spoke his name.
"Are you alright?" he asked, sweeping her hair away from her face.
"I think so."
She sat up and drew closer to him; wanting to touch him, to smell him, and to feel him near her. Her hand came to his chest and she toyed aimlessly with the buttons on the front of his black shirt.
"No," she said after a moment's pause, "I'm not alright. What's going on? Where am I?"
"You are in my home, in Killington."
"Killington?" she asked softly.
"Yes. It is both the name of this area and my clan. I take it you have heard that word before?"
He asked the question with a tone that said it didn't surprise him, but that he didn't want to lead her.
"It was on a file in my father's desk."
"What was in the file?" he asked, still
guiding her to process what was happening.
"Drawings of dragons and a few pages of information written in code," she paused and another image flashed into her mind, "And a drawing of a tattoo."
Arach didn't say anything, but brought his hands to the front of his shirt and unbuttoned it. He let the shirt slide off his shoulders and turned his back to her. A leather strap held his hair behind his head and Aurora moved it out of the way so she could fully see the tattoo on his back.
Moving behind him, she sat on her knees and ran her hands along the ink embedded in his skin. The combination of the intricate representation of his wings and the feeling of his skin beneath her fingertips made Aurora shiver.
"Your father was Lee Sanborne," he said.
"Yes," Aurora replied.
"Do you know why you dreamed of me, Aurora?"
"No," she answered, flattening both of her hands on his back and stroking them down so she could feel his rippling muscles.
"You were born for me."
Aurora curled around him so that she could look into his face.
"What?" she asked.
Arach reached behind him and looped an arm around her. He lifted her off the bed and brought her around so that she sat in his lap, her legs straddling his hips. Aurora moaned softly and nestled her pelvis closer to him.
"You were born for me," he repeated, "Made for me. Your father has been investigating the existence of my clan since before you were born as part of a top-secret security program for the government."
"I don't understand."
Arach kissed her softly, drawing her bottom lip into his mouth briefly.
"Very few people know of our existence. We like to stay private and are fairly certain the rest of you humans would probably not take too kindly to knowing there were dragons wandering in your midst. The government apparently agrees because their secret operative has been trying to get us under their control for decades. Some, like your father, want to maintain peace and keep our worlds apart. There are others, however, who don't share those same sentiments."
"What do you mean?"
"There are members of the operative who have gone rogue. Their goal is to either eradicate us completely, or enslave and essentially weaponize us. Your father worked very hard to build his relationship with the clan, and when you were born my father marked you as my future mate."
"Your mate?" she asked, "So I'm part of a breeding program? My father pimped me out to try to make, what, an army of tiny dragon hybrids?"
She was trying to climb off his lap, but Arach held her firmly.
"No. It's not like that," she wriggled again and Arach pulled her tightly up against his chest so she couldn’t move, "Listen to me. It's not like that. You were made for me. My father just recognized that and made the agreement with your father that we would be the link that would maintain peace between our worlds. Unfortunately, one of the rogue groups found out about it and threatened a war if you weren't given instead to their efforts."
"Oh my god, Greyson," Aurora said, realization dawning on her painfully.
"Yes."
"So, you're telling me that I've been a pawn since birth. My own father essentially sold my ass to Greyson to keep peace that I promise you would not last anyway. He lied to me and he tried to take away my future because he got himself in the middle of –what? Dragons and dragon slayers?"
Her mind was spinning. She was confused, furious, and deeply saddened all at the same time.
"Yes, but he changed his mind."
"What?"
"Your father. He changed his mind about the arrangement. My father had a meeting with him just a few weeks before—"
"That's why he was murdered," Aurora said quietly.
Arach nodded, releasing some of the tension on his grip so he could stroke her cheek.
"The hunters heard of his change of heart before we could properly protect him."
"Did Greyson…" she trailed off, unable to even ask the question that burned in her throat.
"Yes," Arach replied carefully.
A botched break-in, the police had called it. Aurora and her mother had come home to Lee in a pool of his own blood in the living room, the cards for the speech he was working on spread on the marble floor around him. Aurora remembered dropping to her knees beside him and dragging her father's head into her lap. He looked up at her with terror in his eyes, his face streaked with blood, and took her face in his hand. Greyson, he had whispered. Aurora had reaffirmed her promise to him then, committing herself unknowingly to her father's murderer.
"Arach?" a voice from the doorway broke through the tense moment between them.
"Yes?" Arach said to the young man standing just outside the doorway.
"They are coming."
Arach nodded and the man ran away. He lifted her off his lap and placed her on the bed beside him, immediately starting to button his shirt again.
"Who's coming?" Aurora asked.
Arach didn't answer, but stood and started toward the door. Aurora chased after him, following him out of the room and into a cold stone hallway.
"Aurora, go back in there," he demanded, not stopping, but glancing briefly over at her.
"Who's coming?" Aurora repeated.
She had to run to keep up with his long strides and the stone floor felt rough beneath her feet.
"Go back."
Aurora reached out and grabbed onto Arach, yanking him to a stop and shoving him back against the wall to the hallway. She was nearly a foot shorter than him, but she looked up at him without intimidation.
"I have had enough of men telling me what to do in the last few months. Today has truly been the wedding day from hell. At least, I think it is still today. I honestly have completely lost track. I'm still standing here in my fucking wedding dress after finding out that the man I very nearly married murdered my father. So, stop telling me to go back and instead try telling me what the hell is going on."
Arach looked startled and took her carefully by the shoulders to guide her a few steps back from him.
"My clan took your father's murder as an act of war. That is why I connected with you when I did. I needed to bring you to me before the fighting began."
"You connected with me on purpose?"
"Of course. When a dragon has a human mate, he has the ability to connect with her in her dreams so he can spend time with her without being near other humans."
"So, those dreams were real?"
"They were both dreams and real."
Aurora decided it was futile to try to understand any further.
"Who's coming, Arach?"
"The rogues did not take my removing you from your wedding well. They have made it known that they take it as a sign of aggression and are coming to take you back."
Arach started walking again and Aurora chased him.
"Greyson?"
"Yes."
"How did he explain you to the guests?"
Arach led her through a massive wooden door into a room filled with weapons. He reached up and pulled a heavy-looking sword from the wall.
"People only see what they think they should. By tomorrow it will have all been explained away and only those who already knew about us will have any idea that they saw dragons."
Suddenly Aurora heard screams from outside. Arach muttered an obscenity and pushed past her through another door. Without a second thought, Aurora wrapped her hand around a crossbow and followed him.
****
Outside, a brilliant sunset was dying behind the horizon, sending tendrils of deep purple across the sky. Aurora looked around and saw dragons at every side. She heard another scream and took off running in the direction of the sound. As she ran, the terrain became more familiar. Soon she found herself in the forest where she had walked in her first dream.
She ran until she came to the edge of the woods and saw a group of men slashing with knives at a dragon far smaller than Arach. The dragon made another of the screaming sounds and sent a weak stre
am of fire toward the men. Aurora didn't understand why the other dragons hadn't come. She started running again and as she approached the group she saw Arach rise out of the water and knock several of the men to the ground with his claw.
To his side a man pulled a long sword from a sheath at his hip and raised it above his head. She immediately recognized him.
"Greyson!" she called, stopping a few yards away.
Greyson turned sharply and before he could say anything, Aurora lifted the crossbow and let the arrow fly. The sharp metal tip burrowed through his throat, tattering the skin as he collapsed to the ground. Everything went silent around her. The other men fell to the ground one by one, torn and burned. Within seconds, the battle was over. She dropped the crossbow to her feet and walked toward Greyson's body.
Blood poured from the wound in his throat and he stared with blank eyes up at the sky. Sickness rolled through her as she looked at him, not because of the blood or even because he had died at her hand, but because of the trust he had so horrifically betrayed.
No longer in dragon form, Arach walked toward her and gathered her in his arms. She hugged him back, burying her face in his chest.
"Are you real?" she asked into his shirt.
Arach pushed her back gently.
"Yes," he said.
"Was I really made for you?"
"Yes," Arach repeated.
"Prove it to me."
Before she knew what was happening, Arach had shifted and she was on his back, riding him over the trees back toward the house. The dragons that had swarmed the area when she first emerged were gone. She would later learn about their rules of battle and why they had stayed behind while Arach and the other dragon fought. For now, all she cared about was him.