XXXI

Family Affairs

I have puked twice already. I am anxiety ridden, scared out of my mind, and I am feeling out of place once again. From the palace to the Peak, we rode on our dragons. Astraea rode on Kìgyò with me, she didn't care to ride with my father although Astraea is coming with us, as my father's date to the ball that will follow the ball. It's a three hour glide to the House of Ice palace. We wore fur lined pants and tunics because of the harsh wind that we will be flying in when we head to Bely Glacier. Astraea is going to ride with my father this time when we fly to the palace. They have us change at the Peak into our Eclia meeting clothing. For me, its my black trousers, a white tunic, along with my red jacket. My jacket has gold embroidery on the lapels of the jacket, and gold buttons that could button up, but for now I leave it unbuttoned. Royal Counselor, Ambrus, who sits on my father's Court of Flames, is the one to ride behind my brother while also holding all of our accessories to put on before we head into the palace. We are all mounting up our dragons to fly for three hours with no stops. I made sure to stretch out my entire body this morning, with calm breathing, and emptying my mind with nothing but the present. Orion called me a hippy but I didn't care, it calmed some of my nerves. It stopped me from being sick for a third time. My father helps Astraea on Kos, then slips into his saddle. Double seated saddles usually are hard to make work, but my father seems to have made it work. My mother will be behind my father while my father sits in the front part of the saddle, and is pulling his helmet on. This time, we all wear fur lined red leather gloves, well except for Nova, she wears white gloves. My father's riding helmet is black steel with red dragon scales, Orion's helmet is white steel with red dragon scales, Nova's helmet is silver steel with silver dragon scales. My helmet is made of gold steel, it weighs a bit heavier than their steel but I like the heavy weight that is a part of my helmet, of course I have red dragon scales to match. All of our helmets have a long rectangle at our eye level so that we can see out of the helmet. Well, and for breathing as well of course. Astraea and Ambrus are forced to wear a helmet, but they are just made of silver, there's no dragon scales.I think my mother wants Nova to have the moment of riding Charys by herself, especially since she represents as Red Blaze's High General. I am the last one to mount and when I do, I am the first one to shoot up in the sky. Kìgyò flaps her wings up into the air, and as we are about to level out to glide in the sky, Kìgyò twirls in the air which makes me laugh in excitement. She steadies out and glides next to Kos. My mother seems to be shaking her head at me and I think it's because she's glad she wasn't on Kìgyò when she did a twirl.

All I can think about on the way to Bely Glacier is how much things are going to change for Jaejin and I, just the moment I walk through those doors. That my life is changing dramatically, with or without JJ. My father is declaring me as his son, as Pluto Kardos III, and there's nothing I can do to stop it. That this is what my life was always going to come back to. That me growing up in Black Soul was a part of my journey and the sooner I come to accept that; this is just the life that was meant for me, the more I will be happy. The flight to the Castle is just mountains with ice caps and snow, the entire ride. The ride is absolutely breathtaking and I love every minute of the glide. The air smells like winter although I know it's the fourth month of the year, so it should be warming up soon but shit, it never warms in Bely Glacier, not really anyway. Then the Castle shows up in view, and I am ready to throw up again but I don't. I do a couple of breathing exercises and I tell myself that my Mate is waiting for me. We land behind the Castle, in the snow and near the stables all the Royals will be giving to the Stable Boys that help take care of the Dragons. I hand Kìgyò off to one of them, she growls but I snap at her which seems to calm her down for now.

'I will be back for you but you play nice, Kìgyò, or you will be eating eel for the next week.' I snap at her and she only grumbles in response, in my head and outloud.

"Don't let them near the Elmi family dragons, they can't stand the Golds." My father tells them and the stable boy seems to nod. They take all of our dragons and we head inside through the back. Ambrus hands us our crowns from the case he brings. He opens it and there's five crowns sitting perfectly inside. My father grabs his first, it's the same silver crown with red rubies that sit in the middle and wrap around the crown. My mother wears a lover's knot tiara with diamond encrusted arches, drop shape fire rubies sitting above. and. below the diamond arches. Every Queen of Red Blaze has worn the tiara, it's a Queen of Red Blaze staple. Nova grabs her next, it's a gold headpiece, it sits on her hair and a single ruby that's oval shaped, it sits in the middle of her forehead. Orion grabs his silver crown with obsidian gemstones instead of the rubies that my father has. I grab my gold crown that is a mix of gemstones like Orion and my father. It has a ruby then an obsidian gemstone, following in a pattern around my crown. We walk through the back of the Castle and my breath catches in my throat. How is it that he's so effortlessly handsome? He's so handsome and Jaejin by the gods, am I in love with him. Jaejin's hair seems to shine under the chandelier, his crown almost matches mine. His crown is black, with emeralds and obsidians in a pattern, wrapping around the crown. He wears a black tunic, a black vest, black pants, and black boots that rest under his knees. He wears a black velvet coat, with two black strings that are tied around his neck, but that beautiful mark on his shoulder makes a stupid smile spread across my face. The blank ink in his skin makes me touch the blank ink on my neck. Jaejin just smiles at me and I can't stop myself. I run into his arms and he catches me, hugging me to his chest, twirling us in a circle.

"It hasn't even been 24 hours, get a room!" Orion groans and Nova hits him.

"Wait till you find yours." I turn around to tell my brother and he just shakes his head. Anastasiya and Rurik show up not long after Jaejin, they are smiling at us. I pull myself away from him, but hold his hand at least.

"I gotta put up the barrier, everyone is here. Most of the Royals are getting set up in their rooms, King Lucijan, my Mate can take your family to your couple of rooms if that's good with you." Queen Anastasiya tells my father and the rest of my family. They nod, Jaejin and I stay behind as Rurik takes the rest of the family down the hallway to what I can guess are the bedrooms. Anastasiya brings both of her hands to the air and starts muttering in fast draconic, I can barely understand it when she talks about it. She's putting an ice barrier around the castle, to keep everybody in, and that nobody can come in. The spell only lasts a couple of hours for enough to have the meeting. Luckily, the Eclia meeting only lasts a day, then the said Castle hosting the meeting lets the families stay for dinner, rest for the night, make breakfast then everybody leaves after. Jaejin walked off, telling me he needed to use the toilet, and I was the only one left in the backroom.

King Minjun and Queen Haeun seem to walk out of the hallway that comes out of nowhere. Minjun looks me up and down, arching an eyebrow up at me. Haeun smiles at me, crossing the distance between us and giving me a hug.

"Pluto, daling," She calls me darling in Zraeg, "So happy to see you." She muses and stands back next to her King.

"Why are you wearing a crown, boy?" King Minjun asks me, his body language is defensive and I can't blame him. He knows that I have been in Red Blaze, I'm wearing a crown, I have a mating mark on my neck, and I am wearing the colors of his enemy Kingdom.

"I am a Prince, I am the third son to King Lucijan, and my official title is Prince Pluto Kardos III." I tell him and that's when Jaejin makes his entrance. He stands next to me, grabbing my hand.

"A prince? To King Kardos?" Queen Haeun whispers and Minjun glares at his son. His heir. The crown prince next to me.

"A traitor. Jaejin, get over here." Minjun snaps at his son but his son shakes his head. Jaejin pulls his fur jacket off, and pulls his shirt collar down. Haeun looks like she doesn't want to smile in front of him but she can't help it. Her son is mated and so am I.

"Pluto Kardos is mine. He's my Mate. We completed the bond, I didn't come to Bely Glacier, appa," Jaejin tells his father. "I went to Red Blaze to find Pluto-"

"You went to Lángok? The castle? How did you know he would be there? Aish," Minjun curses and scoffs at his son, "He has every right to kill you, every right to hold you prisoner because of the sins of both of our Houses. You understand that? Haeun, talk to your son." He snaps at Jaejin then points at him while he's talking to his wife.

"I went to the rental house, I went to the agency, I tracked him down. The training you gave me!" Jaejin yelled at him and Minjun's jaw tightened. He was right. Black Dragons and the Cha family were known for their tracking ability, it was like a known trait of the magic that came with bonding with a Black dragon.

"Son-"

"I went into that Castle, I was ready to use my Acid in order to take him down. I saw Pluto and he was in the same outfit he is in now. I saw the love of my life, the boy I have been in love with since I met him, standing next to Orion Kardos." Jaejin snaps at his father and the vein in his neck is bulging out. He glares at his father and he doesn't back down from staring his father down to a little puddle.

"Jaejin, you didn't even ask for my-"

"I don't have to ask your permission for who my gods damned Mate is!" Jaejin yells at him again, and I tug on his hand. Jaejin takes a deep breath and looks at me, then his parents again. "Let's talk about the Ceremony gift that I expect from you." Jaejin's tone turns serious, and I listen to him.

"Of course Jae, what can we get for you?" Haeun asks and his father looks conflicted but he nods in agreement.

"Your blessing. A Treaty to Red Blaze for the sins against Astraea Kardos." Jaejin says and his voice sounds dangerous, deadly, like a predator circling his prey.

"You finally learned who she is." King Minjun states and Haeun looks frozen. She doesn't like the fact that they had Astraea in the cellar, that they had kept her for so long. 15 years. I only grit my teeth as I finally look at Minjun. He's glaring at me but I don't care; she's my mother, I will fight fang and claws for her.

"She told me who she was and that's why I let her go. The tantrum you threw didn't make sense till before I left for Pluto. It's been fifteen years, appa, she has dealt with her punishment. As a gift, I want your blessing of our mating. I want a Treaty with the Kingdom of Red Blaze. It's only fair." Jaejin tells him, as calmly as I have heard him for the past ten minutes.

"Without the consequences. So you can't spin the narrative." I tell Minjun and his lips straighten into a line.

"I give you my blessing and I'll sign a treaty to end the bad blood."