XXXVI

Our Missing Piece

It's been a week, this morning it's been a week without Jaejin sharing the bed with me. My father already sent notice to Nova and the Sky High General that a Black Dragon will fly into Red Blaze soon, that they are to make sure it's Prince Jaejin, then let them come to the castle. The days go by slowly, but I walk through them with ease. I go riding a lot, and Kígyó doesn't seem to mind that at all. It comes with flying through the forests, jumping off cliff slides, and resting in the forest with the waterfall that my parents loved as a young couple. That's all I can think about, is my father and my mother. All I can think about is how my father felt for the past 15 years with his other half not at his side. I have this sinking feeling, and this nauseous inkling. It's only been a week.

"Are you just going to stare at your pastry?"

"No I uh- I am going to finish it." I tell my father and take the last few bites of my blackberry cheese danish. Early, and I mean early this morning, Zsoka and I had made homemade danishes. Cherry, lemon, and blackberries. I couldn't sleep and my mother has this second sense when someone is getting her kitchen dirty.

"You seem.. Not yourself, Pluto," My father sits in the chair across from me, "What's going on, my moon?" I give my dad a half smile and shrug  as I take the last bite of my danish.

"It's been a week," I tell him, "I haven't seen him in a week and I know I went four months without him, but-"

"It was a week you weren't expecting, Pluto."

"You weren't expecting 15 years." I blurt out and my father solemnly nods, twirling the ceremony band on his finger. He doesn't really say much after that and I don't blame him. What do you say to that? What am I supposed to tell him after I brought up one of his biggest mistakes of his life?

"We have word that Jaejin has made it to Flóga," Flóga is the first town from the peninsula of Black Soul to Red Blaze's peninsula that you fly into, "Well yesterday morning, we have news of that, by now, he should be here soon." It's Nova, she's holding her riding helmet in her arm, resting it against her leather clad hip. She's in her typical and what I like to call her overused outfit. All leather, black leather riding boots, her dual swords are attached to her back, and her black cloth hood that rests on the top of her back.

"Why didn't we get any sooner notice?" I snap at my sister and she deeply sighs, pointing at my father with her thumb.

"Tell this guy to update his damn Court. Not my fault, Sebes is old as the damn Revolution." My sister grunts and my father chuckles.

"My King, Prince Jaejin, has just landed with his dragon, Seung. I am afraid to put him in the stables with the other Reds and Silvers. Where shall I put him for now?" The man in charge of the Stables comes in, and he almost looks like he's ready to piss his pants.

"Put Kos from his Royal Stable back to his Stable next to his daughter. Put Seung into the Royal Stable, he'll be the only one in there, and it will only last for a week or maybe a few weeks; either way, give Seung the Stable." My father commands and Orion comes through the doors of the Castle, his hair is messy. That's the first thing that I notice. Then the smell.

"For Demis sake, you couldn't take a shower and wipe your slut's stink-"

"Nova Astra-" My father barks and I can't help the laugh that sprouts out of my mouth. My family turns their heads to look at me and I slap my hand over my mouth, trying to horribly hide my laugh. So I coughed to clear my throat.

"What's so funny, Pluto Zorán?" She growls and I can't help the tiny giggle.

"Nothing, nothing. It's nothing." I snicker and Orion tilts his head at me.

"Pluto." My father warns and I try to look at them with a straight face.

"I'm just hoping that Seung doesn't burn down your Royal Stable, aita. He's a free roam dragon in Sanseong, he doesn't have to be confined to a Stable. So I am trying to find the face on your Stable Hand when Seung gets out the first time." I laugh and all of them smile at me. Then our heads turn again. A guard comes in, banging his staff into the marble floor.

"Prince Jaejin Cha of Black Soul." He says, banging twice. My hands tremble, my heart stutters in my chest, and I can feel my body freeze in place. I run up to my mate, jumping into his arms. I was so glad he caught me and I didn't care that we had an audience, I kissed him. I kissed him deeply on the mouth, not caring if my family watched. He was mine. Jaejin Cha was my Mate, and I didn't care who watched because I had waited long enough to love him in the dark.

"Luc?" She asks as she sets eyes on my father, and my father cradles her face. Our safety and her freedom has been his number one priority since she got let go of. I know my father has been going through hell everyday worried about us.

"He's back, Astraea." He whispers and she smiles, grabbing his hand that cradles her face.

"My children, Lucijan." She grins and he clears his throat, nodding. Jaejin lets go of me, letting me stand back on my feet. I take that moment to take a step back and look at my mate. Why does he look so good? His lips are in a straight line and when his brown eyes meet mine, my body feels like it's on fire. I feel like I can erupt into flames at any moment. His brown eyes start at my face and they scan down to the mark on my neck, checking to see if I was hurt while he was gone. He seems pleased when he doesn't see bandages or evident scars on me. His eyes still scan down my body and he pokes the inside of his cheek with his tongue. It's sexy. I missed him so much. Astraea walks to my brother first and smiles at him, something in my chest hurts when she does. I remember that smile and it hurts my heart. Orion seems stunned, like me, frozen in place even if our flames are trying to claw out of our skin.

"Got his temper too, I am guessing?" She asks him and brings him into a hug. My father is the tallest of the family, standing straight up at six feet even. She's two inches shorter than my father, so am I, and so is my older brother. Orion has tears and a wall in his eyes, not wanting to cry in front of everybody, but ecstatic that our mother is safe now. For good. We might be jumping the gun since Jaejin hasn't told us any news. My Mate is as tall as my father. It's like my mother has turned over a leaf, she's a whole other person. I think this is the most I've seen her talk since I got here.

"I was always told that it was your temper, ama," Orion snickers and uses the phrase for mom. My mother smiles and kisses my brother's cheek, then cupping his cheek. "We missed you." My brother whispers and she nods, not saying anything. My mother then is pulling away from my brother and heading to Nova.

"Charys didn't scare you too much then, hm?" My mother questions, "And High General of Red Blaze? I just wanted you to be able to defend yourself."

"Charys has a mean dive but nothing a Kallis can't handle," Nova tells her with a smirk on her face, "Once I got there, I was home. No one was going to take me off that Peak." Nova explains to my mom and she grins. Astraea just smiles widely and kisses her forehead.

"Thank you for looking out for Charys, Nova. I'm glad the men of this Kingdom didn't break your spirit, Nova Kardos." She tells her and then she steps in front of me.

"Hi, ama." I tell my mother and she lets out a deep breath of fresh air.

"Pluto Zorán, when I brought you into this world, I never expected you to make alliances with the two Kingdoms who have hated each other since they became Kingdoms." She smiles and she tilts her head at the mark on my neck.

"I never expected you to be right underneath my feet the entire time in Sanseong." I told her, frowning. My heart broke for my mother, but it also broke for me, and broke for my Jaejin. It's not like he knew who my parents were but what his father had put him through wasn't fair either. Talking to her, everyday, and trying to get JJ to loathe her like he did.

"You didn't know, my moon," She tells me, she runs her hand over the mark on my neck, "I want you to know that I approve of who you chose. He's a good man and a man who's not afraid to stick up for what he believes in." She added and I looked over at Jaejin. He was listening and he made eye contact with me. I winked at him and smiled at my mother.

"I know," I told her, "How did you do the memory thing?" I questioned her and she grins.

"I threw the Faebane in my guard's face. Got a beating out of it but it was worth it, you needed the truth and the message. It was a bit delayed due to my magic being blocked out for so long, which is why you got it when your memories got back. Your father thinks that all children should be shielded from this world and its past, at least till you are mature enough emotionally to deal with how much blood these Kingdom's were built on. I don't agree, I believe that this world takes and takes till you are nothing but a numb shell of yourself. So what do you do? You build yourself back up, you make yourself strong again, and when this world wants to take from you again; you let it. You let it take from you again, because that's all fate does, but you don't break because you saw it coming all along. You make yourself invincible from the hurt and Pluto? You never let the damn bastards see you break again." She tells me and the tears to my eyes seem to understand. It seems as if my mother has seen a lot more of this taken World than we all want to admit. Her Kingdom was burned down, she had to come to a new Kingdom for an arranged marriage, she lost her parents, and she lost the opportunity to raise us with the love of her life.

"Never again." I promised her and she let out a breath she was holding.

"I'm going to wash properly now, why don't we have dinner soon?" She suggests and we all nod. My father takes her hand and up to the bedroom they go. I'm going to stay away from that room I think for at least the next month. That's if I'm still there and not in Black Soul. My brother looks in shock and Nova.. I can never read her anyway, so it's hard to tell what she's thinking. Jaejin is in front of me before I realize it, and I wrap my arms around him.

"I missed you, Cha." I whisper into his neck and reach up to tug on his earlobe with my teeth. He lets out a throaty groan, and wraps his arms around me.

"I missed you, my Pyro." He tells me and kisses the side of my head as I rest my head on his shoulder.

"Do we need to go talk?" I ask him and he nods, letting out a deep sigh.

"We do, let's go to our room, yeah? Need a shower." He explains and that's what we do. We head up to our bedroom which thankfully is on the other side of the castle from my father's chambers. We head into the bathroom where Jaejin takes a shower. I watch him undress and see all the mud that is on his body.. is that blood?

"Why do you have blood on you?" I grit my teeth and he tries to smile at me but I narrow my eyes.

"Found some bandits and some Silver Air People on the way to Lángok. They don't like it when they see a Black Dragon. Tried to attack me when I got firewood. I'm sure they will be spreading the word soon," He explained himself, although that didn't make me feel any better, "It was a long trip but it was an easy trip. I just wanted to see you sooner than later." JJ tells me and slips into the shower. I watch the water turn a mix of brown and red. I don't like the fact that I wasn't there to protect him or help him bring my mother back home.

"But, on more serious matters, what about your title?" I ask him and he sighs heavily, looking at me.

"Let's go to dinner, then we can talk about what my father said." He says and gives me a tight lipped smile, a smile that I know that doesn't come with any good news at all.

So we did. We went to dinner and I kept my mouth silent. I held his hand and I listened to my mother. My mother then talks and talks, she talks about everything. Although it's not good at all, we all seem to light up. With the possibility of the Treaty on the table, my mother seems to have a lifetime of burden lifted off her shoulders. My mother spoke about politics, something I didn't really care about. How Minjun never laid a hand to her, and if she ever did get beaten because of not following the rules, he always had a guard do it. I could see the tick in my father's jaw, the huff that leaves Orion's lips, and the way Nova picks at the skin on her lips. I'm the only one who doesn't have the anxiety tick that shows on my face, no, it's due to the fact that I can feel the heat in my veins. Minjun Cha is testing my patience and how much I can really take when it comes to my family. He's taken from me, and I don't know how much longer I can keep my fire from burning my father in law to ashes.