Fire Rises

Brunch Bunch Love

When the world started to piece itself back together, we were in front of a little cafe. 

“That. Was. AWESOME! What is that? How? Do it again!!” Lucian was having a much more positive reaction than I did to my first leap through time and space. 

Why is everyone else so more well adjusted to this world than I am? Maverick chuckled at Lucian’s reaction, but looked pleased to have done something my brother deemed impressive.

“All the royals can do it from all the kingdoms. Just after the... the Roundup, the First Fairy granted the ability to make intercommunication between kingdoms more accessible.” I was surprised by that answer. I just assumed it was a power that some people were born with.

I looked up and down the street and didn’t recognize our surroundings. “Where are we?”

Maverick blushed and wrinkled his nose, making his ruggedly handsome face appear cute. My heart stopped and I had forgotten my question by the time he answered. “Well, I thought it would be safer to talk here. We’re in my kingdom… It’s actually… well it’s in the Springtime Kingdom” He looked like he had more to say.

“You look like you have more to say.” He glanced down at our still intertwined hands and began rubbing his thumb over the back of my knuckles.

“Your mother’s castle is here, too.” I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of that before.

“HA! These people are going to hate us so much! And their prince is in love with you! Oh my god, you can’t write this s**t! It’s too perfect!” I shot Lucian a look with glowing eyes.

“Shut up, Lucian! We just met. He’s not in love with me. We just have a connection... that’s all.” I looked sideways at Maverick to see how he felt about my correction. He looked shy and guilty.

“That’s not what he told us this morning.” Lucian smirked. Clara eagerly nodded in confirmation. My heart fluttered in excitement. He didn’t even know me, not really, so he couldn’t love me, could he? Did I love him? 

Irrevocably. Forever and always. I did. I mean, I needed to know more about him, but I unconquestionably knew that he was my other half; my perfect complement; the ying to my yang; the butter to my bread; the peanut butter to my jelly.

Fuck, I really need to eat. It had made me so uncomfortable when Archer had gone all mushy on me so quickly, but hearing that Maverick loved me made my whole body flush with excitement.

Maverick lifted our hands and brushed the back of mine against his blushing cheek. “We have a lot to discuss…” he looked around to everyone, “we all do. And I can hear Eve’s stomach growling. Let’s go inside before Eve bites off one of my fingers.” 

I would never! Well, at least not yours.

“She would never! Well, she would never eat your fingers.” Maverick shuddered at the image Lucian had subtly confirmed. He wasn’t afraid of me and he didn’t view me as a tool to be used. He accepted me and all of my… differences. Either that, or he thought Lucian was kidding.

“Come on my little dragon queen. Let’s get you fed.”

****

It took the whole meal, but finally Lucian and Clara were on board with the plan. 

“I have one last question,” Lucian looked very serious. “What makes you think Charming will allow me to go with you? He’s beyond suspicious of what’s going on with you and my sister. This could easily be seen as a ploy to keep some sort of connection with her.”

“I’ve been thinking about that, too. I think I’ve got a pretty good solution. Your mother’s castle is within my kingdom and it has sat vacant since she was captured. Charming didn’t bring you out of the Dark Place and he doesn’t have any rule over you. You will simply leave to reclaim what belonged to your family. Technically the villains lost their rights to any property they had whenever they were captured, but since the castle is in my territory it's up to me to make that exception.”

Lucian looked like he was thinking the plan over. He took a long look at Clara, before answering Maverick. “I want my mother’s castle. I imagine it’s in disarray after being abandoned for so many years, so I will spend the time between now and the wedding cleaning it up and getting it prepared for Clara to come home to. She deserves the very best and I want to make it absolutely perfect for her.” Clara’s face lit up at the fact that Lucian was talking about their future together. I couldn’t help a smile of my own. This was not the brother I left in the Dark Place. I always knew that he wasn’t any more evil than me, but this side, this sweet, thoughtful side, was refreshing to see. I was proud of him. 

“Hmm, I thought you might say something like that. Well, I don’t see why not. The only thing is… well… disarray isn’t a strong enough word for what is going on with that castle. It needs a complete overhaul. I think you’d still have to stay at my castle while you get the renovations started. I can hire a small team and provide some resources to help with the repairs, though.” I couldn’t tell if Maverick was doing this to win over my brother or because he truly thought it was the right thing to do. It didn’t matter; the gesture made me swoon.

“Well if we’re done here, would you all mind splitting up for an hour or so? I’d like to show Eve around a bit before we have to head back for our meeting with Charming.”

“Yeah, sure that sounds great.” Clara was eager to jump at the opportunity for some more alone time with Lucian. 

Ari was quiet. I nudged her arm softly. “Are you okay?”

“Umm, what? Yeah. I’m fine.” She didn’t sound fine.

“You don’t sound fine.” She looked up at me with big wet eyes.

“I just… I don’t know where I fit into all of this. I mean, I know my role for taking down Prince Charming’s sister, but then what do I do after that? I just go live with Arabella and Kian until it’s time to start working at the boarding school? I’m excited to work at the school and help the kids acclimate to this world, but I… I don’t know. I feel a little inadequate and out of place.” I reached for her hand and gave it a light squeeze. As I did so, Maverick chimed in.

“Ari, you will always be welcome in my kingdom. Maybe we can schedule a weekly visit for all of you ladies to catch up?” His voice was nothing short of sincere. Maverick really was so dreamy. He was naturally everything Prince Charming had tried so hard to be. Ari perked up as his words.

“That sounds nice. I’d like that very much. Thank you.” She still looked a little sad.

“You’re more than welcome to join us on our walk now too, but you’re also welcome to go shop for some new clothes if you’d like. Get whatever you want and have the shop owners send me the bill.” That really perked her up.

“Well, I don’t actually have any of my own clothes here, so shopping sounds perfect! Meet back in front of the cafe in an hour?” She was already out of her seat and inching away as she finished her sentence.

****

Maverick had taken me into a nearby park. The whole place was heavily wooded. Magic hummed in the air all around. The trail we were walking on was quiet except for the birds singing in the distance and the occasional flutter of fairy wings in the bushes. 

“This place is so wonderful!” I surprised myself when I spun in a blissful circle as I spoke. I felt so light. All of the stress from the past few days was temporarily lifted from my shoulders as we strolled hand in hand. 

“This is actually the place my parents were met and fell in love.” He lightly tugged on my arm gently pulling me towards him. He wrapped me in a tight hug and kissed the top of my head. I sighed in contentment. 

“Thank you for bringing me here.” He pulled back just enough to lean down and press his lips against mine. I would have been ecstatic to spend the rest of our hour doing just that, but I had a goal. I needed to get to know the man that I wanted to give the rest of all my kisses to. I reluctantly ended the kiss and pulled him to start walking again. “So, Prince Maverick, tell me about yourself.”

He chuckled. “What do you want to know?”

“What’s your birthday?”

“April 14. Yours?”

“May 10. How old are you?”

“I’m 26. You?”

“19.” I silently hoped he wouldn’t have a change of heart after hearing our age difference.

Sensing my onset of nerves, he leaned down and kissed my cheek. “You’re very mature for your age.”

“We had to grow up fast in the Dark Place.” I didn’t want this conversation to turn negative so I quickly followed up with another question. “Who is your best friend?”

“Hmm… I have a few. I’d say my best friend is my cousin, Peter. We grew up in the palace together. He doesn’t live there anymore, but he lives close enough that we still get to see each other a lot. Who is your best friend?”

“Well I hadn’t ever had a friend until about a week ago. Clara has been a game changer. If I had known having friends could be so fun I would have let Ari in a long time ago. I’m happy that we are getting the chance to build a friendship now.” Maverick looked like he was thinking that over.

“Ari tried to be your friend before?”

“Yeah, in the Dark Place she put in a lot of effort when we were younger, but I was never open to the idea of getting close to anyone. If you care about anything, then others have something to use against you. It just never seemed smart to have friends.”

“So then you were on your own?” 

“I had my brother... but... well you’ve met him. He’s my brother so I love him and I know I was the only thing he’s ever cared about until Clara, but he’s such a douche sometimes.” The conversation had come back to the Dark Place again, so I asked another question to redirect us. “Do you have any siblings?”

His face went grim. I clearly had asked the wrong question. “I had a sister, but I don’t remember her very much. I’ve seen pictures and my parents tell me we were very close.” His face lit up a little at the end, but it was clear he didn’t want to dwell on that topic either. We would have to have these more painful conversations at some point, but I didn’t want our whole relationship to be rooted in darkness. He must have been thinking the same thing, because he stooped down to pluck a flower from the ground. He held it out to me with a big smile on his face.

Ugh, why do I have to be such a freak? This was going to make the conversation dark again. I knew I couldn’t take the flower.

When Maverick saw me hesitate at the sight of the flower he moved to tuck it behind my ear. I stepped away before he could touch the flower to my head. “So, um, strange thing about me. I can’t touch flowers.” He looked at me perplexed. I sighed. “It’s a dragon thing.”

Instead of being afraid, like I thought he’d be, he laughed. It made me feel better so I laughed back. “So then no flowers on anniversaries or birthdays. Noted. What happens? Do they burst into flames?”

“Eh, they just kind of crumple to ash.” I shrugged my shoulders and reached for the flower he still had in his hands. One little touch and the whole flower disintegrated.

“Aw, it’s okay, Love. You’re just too hott!” He touched my shoulder and made a 'tsss' sound before pinching at my butt. I gave him a playful slap on the chest and was thankful for the playful turn of the day.

“Okay, okay, so you know about the weirdest things about me. Tell me something abnormal about you.” He wrapped his arms around me from behind and held me in a hug while he thought of his answer.

“Hmmm... I’m not sure. Nothing really comes to mind.”

“Oh come on! You can’t be totally perfect and normal!” He laughed and ran his hands up and down my sides.

“Well, I am in love with a dragon.” That sent my head spinning. He said he was in love with me. To me. But he also said it was weird. 

Awesome. I’ve turned an amazingly wonderful and normal person weird. I knew I was contagious. I looked up and back at his face, and all of my worries were immediately snuffed out. He was smiling gently down at me with nothing but acceptance and adoration.

“I’m in love with you, too.” The words came out a whisper, but I had never been more confident in anything. My words earned an earth shattering smile that spread across his face.

“Say it again.”

“I’m in love with you.” He bent down, his hands finding the back of my thighs. He lifted me up, wrapping my legs around his torso. 

“Again.”

“I’m in love with you.” This time it came out a gasp. He crushed his lips against mine while my hands knotted themselves in his hair. He licked and nipped at my lips. For once in my life I didn’t feel the need to fight for dominance. I parted my lips and allowed him to explore my mouth. One of my hands moved to his sculpted chest while one of his was pawing at the curves of my hip. 

The kiss kept deepening as our hands explored each other's bodies. He was intoxicating. I never wanted this to end and judging by the intensity of his kisses, he didn’t want it to end either. 

He moved his kisses from my mouth to my jaw line. As he moved from my chin to my ear he whispered, “I love you so much.” My back arched at his words.

He nibbled on my ear and added, “I can’t wait to spend my life learning why we have been fated to be together.” I swooned again and felt my body reacting to his words. 

A ruffle in the bushes brought me out of my haze and back to reality; we needed to start heading back. If we wanted to do this forever, we had to get the hard part out of the way first. As usual, he was on the same page. He placed one final kiss on my neck before giving my bottom a little double tap, silently telling me he was going to put me down.

As we started the walk back out of the park, we continued our conversation. I learned about his likes and dislikes and he listened intently as I talked through my interests. He was so excited to tell me about his parents and childhood. He knew better than to ask me about mine at this point. Instead he asked me something I hadn’t thought too hard about. “So, why do you think you were chosen first to come out from the Dark Place.”

“Well, Archer said he had asked around and everyone vouched for me.” Maverick took a second to think about that before turning to me with a proud grin. He was met with an embarrassed half smile in return.

“I don’t deserve that pride. I wasn’t a good person, Maverick. I was a product of my raising, sure, but I gave those people no reason to vouch for me. I actually had wondered about it myself. I thought maybe it was fear that had made them feel obligated to sing my praises, but if it was solely fear based then they would have sent my brother. I hadn’t even been to the Judgements in weeks.” The words had already passed my lips by the time I realized what I was saying.

Maverick raised an eyebrow at me. “The Judgements?”

I am a masochist. It is the only explanation. Why oh why would ever bring up the Judgements on my own? I must enjoy hurting myself. I couldn’t think of a single other reason I would have done such a thing.

“Erm..” He picked up my hand and kissed the back of it as we continued to walk.

“We don’t have to talk about it. I want you to know, though, you can talk to me about anything. There is nothing you could do or say that will make me think any less of you. I understand your past isn’t all rainbows and sunshines, but that’s all a part of who you are today. I wish that I could go back in time and stop any pain that you had to endure, truly I wish I could. It’s too late for that now, but I can promise I will never, ever judge you for any of it.” He meant every word and the genuineness pulled at my heart strings again. 

I felt a few tears slide down my cheeks. Maverick leaned down and kissed one as it rolled past my cheek bone. 

He’s kissing my eye pee. I giggled at the thought.

He let out a little laugh in return. “What?”

“You kissed my eye pee. Now that is the weirdest thing about you.” He tilted his head back and let out a hearty laugh that boomed through the trees. Remembering my initial confusion over tears made me realize something else he had just said.

“Hey, Maverick?”

“Yes, Love?”

“What’s a rainbow?”