Dragon Soul

Chapter 19

19

Beautiful suit. Light brown hair, nearly blond. Clean shoes. That was all I could see of my husband-to-be.

The wind rustled through the trees surrounding us and crashed a storm of petals against me. My veil fluttered up and I quickly patted it down. It was the last protection I had, my last barrier between me and my future husband.

Ten more steps to the altar. Ten more steps to the start of a new life. I wasn’t ready but there was no turning back. Not anymore.

Another breeze tugged on my veil and ripped it clean off. No! With a little shriek, I chased the fabric tumbling through the air. My fingers grazed along the flimsy edge, but it slipped right from me.

“Here, I got it!” A shadow cast over me and I almost bumped into the two legs in front of me. Damn. I could no longer avoid the confrontation with my fiancé.

With trembling hands, I brought my eyes up and stared right into a familiar face.

“Porter?” My heart skipped a beat. “What are you doing here? Did you come to run away with me?”

He chuckled throatily as he took my hand. “Let’s do that after the wedding.”

“After?” I frowned. “That seems like a lot of unnecessary paperwork to go through to just run away.”

The blond man pressed the back of my hand against his lips, his smile dazzling me. Almost enough for me to forget about the man waiting at the altar.

“Porter…” I stepped away from him, a little embarrassed about our display of affection. If he wasn’t going to run with me before the wedding, this certainly wasn’t what my fiancé would want to see.

“Yes, JJ?”

“I’ve got this thing…” I cleared my throat uneasily. “Umm. You might remember... My wedding?”

“Oh, yes, of course. I’ll let you get to it.” He smiled at me, so carefree it made my heart ache. Did he not even care a little that I was about to get married to another man?

I turned away from him, the pain my new reality. The last steps to the stone table the hardest I ever had to take.

The officiater of our commune smiled at me and gestured to the empty space in front of the altar. “Janet Jane Jael, welcome.”

Great. I always loved when they used my complete name. Nothing ridiculous about that at all.

I bit my lip, waiting for the rest of the ceremony. Why was the officiater waiting?

Hey, where was my husband? The man in the suit was right here, just a moment ago. Where did he go?

Did he get cold feet and run away? Why was I so excited about that thought?

“Porter Eduard Landon, welcome.”

Porter?

I stared at the man on my left and was met with shimmering brown eyes. Porter. Without his stubble, he was even more handsome. What was he doing here? Why was the officiator talking to him?

This was a private ceremony, no outsiders allowed. But then if the officiator wasn’t chasing him away… Maybe that meant… No, that couldn’t be… But then… Could it?

A warmth spread through me as the officiator asked us to kneel. At no point, he seemed to believe Porter wasn’t meant to be here. He reached out to touch our heads and mumbled a rite in old Earth Dragon language that I knew by heart. Mum had hammered it into my memory from the moment I could talk.

Dust to dust, earth to earth. Two become one and one for two. Dust to dust, heart to heart. Bound from the start, never broken apart.

He placed the stone bowl of sacred earth between the two of us and Porter and I exchanged a mischievous glance.

“Ready for a new quest?” he whispered, a smile dancing along his lips.

“More than ever.” The earth was dry on my skin and we intertwined our hands within the soil.

The officiator cleared his throat to silence us and gestured at the mountain. “Bless this dragon union and bring forth the fruits of the earth.”

“Porter Eduard Landon, you are bound this day forth to Janet Jane Jael. Do you accept this mating bond?”

Porter shot me a dazzling smile as he answered without any sign or hesitation. “I do.”

Oh my Gaia. This wasn’t a dream, was it? This was actually happening. I was about to marry Porter, my partner in crime, my best friend, my everything.

“And Janet Jane Jael, you are bound this day forth to Porter Eduard Landon. Do you accept this mating bond?”

With excitement I hadn’t expected for this day, I nodded. Porter’s face chased all the dread and panic away, a promise of our future. “I accept this mating bond.”

The officator gestured at us. “Then I pronounce your souls bound together forever more. May nothing break apart what has been forged today.” With his last words, he gestured to the leafy arch and left us alone.

Married. I was married. Oh holy rock fall. I was married. And not just to any man, to Porter. My Porter.

Mum’s words suddenly made a lot more sense. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. She’d been right all along. Even if I hadn’t met Porter through Realms&Rebels, I’d have found my soulmate right here. At my wedding. Just like they said.

With Porter’s hand firmly intertwined in mine, we shook the soil away and darted through the arch. The mountains were calling for us, to seal the last part of our ceremony. The shift.

The wind tugged on my sari, the fluttering fabric vaguely reminiscent of the sensation of flying. I couldn’t wait to transform into my dragon form and to lay eyes upon Porter’s dragon. I’d only seen him in my imagination, but I was ready to witness his magnificence.