"My masculinity ain't fragile, beautiful!"
I blushed, "Good."
"So," he grinned, "what does the ring means for us?"
"A promise," I gulped, looking at his hand. "If you are right, and I am being stubborn, and there's no way out," he beamed, "I'll be up to do anything with you. Plus something else I'll only tell you if you are right, so you better hope you are. I can't promise anything else, because I will not lie to you. But I wanted to give you a reassurance, that as long as it lasts, you and me are together."
He looked at his ring than at me and his face lightened up like a kid who got the coolest present ever, and can't believe it, which made me blush harder. "So, it's a promise ring!" He giggled happy.
"Yes!" Whatever that means.
"Do you know what a promise ring is?" He gave me a look.
I blinked, "A ring with… a promise?"
He laughed as if I had just told him a joke, "Adorable, babe. A promise ring is given when there's a promise of your relationship going up the boyfriend-and-girlfriend stage in our case."
"You arsehole, don't get it over your head. I'm not proposing!"
Oliver giggled again, "You are promising to do it if I'm right."
I rolled my eyes, "Am I now? Let's deal with what we have in our hands right now, shall we, vampire? Let's see if we get through this alive, and after the war, if we are still mated, we can talk about it."
"We will, because I'm right!"
How condescending. "Now you have a ring and a earring."
He brought me closer, "I feel wooed."
"You feel too much."
"For you? Definitely," he countered. "Feels good!"
"What?"
Grinning, he touched his ring on mine, "To be wooed by a Queen!"
"Such a sugar-coating vampire," I clicked my tongue. "Now, Oli, I need to know what to do regarding Agost and Nicolette. I mean, I did give one little step yesterday, but it's not like I'll stop seeing Philippa in them in a second. You are better at this, what do I do?"
"Want to know something?" He smiled softly, playing with my curls, "River looks a lot like father, with mother's hair. I do too, but he looks almost identical. When I came back from my time in Mia's castle in Austria, I decided to get closer to him and it was pretty hard in the beginning. Plus the whole thing of going from the youngest child out of six, to the oldest out of two. It was bloody fucking tough, beautiful. But what made me swallow the lump on my throat was the fact that, despite looking like them, he wasn't them, and he needed me. He didn't have anyone, but the kids from the Circle who also couldn't do much shite."
"Fake it until I make it then?"
Sigh, "Ignore the appearance, beautiful. Focus on who they are, what they can do, and on the fact that they need you. They do not have Cosmos. Your father and grandmother aren't helpful at all, and their mother uses them," he looked into my eyes, his now turquoise, and held my chin high. "Blood-related they can only count on you. Not blood-related they have Kalisha and Melvin, and the others whom they are friends with too. But you have the power to help them like the others can't, beautiful. You are their older sister, half or not, my older siblings were all only half-blood related to me, but they were exactly what I needed back then. Family does not mean blood in any way, full, half, or none."
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, "It's hard."
"When did you learn about them, beautiful?"
I blinked, "The day Meredith let me out and told me to head to the Academy in a spam of two weeks. Before she left, grandma dearest told me to stay away from them, and when I asked who they were, she told me about them. Then when she left, Cosmos told me not to worry because they were nothing like me, and weren't as powerful."
"Probably because you were born from a mating bond," he said. "They say kids born from a mating bond are insanely naturally stronger than those born from a common relationship. Me, you, Felix, River. In fact, all the kids except for your siblings, in our teams, are from mating bonds."
What? "For real?"
A nod, "Yes. You can only be the leader of one of the Courts or a Grand Duke and Duchess if you are mated. It signifies power and strength. Dragon, Vampire, Witch, Shifter, Seraphim, Demon, Siren, Fairy, Elves, Giants, Kraken Courts. The main races."
"So, my father would be the King if mom was here. But as she died, people may not know, but he lost his place as the next King of the Dragon Court, meaning the next is his heir. Agost, if he is mated."
"He is," what?
I gasped, "He and Kalisha are mates?"
Giggling, he nodded. "Yes. You've been hitting a mated wolf, babe. Though you are also mated," he winked. "Kalisha and your brother, Priya and Savannah, Shiryu and Nevena, Elsa and Noah, Yuliana and Dimitry. And us," he brushed his lips on mine. "The difference is that their bonds snapped when we were still physically children, so they got used to it. The other couples are just together on the normal way. They also switched pairs with each other with time, broke up, then got with whom they are now."
"If I have had to guess, I would have said Rio and Irene are too, but seems like it's not the case. They look good together though."
He agreed with me, "They do."
"Who dated who before?"
"Irene dated my brother, Agatta and Yumi. Yumi dated Irene, Agatta and Ivar. Ivar dated Yumi, Sabrina, and Dora. Sabrina dated Ivar and Melvin. Dora dated Ivar and Henrihk. Melvin dated Igor, Sabrina and Danielle. Henrihk dated Dora and Dorothy. Danielle dated Melvin and Nicolette. Dorothy dated Henrihk, Igor, and Rio. Nicolette dated Igor, Danielle, Agatta, and Rio. Rio dated Dorothy, Nicolette, Igor, my brother, and Agatta. My brother dated Igor, Irene, Rio, and Agatta. Igor dated my brother, Melvin, Dorothy, Nicolette, Rio, and Agatta. And Agatta, who always hanged around us, dated Igor, Irene, Yumi, Nicolette, Rio, and my brother, that panther is dangerous. It has been 10 years since we are all in here together."
I gasped, "Rio dated my sister? Ew," I mean, he is cute and strong, but ugh, no. "And damn, there are more bi girls in this top 26 than I thought. Agatta, Nicolette, Igor and Rio really enjoyed themselves didn't they? Now Rio's with Irene, Yumi with Danielle, Melvin with my sister, Henrihk with both Igor and Felix, Dorothy with your brother, Nicolette with Melvin. While Agatta, Ivar, Sabrina, and Dora are all single. And Felix who went from never dating to dating two guys."
He scoffed, "That was a big character development!"
"And you?" I tilted my head suddenly bitterly curiously.
"No one," he gave me a look. "Only my mate in my mind, like I told you. I've been with you in my mind even before we met, my love. It's been a long time, and everyone kept messing with me for never being with anyone, but it was worthy the wait, since I got the best out of the best."
I grinned, "I've dated Mr. Darcy, Aaron Warner, Cardan Greenbrier, Rhysand, Azriel, Cassian, Casteel Da'neer, Paul Artreides, Gilbert Blythe, Wrath, Hudson Vega, Inej, Jude, Vivian Lou, Daenerys Targaryen, Aelin Galathynius, Emilia-" he kissed me to shut me up, probably because he was annoyed.
"Literature characters don't count, beautiful," he growled. "Which makes me your first in everything, as you are mine. No need to be shy about it," he gave me the dirtiest of the grins. "Seems like we are born naturally good at all this, because it's bloody amazing when we are together, is it not?" Hell yes, that's an understatement.
"I can't say it's bad," I bit my bottom lip, eyes on his.
He gave me a naughty glare, "Seems like I'll have to work harder."
"Yeah?" I whispered, everything else disappearing.
His eyes turned ruby red again, "Hungry for your mate, beautiful?"
"Hungry doesn't even begin to cover what I feel," I breathed as I held him closer. "We have twenty minutes. What do you think of turning 10 of these 20, in an hour?" I whispered, brushing my lips on his.
"I love the way our minds think alike," he held me hard on his grip.
Slowly, I grinned, eyes back to his, "No, you hate it!"
"Not as much as I hate you, babe," then we crashed again.