With silent understanding, we flew together to the far side of the canyon, leaving the remaining hellhounds and my client’s newly arrived men to stare after us in disappointment.
Drakor and I alighted on solid ground as one. He shook off his scales, and I watched in amazement as the snowy plumage that covered me from my glossy beak to the tops of my taloned feet dissolved back into my own skin.
“An eagle,” Drakor said, wonder in his deep voice. “I might have guessed.”
“How could you have?” I asked. “I didn’t know myself until just now.”
His smile was rather smug. “Your mother’s name, Nisha.”
“Jariat?” I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
“As I told you, it is a very old name, a mythical name. According to legend, Jariat was a beautiful bird who became a human for love of her offspring.”
It took me a moment to process everything I was hearing, everything that had just happened. “You’re telling me that my mother was Strange? Do you think she was the Jariat of legend?”
He bent his head and kissed me with so much love it made my heart ache. “We have a lifetime to figure all of this out. We could share forever, Nisha, if you’ll have me.”
I smiled up into his handsome face. “I like the sound of that.”
“There’s just one other thing.” He grew very serious then. “I will be making some changes in the way my father’s court is run. I will need someone courageous, someone honorable, whose opinion I value over any other, to stand beside me when I reclaim my father’s throne.”
I swallowed, proud of him and hopeful for the future we might build together. “You want me to be part of your court?”
His assenting nod couldn’t have been more regal if his head was wreathed with a jeweled crown. “I cannot imagine becoming king unless you are with me, Nisha. As my queen and chief advisor.”
I threw my arms around him and caught his mouth in an elated kiss.
He chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes?”
“Yes!” I cried. “I love you, Drakor. So, yes, yes! Yes to whatever you desire of me.”
He growled with purely male interest. “Now, I like the sound of that.”