Dragon Prince - Chapter Twenty Three
Dragon Prince
Chapter Twenty Three
“Come quick!” Micha yelled, her voice preceding her into Hyunjoong’s chambers.
He waved off the woman who was hard at work on his hair and rose from his seat. By the time he had turned to face the door, she was bursting through it, the blue silk of her dress billowing behind her. She panted lightly, as if she had run across the entire city instead of simply across his private courtyard.
When her eyes fell on him her face scrunched in the child version of disgust. “You are wearing that to your big event thing?”
Hyunjoong glanced down at his white underclothing and laughed. “No this is my underwear,” he told her.
“Why are you still in your underwear?” she asked peering at him.
“Micha why aren’t you watching Haneul and didn’t you come to tell me something?” he asked pointedly.
“Oh!” she exclaimed straightening. “Come quick! It’s coming!”
“What?” Hyunjoong asked her confused.
She scowled and placed her little hands on her hips, a gesture she had probably learned from her mother. “The little egg has cracks all over it and the baby is going to come popping out! Mother says that someone has to be there to catch babies when they come popping out or it could be bad!”
“The egg? The dragon is hatching?” he asked, excitement curling in him.
She gave him a look as though he was incredibly dumb and stormed forward to grab his hand. “Come on!” she exclaimed pulling him.
‘Youngsaeng,’ Hyunjoong called out frantically with his mind to his mate. ‘The egg is hatching! Isn’t it too soon?’
‘It has been with us for three months and who knows how long it has waited before that. I am sure it is time,’ he could hear the laughter in Youngsaeng’s voice.
‘What do I do?’ he asked, sending the dragon his displeasure at being teased. ‘Nothing. The dragon will hatch without your help, just be there to welcome him when he is free. I am on my way home.’
Hyunjoong nodded and followed Micha from the room and out the double doors into the courtyard. He knew Youngsaeng would be home shortly, as the dragon never flew too far from him. They were across the courtyard and through the doors into his personal chambers in record time. He hadn’t known that a child’s legs could move so fast. Micha pulled him instantly towards his large bedroom and he followed the pull.
When they opened the door, she squealed in delight. There on the floor sat Haneul with a white dragon slightly smaller than herself cradled in her lap. ‘It’s already hatched what do I do!?’ Hyunjoong asked frantically. It had taken him long enough to figure out how to care for a human child let alone a dragon.
‘Take it outside love. The sun will help its scales to dry and stiffen as they should,’ Youngsaeng told him sympathetically.
Hyunjoong nodded and released Micha’s hand so that he could step up to his daughter. “Haneul what do you have there?”
The little child looked up at him and smiled brightly. “Dragon,” she told him, as if he was asking a rather stupid question and he gasped.
“Oh my little girl,” he knelt enveloping her and the new born dragon in his arms, “That is right. You have a dragon,” he told her blinking back tears that threatened to drop at the sound of her voice at last. Gently he picked the two up and carried them from the room and out into the courtyard, ignoring the mess of shell and fluid they left behind.
He settled on a bench in the sun with them on his lap and Micha hovering nearby. “Ooh can I touch him?” Micha cooed climbing up on the bench and hovering near his shoulder.
“I don’t know,” Hyunjoong told her.
The plants nearby rustled and Hyunjoong looked up to see Youngsaeng landing in the open space in the courtyard. ‘It won’t hurt him for you to touch him,’ he heard Youngsaeng tell her. ‘Just be gentle.’
Micha nodded seriously and reached out a finger. She stroked it down the little dragon’s neck then pulled it away quickly. “Eww he is squishy.” Hyunjoong laughed as Haneul frowned at her and pulled the little dragon closer.
‘He needs to be named, dear one,’ Youngsaeng told him softly. ‘He does not live until he is named.’
Hyunjoong nodded. They had spoken about the naming of the dragon and how, in the absence of a mother, the responsibility would fall to him. “You will be known to your kin as Sekayi.” The little white dragon tilted its head slightly and blinked its brilliant blue eyes at him curiously. “You will be known to humans as Jungsoo.”
The small dragon chirped happily as if pleased with its names and rubbed its head along Hyunjoong’s fingers. “Those are lame names,” Micha grumbled. “I think we should call him Leeteuk!”
Hyunjoong sighed exasperatedly. “We are not calling him Leeteuk. When you have your own child you can call him that.”
“I can call him whatever I want to,” she said firmly. “And I’m going to call him Leeteuk, isn’t that right,” she cooed to him, her fingers scratching at his stomach. The small dragon released a series of trills and rolled fully on his back exposing his stomach to her fingers. Hyunjoong sighed, there was no arguing with women or children and they were both, leaving him doubly defeated.
‘I think they are very good names,’ Youngsaeng told them honestly. Hyunjoong glanced up at him and smiled. ‘But don’t we have a ceremony of some sort to get to?’
Hyunjoong’s eyes widened and he glanced down, taking in his now messed clothing and his daughter’s ruined dress. Then he smiled and shrugged. “It’s my ceremony; we can be a little late.”
‡†‡† 50 Years Later †‡†‡
“Ten bucks says he doesn’t last for three days without checking in,” a man with fiery red hair said with a smirk.
The young woman beside him scowled. “That isn’t funny Heechul,” she insisted.
“Naw he will last at least a week,” a slightly shorter man replied.
She whirled to face him, “Sungmin,” she growled in warning.
Hyunjoong laughed and patted her on the shoulder which she shrugged away from with a scowl. “Haneul don’t patronize your guards.”
“Especially when they are right,” Youngsaeng added with a smirk.
Hyunjoong rolled his eyes and looked beyond her to take in the seven men who were seemingly relaxing in the afternoon sun with their princess. All of them were dressed casually yet he knew that every single one was heavily armed beneath their clothing and would be ready to protect her at a moment’s notice.
Leeteuk, in his young and blond human form, stepped up beside her and threw an arm over her shoulder. “Don’t worry dad, we have her completely under control.”
She glared and dug her elbow sharply into his ribs, “Under control?” He winced and stepped back rubbing the spot. Hyunjoong watched as his children began one of their classic squabbles that usually resulted in rolling on the ground and torn clothing.
“Please don’t fight,” a young man named Ryeowook said softly, stepping forward. “The dragon envoy will be here shortly and you don’t want to ruin your clothing.”
Haneul shifted her glare to him and then huffed. Hyunjoong watched as his beautiful daughter scowled and crossed her arms belligerently. She didn’t look a day over twenty and he still remembered the panic he had felt when his ten year old daughter had come running into his room with the white dragon bounding in behind her, both of them bleeding from identical small cuts. She had announced that they had become blood siblings officially and Hyunjoong had nearly had a panic attack. It had taken several minutes of soothing from both Youngsaeng and Arunika, whom he called shortly after, to assure him that this didn’t make the two mates, it just made them close.
Hyunjoong had feared what the dragon blood would do to her, but it seemed to leave her perfectly healthy with the only exception that she aged much as a dragon would. It had taken years to pass the teenage stage of her life, but beyond that rather large hiccup, Hyunjoong couldn’t say that he hated what the dragon blood had done to her.
He had thought it would have been strange for her when twenty some years ago she began being assigned the males that would make up her personal guard, but she had taken it well and had formed a tight bond with the children who had grown up into the men who now protected her.
“That’s right you must look all pretty and proper for your new love,” Heechul teased, fluttering his eyelashes at her. She snapped back at him and Ryeowook jumped up to intervene again.
“You know the only reason that you can even pull this off is because your old friends Jungmin, Hyungjoon, and Changmin are sitting on the council,” Kibum, who doubled as Haneul’s guard and trusted advisor told him.
“I know, but I cannot stay longer then I have,” Hyunjoong answered him soberly. “The length of our rule is one of our biggest downfalls and I am not cut out to be still and watch over everything here. She will be fine as my heir, and when she has chosen her mate they will rule well.”
“I hope you are right. Your kingdom has healed but there is still so much more that needs to be done,” Kibum said gently as if he had lived through it not just the last twenty or so years.
“They are here,” Youngsaeng said softly, stepping to Hyunjoong grasping his hand.
Hyunjoong looked to the sky and saw the approach of the dragons that Youngsaeng had alerted him to. Flying in a tight formation were two green, two black, two yellow, and one white dragon. At the front of their formation leading them, was a red dragon, his wings incased in fire.
He heard Haneul’s intake of breath as he moved to her side and grasped her hand, squeezing it briefly. ‘Do not be frightened, daughter,’ Hyunjoong told her in her mind, the form of communication something he had perfected over the years.
‘I’m not afraid,’ she retorted, ‘I just can’t help thinking that one of them is my future, like Youngsaeng was yours.’ Hyunjoong offered her a smile.
As the dragons neared Hyunjoong could finally make out wings of the leading red dragon. He had heard of a dragon that flew with fire in his wings, and had always had suspicions of who it could be. Seeing the dragon confirmed those suspicions as he realize that the fire covered neat holes that were cut into the dragon’s wings, holes that were intended to keep him from flying, placed there over fifty years ago.
One by one the dragons began to land, shifting to their human form as they did so. The moment human skin appeared clothing formed over their bodies, covering them. “That is new,” Youngsaeng muttered beside him curiously.
“I am known to the humans as Hankyung,” the lead dragon said after all of them had landed and shifted. “I am here as captain of this envoy. This is Kangin, Siwon, Donghae, Shindong, Kyuhyun, Henry and Yesung,” he said, introducing each man in turn.
“I am Princess Haneul,” she said, releasing Hyunjoong’s hand and stepping forward to greet him. “This is my father, the Dragon King Hyunjoong and his Life Mate Youngsaeng,” she said gesturing to them. “This is my brother Leeteuk and these are my personal guards Heechul, Sungmin, Kibum, Zhou mi, Eunhyuk, and Ryeowook.”
“It is a pleasure,” Hankyung told her, his face stoic. He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it politely. “Your brother is a dragon?”
“He likes to think he is,” she said smiling at him. “We are all convinced he is a human who grows scales every now and again. How do you do the clothes thing? I would love it if the dragon men in this house wouldn’t expose themselves to me every time they changed.”
She slipped her arm in his and he smiled at her beginning to answer her question. Leeteuk stepped aside and grinned at her as she moved off with him into the castle. “She has him wrapped around her finger already.”
“Pay up, I called it, under five minutes,” Heechul called. The rest of the men rolled their eyes and followed after their charge ignoring the red head’s demand for money.
Leeteuk smiled to the rest of the dragons who seemed a little out of place as they stared after their captain. “If you would all follow me, I can get you settled.”
Hyunjoong watched as they followed him into the castle and Youngsaeng slipped an arm around his waist. “They grow up so fast,” the dragon said with a sigh leaning his head on his mate’s shoulder.
“Maybe by your count,” Hyunjoong muttered with a snort. “By human time it took forever.”
“And you don’t look a day older then you were when you found her,” Youngsaeng joked, nipping at his ear playfully.
“Stop that. We should probably make sure that they aren’t burning down the castle,” Hyunjoong muttered.
Youngsaeng laughed and teasingly moved around his mate. “I think they will be alright without us for a little while,” he murmured. Hyunjoong supposed that he was correct, if they hadn’t destroyed the place yet they weren’t likely to in the next ten minutes or so and he gave into the press of the other man’s lips.
‡†‡†‡†‡†‡
He felt a little bit like a thief or a youth sneaking out of his house in the middle of the night to elope with a lover, despite the fact that he was King over the entire kingdom and he could come and go as he pleased. Still as he slipped from his room with the last of their packs and tied it securely to Youngsaeng’s side, he couldn’t hold the thrill of excitement that ran through him.
They were taking a sabbatical of sorts, taking some time out to visit some old friends. Youngsaeng had figured it would be better for him to leave when the potential mates for Haneul arrive, since the presence of an old male dragon might encourage all sorts of trouble. There wasn’t a chance that Hyunjoong was going to let him leave him to deal with all of the young hormones that would be raging through the castle and as close as he and Haneul were after fifty years, he figured she would rather him gone for the event anyway.
“How long will it take to reach Arunika’s?” he asked, double checking that everything was secure.
‘A few days if we don’t rush,’ Youngsaeng told him. ‘And then a week or so more by air to reach Haven.’
Their planned trip consisted of visiting old friends, beginning with Arunika and ending with Yunho, Jaejoong, Yoochun, Junsu, Kyujong, and their mates who were all living at Haven. From there they had decided that they would play it by ear as both of them longed to explore and roam freely over the land.
“She’ll be alright won’t she?” Hyunjoong asked, looking over his shoulder towards the rise of buildings behind them.
‘She will be fine. She has her guardians and Jungmin, Hyungjoon, and Changmin all promised to keep an eye on her. If anything happens they know how to get in touch,’ Youngsaeng told him, repeating what he already knew.
Hyunjoong checked everything over one last time, stalling for a few moments more. ‘Come, Ayize. It is time to go,’ Youngsaeng called. It was the eagerness to be off together on a journey with nothing but each other flowing from the dragon that had Hyunjoong climbing up onto the saddle.
He straddled the neck that had grown a bit larger as the dragon had over the past years, but still not too large for him to sit on, and fastened the safety straps. “I’m sorry I haven’t had a lot of time for you these past fifty years,” Hyunjoong said sincerely.
‘I understand why you didn’t. Your kingdom needed you. I might not have liked it, but I understand. But now you are mine again,’ the last part was followed by a burst of joy.
“Let’s go then, before I change my mind,” Hyunjoong told him with a smile.
Youngsaeng released a call of joy and launched himself into the air, his powerful wings taking them higher into the sky. He circled the castle one last time, more for Hyunjoong’s peace of mind that all was well before veering east and settling in a path that would take them towards the Eastern Forest.
Hyunjoong smiled as he looked over his peaceful kingdom spread out below him, and then he relaxed, stretching forward along the dragon’s neck and allowing his mind to flow completely with Youngsaeng’s. Under the light of the full moon the Dragon King and his mate flew free, at long last.
Masterlist
AN:
First and foremost, thank you my wonderful Tiny Bubble (I'm gonna call you that now ^^). This would have been a mess of errors without all of your work and you listened to countless hours of planning and plot devising. I couldn't have done it without you dear. Have cookies!!
Ah another story comes to a close. Part of me is sad to see it end and the other part is going "Well it is about time!". Just a little closing wrap up, in case you were curious. Jungmin, Changmin, and Hyungjoon all got married to human women and lived with Hyunjoong in the palace to help out. Everyone else ended up married to dragons that they met and grew attached to either through the battle or through the rebuilding of the kingdom. There has not yet been signs of more dragons but it is one of the things Hyunjoong and Youngsaeng tend to go looking for so there may be more out there.
Also because I know some of you could never miss it... here is the note I wrote to my beta:
*makes happy noises and throws confetti* Ignore the little muses who are trotting around handing out idea for the sequel. I am telling them no, I don’t care that I set it up and I am threatening them that if they do not behave I shall change the ending so that the entire world gets blown up and everyone is dead, the end…. I don’t think they are listening…
*15 minutes later, after reading it through for errors* They are definitely not listening…. Why did I just see what would count as a trailer for the second story in my head… And I already have a title. I could call it Dragon Princess… *head desk* I quit…
So there are no definite plans for a sequel and I make no promises, however I am taking notes on what my brain comes up with in the event that I decide to write it. At the moment it is on the bottom of the very long list of things to write.
Thanks to all of my wonderful readers who have been so excited about this all the way through. Your excitement makes me that much more eager to write for you (Which is why I have completely spoiled you with everyday chapters here for the last little bit). Thank you all. A story is nothing more then words on a page, but in the mind of a reader it can find life and reveal amazing things. You all gave this thing life and I love that, so thank you. ^_^
Also check out the Masterlist if you are curious about the pronunciations of the names and about their meanings. I have updated it will all of them.
This ends the massive author's note. Now back to your regularly scheduled programing.
Chapter Twenty Three
“Come quick!” Micha yelled, her voice preceding her into Hyunjoong’s chambers.
He waved off the woman who was hard at work on his hair and rose from his seat. By the time he had turned to face the door, she was bursting through it, the blue silk of her dress billowing behind her. She panted lightly, as if she had run across the entire city instead of simply across his private courtyard.
When her eyes fell on him her face scrunched in the child version of disgust. “You are wearing that to your big event thing?”
Hyunjoong glanced down at his white underclothing and laughed. “No this is my underwear,” he told her.
“Why are you still in your underwear?” she asked peering at him.
“Micha why aren’t you watching Haneul and didn’t you come to tell me something?” he asked pointedly.
“Oh!” she exclaimed straightening. “Come quick! It’s coming!”
“What?” Hyunjoong asked her confused.
She scowled and placed her little hands on her hips, a gesture she had probably learned from her mother. “The little egg has cracks all over it and the baby is going to come popping out! Mother says that someone has to be there to catch babies when they come popping out or it could be bad!”
“The egg? The dragon is hatching?” he asked, excitement curling in him.
She gave him a look as though he was incredibly dumb and stormed forward to grab his hand. “Come on!” she exclaimed pulling him.
‘Youngsaeng,’ Hyunjoong called out frantically with his mind to his mate. ‘The egg is hatching! Isn’t it too soon?’
‘It has been with us for three months and who knows how long it has waited before that. I am sure it is time,’ he could hear the laughter in Youngsaeng’s voice.
‘What do I do?’ he asked, sending the dragon his displeasure at being teased. ‘Nothing. The dragon will hatch without your help, just be there to welcome him when he is free. I am on my way home.’
Hyunjoong nodded and followed Micha from the room and out the double doors into the courtyard. He knew Youngsaeng would be home shortly, as the dragon never flew too far from him. They were across the courtyard and through the doors into his personal chambers in record time. He hadn’t known that a child’s legs could move so fast. Micha pulled him instantly towards his large bedroom and he followed the pull.
When they opened the door, she squealed in delight. There on the floor sat Haneul with a white dragon slightly smaller than herself cradled in her lap. ‘It’s already hatched what do I do!?’ Hyunjoong asked frantically. It had taken him long enough to figure out how to care for a human child let alone a dragon.
‘Take it outside love. The sun will help its scales to dry and stiffen as they should,’ Youngsaeng told him sympathetically.
Hyunjoong nodded and released Micha’s hand so that he could step up to his daughter. “Haneul what do you have there?”
The little child looked up at him and smiled brightly. “Dragon,” she told him, as if he was asking a rather stupid question and he gasped.
“Oh my little girl,” he knelt enveloping her and the new born dragon in his arms, “That is right. You have a dragon,” he told her blinking back tears that threatened to drop at the sound of her voice at last. Gently he picked the two up and carried them from the room and out into the courtyard, ignoring the mess of shell and fluid they left behind.
He settled on a bench in the sun with them on his lap and Micha hovering nearby. “Ooh can I touch him?” Micha cooed climbing up on the bench and hovering near his shoulder.
“I don’t know,” Hyunjoong told her.
The plants nearby rustled and Hyunjoong looked up to see Youngsaeng landing in the open space in the courtyard. ‘It won’t hurt him for you to touch him,’ he heard Youngsaeng tell her. ‘Just be gentle.’
Micha nodded seriously and reached out a finger. She stroked it down the little dragon’s neck then pulled it away quickly. “Eww he is squishy.” Hyunjoong laughed as Haneul frowned at her and pulled the little dragon closer.
‘He needs to be named, dear one,’ Youngsaeng told him softly. ‘He does not live until he is named.’
Hyunjoong nodded. They had spoken about the naming of the dragon and how, in the absence of a mother, the responsibility would fall to him. “You will be known to your kin as Sekayi.” The little white dragon tilted its head slightly and blinked its brilliant blue eyes at him curiously. “You will be known to humans as Jungsoo.”
The small dragon chirped happily as if pleased with its names and rubbed its head along Hyunjoong’s fingers. “Those are lame names,” Micha grumbled. “I think we should call him Leeteuk!”
Hyunjoong sighed exasperatedly. “We are not calling him Leeteuk. When you have your own child you can call him that.”
“I can call him whatever I want to,” she said firmly. “And I’m going to call him Leeteuk, isn’t that right,” she cooed to him, her fingers scratching at his stomach. The small dragon released a series of trills and rolled fully on his back exposing his stomach to her fingers. Hyunjoong sighed, there was no arguing with women or children and they were both, leaving him doubly defeated.
‘I think they are very good names,’ Youngsaeng told them honestly. Hyunjoong glanced up at him and smiled. ‘But don’t we have a ceremony of some sort to get to?’
Hyunjoong’s eyes widened and he glanced down, taking in his now messed clothing and his daughter’s ruined dress. Then he smiled and shrugged. “It’s my ceremony; we can be a little late.”
‡†‡† 50 Years Later †‡†‡
“Ten bucks says he doesn’t last for three days without checking in,” a man with fiery red hair said with a smirk.
The young woman beside him scowled. “That isn’t funny Heechul,” she insisted.
“Naw he will last at least a week,” a slightly shorter man replied.
She whirled to face him, “Sungmin,” she growled in warning.
Hyunjoong laughed and patted her on the shoulder which she shrugged away from with a scowl. “Haneul don’t patronize your guards.”
“Especially when they are right,” Youngsaeng added with a smirk.
Hyunjoong rolled his eyes and looked beyond her to take in the seven men who were seemingly relaxing in the afternoon sun with their princess. All of them were dressed casually yet he knew that every single one was heavily armed beneath their clothing and would be ready to protect her at a moment’s notice.
Leeteuk, in his young and blond human form, stepped up beside her and threw an arm over her shoulder. “Don’t worry dad, we have her completely under control.”
She glared and dug her elbow sharply into his ribs, “Under control?” He winced and stepped back rubbing the spot. Hyunjoong watched as his children began one of their classic squabbles that usually resulted in rolling on the ground and torn clothing.
“Please don’t fight,” a young man named Ryeowook said softly, stepping forward. “The dragon envoy will be here shortly and you don’t want to ruin your clothing.”
Haneul shifted her glare to him and then huffed. Hyunjoong watched as his beautiful daughter scowled and crossed her arms belligerently. She didn’t look a day over twenty and he still remembered the panic he had felt when his ten year old daughter had come running into his room with the white dragon bounding in behind her, both of them bleeding from identical small cuts. She had announced that they had become blood siblings officially and Hyunjoong had nearly had a panic attack. It had taken several minutes of soothing from both Youngsaeng and Arunika, whom he called shortly after, to assure him that this didn’t make the two mates, it just made them close.
Hyunjoong had feared what the dragon blood would do to her, but it seemed to leave her perfectly healthy with the only exception that she aged much as a dragon would. It had taken years to pass the teenage stage of her life, but beyond that rather large hiccup, Hyunjoong couldn’t say that he hated what the dragon blood had done to her.
He had thought it would have been strange for her when twenty some years ago she began being assigned the males that would make up her personal guard, but she had taken it well and had formed a tight bond with the children who had grown up into the men who now protected her.
“That’s right you must look all pretty and proper for your new love,” Heechul teased, fluttering his eyelashes at her. She snapped back at him and Ryeowook jumped up to intervene again.
“You know the only reason that you can even pull this off is because your old friends Jungmin, Hyungjoon, and Changmin are sitting on the council,” Kibum, who doubled as Haneul’s guard and trusted advisor told him.
“I know, but I cannot stay longer then I have,” Hyunjoong answered him soberly. “The length of our rule is one of our biggest downfalls and I am not cut out to be still and watch over everything here. She will be fine as my heir, and when she has chosen her mate they will rule well.”
“I hope you are right. Your kingdom has healed but there is still so much more that needs to be done,” Kibum said gently as if he had lived through it not just the last twenty or so years.
“They are here,” Youngsaeng said softly, stepping to Hyunjoong grasping his hand.
Hyunjoong looked to the sky and saw the approach of the dragons that Youngsaeng had alerted him to. Flying in a tight formation were two green, two black, two yellow, and one white dragon. At the front of their formation leading them, was a red dragon, his wings incased in fire.
He heard Haneul’s intake of breath as he moved to her side and grasped her hand, squeezing it briefly. ‘Do not be frightened, daughter,’ Hyunjoong told her in her mind, the form of communication something he had perfected over the years.
‘I’m not afraid,’ she retorted, ‘I just can’t help thinking that one of them is my future, like Youngsaeng was yours.’ Hyunjoong offered her a smile.
As the dragons neared Hyunjoong could finally make out wings of the leading red dragon. He had heard of a dragon that flew with fire in his wings, and had always had suspicions of who it could be. Seeing the dragon confirmed those suspicions as he realize that the fire covered neat holes that were cut into the dragon’s wings, holes that were intended to keep him from flying, placed there over fifty years ago.
One by one the dragons began to land, shifting to their human form as they did so. The moment human skin appeared clothing formed over their bodies, covering them. “That is new,” Youngsaeng muttered beside him curiously.
“I am known to the humans as Hankyung,” the lead dragon said after all of them had landed and shifted. “I am here as captain of this envoy. This is Kangin, Siwon, Donghae, Shindong, Kyuhyun, Henry and Yesung,” he said, introducing each man in turn.
“I am Princess Haneul,” she said, releasing Hyunjoong’s hand and stepping forward to greet him. “This is my father, the Dragon King Hyunjoong and his Life Mate Youngsaeng,” she said gesturing to them. “This is my brother Leeteuk and these are my personal guards Heechul, Sungmin, Kibum, Zhou mi, Eunhyuk, and Ryeowook.”
“It is a pleasure,” Hankyung told her, his face stoic. He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it politely. “Your brother is a dragon?”
“He likes to think he is,” she said smiling at him. “We are all convinced he is a human who grows scales every now and again. How do you do the clothes thing? I would love it if the dragon men in this house wouldn’t expose themselves to me every time they changed.”
She slipped her arm in his and he smiled at her beginning to answer her question. Leeteuk stepped aside and grinned at her as she moved off with him into the castle. “She has him wrapped around her finger already.”
“Pay up, I called it, under five minutes,” Heechul called. The rest of the men rolled their eyes and followed after their charge ignoring the red head’s demand for money.
Leeteuk smiled to the rest of the dragons who seemed a little out of place as they stared after their captain. “If you would all follow me, I can get you settled.”
Hyunjoong watched as they followed him into the castle and Youngsaeng slipped an arm around his waist. “They grow up so fast,” the dragon said with a sigh leaning his head on his mate’s shoulder.
“Maybe by your count,” Hyunjoong muttered with a snort. “By human time it took forever.”
“And you don’t look a day older then you were when you found her,” Youngsaeng joked, nipping at his ear playfully.
“Stop that. We should probably make sure that they aren’t burning down the castle,” Hyunjoong muttered.
Youngsaeng laughed and teasingly moved around his mate. “I think they will be alright without us for a little while,” he murmured. Hyunjoong supposed that he was correct, if they hadn’t destroyed the place yet they weren’t likely to in the next ten minutes or so and he gave into the press of the other man’s lips.
‡†‡†‡†‡†‡
He felt a little bit like a thief or a youth sneaking out of his house in the middle of the night to elope with a lover, despite the fact that he was King over the entire kingdom and he could come and go as he pleased. Still as he slipped from his room with the last of their packs and tied it securely to Youngsaeng’s side, he couldn’t hold the thrill of excitement that ran through him.
They were taking a sabbatical of sorts, taking some time out to visit some old friends. Youngsaeng had figured it would be better for him to leave when the potential mates for Haneul arrive, since the presence of an old male dragon might encourage all sorts of trouble. There wasn’t a chance that Hyunjoong was going to let him leave him to deal with all of the young hormones that would be raging through the castle and as close as he and Haneul were after fifty years, he figured she would rather him gone for the event anyway.
“How long will it take to reach Arunika’s?” he asked, double checking that everything was secure.
‘A few days if we don’t rush,’ Youngsaeng told him. ‘And then a week or so more by air to reach Haven.’
Their planned trip consisted of visiting old friends, beginning with Arunika and ending with Yunho, Jaejoong, Yoochun, Junsu, Kyujong, and their mates who were all living at Haven. From there they had decided that they would play it by ear as both of them longed to explore and roam freely over the land.
“She’ll be alright won’t she?” Hyunjoong asked, looking over his shoulder towards the rise of buildings behind them.
‘She will be fine. She has her guardians and Jungmin, Hyungjoon, and Changmin all promised to keep an eye on her. If anything happens they know how to get in touch,’ Youngsaeng told him, repeating what he already knew.
Hyunjoong checked everything over one last time, stalling for a few moments more. ‘Come, Ayize. It is time to go,’ Youngsaeng called. It was the eagerness to be off together on a journey with nothing but each other flowing from the dragon that had Hyunjoong climbing up onto the saddle.
He straddled the neck that had grown a bit larger as the dragon had over the past years, but still not too large for him to sit on, and fastened the safety straps. “I’m sorry I haven’t had a lot of time for you these past fifty years,” Hyunjoong said sincerely.
‘I understand why you didn’t. Your kingdom needed you. I might not have liked it, but I understand. But now you are mine again,’ the last part was followed by a burst of joy.
“Let’s go then, before I change my mind,” Hyunjoong told him with a smile.
Youngsaeng released a call of joy and launched himself into the air, his powerful wings taking them higher into the sky. He circled the castle one last time, more for Hyunjoong’s peace of mind that all was well before veering east and settling in a path that would take them towards the Eastern Forest.
Hyunjoong smiled as he looked over his peaceful kingdom spread out below him, and then he relaxed, stretching forward along the dragon’s neck and allowing his mind to flow completely with Youngsaeng’s. Under the light of the full moon the Dragon King and his mate flew free, at long last.
Masterlist
AN:
First and foremost, thank you my wonderful Tiny Bubble (I'm gonna call you that now ^^). This would have been a mess of errors without all of your work and you listened to countless hours of planning and plot devising. I couldn't have done it without you dear. Have cookies!!
Ah another story comes to a close. Part of me is sad to see it end and the other part is going "Well it is about time!". Just a little closing wrap up, in case you were curious. Jungmin, Changmin, and Hyungjoon all got married to human women and lived with Hyunjoong in the palace to help out. Everyone else ended up married to dragons that they met and grew attached to either through the battle or through the rebuilding of the kingdom. There has not yet been signs of more dragons but it is one of the things Hyunjoong and Youngsaeng tend to go looking for so there may be more out there.
Also because I know some of you could never miss it... here is the note I wrote to my beta:
*makes happy noises and throws confetti* Ignore the little muses who are trotting around handing out idea for the sequel. I am telling them no, I don’t care that I set it up and I am threatening them that if they do not behave I shall change the ending so that the entire world gets blown up and everyone is dead, the end…. I don’t think they are listening…
*15 minutes later, after reading it through for errors* They are definitely not listening…. Why did I just see what would count as a trailer for the second story in my head… And I already have a title. I could call it Dragon Princess… *head desk* I quit…
So there are no definite plans for a sequel and I make no promises, however I am taking notes on what my brain comes up with in the event that I decide to write it. At the moment it is on the bottom of the very long list of things to write.
Thanks to all of my wonderful readers who have been so excited about this all the way through. Your excitement makes me that much more eager to write for you (Which is why I have completely spoiled you with everyday chapters here for the last little bit). Thank you all. A story is nothing more then words on a page, but in the mind of a reader it can find life and reveal amazing things. You all gave this thing life and I love that, so thank you. ^_^
Also check out the Masterlist if you are curious about the pronunciations of the names and about their meanings. I have updated it will all of them.
This ends the massive author's note. Now back to your regularly scheduled programing.