Ra tensed beside Shelly, drawing her attention away from Aston’s mate. “While the female makes a good point, I’d like to ask what you meant when you said ‘a chance,’” he echoed Sepheron’s previous words. “Are you saying there’s also a chance we fail?”

  Shelly tried not to think about the bargain Ra had made with the dark fire king in regards to failing, considering that was a whole other issue than what they were discussing. One crisis at a time, she reminded herself.

  Sepheron’s massive head dipped in a solemn nod. “Balance is not easily regained. Especially when the darkness has spread so far. But hope is not lost. The soul bonded will retake their place as the gatekeepers to the underworld. The light and dark that brings you balance will keep you from being easily corrupted the way Osiris was. But first, we must deal with the inhabitants of hell and the rightful ruler.”

  Rory raised a hand in the air with a finger pointed, her eyes still closed. “Don’t forget the queen we don’t know about, who apparently is supposed to be a part of this whole balancing act. Let’s not just brush that fact under the proverbial rug.”

  “Nobody is going to forget, because you’re not going to let us,” Gabby pointed out. “So slow your role and quit being hormonal.”

  “I will match your sarcasm and raise you a finger,” Rory said, holding up her hand again and flipping off Gabby.

  The red headed fire elemental just shook her head. “Mature.”

  Shelly looked around at the group. They were a motley crew: the youngest soul-bonded pairs, a grumpy dragon king, and, though not present in the cave with them, a former ruler of hell with an identity crisis, and a mysterious soul-bonded queen that is supposedly mated to said former ruler of hell. Back in the human realm, or their own realms, there were royal elementals doing their own part to save humanity, and the earth. But here, in this cave, with the human world being wreaked upon, she felt like maybe, just maybe, they had a chance at saving something worth saving.

  She cleared her throat. “So. Where do we start? Dragon boot camp? Ancient elemental history crash course? Or is this more of a ‘learn on the job, try not to die’ kind of thing?”

  Rory grinned. “I’m voting for boot camp. If Sepheron yells at us, maybe it’ll drown out the sound of the world ending.”

  Aston nudged her. “You just want to see if you can out-fly Kimba.”

  “I’m pretty sure Kimba could out-fly a hurricane, not to mention if I rode another dragon, she’d totally take me out, ” Rory said, rolling her eyes. “But I might be willing to test the theory.”

  Liam leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Sepheron, what exactly does training to be a soul-bonded gatekeeper look like? Because I don’t think anyone here signed up for Demon-Wrangling 101.”

  The dragon king’s voice rumbled through the stone. “First, you must understand your bond. The soul element amplifies all others. Your connection is your power. If you cannot wield it together, you are vulnerable. In the face of demons, alone, you are nothing.”

  Shelly shivered. She thought of Ra, of the times their bond had held her together when everything else was falling apart. Of the darkness that had crept in when they’d been separated. “So . . . team-building exercises?”

  Gabby snorted. “If he makes us do trust falls, I’m out.”

  Sepheron’s tail thumped, sending a small avalanche of snow down outside the cave mouth. “No trust falls. But you will fight. Together. You will learn to channel your power, not just for yourselves, but for the world. The gatekeepers are the last defense. Without you, the darkness will consume all.”

  No pressure, Shelly thought. Just the fate of the world, resting on the shoulders of seven barely-functional twenty-somethings.

  “The first thing you need to know about this soul-bonded element is the pair that rule over it. As you know, Osiris is the king. And now, you will meet the queen.” He motioned his large head behind them, and they all turned to look at the opening of the cave.

  Kimba stood with her large body taking up much of the space, her iridescent scales dusted with snow. And behind her were eight people. They were grouped in pairs, male and female. Shelly’s eyes widened as she realized she recognized them. They were other warriors they’d worked with when they’d all been sent out into the field because of the natural disasters that happened when some of the light royal elementals had gone missing. And some of them she knew were soul bonded.

  “When you said ‘queen,’ were you talking as in a collective royal, like the band?” Rory asked, having sat up again to see what Sepheron had motioned towards. “Because I see a dragon, four pairs of mates. I’m guessing soul-bonded mates considering they’re here.”

  “None of them are the queen, little witch,” Kimba said, her voice laced with the humor she often pointed towards Rory. “But I am.”

  Shelly watched in shock as the edges of the dragon began to ripple—like wind shivering across a pond–as Kimba’s massive dragon body seemed to blur at the edges, iridescent scales catching the firelight and scattering it in prismatic bursts. Her wings folded in, the leathery membranes dissolving into mist, while her tail curled inward, shrinking with each heartbeat. Bones shifted and flowed beneath shimmering hide, the sound like distant thunder muffled by velvet.

  A halo of blue-white light enveloped her, pulsing with ancient magic. Her great head bowed, horns receding and snout shortening, the fierce lines of her muzzle softening. Scales melted, re-forming into silken skin, and her claws retracted, fingers elongating until they were unmistakably human. Kimba’s eyes—piercing, glacier-bright—remained unchanged, the only constant as her body contracted, shrinking from awe-inspiring power to elegant strength.

  The light faded, swirling away in delicate strands, and where the mighty dragon had stood, a petite woman remained. Her hair—white as new-fallen snow—spilled down her back, framing sharp cheekbones and a regal jaw. She straightened, brushing invisible dust from her pale dress, pale blue eyes scanning the room with the same ageless patience and quiet ferocity as before. In her human form, Kimba was no less commanding—her presence filled the cave, a reminder that sometimes the most extraordinary power comes in small packages.

  Rory was on her feet in an instant, her world having just tilted on its axis. She took a step forward, mouth opening and closing, not sure if she was about to shout, laugh, or faint. Kimba—her Kimba–stood before her, not a dragon but a woman. A queen. Rory’s mind ran a loop of “nope, nope, nope” as she tried to reconcile the regal figure in front of her with the scaly best friend who’d carried her through fire and storm.

  Behind Kimba, the eight people crowded the cave’s entrance, snow swirling around their boots. Rory didn’t recognize a single one of them which, in light of the moment’s revelation, she could give a rat’s ass.

  But all of that was background noise to the main event: Kimba. Human. Queen. Apparently mated to the former king of the underworld.

  Gabby was the first to recover, looking at Kimba, then Rory, then back again. “Wait. Wait, wait, wait. So you’re telling me our Kimba–”

  “My Kimba,” Rory interrupted as her eyes continued to take in the regal appearance of her now very human dragon.

  Gabby ignored her and kept right on talking. “. . . is not only a queen, but she’s also shacked up, mated, doing the dirty, having a shag fest, whatever, with Osiris? The same Osiris who tried to mate, have a shag fest, do the dirty, and make Shelly his queen of hell, like, twice? I’m sorry, but your royal highness, why are you here, and not wherever he is, kicking his royal, hell-ruling ass?”

  Liam’s eyebrows shot up. “Okay, when you put it like that, it’s a lot. Like, even for us. And also, you probably won’t have to kick his ass because Ra will happily do it for you.”

  Shelly opened her mouth, shut it, then just shook her head. “I vote we set up a whiteboard with yarn and pins. Because my relationship flow chart just exploded.”

  “There is only one relationship you need worry about,” Ra said, his voice rumbling in the cave and that unique cadence bringing Rory a tiny sliver of peace.

  “Relax, Babe,” Shelly told him. “You’ve got all my attention, all of the time. Well, except when a huge dragon turns into a small, beautiful, human woman. I mean, how does that work? Your dragon form is so freaking massive, where does it all go when you’re like that” she motioned with her hand, up and down, indicating Kimba’s whole body.

  Kimba quirked a brow at Shelly and smirked. “Magic.”

  Rory snorted, folding her arms across her chest, still glaring at her bff.

  Aston, pushing his glasses up his nose, looked like he wanted to take notes on the entire situation. “So, Queen Kimba and King Osiris, both forgot their past until now, and—wait, does this mean you rule hell together? Or just, like, the afterlife in general?”

  Sepheron, in the corner, gave a deep, rumbling chuckle. “I see that the shock of this has rattled your human brains. You’ve already forgotten what I’ve told you. The soul element rules the balance between all realms. It was always meant to be two—king and queen, bonded by soul, not just element.”

  Rory had to blink several times. “That’s all fine and good, Sepheron, but it’s not what’s important. What is significant news is that my dragon bonded is a queen, who’s mated to the guy who tried to kidnap Shelly and start the apocalypse. And nobody thought to mention this before now?”

  Gabby groaned, tilting her head back towards the ceiling. “Is this one of those times that we’re going to have to repeat the same thing over and over simply because your emotional bff ego is butt hurt and you feel the need to rub your dragon’s snout in it? Because if so, I need some food for this shit show.”

  “Hey,” Rory snapped at the redhead and pointed her finger, “when your reptilian best friend suddenly becomes a completely different species right before your unsuspecting eyes, then you can judge. Otherwise, sit over there quietly and play with your knives.”

  “Or she could play with me,” Liam suggested with a wink. “I’m never too shocked for some bedroom games.”

  Gabby put a palm on his face and shoved him away as she gave Rory a bored look. A throat clearing regained Rory’s attention, and she looked back at her.

  Kimba, still all regal calm, watched Rory with the same blue eyes of her dragon form. “I did not know,” she answered her question. “None of us did.”

  Sepheron made a rumbling sound, and all heads slowly turned to his massive dragon form. He shifted on his large feet, claws gripping into the rocky ground.

  “I’m sorry,” Rory’s brow rose. “What was that, your Royal Highness?”

  “I had my suspicions, and as things evolved, my own memories returned. But as I told you before, it was not my story to tell.”

  Kimba continued, and everyone looked back at her. “We didn’t remember until Osiris returned from the underworld. Then the memories, the bond, came back.”

  Tara gave a dry chuckle. “Ever since you had Kimba snatch Aston up in her talons on that battlefield, there’s never been a dull moment with you. You and your witchy, dragon-bonded self being the center of the drama, huh?”

  Rory shot her a look. “Trust me, I don’t do it on purpose.” She paused. “Usually. I mean, sometimes it sort of happens and I make it worse, but that’s not the point.”

  There was an awkward silence when Rory didn’t really know what to do. Her brain just spun, thinking about her relationship with Kimba.

  Apparently, no one was going to wait on her to process as Gabby, never one for subtlety, stood up and walked over to the people behind Kimba. She pulled out one of her daggers and began using it as a pointer. “Okay, intros are needed for Rory because nothing says awkward or stressful like meeting some strangers at a magical reveal party. This is Riggs and Lark, air elementals.”

  Riggs, all sharp edges and restless energy, gave a little salute. “Heard you can ride a dragon bareback through a thunderstorm. Respect.”

  Lark offered a small wave, her wild curls and sharp eyes making her look like she ate tornadoes for breakfast. “You’ll get used to us. Eventually.”

  Rory managed a faint, “Nice to meet you,” before shooting Kimba another look. “You showed them the whole human-queen thing before you showed me?”

  Kimba gave a small smile. “I had to gain their trust. Dragons do tend to make some people nervous because of the whole eating them thing. And time was short. You would have been first, if there had been another way.”

  Before Rory could muster a comeback, Gabby pressed on. “Next up: Lawson and Cara, fire elementalists.”

  Lawson’s grin was cocky and unapologetic. “So, is this a regular thing in your group? Secret royalty, surprise mates, plot twists? I feel like I’m finally getting to sit with the cool kids.”

  Cara’s gaze was cool and steady as she sized Rory up. “We’re just glad to finally meet the famous Rory, mate-snatching extraordinaire. Kimba was very . . . insistent we come.”

  “Not one of my finer moments,” she told Cara begrudgingly. Then Rory glared at Kimba, her voice rising. “I mean, I get it, but seriously? Not even a text?”

  Rush and Brianna stepped up. Rush tall, arms crossed, and Brianna’s laughter a little too big for the cave. “We’re air, too,” Brianna said. “And, for the record, Kimba’s transformation is the wildest thing I’ve seen since the time Riggs tried to ride a tornado.”

  Riggs muttered, “It worked for a few seconds.”

  Lark elbowed him. “Until it didn’t.”

  Rory snorted, then caught herself. “I’m just saying, some of us would have liked a heads-up about the whole ‘my dragon is a queen who shifts and has a hell-king for a mate’ thing. I don’t think that’s too much to ask in a relationship. Aston,” she looked at her mate, “do you think it’s too much to ask?”

  “Not fair,” Elias spoke up for the first time in a while. “He’s always going to side with you because you can kick him out of the bed. Or get your dragon queen to eat him. You need to ask an impartial party.”

  “We can always go back to the BFF code,” Gabby offered. “Witches before dick heads. But in this case, it would be dragon bond before literally any other being on earth or in any other realm.”

  “That,” Rory pointed at her. “That’s what the code between us should be.”

  “Okay, now that we have that settled,” Gabby continued, “this lovely couple is Crey and Tinley. Both fire elementalists.”

  The couple looked sheepish as Crey said, “We were as shocked as you. She literally just walked up to us, went all glowy and regal, and told us to get here.”

  Tinley grinned. “I thought Riggs was gonna faint.”

  Riggs rolled his eyes. “I do not faint. I was . . . stunned. There’s a difference.”

  A hush fell, until Gabby broke it with a sigh. “Honestly, at this point, nothing surprises me. I’m not even sure reality is real anymore.”

  Aston, ever the scholar, chimed in, “This raises so many questions about soul memory and elemental lineage. I’d love to do more research⁠—”

  “Aston, Babe, I love you and your nerdiness most of the time, but it’s not the point!” Rory interrupted, rolling her eyes. “The point is my dragon bonded sits on a throne of lies.”

  “For like five seconds, I forgot how dramatic you can be,” Kimba said dryly.

  Liam grinned. “And you shouldn’t steal lines from epic movies like Elf, even if they’re fitting. Classic, but let’s not get sued.”

  Lawson clapped his hands. “Well, I for one am here for the drama. Dragon queens, lost memories, apocalypse—this is better than cable.”

  Cara nudged him. “You do remember that Rory is a witch, right? Try not to get turned into a toad. I don’t find toads attractive.”

  “Every girl has to have standards,” Shelly offered. “I think drawing the line at toad mate is completely reasonable. But what’s not reasonable is secrets from your scaly bff.”

  “See!” Rory practically jumped up and down. “Hell girl gets it. Probably because hell fried her brain cells with the heat, and being around Osiris probably has given her some sort of weird-ass PTSD, but she gets it.”

  “I’ve got your back, Roar.” Shelly gave her a thumbs up. “Can I call you Roar? Don’t answer that. I’m going to call you that anyways, whether you like it or not.”

  The banter flowed bright and fast as the new pairs found places around the fire, exchanging awkward greetings and old in-jokes. But Rory’s attention kept drifting back to Kimba, a thousand questions burning in her chest.

  As the group settled, Kimba caught her gaze and tilted her head. “Walk with me, soul bonded.”

  Rory glanced at the others, then followed Kimba to the far edge of the cave, away from the firelight and the swirl of voices. The cold air bit at her skin, but Kimba’s presence was a steady warmth at her side.

  Kimba turned, her human eyes impossibly blue. “I know this is a lot. But our bond—what we are—hasn’t changed. If anything, it’s stronger. I am still your Kimba, and you are still my soul bonded. Queen or not, mate to Osiris or not, nothing will ever change that.”

  Rory fought the urge to tear up, instead folding her arms and tilting her chin. She could feel Aston’s worry and need to comfort her, but he gave her the space she needed. “You better not start getting all regal on me. No ‘your majesty’ nonsense, or I’ll start calling you ‘scaly butt’ in front of the others.”

  Kimba’s lips twitched. “I would expect nothing less. But you have my promise—nothing changes between us. Not now, not ever.”

  Rory tried to glare, but couldn’t keep the smile from breaking through. “Maybe I’ll forgive you for the whole ‘secret queen’ thing . . . in, oh, a century or so. If you’re really good.”

  Kimba laughed, the sound echoing like music in the cave. “I can be very patient.”

  Rory bumped her shoulder against Kimba’s. “Good. Because you’re stuck with me, dragon. And all the dramatics that come with me.”