The small shards were spread all over the floor, at their feet. They stared at them for a long minute, then Aileen stepped away from Drakon and placed the empty mirror support on the rock. She couldn’t say why, but she felt like she didn’t need it anymore, like it was just an old, insignificant piece of metal.
“I have no idea how to interpret this,” she said, waving towards the broken mirror shards and the Golden Fleece. Surprisingly enough, it seemed to have lost some of its radiance and appeal.
Drakon closed his eyes for a second, opened them again, then rubbed his temples and shook his head as if he was trying to get rid of a nasty headache.
“Are you okay?”
“Huh?”
Aileen closed the distance between them, cupped his left cheek with her hand, and looked deep into his eyes.
“Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“I… I don’t know. It’s just… I feel so tired. No, exhausted. I feel exhausted.”
Aileen cocked an eyebrow.
Drakon smiled brightly when the realization finally hit him.
“I feel like I could sleep for days! The anxiety is gone! I mean… that terrible, heavy anxiety which I felt every time I thought about simply lying down and falling asleep… it’s gone! Which means… I could lie down right now and fall asleep in an instant. Aileen, do you know what this means?”
“The curse has been lifted,” she said. She was smiling so widely that she soon felt her cheeks burn. “Oh my God, the curse has been lifted!”
“How… how did you do it?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I found the real treasure, the one hidden underneath the fleece. I think the mirror was the object that kept the curse activated.”
Drakon furrowed his brows. He still felt like he had a long way to go until he fully grasped how the curse had been broken, why, and why then… Why Aileen?
“I don’t understand,” he said. “Anyone could have broken it? Anyone could have set me free if I had just been able to fight the urge to kill them long enough for them to find the mirror?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
Once again, she pulled out the scroll with the prophecy, unfolded it, and read it out loud:
“In his lair, he never slumbers.
How long he’s lived, he never wonders.
His eyes let fall three healing tears:
The first can soothe all hidden fears,
A troubled mind the second mends,
The third, the body’s pain transcends.
A time will come to pay the price,
The Guardian’s tears - a sacrifice.”
“A sacrifice,” Drakon whispered.
“Yes. My sacrifice. It makes sense, you see? As a child, I drank your tears and I was healed. That created some sort of bond between us. I grew up fascinated by Mythology and Folklore, then I started studying the myths of Ancient Greece, especially the one about the Golden Fleece. Eventually, I became a professor, which opened more opportunities for me to research and truly get to the bottom of it. I was meant to find you, Drakon, because I was meant to find the Guardian who healed me. I had to pay the price.”
“You were ready to sacrifice yourself to break the curse and set me free.”
They were both starting to connect the pieces of this complicated, ancient puzzle. It was all beginning to make sense.
“Yes, that’s right,” she said. “I knew that if I touched the Golden Fleece, you would be forced to attack me, but I did it anyway. Putting an end to this ordeal was more important than my life.”
“I, however, fought the curse,” said Drakon. “I could feel there was something inside me, in my heart, which was stronger than the curse, stronger than anything I had ever felt before. I think… it was love.” He paused for a moment, when he realized his explanation lacked something. It lacked an important detail, which truly stood at the root of the mystery. “No, it was the undeniable fact that you are my fated mate. I couldn’t harm you. Not even a thousand-year-old curse could make me harm you.”
Aileen nodded. “So, I was the only one who could save you. You saved me, and then it was my turn. I wonder… Did Medea know what would happen when she wrote the prophecy?”
Drakon smiled. It was the first time when hearing her name, Medea’s name, and summoning her image before his mind’s eye didn’t hurt. In fact, he was grateful to her. He was grateful that she had chosen to leave. She had probably known his true mate hadn’t been born yet, and that was why she had abandoned him then. The whole madness with the healing tears and the prophecy had been meant to aid destiny into bringing him and Aileen together. Medea had seen the future, and she had accepted to play her part in turning it into reality.
“It doesn’t matter,” he finally answered her question. He pulled her against his chest, and ran his fingers through her long, tangled hair. “It’s over now.”
Aileen sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck. The closeness of him kept her warm. They kissed slowly, passionately, and she soon felt his hard cock pressed up against her belly. He was naked, as always, and she chuckled when the thought of him entering the modern world crossed her mind. Would he get used to wearing proper, modern clothes? What would he say to jeans and T-shirts? Then, it struck her. It was time to leave the cave and the mountains, and go back to civilization. The adventure was over.
“Drakon, we have to find my team. There’s been almost two days, and who knows what happened to them? Who knows what those three bastards did to them?”
He nodded. “I agree. We’re going. Right now.”
The determination in his voice told Aileen he was sure he could leave the cave and the clearing. There was nothing holding him there anymore.
“You should put something on,” she suggested.
They both glanced at the Golden Fleece lying on the ground. It had lost almost all its shine. With every passing minute, it was turning into a plain piece of fleece. It was still rich and soft, but it was clear it wasn’t made of gold. Its original color was a bright, unnatural yellow.
“I think you’ve earned the right to wear it,” Aileen said.
“Yeah, I was thinking the same.”