Mother wasn't happy to see me,” came the plucky laughter from Tredorphen. With Diana’s intel on which sun was the hottest he and I, along with his wife, were ordered to head back to T’nemtar to destroy it.

I looked over at the rose gold shifter and cocked a wry brow. “She's not happy about much these days,” I said, hauling one of the immense pieces of machinery onto my back and dragging it painstakingly toward the rest of the assembled weapon.

“Just be happy you're not me then,” Marina said with a scoff, brushing her blonde curls vainly behind her ears. “Nobody is a fan of mine. Not even my sister.”

“A lot has happened,” Aurlauc said, brushing past her and helping me to attach the bore to the rest of the laser cannon.

“Yeah,” Marina said with a slow defense, setting her hand on her hips and cocking her head toward the gray shifter. “And we came back.”

Aurlauc widened and then rolled his eyes at me and then craned his look at Marina. With a bemused, surprised tone he laughed, “I was just sayin’!”

“She hated you guys,” the girl continued before stopping and giving a loud, single laugh. “No offense! Yet, I'm the enemy for leaving like she told me to.”

“And we came back,” Aurlauc shrugged with annoyance, as though he already knew whatever he had to say didn’t matter to the couple.

“As you promised,” Tredorphen finished, flicking his wings back and brushing his hand against Marina’s cheek. She leaned into the affectionate embrace, and I felt a rush of cold simmer down my back. A tinge of jealousy I couldn’t do away with. Their affection for one another was obvious.

Aurlauc shifted uncomfortably, and the two of us continued assembling the cannon. Tredorphen spotted the look and raised a brow. He crossed his arms and approached his cousin pointedly, asking, “And?”

The gray shifter flicked his brows high and offered Tredorphen a playful grin as he set down the last piece of artillery and said, “And... Hooray?”

Tredorphen shook his head. “And I know you very well. Well enough to know there's something more...”

I gave a loud sigh and held up a large bolt. “Where does this go?”

Tredorphen frowned at his cousin and waited for a response. When it didn’t come, he waved the gray Weredragon off and walked up to me, screwing the bolt on and shaking the cannon around by its holster to make sure it was sturdy.

“One of the researchers says we should aim west. That's the one we destroy,” I offered, stepping back and watching as Tredorphen looked through a laser gauge as he began aiming the human contraption.

“That someone being Diana?” Tredorphen asked. I nodded, and he gave a surprised laugh: a knowing smile. “Last I knew she was... with... my father.”

I shrugged. “Then nothing's changed.”

With a sigh, the rose dragon shook his head and set his hand on the machine. “My poor mother.”

I stared at the shifter with a large grin and couldn’t help but think of his poor mother’s assassination plan. “She's got a handle on it, that's for certain,” I laughed.

Tredorphen raised a brow, blowing air through his mouth until his lips formed a perfect O. “So, what's going on?”

My nerves ran cold. “With what?” I asked all too quickly. I should have just stamped a ‘GUILTY’ across my face.

“Aurlauc,” he said quietly, his eyes slowly following his cousin around the field. “He's not saying something.”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “We aren't close.”

Tredorphen nodded, and Marina seemed to hover around us as we finished with the machine. Handheld rifles weren’t going to cut it, he’d explained to me earlier, making the massive cannon a great asset to us. He signaled for me to get in front of the sight to help aim.

“So… Did you really go to Earth?” I asked, closing one eye and looking through the sight.

“We really did,” he said slowly.

“And?”

“And…” The rose dragon began to laugh, staring down at his fingers. “It's like nothing I've ever seen before. Green. The most immense collection of food you've ever seen. There are strange customs there.” He pat me on the arm and showed me his finger, a silver band latched around his scaled finger. “They 'marry.' Like claiming, but forever.”

My eyes went wide, and with a daunting affirmation, I repeated, “Forever…”

Tredorphen shrugged. “It's better than you could ever imagine. Obviously, you can't shift there.”

“So you're human now, huh?” came the playful laughter of Aurlauc, who swooped up behind his cousin and began shoving at him from all sides, using his wings as a quick getaway.

Tredorphen grinned, a slight amusement crawling up the left side of his mouth, but he didn’t play back. Instead, he looked over at Marina and said, “Worth it.”

“Then why come back?” Aurlauc said suddenly, stomping back onto the flat ground below and snapping his wings with annoyance.

“For her,” he gestured to his wife in the distance. “To make things right. Then we're out of here.”

Marina saw him watching her and came up to our little ground, looping a respectful arm through his and leaning up to caress his face. Aurlauc watched the pair with an unsure gaze and said, “You know your father…”

Tredorphen’s brows furrowed into a deep frown. “What does that mean?”

“It means we'll be damned if we're leaving without a fight,” Marina said, brushing her hair back once more before pulling it up into a large bun, sweat dripping down her neck.

Aurlauc shrugged. “Pretty much, yeah.”

“How do you know that, and I don't?” Tredorphen asked the blonde.

“Because I pay attention to subtext,” she said playfully and patted him hard on the shoulder. It reminded me of Diana, and suddenly I had the urge to be near her.

“Alright,” I breathed. “Let's get this over with.”

I took my seat in the gunner’s chair and looked up at the crisp sun above: the light nearly blinding as I struggled to get the proper coordinates. I pulled a level back and could feel the whole machine rumbling beneath me.

Within just a minute, an immense beam of laser came careening out of the machine, causing me to grip it for dear life as the blue beam shot up into the sky and made contact with the edge of the sun. We watched in horror as the laser just clipped the edge of the sun.

I missed.

“It’s a start,” a yellow shifter said victoriously from behind me, and several shifters could be heard cheering in the background.

“That should grant us some reprieve anyway, right?” Aurlauc said, slapping my shoulder as though it were all a great victory.

I looked up at the sun and felt like it was anything but. The joyous unity we had just shared suddenly came apart as chunks of molten star came hurtling down to the ground like a rockslide. The rocks crashed down toward the ground and Tredorphen quickly released his wings and grasped Marina, grabbing her waist and dodging the falling stars in haste.

The ground below erupted into flames as the sun’s pieces hit it with force, causing a lava flow to rapidly gather in the areas it hit.

Swearing into the air, I hopped off the machine and began to kick the ground beneath me, letting out a massive bellow that thundered through the field.

I could hear Tredorphen approach, but I brushed him off, letting my wings free and flying away from him.

I headed back toward the quarters set up in the middle of T’nemtar, some privacy and much-needed shade for all who were working with the humans. My quarters were a single, a strange metal structure designed with Diana’s creation. And like a master come to view their art, there she was some distance away from my tent, waiting under the Reduah trees. Their large red leaves being practically the only flora that benefitted from the incessant sun.

“You stalking me?” I said, nearly forgetting about my poor mood as I made my way into the Reduah fields.

“Just looking for something,” she said lowly, her eyes grazing down my body and stopping on my center. I let out a pleased laugh and turned briefly, a put-on double take as if to say ‘Me?’

“I’m busy,” I said tersely and turned away from her to make my way back to the camps.

“And hostile,” she added with a self-satisfied tone. “I can see that.”

I grit my teeth in spite of myself and dug my heels into the dirt below, turning unwillingly to look her up and down. Her jutting curves sent fire through my body as though I were conjuring it up to spit flame from my mouth. It was the exact same sensation.

She wore Weredragon hide armor, tight pants clinging to her thick thighs and a protective armored overcoat that hugged her waist. I bit my lip and smiled begrudgingly.

“You didn’t come here for that, surely?” I laughed.

She cocked a thin brow as though my sentence was a dare. She walked up to me with long, purposeful strides and reached down to cup my length, running her hand up and down it slowly. “You don’t think I could get it?”

“I didn’t say that.” I grabbed her hair and pulled it back, eliciting a gasp and a crooked smile from the brunette. “I just can’t believe you lowered yourself to come be with a peasant like me.”

She grinned wickedly at me and offered a playful wink as she whispered, “I like ‘em low class.”

I let a long exhale escape me and then grabbed her chin and pulled her lips to mine.

Her tongue lapped against mine, creating a rhythmic connection with our mouths before she pushed away from me and pulled me further into the shaded forest.

As I followed we approached a sturdy tree root and Diana marched toward me tore her gloves off like she had something to prove, slowly ripping her armored jacket away to reveal her naked breasts beneath. I pushed her against the Reduah tree's thick base and pulled her armor down from her legs.

Kneeling before her, I removed the rest of her clothes and held her leg in my hand and lifted them up.

She grabbed the back of my head and opened her heat up to my mouth. With a sultry laugh she said, “For future reference, girls will like this,” and buried my face in her most private of places.

“For future reference,” I said, licking my lips and looking back up at her. “I only plan on doing such things with you.”

“Is that so?” Diana craned her neck and rested against the tree behind her, her whole body trembling. I kissed the length of her thigh and used my tongue against her until her skin turned wet: until I knew she was ready for me.

I moved up to touch her mouth and feel the hills and valleys of her body before I pushed myself inside of her, thrusting forcefully as her body hit the back of the tree.

We moved to the moist ground floor, and I could see her body dripping in sweat; I watched as the sun’s harsh gaze flooded both of our bodies with moisture. She mounted me quickly and started grinding against me, her large breasts moving with the effort. I reached up to steady her and could feel her body tightening around mine as her moans intensified. I grabbed her hips and bucked into her until we both climaxed.

She looked down at me, laughing, and slapped my face gently with the palm of her hand. I grabbed her hand and kissed her fingers until she rolled off of me.

We lay there in a heap of sweat and soot, heaving our breaths of satisfaction. I turned my head, listening to the harsh ground below my movement echo in my ear. I looked at her, her eyes fixed on the wash of sun that streamed through even the darkened sky, pieces of it crumbling endlessly to the ground below.

She blinked slowly as her breath regained composure, her breasts still heaving every time she inhaled.

"Boradrith has another mistress,” she said with resignation. "You were right."

I set my jaw and looked away from her, following her sightline to the sky above. "I'm sorry," I said quietly.

But I wasn’t sure if I really was. Sensing this, Diana looked at me with a wry grin and said, "You're not. But it's fine."

She stayed deafeningly silent for some time before looking over at me with a laugh. "It's fine," she repeated and waved me off.

"What was this then?" I paused and swallowed. "Revenge?"

"No, it was love,” she said scornfully, and then the silence found its way back between us. “I don’t think… that I minded so much.”

“That he has a mistress?”

“Let’s be honest,” she said, rolling onto her side and letting her breast fall. “He probably has hundreds.” She shrugged. “Dozens, anyway. And yes. I don’t like feeling stupid, and I don’t like being lied to… It was my ideas.”

“What about them?”

“He didn’t want to listen to them anymore,” she said slowly. “That bothered me the most.”

I frowned. What she meant was that she was losing the prospect of ruling over Dobromia. “Ah,” was all I said. “Men.”

She laughed. "So let's consider this little rendezvous... a celebration."

"Of?"

She stared at me for a moment longer and then pointed up to the sky. "What you've done."

I scoffed and looked up at the sparks that fell like crumbling stars, the heat that seemed intensified by my actions. I looked over at the beautiful girl next to me and saw her dark hair dampen to her skin. I figured mine must have been doing the same. My whole body was disgustingly wet.

“You mean nothing?” I snorted.

“I think it's something,” she said quietly.

“Of what?”

She blinked. “Your rise,” she said with a calculated tone. “You deserve to rise.”