She closed her eyes and realized that her future lay with these two strangers. Already, the pull of the two strangers in her soul couldn’t be denied. “In every heart,” she responded.
“Forever,” they both said.
Zachary made sure she was steady on her own feet and motioned the two men closer. “What are your names?” he asked.
Neither man looked at Zachary, their eyes only on her. She realized she couldn’t take her eyes off of them, either. Both were stunningly handsome, and taller than her by nearly a head.
“Stribog,” the fair one replied.
“Svarog,” the swarthy one said.
Zachary took her hands in his, and with a final, tender squeeze, he placed her hands in theirs.
The breath rushed from her. It felt…so right. In a different way than Zachary being with her all the time.
She looked at Zachary. He nodded. “It is the prophecy, Goddess.” He stroked her hair, then spoke to the men. “She will take you to her chambers.”
“But where will you sleep, Zachary?” she cried. She’d never spent a night apart from him. The thought frightened her a little, although a new feeling of pleasant anticipation grew deep within her at the thought of these two men being her husbands.
“I will find other quarters. I will have the maid move my things. These are your men, as the prophecy said. If we are all to live, if our race is to survive, then we must follow our fate.”
He turned to the king. “Sire, call the abbot in to bless their union.”
The king looked shocked. “Their union? Surely you can’t mean—”
Zachary stepped in close. “Sire, are you saying you will defy Baba Yaga and the prophecies and condemn us all?”
All the knights’ discontent grumblings over the latest development immediately silenced.
Zaria fell silent, too. That Zachary dared to stand up to her father surprised her most of all. He seemed different, changed. Hardened.
Her father’s gaze narrowed. Then he slowly nodded. “Aye, you are right, Zachary. We were warned of this.” He looked at her. “Daughter. Take these two men to the antechamber hence.” He motioned to a small doorway off to the right that she knew led to his private sitting area. “Talk with them. In ten minutes, I will summon you to give me your decision. You alone have the final say.”
This was racing too fast. “Wedding? To them both?” She studied all the faces surrounding her and felt the world go black as she fainted.
Chapter Four
Zaria came to in Zachary’s arms, aware that she was lying upon the chilly flagstones. “What happened?” she asked.
Zachary stroked her face. “You fainted, Goddess.”
Stribog and Svarog anxiously looked down at her as Zachary helped her sit up. “I’m all right.”
Her father, now standing with the frowning abbot, spoke up. “We need to settle this, Zaria. Are you truly all right?”
She nodded. “I’m fine.” She looked at her two suitors again as Zachary helped her to her feet. “I think we need to go talk.”
Zachary kept his arm around her waist until he guided her out of the room and into her father’s chair in the antechamber. The two dragons hesitated at the doorway. When Zachary tried to step away, she held fast to him.
“I love you,” she whispered. “I do not want to lose you.”
He sadly smiled and stroked her cheek. “I love you, too, Goddess. But there are prophecies to heed.” He knelt in front of her. “Do not fear what your heart tells you. Follow it. Do not worry about me. I will always be here for you. In every life.”
She sadly smiled. “In every heart.”
“Forever,” they whispered together. He stood and kissed her on the forehead. Then he walked to the door and motioned the two dragons in before he stepped out, shutting the door behind him.
She nervously looked at the two dragon shifters. What should she say?
They knelt in front of her, staring up at her in wonder and love. “Goddess,” Svarog said, “we never believed the prophecies until we saw you in the flesh. Please believe it when we say we love you.”
Stribog nodded. “Absolutely. We are rarely in agreement on anything. On this, we agree. You complete us.”
She’d never been with a man before, and yet here were the two most handsome men she’d ever laid eyes upon, and they wanted her. “I’m scared,” she whispered.
They both nodded. “So are we,” Svarog admitted. “We are afraid you will refuse us.”
“What? No! Why would I refuse you?”
“Because we’re dragons,” Stribog said. “We are not humans.”
She shook her head. “That doesn’t matter to me.” She opened her arms to them and they both laid their heads in her lap. She stroked their hair. Stribog’s blond hair was slightly wavy. Svarog’s straight, dark hair felt softer, finer.
A warm wave of energy seemed to wash off the two men, a loving glow she wanted to spend the rest of her life basking in. This felt right.
“I have never been with a man before,” she bashfully admitted.
Both men looked up, smiles on their faces. “We will have fun teaching you,” Stribog gently said.
The men looked up at her. She kissed Stribog, then Svarog. As she looked into their loving eyes, a sense of peace the likes of which she’d never before experienced settled over her. This was her fate.
These men were her fate.
In their hands, they held the future of their people.
She would not refuse them or the task placed upon her by the prophecies. “Let us call Father, Zachary, and the abbot in.”
The abbot’s sour expression didn’t improve during the brief ceremony, which was held out in the main gathering room before all the other knights.
“This is the prophecy,” the king said after the abbot had joined the three lovers. “Regardless of anything else, we must believe in it. It is our future, our people’s salvation.” He took Zaria’s hands and kissed them. “Go with your men, daughter. We shall talk on the morrow.”
She turned to Zachary and hugged him. “I love you,” she whispered in his ear.
“I know, Goddess. As I love you.” He kissed her forehead and gently disengaged himself from her. He offered her a smile. “Your father is right. This is the future. Do not be sad.”
She turned to the two men who were now her husbands. Fear and excitement pleasantly blended with another emotion in her belly.
Desire.
The maid, obviously forewarned, had prepared Zaria’s chamber. Fresh linens on the bed, a hot bath drawn in the washtub, and no trace of Zachary’s things remaining in her room.
On that last point, Zaria felt a melancholy pang of sadness. She could not remember a time when Zachary wasn’t in her life. They’d shared the same chambers since children, never spent a night apart.
As the door closed behind them, she turned to study the men. So alike, yet so different. “What are your powers?” she nervously asked, forestalling the inevitable.
Stribog smiled. “We are dual elemental dragons,” he said. “I am ice and water, along with earth.”
Svarog nodded. “I am air and fire.”
“May I see what you look like as dragons?” she timidly asked.
“Of course,” Svarog said. The men quickly stripped. Zaria blushed at seeing their manhoods, which looked ample in size. But before she could spend too much time considering that, both men transformed into dragons before her.
Fortunately, she was standing at the end of her bed. Her knees gave out and she sat, her breath shallow and limbs shaky. Before her stood two magnificent beasts approximately seven feet tall, beautiful creatures that looked nothing like the maligned monsters of the myths.