The whoosh to the ambassadorial suites didn’t put a smile on my face the way they normally did. It’d been a few days since I’d even seen Amaranthine, and things felt… awkward? The moment I saw her walk out of the door from the inner suites, that familiar pressure grasped both of my hearts and squeezed them. The rapid increase of my pulse amplified the sound of my heartbeats into a cacophony that threatened to swallow my whole brain.

Amaranthine wore a sleek black dress accented in red to match her color. The lavender tone of her skin seemed even more pronounced in the bright artificial light of the parlor. Her black dress, tailored from a shimmering black fabric, made the unnatural shine to her red eyes stand out all the more.

All Amaranthine had done was walk into the room, but it felt like she held one of my hearts in each of her hands and gently squeezed them. She didn’t even have her glamour active, I realized. I was so enthralled with her that she didn’t need to glamour me, I was a completely willing victim when it came to the Keeper of the Evernight Rose.

“You look settled, and you upgraded your first skill.” Amaranthine said with a genuine sense of being impressed, before she sat on the love seat. One of her long legs crossed over the other, giving me a view of shapely calves, then she patted the seat next to her and waited for me to comply.

Five steps from her the scent of roses filled my nostrils. Roses, and a faint scent of desolation. The strange scent evoked mental images of apocalyptic scenes of worlds turned to ruins, the tall monuments of the living turned to dust on the wind. Ground down year after year, until nothing but a fine particulate remained to be born across a perpetual wasteland.

The weirdest part of it all was that it turned me on. The allure of destruction and chaos around Amaranthine was always strong, but I hadn’t picked up this specific brand of destruction before. I leaned in to inhale her scent.

“Dragons,” Amaranthine said with a roll of her eyes and an entirely too brief brush of her lips against mine.

“I upgraded Create Wall into Create Building. It should make building Monados easier. It took me a few days to pick up, and until we acquire a transfigurator or whatever gizmo Arx Maxima needs, I won’t be able to build anything other than what we have materials for in the Vaults,” I bragged.

“A few days to upgrade an entire skill. You’re learning at a very accelerated rate, even if the first skill you upgrade is the easiest.” Amaranthine’s lips twisted in a wicked smile when she dampened my enthusiasm slightly.

“Did Arx Maxima not tell you? The first abilities are the easiest. The closer you get to Emerald rank, the harder each ability becomes to upgrade. Some get impatient and settle on trivial upgrades in Citrine to more quickly reach Emerald, but every improvement is harder than the last. You must seize the initiative and ensure a strong foundation to build upon in Emerald, and then Sapphire.” Amaranthine held my attention with her eyes. The bands of red caught my attention and wouldn’t let go, and for the first time I noticed how nicely Amaranthine enunciated every word.

“No, Arx Maxima didn’t mention that.” I grumbled.

Still, it forced me to think about what order would be important for my skills. Difficulty and immediacy were two competing factors among many others I had to consider. If every ability could become as fully evolved as Create Wall to Create Building had, even grasping at what priority an advancement should be felt like a monumental task where I had to figure out the goal of each. The linear growth of Ruby and Citrine had never felt complicated.

“Continue to do your best,” Amaranthine said encouragingly. Then her smiled turned slightly hawkish, as if I were prey and she the predator.

“I do not wish to make light of your loss, but we must look to the future. Our deal needs to be finished, so that I might bring the Glade of the Evernight Rose to Monados and seal our union.” Amaranthine looked away coyly when she mentioned our pact and sealing our union. It made the thunder of my hearts beat pound even more furiously through my ears when she looked so adorable and slightly vulnerable.

The Marchioness of the Black Sun was nervous about marrying me. Hah!

“I fully desire and intend to honor our agreement. How much of my help do you want in planning a wedding? Are we going showy, or is this a private affair? I know you’re set on the whole Emperor and Empress of Chaos thing, but we don’t even have a throne yet, or subjects.” I babbled. Her sparkling crimson eyes drew me into the cerise depths of her soul, where I drowned in the extravagant beauty of her mind as it played out in shadows and echoes.

“Emery,” Amaranthine whispered my name. It brought me back to the couch, to her.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Sorry, I missed your answer.” I admitted guiltily.

“I have no family save Corvusol, only servants and friends. Private is preferable. The anniversary of our Union Day shall become a holiday in time.” Amaranthine spoke with absolute conviction.

“Did you have a day in mind?” I asked.

“Tomorrow,” Amaranthine answered me.

I swallowed.

“I haven’t even talked to mom about you yet.”

“You’re going to see her next, aren’t you?” Amaranthine asked.

“I am.” I answered, distressed. Not because I was trying to avoid the marriage, but because being alone with my mom seemed like the most terrifying idea in the world now. Scarier than marrying Amaranthine Sadow.

“You know, you can go back to calling me Amara,” Amaranthine said. “Being my husband comes with perks.”

I wanted to ask about those perks, but the mere allusion to perks and Amaranthine made my mind short circuit a little bit. So much for any intelligence, wisdom, or maturity gained from ranking up. She made my blood into lava and my brain into gelatin. She clasped one of my hands in hers and let me feel the warmth of her skin.

I wasn’t over any of the trauma I’d experienced lately. Honestly, I hadn’t even healed from the trauma of growing up as a blank. But sitting with Amaranthine, my heart pounding so strong it might as well be the heartbeat of the universe, exposed to her intoxicating scent, things felt manageable. I didn’t have to be able to handle anything, or even everything, on my own. I would have her strength to keep me afloat or pull me up when I needed it. The primal, physical desire for her only made up a small portion of my desperate need for her that had gnawed its way past my bones and into my marrow.

Motes of chaos danced between us, beautiful flickers of white and black static. Manifestations of entropy swirled around Amaranthine, while nearly invisible strands of nearly formed chaos licked along the surface of my scales.

The closer we got to one another, the more powerful the effect of our presence became. When I leaned in and kissed her, arcs of lightning arced across to touch anything metal in our proximity. When her tongue brushed against mine one of the decorative plants in the corner withered to dust. When I braced the back of her head to kiss her more passionately tiny dust devils chased one another around the love seat. Amaranthine’s hand grasped the back of my mane painfully, and she took over the kiss.

The facets of Katrina, the Ebon Gale, Entropy, and Chaos sparked around us like a storm that threatened to obliterate the room, until Amaranthine broke the kiss and slipped off the couch. Her cheeks were flushed. Whatever she said the first time I failed to hear over the bombs going off in my brain. Oh, no, those weren’t bombs. It was merely my hearts beating.

“Tomorrow,” I said. It was the first time I had experienced being out of breath since I acquired the Choker of Ruin and unlocked Ira Draconis.

“I’ll have clothes made for you,” Amaranthine said with a playful grin.

“What do I need to bring to this?” I asked with genuine uncertainty.

“A ring. I’d prefer EternaStone to metal. What gemstones do you like?”

I thought about it.

“Celestia’s Heart. They’re said to be remnants from the Old Universe, before the cataclysm, before the Gossamyr. Legend says they are crystallized tears that fell from the eyes of the Creator.” I answered.

“I’ve never heard of them. Tell me more,” Amaranthine said with a tilt of her head.

“When the Creator and her spouse finished our Universe and walked amongst the stars, they were so overcome with the beauty of their new creation they were moved to tears. Those tears solidified and drifted through the vast cosmos for eons, until people found them. Only a scant few remain free, the rest were turned into Dark Star Cores by the Stellarae Enclave.”

“And you can acquire them?” Amaranthine’s breath practically caught, so enthralled with the idea I’d put forth. I only knew about Celestia’s Heart because Arx Maxima had whispered it into my mind, and best of all, there was enough in storage to use for two rings. I wondered what kind of powers, if any, such a fabulous ring might grant, and would I even be able to access any power from it if it had some?

“Mhm. You do the clothes; I’ll do the rings.”

“I’ve a wedding to plan, give my regards to your mother,” Amaranthine blew me a kiss and slipped back into the ambassadorial suites.

It took me a minute or two to center myself, while I savored the memory of radiant beauty that Amaranthine had displayed while her eyes had lit up in anticipation.

Eventually, I left the parlor and made my way towards Mom’s rooms. Each step chipped away at the happiness that had infiltrated my heart and reminded me of the morose circumstances of our family life. By the time I knocked on the door, the guilt and loss had eroded almost all the happiness my visit with Amaranthine had built up.

When Mom opened the door I was surprised to see she already had hair again. Not the black hair that she’d previously had, oh no. Now her hair was white and colorless. It perfectly matched her pallid skin. If I didn’t know any better I would’ve said she was bloodless, or a vampire.

“Come in,” Mom said and stepped back. She had a trunk open before a chair, full of different weapons. I recognized them as Affinity Models, that the Stellarae Enclave used to determine the best weapon type for a person.

“Hi Mom,” I said lamely when the door whooshed shut behind me.

“I like the sound the doors make,” Mom said with a forced laugh.

“Me too,” I said with a nod.

“A dragon, huh? And Remy’s a fox. All your friends but Claire aren’t human. Everything changed so fast,” Mom said. It was clear she struggled to keep her tone even.

Mom didn’t beat around the bush, but she also wasn’t being direct. I didn’t want to point at her and say you aren’t very human yourself.

“Yeah,” I agreed. I didn’t know what else to say.

“Claire told me you’re marrying Amaranthine. The Amaranthine Sadow. Do you love her?” Mom’s gaze turned piercing.

I had to consider that question. Did I love Amaranthine? I barely knew her, and yet, I felt less without her. She was capable of immense violence and cruelty, but she had only shown me kindness. That wasn’t the answer Mom needed to hear, nor would Amaranthine appreciate me revealing aspects of her own personality to people, even her mother-in-law to be.

My shadow practically writhed in anticipation of my answer.