Made to Love

by DL Kopp

  I cast my gaze up at Byron. I wanted him so badly. I felt drawn to him, like the way two magnets of opposite polarity were drawn to each other.

  “I have to become Queen, Octavius,” I said. “It’s time for me to do it.”

  His hands tightened on my face. “Make me your King. We’ll defeat Doctor Muzhchyna together.”

  “No,” Byron said, sobbing raggedly. “He’ll kill me if I prove useless. He said so himself!

  From the wide array of unicorns, Rich stepped forward. “There is an alternative, Calliope.”

  “Rich!” I gasped. I set Octavius down and ran into his arms, smoothing my hands over his softly-furred shoulders and twining my fingers through his mane. “What do you mean, an alternative?”

  “There is a variation on the ritual,” he said. “You could have multiple Kings.”

  Octavius struggled to sit up. “You don’t mean—the Joining of the Soul’s Fire!”

  Rich nodded. “Yes. The Joining of the Soul’s Fire.”

  Byron gasped. “It just might work!”

  I stared between them all, gaping. “What do you mean? What is the Joining of the Soul’s Fire?”

  “The ritual involves a mating,” Rich explained. “If we all mate simultaneously – with the help of my unicorn army focusing on binding us – then we three could each be your King, with all the responsibilities and power shared!”

  “We could keep Doctor Muzhchyna from controlling Byron,” Octavius said. “Yes!”

  “But what does that mean for me?” I asked. “It’s not fair… you all shouldn’t have to share me for the rest of our lives. Marriage is supposed to be between one man and one woman.”

  “I love you, Calliope,” said Rich, taking my shoulders in his hands to give me a serious look. “But I’m not in love you. I will gladly share you and give up my ability to marry again in the future if it means helping you save the Radiant Lands.”

  “I love you,” Byron said. “So much I will share you if I must.”

  “Me too,” Octavius agreed. He clambered to his feet and went to the stone slab upon which Byron rested. Rich led me over to them.

  Suddenly very shy, I looked down at my feet. “So what do we do for this ritual?” I was so excited, but also so scared. It was like I was suddenly getting to marry my three favorite men in the entire world. I was a blushing bride. Goodness.

  “It’s very easy,” Rich reassured me.

  Octavius kissed me gently. “Relax and let us do the work.”

  And I did, while the unicorn army watched, and knew bliss.

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  The Joining of the Soul's Fire wasn't just a name; it was an accurate description. My body felt one thing, but my soul was joined in three sections to three separate other souls. It was the most intense sensation I'd ever experienced, and I knew how Byron was overwhelmed during his animation.

  But at the same time, the peace I sampled in my dream was only one fraction of the peace I now felt, with my three men surrounding me in the grass. We were tangled together like we could never be torn apart, and I couldn't be happier.

  I made myself stand and look at all of them. My kings. But I was the queen. “It's time,” I said.

  They rose as one and nodded in agreement.

  Without speaking, Rich ran to rejoin the herd behind us. Byron went in front of the portal, and Octavius wrapped his arms around me.

  “Ready?” he said.

  I breathed in his sweet scent. “Always."

  We took to the air, and unlike the terrifying moments with the bird ladies in the sky, I felt exhilarated.

  This is how it was meant to be, how it had to be. Me and my boys defending the places and things we loved, with our lives, if necessary. Not that I could even imagine death, not when I had just gotten everything I wanted.

  Doctor Muzhchyna couldn't stop us now.

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  We brought the creatures of the world across with us. I bet it was pretty epic to see – all kinds of running and flying being streaming out of the portal in droves – but I was at the top and the front, so I saw none of it.

  Nothing but Father.

  Byron stopped at a certain point, and Octavius landed us besides them. When Rich approached, they pushed me back and formed a protective barrier around me. I tried to push around them, but they batted me away.

  “I need to help!” I hissed.

  They ignored me.

  “Dr. Muzhchyna!” Octavius called. “You cannot have the Radiant Lands of Myth and Faerie! They belong to us!”

  “Do they now?” The doctor sounded amused. “I don't believe you.”

  “Even with all of this around you?” Rich asked incredulously. “With all the might of the land?”

  “I don't see the Queen, so no.”

  Reluctantly, Byron moved aside and revealed me. Octavius remained resolutely where he was.

  Dr. Muzhchyna bowed. “Your Majesty.”

  “Cut the crap,” I said. “I want you away from here. Now.”

  “But I'm your humble servant, thanks to Byron.” He gestured toward Byron as he spoke. “And the kingdom is mine.”

  “Think again,” Octavius growled.

  Dr. Muzchyna gave Octavius a bland look. “If you don't remain quiet while the adults talk, I will silence you.”

  “I dare you to try.”

  “Very well.”

  The doctor gestured one of his hawk girls forward, and she swooped in the air and darted for Octavius's heart. Before I could even cry out in alarm, he caught her throat. She gurgled and thrashed in his grip, and he tossed her away. She cried piteously on the ground, but Dr. Muzchyna ignored her.

  “Look who has the big boy pants now,” Dr. Muzchyna said. “Maybe Byron has outlived his usefulness after all.”

  He flipped open his jacket and pulled out a button. I cried out and tried to push out of the way, but Rich stopped me with an arm.

  “It's okay,” he whispered. “Byron's safe.”

  And so he was. The doctor laid a finger on the button and laid pressure upon it. Nothing happened.

  Byron cocked his head. “Was that supposed to kill me, Father?”

  “No,” the doctor said. It might have been my imagination, but he looked slightly less cocky than before. “But I have other means up my sleeve.”

  “I don't believe you,” Rich said.

  “Neither do I,” Octavius agreed. “Give up now, and your end will be painless.”

  “We can't kill him,” I whispered.

  Octavius looked at me. “Why not?”

  “Because...well...”

  “Because he's human?”

  I sighed. “Because I'm human.”

  “Not really. You are the Queen of us all, and justice must be dealt out. Villains cannot be tolerated.”

  “He's right,” Byron added. “He could have something we don't even know about.”

  “If that's true...he's the only one who could tell us about it, too.”

  All three of the men looked a little thoughtful at that. They nodded and turned back to the doctor.

  “Surrender,” Rich said, “and we'll make sure you are taken care of.”

  “You'll excuse me if that offer doesn't comfort me,” Dr . Muzhchyna said. “Besides, you don't have the upper hand.”

  “We don't?”

  Dr. Muzhchyna raised his hands into the air, and the wind picked up. We looked around, panicked.

  He was right. We hadn't won yet.

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  “I have just armed the weapon that will self-destruct this island, and the only safe portal to the Radiant Lands of Myth and Faerie, if you all do not do as I demand!” Dr. Muzhchyna shouted over the great wind. “I have less than ten minutes to disarm the bomb before it explodes, and all of you creatures are homeless!”

  “No!” I cried. “Please—please don’t!”

  “Calliope, control yourself!” Octavius demanded.

  Byron stepped forward. “You would d
estroy me, Father?”

  “Yes,” Dr Muzhchyna said. “As a matter of fact, that is the plan.”

  I began to shake with fright. “No!” The thought of losing Byron – one of my new kings – was more than I could bear. The thought of having those beautiful lands beyond the portal destroyed, too, was just as bad.

  Octavius shook me, but I just kept crying. It was too awful. I couldn’t control myself.

  Dr. Muzhchyna looked at me pityingly. “There is a fast way out of this, your majesty,” he said. “All you must do is surrender the Radiant Lands to me. It is simple enough.”

  I shook my head. “No… no! You can’t!”

  “Why does she care so much about a world that she only learned of so recently?” he asked, directing it toward Byron. “All these things – these unicorns, these magical creatures – mean nothing to her. She doesn’t even have love for you, you know. She only Joined with you three to save her own life!”

  “You don’t understand,” Rich said, stepping forward. “I have never known such love as I have with Calliope, and we’re not even in love. Her soul is made of love. She is my queen, and the queen of all the unicorns.”

  Byron placed a hand on my shoulder as well. “It is the same for me, Father. Calliope assembled me with nothing but the greatest, most tender amounts of love possible. I would follow her to the ends of this Earth and beyond to be with her. She is the only person I have ever wanted inside me, and it shall stay that way forever.”

  “And I, too,” Octavius said above my head, his arms wrapped around me. “At first, our relationship was based upon my desire to have her power. But with time, I saw beyond that. I saw her tenderness. Her love. And now I love her, too.”

  Dr. Muzhchyna looked so confused. He clutched the button in both of his hands, backing up slowly.

  “People are not driven by love, but by power,” he said. “This is ridiculous.”

  A murmur arose in the unicorns behind us. They were all avowing their love for me.

  It gave me the strength I needed to stop crying and look the doctor in the eye.

  “I do love all of them,” I said. “Byron, Octavius, and Rich are my kings now, and the Radiant Lands of Myth and Faerie are mine as well. It means the world to me. My love is everything. They have awakened love in my soul and it’s just the most amazing thing ever.”

  “I would do well by the Radiant Lands,” Dr. Muzhchyna said. “I would take care of them, and its people, very well.”

  “But you want it all for nothing more than power, not for love,” I said. “You will never understand that.”

  He fell to his knees and began to weep. It was a pathetic sight—a grown man, a mad scientist, brought to tears. He hit a second button on his remote, and the wind died down. The island stopped rumbling.

  “You are better for the Radiant Lands of Myth and Faerie than I could ever be,” Dr. Muzhchyna said. “I see that now. There is no love in my heart. Only the black desire for power.”

  Byron crossed the field to him, kneeling at his side. “You have known no love in your life, Father, and that is no fault of your own,” he said. “Let me be your son, and maybe it’s not too late to heal your heart.”

  The doctor cried on him, and I looked on in fondness as Byron helped his Father begin to heal. It was so beautiful. So wonderful.

  I gazed adoringly up at Octavius. Wonderful, like everything else in my life had become since I had met him.

  “What now?” I asked Octavius. Although I was queen, I still trusted him to do most of the thinking.

  He kissed me gently. “Your parents will be worried. You’re eighteen now, but not an adult yet. We should return to Coos Bay so you – and Rich, and I – can finish our last year of high school. How does that sound?”

  “Anything you want,” I said lovingly. “Anything you want.”

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  There was only one thing left to do.

  Prom.

  Despite the fact that I was permanently tied to three different men, I decided that prom had to be a one-on-one occasion. Octavius had been the first to ask me, so I went with him. Rich decided to take Rita, since she had been so nice to me at the beginning of school. I asked him about Jana – I was willing to bet that she'd be so happy to get an invite that we'd be fast friends – but he said she wasn't his type. So much for that idea.

  Byron didn't fully understand my excitement over the dance, since he wasn't well-versed in human rituals and American culture, but he did like when I modeled several dress possibilities in the lab for him. (Why he still liked the lab was beyond me, but he said it felt like “home.” I didn't push it.)

  Octavius picked me up at seven on the night of the dance. My mom made me come down the stairs, and I felt like a clumsy doofus, but the way Octavius's face lit up told me everything I needed to know about it. Of course, I could have seen it by opening the door, but I wasn't going to ruin the mood. My dad barely even grumbled when he took pictures.

  I gasped when we stepped outside, and I saw the transportation Octavius had procured.

  “A limo?” I said.

  Octavius laughed. “You were expecting the bike?”

  “Actually...”

  “Give me a little credit!” he cried, waving toward the limo driver standing by the back door. “I'm old and have lots of money to burn. I know when it's appropriate to dip into the savings, so to speak.”

  I had never been in a limo before. Having the driver help me inside and Octavius pour me a soda from the mini bar was more luxury than I'd ever seen. Octavius seemed to find my awe adorable.

  “You're the Queen of a powerful land,” he said, “and you're overwhelmed by a limousine?”

  “I'm also a teenage girl,” I said, willing to play his game. “A teenage girl that has never ridden in a limo, no less.”

  He tweaked my nose with his index finger. “I hope you always stay this innocent and pure.”

  I laughed. I'm sure it wasn't helping my angelic image that I was wearing a white dress for pretty much the first time in my life. It wasn't really my thing – I thought it looked like a wedding dress – but Byron had liked it, and Octavius and Rich had agreed, so I went with it.

  The parking lot of the school was full when we pulled up, but with a lot of different cars and no limos. The kids grouped in the parking lot turned their heads as we pulled up and stared as we walked out. I cringed, but Octavius dragged me toward the door.

  “You might as well get used to the attention,” he said. “You're ruling an entire land now.”

  “Yes,” I said, “but I have armies at my back when I do that.”

  He laughed and opened the door.

  The cafeteria was turned into a dance setting. It looked exactly as it sounded: like a school dance. Nothing too exciting there. The tables were gone, and the lights were down, substituted by the whizzing colors preferred by DJs everywhere.

  After a minute of yelling, I looked toward the stage and saw Octavius's band playing. Seeing all of them wearing tuxes made me laugh, especially because they were as unwashed as always. The bassist, Kenny, was doing the singing, even though he sounded hoarse and flat in comparison to Octavius. But then, everyone would.

  It felt like everyone's eyes were on me again. Weird.

  They finished their song to a decent amount of applause and transitioned into something with a slower beat. Octavius swept me into the little square that was the floor. We passed by Rich and Rita, who looked like they were having a good time of their own.

  “I heard you came in a limo,” Rita gushed.

  “That was all Octavius,” I said.

  Rita squealed with glee, and Rich laughed. “I guess my BMW isn't exciting enough.”

  “Oh, your car's great,” Rita said. “But a limo.”

  Rich laughed again and swept her away. They danced like a brother and sister, so it didn't bother me. There were only so many sides to a girl, after all.

  After a little time on the floor, with copious amount
s of staring into Octavius's dazzling eyes, I decided it was time for a bathroom break. I told him as much, and headed off into the deserted hallway to see if my makeup needed touching up. I used so little of it most of the time that I wasn't sure I looked good. Besides, with the way everyone watched me, I could look like a clown and I'd never know.

  I passed by a door to the outside. The night seemed darker from a half-lit school, leaving frivolity and safety behind. The door was open, and wind wheezed around the corner like a dying old man. Something about it drew me over, some feeling I had in the night.

  The wind died, and my eye caught a silhouette.

  It was too late.

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Byron.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, stepping toward him with my hands outstretched.

  When he came out of the shadows, I froze.

  Something had changed.

  A crazed look had entered his eyes, and his expression was vacant, like he didn’t quite recognize me. All the progress his body had made in healing – his seams growing together and the threads beginning to poke out – seemed to have reversed, leaving gashes in his skin.

  And as he strode toward me, I felt genuine fear.

  “Byron, what are you doing?” I whispered, only half-expecting an answer.

  Then I turned and fled for the gym, but I never made it that far. He crashed into me, and Byron spun me around to face him.

  He recognized me now, but he looked so angry.

  I opened my mouth to yell for Octavius to come help me, but before I could get out the first syllable, Byron’s fist clenched on my throat.

  He lifted, the muscles bulging in his arm, and I kicked helplessly. My feet couldn’t reach the floor.

  I stared deep, deep into Byron’s eyes, and I saw in him love. The same love that had driven him to Join with me and become my king. But it was as though it had driven him mad, sending him to the edge and beyond, and now the only way he thought he could save me would be to kill me.

  I should have hated him then, but I couldn’t. He was as much my creation as my king. The only thing I could feel was love, and a quiet desperation that Byron wouldn’t be hurt Octavius, too—or vice versa.