Page 13 of My Dragon Lovers

I hadn’t been able to do the same for her though. I had failed her, and I would have to spend the rest of my life making up for this error if I needed to. Her killer was out there somewhere, and I would find them.

I looked up into the air and I felt my dragon aching to burst free. It was on the cusp of exploding out of me in a violent frenzy. The fetid, fervent thoughts rolled through my mind like thunder and I almost gave in. I almost let it out. I almost became swallowed by the anger inside me, and I wondered if this was what my father felt.

I sank to the ground, sobbing fretfully. I placed my hands in the dirt and my entire body trembled. I looked back towards the kitchen, staring at Mom. She was gone now, and I would never get her back. I would never be able to argue with her about anything else, and I was never going to be able to tell her that I was going to be alright. She was never going to know that I had agreed to bond with Aidan and Brock.

Someone out there had taken her from me.

But who?

Chapter Ten

Brock

Aidan had barely been able to contain his excitement all day. Ever since he had come back from speaking with his parents he had been jumping for joy, and he had even suggested we forget about the rules for one day and go and fly through the daytime. I had to warn him that what he proposed was reckless.

“You know that it would only cause more trouble than it’s worth. Besides, Kyra needs time to tell her Mom as well. You don’t want to interrupt that. Can you imagine what would happen if the humans saw us flying through the sky? We don’t want to be hunted by them.”

“No, I suppose you’re right,” he said reluctantly. I could tell that a carousel of emotions was swirling through his mind. The intensity of such things was immense and I felt a little envious that I didn’t have the same intense flare, but I hoped that whatever I felt for Kyra would be nurtured and would grow of its own accord. Eventually his mood softened and he looked to the horizon.

“I just hope that Jade is being as understanding as my parents,” he said.

“I’m sure she will be. I imagine that deep down she’ll only want the best for Kyra, and this is it,” I replied.

“Mason wants me to speak with Jade and tell her that if she wants to return to this thunder then she can,” he said quietly.

My eyes widened. “Seriously? I didn’t think such a thing would be possible.”

He rolled his shoulders. “I guess that after a certain amount of time passes it becomes easier to forgive people. Ireally wish I knew what it was like back then. I wish I had been there.”

I wore an uncertain look, thinking back to all the stories of horror and violence that we had been told as children. The adults had always been reluctant to talk about it, but it was a fundamental part of our history and there was no way they could escape it or hide the truth from us. Even so, we knew there was plenty of the story that we were missing. It seemed incredible to think that a dragon was willing to shatter the world apart in order to take us back to Drakon, to sacrifice every life on this planet. We may not have mingled with humans, but we had been raised to have a basic respect for life. Yet because it happened before our lives began it seemed almost like a dream. We hadn’t lived through it, but sometimes when I looked into the eyes of the people who had, I saw a haunted look in their eyes, and I suspected they would rather forget all that had happened.

“I’m not sure I do,” I said, smirking a little. He shot me a look.

“You know I don’t mean like that. I wouldn’t want to be a part of the battle. I can’t imagine losing everything in a fight like that. I just… I guess I just want to understand them better, you know? The people they are now were forged in the heat of that battle. If Ilvar had never been so ambitious then my parents would never have met and I would never have been born.”

“Are you saying that you wish you could go back and thank Ilvar?”

“No,” he frowned and shook his head vehemently. “I’m just saying that I think I would be able to understand things a bit more. I’d be able to see my parents as young people. I mean, none of them knew that they were going to survive. It must have taken incredibly bravery to head into battle just because it was the right thing to do.”

“I guess they didn’t have a choice. If they did nothing then their lives were going to be over anyway. This was the only chance they had to survive.”

“Yeah, but they still had to make that choice. I’ve always wondered if I would be able to do the same thing,” his voice sank to a whisper and his head bowed down. There were times when Aidan was plagued with doubt, perhaps because his parents cast such majestic shadows it was difficult for him to live up to the example they had set. They were heroes, their names etched in legend, so how was he supposed to ascend to the same heights as them? It was probably a reason why he and Kyra had bonded so intensely, for she would feel the same thing about Ilvar, but in reverse. Without doing anything evil she already had a reputation as a villain. Suspicious murmurs were cast around whenever she appeared, and people were afraid of what she might be capable of.

“I think you would,” I reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it tightly. “You’re doing the right thing now, aren’t you, even though it would be easier to just listen to your parents.”

He nodded and seemed to relax.

“Do you think that Kyra is going to be able to settle in here?” I asked.

“I think she is. I’m not sure if the other dragons are going to be able to accept her though, at least not at first.”

“They must know that she isn’t her father.”

“This is why I wish I could go back to that moment, to see Ilvar in all his terrible glory. Facing him in battle scarred this thunder and it’s made them terrified of facing anything like him again. I’d like to know exactly how those scars were formed.”

“I suppose the only thing we could do is go back to the island,” I spoke quietly. Even though I was fully grown there were still some fears that burrowed deep within me, and hadbeen instilled in me as a child. I glanced around furtively to ensure that nobody was listening. There was a look of surprise on Aidan’s face, which again spoke to the forbidden nature of what I had suggested.

“We can’t do that,” he glared at me.

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