Page 17 of My Dragon Lovers

He inclined his head and pursed his lips. “We were trying to heal the wounds that had been made. We didn’t want anything like that to happen again, and we thought we should try to unite the dragons in one thunder again, but Jade didn’t want to be a part of it. She never believed that we would forgive her. Maybe she couldn’t forgive herself. But she said she wanted to go it alone. I wish I had been more insistent. Maybe this never would have happened…” he trailed away and I saw the despair in his eyes, as well as the guilt. I wasn’t the only one blaming myself.

“It wasn’t your fault, Mason. If it was anyone’s fault then it was mine. I went off with Aidan and Brock when I should have been with her. We should have sensed the danger.”

He shook his head. “No, there is only one person to blame, and that is the dragon who took her life. I promise you that we will find who did this Kyra, and we will make them pay.”

There was a look in his eyes that chilled me. It was fire and lightning all rolled into one. I knew he loved Kadie, but it was clear there was a part of him that had never forgotten Mom either. It would have been a nice life, I thought, having Mason as a father, knowing that he would go to the ends of the earth to defend me.

“I’m glad that you have chosen to stay here under our protection. Until we know what is really happening it’s not safe for you to be out in the world.” A strange look came on his face, as though he was struggling with something. “I know that things have not always been easy with you and Aidan, and I’m sure you have your own feelings of animosity towards us for interfering in your lives. But since I will always feel an affinity towards Jade there is a part of me that feels responsible for you as well, and not just because you are Aidan’s mate. I will watch over you Kyra, and I will make sure that you are safe here. You are part of the family now,” he said.

I wasn’t prepared for the wave of emotion that overwhelmed me. I blinked and thanked him, although the words came out as small wisps of air that almost got caught under my tongue. After being ostracized all my life and treated as a pariah it was strange to be spoken to like this, but I suppose death had a way of making people more forgiving and more compassionate. I needed to be alone though. I needed to think.

Chapter Thirteen

Brock

The fire had died down to embers. The smell of ash and grief was in the air. Most of the dragons had returned to the underground chambers, including Aidan and his parents as he sought to find answers to all that was happening. Jade’s body was ash now, her soul released from the prison of flesh to travel to the world beyond where she could be at peace with our ancestors. Perhaps there she would find where she belonged.

I searched the area for Kyra, but I could not see her. I had to rely on my sense of smell. Through the acrid aroma I caught her light, sweet scent and followed it. It wound past the ruins, into the shadows of the night. I eventually found her sitting on a mossy area near the cliff edge where the horizon stretched out beyond the mountains and valleys. The cloak of night had been draped across the world, making it more beautiful and purer. The stars glittered above and the moon was thin. It looked as though it was downturned, sharing in our grief, weeping silver tears that would splash on the fertile land below.

“Are you okay?” I asked. She was sitting with her legs pulled into her chest. There was a vacant look on her face. I wasn’t sure if she was even going to respond to me, until she did. She nodded. The movement of her head was almost imperceptible. I wondered if she might prefer to be alone, but I took the risk of joining her. She did not protest. I sank beside her, sitting so close that our arms touched.

“I don’t know if I’m ever going to be okay again, but I guess that’s normal,” she said.

“I can’t pretend to know what you’re going through. I’ve never faced death like this before.”

“Neither have I. But I’ve always known about it. I couldn’t escape it, given who my father was.”

“I don’t think this is the right time to speak about him. Tonight should be about your mother.”

Kyra tilted her head back and let an ironic, tired laugh pass through her lips. “Nobody ever wants to speak about him. It’s as though they’re afraid that he’s going to come back just by speaking his name. I can’t pretend that he doesn’t exist, Brock. He’s my father and Mom loved him. Despite what he did and who he was she loved him.” She bowed her head. “I never told Aidan this because I didn’t want to freak him out, but even in later years Mom still had feelings for Dad. She loved him despite all he was.” She shook her head and looked lost. She placed her head in her hands. The fact that she was choosing to confide in me like this showed me that we could have something special as well. Our relationship wasn’t going to be a purely physical one.

“Love can be complicated, I guess.”

“You’re telling me,” she lifted her head and wore a wry grin. “I just don’t know what we’re going to do now.”

“We’re going to find the person responsible for this and bring them to justice.”

“And what if we can’t? What if they just disappear into the world, never to show themselves again. It’s a huge world out there. It must be easy for someone to disappear if they truly want to.”

“I don’t know about that. Maybe it’s true for humans, but not for dragons. If we look hard enough then we can always recognize our kind. It might take some time, but you know that Aidan and I won’t stop until we find them. Then you can look into their eyes and you can punish them with all the wrath that is coursing through your blood.”

As I said this she rose abruptly, walking away a few paces and turning her back towards me. I wasn’t sure what I had saidto upset her like this. I pushed myself to my feet and approached her, standing behind her. I saw the strands of hair that fell against the nape of her neck, and I followed the curves of her body down her waist. Her hands were wrapped around her, as though she was trying to hold herself together.

I wanted to be the one to hold her.

“I don’t know if I can do that,” she said in a choking breath.

“Why not?”

She angled her head towards her shoulder, offering me a glimpse of the profile of her face. “Because I’m afraid that once I let my dragon out there will be no way to keep it down and I… I don’t want to be like my father.”

She didn’t seem anything like Ilvar in that moment. She just seemed like a scared girl who needed protecting.

“Kyra, you don’t have to be anything like him. You know that you can choose what kind of person you want to be.”

“You and Aidan keep saying that as though it’s a matter of fact, but what if it isn’t? What if I do have some part of him inside me, some dark part that is going to grip my heart and turn me into a monster. What if I end up having the same ambitions as him? I can’t let that happened. I can’t let it break free. And yet I know that if I’m going to find out who did this to Mom then I’m going to have to. It’s the only way I’m going to be able to defend myself… but all this time I’ve been trying to push my dragon aside. I’ve wanted to suffocate it, to drown it in the depths of my soul-”

“Your dragon is a part of who you are Kyra, and that’s the important thing. It’s a part of you, not your father, not your Mom, not any of us. You don’t have to be afraid of something that’s not going to happen.”

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