Page 21 of My Dragon Lovers

Lacey arched a surprised eyebrow when I brushed away her comment about Ilvar. I didn’t want to know where he lived, and I didn’t need to think about him sitting here either.

“Yes, it has been a troubling time. I’m sorry to hear about your mother. She wasn’t always the most straightforward person to like, but she knew her own mind and she knew what she wanted. I do wish she had accepted our offer to live with us though. Perhaps things could have been different,” Lacey gave a regretful sigh. I pricked up my ears.

“Wait, Mom could have come back here?” I asked. She had never mentioned that.

“Of course. After the battle we sought her out. She was carrying Ilvar’s child, of course, and we wanted to try andrebuild after that terrible time. We lost so many people that day…” she sighed and shook her head. “We wanted to build a better future. Those of us who had been left had a meeting and we decided that things needed to change. Ilvar had fostered a siege mentality within us, making us feel as though we had to fight to be a part of this world. But that wasn’t true at all. Once we realized that he wasn’t really going to take all of us back to Drakon, well, we all felt a little foolish to say the least. And then we thought about all the people who had died because they believed in him…” she trailed away for a moment, losing herself in the sorrowful memories of the past.

Then, she brightened as she tried to reclaim her mood. “We wanted to find all the survivors. We hoped that we could build a brighter future, especially with Ilvar’s offspring there to take her place as leader of our thunder. But Jade didn’t want anything to do with us. At first she said she blamed us all for not fighting strongly enough to help Ilvar, but I think deep down she felt guilty for siding with him in the first place. He had that way about him though, of making everyone believe in his cause.” She almost sounded as though she admired him. “Jade made her decision and we respected that. We left her alone, although we did hope that eventually she would change her mind and bring you back to us. I am sorry to hear that she has passed.”

I nodded, swallowing a lump in my throat as I tried to not let myself become overwhelmed with the emotion of being here in the place my father ruled. I wondered what Lacey would think if I told her that I couldn’t even embrace the dragon inside me.

“So what happened to the others? Do you have any idea who is doing this?” I asked.

“It happened when they were out hunting or scouting, routine things that should not have posed any danger. They were killed instantly from savage blows. Unfortunately, we do not know who is responsible. But if they found your mother thenthey must know of us. This is not some rogue dragon killing at random. They are killing Ilvar’s people, although why now we do not know.”

I glanced around my shoulder just to make sure that nobody else was listening. I also lowered my voice. “Do you think that it could be someone from the other thunder?” I hated to accuse Aidan’s people of something so dastardly, but who else would have had motive to kill people associated with Ilvar?

Lacey brushed away my comment with a laugh though, throwing her head back and waving a hand in the air. “Oh no, Kadie keeps them on a tight leash and after they preach so much about peace they would never let any of their dragons do such a thing. No, for all their faults they do possess a strict sense of honor and this threat doesn’t come from them. Sadly I don’t know who could be doing this. I had hoped that, since we had not lost a dragon for a while, that this was all over. I see now that it is not the case. But we will do everything we can to accommodate you Kyra, and to avenge your mother. Your wish is our command,” she said, and I just felt uneasy.

“You really don’t have to act like this. I don’t want to be seen as someone important.”

“But you are. You’re Ilvar’s daughter.”

I choked on a laugh. “But you know what he did. He was going to leave you all behind. Why would you want to treat me with respect?”

She tilted her head and looked at me as though she didn’t quite understand why I was asking these types of questions. “He was still our leader, Kyra. The bloodline is strong. We have respect for tradition and yes, he may have lost his way and allowed his ambition to blind him. We will never forgive him for that, but you are his daughter. You are the rightful queen-”

I held up my hand and stopped her right there. I didn’t need her telling me that I was anything more than just a girl. Ididn’t want to lead these dragons. “I just want to find out who killed Mom, and then things can go back to the way they were before,” I said, perhaps a little more harshly than she deserved. Lacey bowed her head and did not seek to question my desires.

Chapter Sixteen

Brock

We were in the home of the enemy. These dragons had been our rivals since our ancestors had first stepped foot on this planet. We were supposed to trust them, but I was uneasy.

“You don’t think one of them could be responsible, do you?” I asked, shifting my gaze among them all, trying to discern if any of them had anything to hide. They were probably doing the same to me. There had been two decades of peace between our people since that last fateful battle, but twenty years was nothing compared to the generations of hostility that came before.

“Why would they kill their own people?” Aidan asked. His gaze was locked on the building into which Kyra had been taken. “I’m more worried about Kyra. I hope they don’t treat her badly because of Ilvar.”

“I don’t think we have to worry about that. Seems like she’s right at home here.”

“It’s a little strange, don’t you think, that they’d still hold her in such high regard? You don’t think that they still admire him, do you?”

“I have no idea. You’d have to ask them that.”

Aidan shuddered, indicating that he wasn’t going to do anything of the sort.

“Either way, it’s not like it’s going to change her mind,” I continued. “She told me how she gets troubled when she thinks about her father.”

Aidan nodded sagely. “It’s what holds her back. I wish that she would just come to terms with it already because she isn’t her father.”

“It must be hard though, knowing that your father almost destroyed the world. I can understand why she’s reluctant to accept every part of herself. We can’t push her too much.”

“I know that,” he scowled. His leg started shaking. I could tell that he was on edge.

“Nothing bad is going to happen here. Remember that we’re all dragons, and these are the ones who have been suffering. They’ve lost their people and we’re here to help them,” I said. Aidan nodded.

“I just hate the thought that someone wants to hunt Kyra. Maybe this has all been a plan to get her here so that she can replace her father as leader of this thunder. What if they knew that eventually by killing dragons she would come to them? Maybe killing Jade was the last piece of their plan, the part where they were going to sever all ties she had to the world so the only place she had left to go was here. Maybe this is their plan, to isolate her and that means…” he trailed away, his eyes growing wide as he stared at the people around us, seeing danger in every part of the world.

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