Page 74 of Rescued By The Dragon

The wind blew his curls from his forehead, but the chill didn’t seem to bother him. He grabbed a thick white blanket from the chair and tossed it out for me. “I want to play twenty questions.”

Dorran chuckled, and sat back against the pillow, curling his finger at me, I crawled over and slid into the crook of his arm. “Ladies first,” he whispered, taking his wine glass.

“What was your childhood like?”

Dorran thought about it. “Fine. Not average, I presume. With my parents being royal they wanted me to uphold a certain ... persona. I was followed by guards and had to sneak away to get any privacy. Wait a second—what does the wine have to do with this?”

I chuckled. “Nothing, just lighten the mood and make you answer honestly. You seem uptight and worried; I don’t like it.”

Dorran slid his fingers through my hair. “It’s part of my job as your mate to care for you.”

“I get it, and it’s my job to loosen you up. So go, ask me what you want.”

Dorran continued to finger my hair. “What were your parents like?”

Sasha was the only one who ever asked me about my parents, and it was years before. Not speaking about them almost made it seem not real. Like they were just a dream.

“My mother died before my father. I don’t remember as much of her as I do him. I look like her, from what I can tell from my pictures. She used to sing this song about an enchanted forest, but that is all I can remember really. My dad,” I said, taking a sip of wine, letting it warm me from the inside, “was stern but fair. There was this one time I wanted to go to Dragon Reign, but I made a bad grade on my test and—,”

I stopped.

Dorran looked down at me. “What is it?”

“I—,” My brain fogged, and I sat up straight. A tingle worked its way down the back of my neck and spine leaving me numb. “I can’t remember,” I whispered.

Dorran rubbed a circle on my back. “That’s okay if you don’t remember, Amara—,”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s blocked. The memory. I can’t seem to focus on it. My brain is foggy. I don’t ever remember remembering this before now.”

Dorran pulled me back to look at me. “Sometimes we remember and forget things at random—,”

“No,” I said, my voice growing dry. “Something doesn’t feel right.” I turned to face him. “How far back do you remember, Dorran?”

His heavy brow pulled down. “Amara, I don’t know. Three or four?”

“I don’t remember any of that,” I whispered. “There are things that my brain tries to remember but I just can’t.”

Dorran palmed my face. “What are you saying? Some people can’t remember back that far.”

“I think someone messed with my memory.”

Dorran dropped his hands and glared at me with an intense stare. “Who? Your stepmother?”

I took another sip of my wine and nibbled on my bottom lip. “Maybe,” I whispered. “Or my parents. I think there is more to my background than I know. Well,” I chuckled. “Obviously there is because I’m floating, but I think I’m forgetting it.”

Dorran glanced out and then looked back at me. “Maybe it has something to do with the pills. You’re not taking them anymore, and suddenly you’re remembering bits and pieces of your childhood. I haven’t heard back from the lab yet. I’ll call them in the morning.

“I think my stepmother is the one we need to ask,” I said, curling back against Dorran.

She’d always kept a close eye on me. Way more than her own kids. I thought it was because she wanted to keep her thumb on me, but now it seemed odd. Why did she hang around outside of my door at night to make sure I was asleep? Or make sure I took my medicine. The little things that I didn’t concern myself with growing up were beginning to not seem right anymore.

“What are you thinking about over there?” he asked, rubbing his hands up and down my arms. He reached for the blanket and pulled it over me.

“I think Helena kept me close for another reason other than doing her bidding.”

Dorran glanced out at the sky as lightning flashed across it. Raindrops began to sprinkle around us, and he used his wings as an umbrella. “Do you think we can get your stepmother to talk?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

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