Page 61 of Oath of Rebellion

Chapter 22

AS SCARLET AND EIRWYN'S footsteps echoed up the stairs, Olive moved to her chair by the fire and frowned at him.

"Have you decided to take a chance on love?" Olive asked, her face guarded with an emotion he couldn't identify.

He nodded and moved to sit in the other chair by the fire. "I don't know about love, but I have a message for you from Lailant."

Olive's eyes widened at the name, and he continued.

"She says I need to go to the Hartsgrove to step into my destiny. She says to tell you it's time and something about dragon mates?"

He didn't want to hope but he couldn't stop himself. If he could identify what he was, maybe he could convince Eirwyn to accept all of him.

Olive sat up straighter and grinned. "I knew it."

His brows rose. "Knew what?"

"When I saw the way you looked at her last week, I knew she was your mate."

He shook his head and leaned back on the chair. "Mates aren't real, Olive."

"But you don't deny that you're attracted to Eirwyn, right? Well, it's a start."

"Can you just tell me what Lailant meant?" He shifted on the chair, trying to distract himself from his still hard cock.

Olive reached for her knitting basket. "Do you remember what I told you when you were a child?"

Knox nodded. "You said to keep my hatching a secret. You said to never reveal all my powers to anyone, only the plant manipulation, which was a normal druidic ability. Lailant said she came to see me as a baby?"

Olive leaned her head back and sighed. "Yes, we thought it'd be best to wait to tell you the truth. You know how innocent kids are. We didn't want you wandering into town and telling the entire kingdom that you..."

She trailed off, and Knox sat forward on the edge of his feet. "That I'm what?" He rested his elbows on his knees and waited, his heart pounding.

She sighed and shifted, pulling her knitting basket from beside the chair to in between them. She rummaged around to the bottom, then pulled out three pieces of broken egg.

She fit the pieces together. It was the size of Knox' two fists put together. Once it was back together, she held it up to the light. It glittered green and brown with streaks of gold here and there.

"You weren't born, Knox. You hatched."

He blinked. "Yes, you've said that."

She sighed, "Knox, think about it. When was the last time there was a hatchling? Do you think Eirwyn was hatched? Or the king? No, they were born like normal humans with inherent magic from their drakin bloodline. But you..."

She turned the egg, both of them staring at how the light reflected off its surface. "You're not just a drakin. You're a dragon."

Knox blinked and took a deep breath. All this time, and she'd known he was a dragon? Why hadn't she just told him? His chest tightened and he leaned back, crossing his arms as he waited for Olive to continue.

"Three hundred years ago, the continent was ruled by one powerful dragon king. He had four children. When they reached majority, he divided the kingdom into four. Busparia, the Feral Forest, Glathen, and the mountains to the north."

Knox frowned, reaching out to take the egg, carefully making sure it didn't break apart again. The pieces were incredibly tough, though, and it took both hands to hold it together.

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