Page 64 of Cruel Daddy Dragon

“I haven’t gotten there yet,” Lena answers, “I would reckon she would. But there areboxesandboxesof notes here, so it’ll probably take me a hot minute to get to it. What I can tell you is that the keys and the relics are different. The keys are locking up something extremely dangerous, but the relics belonged to what Gram called the“circle of power”.”

Lena shrugs, then looks at Julie.

“I thought the“circle of power”was a spell of some kind, but what if it’s not?” she says to Julie, “What if it’s a group?”

Julie nods at her.

“That would make sense!” she says, “This ring is Sarah’s—it was how her ancestor’s powers were channeled. I know it. What if the other relics belong to other descendants of the circle of power?”

“We already have the amulet,” Lena says, “Maybe there’s someone we know who it may belong to! I need to get back to checking Gram’s notes—see if she mentions something about it or the dragons who were here before.”

“Right!” Julie says, “And I need to get that amulet and see if I can find anyone it belongs to!”

“It may belong to you,” Lena says, “You had your first vision holding it.”

“You’re right!” Julie says, “I need to try again!”

As the two girls talk excitedly among each other, I look at the other dragons. They’re still in shock somewhat, looking between each other. Eventually, Kaius speaks up:

“You know, all of us finding our fated mates in this tiny little mountain town suddenly makes a lot more sense if that’s true,” he says.

“You’re right,” Milo replies, “If this is true, then there’s a good chanceallof this was fated—we were meant to come back because this is where we came from.”

“That’s just… weird,” Orion murmurs.

“I know,” I say, “And what a discovery to make while the Alphaisn’t here,right, Guys?”

That lightens the mood a little bit. Everyone chuckles a little.

I look over to Sarah. She’s still turning the ring over in her fingers, a frown on her beautiful face. When she realizes I’m staring at her, she looks up and then smiles at me.

So… all of this is fated? Every bit of it?I grin back at her; probably pretty safe to say dropping the L word too early isn’t going to ruin everything, then.

Chapter 21 - Sarah

The dragons have slipped into their own conversation, all talking about the Alpha and what to do next. Lena and Julie have slipped into a similar conversation—also chattering away about magic and relics and all kinds of things.

And frankly, I feel dizzy. I almost feel nauseous from how much is going on in my head. The world, and everything in it, is goingwaytoo fast right now. I twiddle the copper ring between my fingers. I remember the odd static shock I got when I first picked this thing up, but I never expected that it was supposed to be some kind of magical awakening. When I look at it, it’s a very unusual ring. I’ve never seen a piece of metal carved in the shape of a diamond before and set where a precious gem would be. I suppose it’s a beautiful ring in its own right, even if it’s a bit unusual.

And it’s mine…?

I look around. All of them are still vividly invested in their own conversations, and I am a complete outsider to them all right now. So I just stand up and walk past them all, heading outside to the back porch.

Once I’m outside in the cold night air, I sit down on the porch bench and just stare into the middle distance.

Dragons… magic… the kidnapping… visions of danger… Rufus…

His voice is in my head again:“I love you.”

It's all so much… I think I just need everything to slow down for a moment. I need the world to take a breather and have a time out.

“Hey.” His gentle voice comes purring across.

Maybe I’m just exhausted. Maybe it’s something else—but something about him coming out here calms me down. I smile a little.

“Hey.”

“Anyone sitting there?” he jokes quietly, gesturing to the side of the bench.

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