Page 90 of Cruel Daddy Dragon

“Oh, please tell us what they mean!” Julie says eagerly.

Cyrus smiles lightly and then announces it to all of us.

“From what I can see from these engravings, it looks like both dragons and witches were the founders of this town. I can see a list of names,” he says, “It looks like the dragons held the keys, and the witches were relic-holders.”

There’s another rolling gasp.

“How many of each?” Evander asks.

“I can’t tell how many relics; the carving’s eroded too much. But I can tell there are ten keys,” Cyrus answers, “and the names of the key guards…”

He looks at us all surprised.

“It looks like it’s the ancestors of the dragon clans.”

“Soleilus?” Evander asks.

“All of them.”

Everyone pauses.

“All of them?!” Kaius says, “Are you serious? All the clan leaders were here?!”

“That’s what it says,” Cyrus answers.

“Even Eclipse?” Evander asks.

“Yes. I recognize the name.”

Everyone looks at each other again.

“What the hell happened?” Kaius asks, “I thought all the dragon clans have been at each other’s throats as long as anyone can remember?”

“That’s what we thought,” Cyrus says, “But this says that they were here. They each held a key to keep the Naga locked away, but they had to leave… for some reason.”

He kneels down and looks down at the bottom of the carvings. Toward the bottom of the cave, there’s more erosion, and after running his hand over them, Cyrus sighs.

“I don’t know why. Half of the history’s gone from how it’s crumbling away,” he growls in light frustration for a moment before he sucks in a breath, “Well, I suppose it’s surprising it survived at all, let alone so well.”

Lena walks forward and looks at Cyrus.

“But this is what Sarah was talking about—this place isn’t just our home. It’s yours too. All of you dragons. Fleeing Greyson Ridge because of this threat from Eclipse… it’s not just about how embarrassing or shameful it would be to leave; it’s about everything we’d be losing.” Lena looks at Julie as she says, “All this history.” She then glances at Sarah: “As well as what we’ve all built here nowadays.”

Sarah nods next to me.

Cyrus sighs. He walks away, arms folded.

“If we fight for Greyson Ridge,” he says, “it’s not going to be easy. In fact, I don’t even know if we could win as we are.”

“But,” Sarah says, “you’ve said yourself that there are so many more keys than we’ve found. How many do we have, two? And you said there wereten. That’s not even to mention how many more relics there might be—or how many residents heresecretly have powers like Lena’s that can help us. To be honest, it would definitely be a worse move to leave.”

Cyrus nods. He looks from Lena to Julie to Sarah. Then, he expands his gaze beyond them and opens the floor with: “And what about the rest of you? Would you be willing to stay and fight?”

“Yes,” I answer before I can even think.

“I will,” Kaius answers nearly as quickly.

“I think we should,” Orion says.

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