Page 96 of The Soul of the Dragon

He lifted me to the ground and stood facing me. "How long after I went through the portal did you follow?"

That was a weird question. "I don't know. Maybe five minutes or so. Ensley showed up in the cave after you left and insisted I had to come with you."

A weak smile crossed his face. "I've been here for months. That whole thing you warned me about. The time and space between the realms. It's so much more than you can imagine."

"Months? How is that possible? We were just together." I shouldn't be shocked because I knew damn well anything was possible, but months?

And if we were apart for months... "But you were in our realm for weeks you said. How long—?" I couldn't finish the question because I was terrified of the answer.

"Over one hundred years."

I gasped, my hand flying to cover my mouth. My reaction certainly wasn't going to help, but oh, my Goddess. "You can't be serious."

"Very serious. I've spent all this time trying to piece together everything that happened with the dragons as well as adjust to an entirely different world. If I thought the fae realm was weird, it was a walk in the park compared to the current human realm."

I glanced around as if that would give me some kind of indication of what he meant, but we were alone on a cliff far from anything else. I couldn't even make out anything in the distance.

"This island is small and separated. I guess despite all the changes it was never developed into anything more."

"What about your mother? The curse?" I had a million questions running through my mind and I didn't know where to start. It was all too overwhelming.

"She is gone now. But she did live to a long age right here in Scotland. From what I've been able to piece together through old journals and photographs, she and Cordelia endured hardship after hardship in the Americas before they were finally able to scrape together what they needed to travel to Scotland via ship."

"Wow."

He nodded. "Yeah, apparently she was pregnant with Ian's firstborn son before the witches placed the curse, and before he hit puberty and suffered the same fate as the rest of us, she fought tooth and nail to scrape together the resources to bring both her son and my mother to Scotland to search for answers.”

"I think I would like this Cordelia. She sounds brave."

"Apparently, they arrived here not too long after I went through the portal." I could see the pain on his face at that admission. They'd been damned from the beginning when it came to their choices.

I reached up and touched his face."Are you okay?"

"I'll definitely be better with you here."

"It sounds like I have a wildly different world to learn how to live in."

"That is an understatement. They have these places called airports now where they use planes that allow all humans to fly now. They travel all over the world with ease. It makes it a lot harder for me to get around unseen."

"And what of the other dragons? Are they all gone?"

"Nay, there are a lot of them here in Scotland. Ian and Cordelia had many children. They must have discovered the curse broken not long after it happened as they have all returned to the Americas."

"Then why are you here?"

"That's where it all gets really complicated. Are you sure you're up for this now? I'd like to take you home where you can rest and eat something. If you are still living the same day as when I left you, then you must be exhausted. You fought so hard and well. I was so proud of you."

My shoulders slumped as I sought a rock to sit on. "I can't believe it's over. At least for me."

"What do you mean?"

I pulled my mother's note from my pocket and unfolded it slowly. "Apparently, I should have read this as soon as I found the amulet."

"Why? What does it say?"

"I guess we'll have to find out together."

My Dearest Darling,

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