Page 21 of Surge of Ice

If I wasn’t embarrassed enough before when he could tell I was aroused, I certainly am now that he’s made it so clear that he knows exactly what we did last night. It’s just as well I’m a fire dragon because my face feels like it might combust.

I wait for Evander and Aydan, hoping they’re not upset about it. I’d feel terrible if, with a clear head, they had regrets. I also don’t have a clue how I’d resist trying to get them in my bed together again.

Evander finally manages,I could handle that again. You, Aydan?

More silence. And then Aydan says,Yeah, I can handle it.

I’m so excited I do a little spin in the air, and all three of them are suddenly laughing in my mind. But I can’t help it. Aydan and Evander might not be best friends, but this is certainly a step in the right direction.

Mating her together will also help her conceal her scent better. The more males who come inside her, the more her scent changes, making her seemingly invisible from the other males, Zane explains.

I think two men is more than enough, Aydan mutters angrily.

Zane’s smile comes through his words.We will see.

We keep flying, me in an awesome mood, and my thoughts start turning. Every time I breathe in Zane’s scent, it feels more and more familiar to me. More and more natural.

Can you tell me about our most recent past life?

Of course, Zane says, then pauses.The last time of dragons was during the Nihongi period. It was a great time for humans.

720 BC was towards the end of the Iron Age, Aydan adds.Although I don’t know a lot about that period in history.

I do not know what you speak of, but I can tell you that things have changed since my last lifetime,Zane says, then continues.I believe ninety-five dragons flew the skies then, and we ruled over everything we saw. When I was searching for you yesterday, I saw vessels on your oceans the likes of which I’ve never seen before. Instead of wood, they shimmered like swords. And the places humans gather now are so much larger and taller, with humans milling about in every direction like ants. It made me wonder if humans have become more challenging foes.

When I was awake last, we sometimes fought with the humans, but we mostly got along because all of us dragons take on a human form at times. As much as we are dragon, we are human too. Knowing that we could easily kill off humankind made us cautious with them, even when they irritated us.

When did we live before that?I ask.

We awaken about every two hundred years, but we have a unique ability to make mankind forget about the days of dragons. It is said that the goddess of the dragons said that the memories of dragons were too dangerous for mankind. If they remembered us, they would seek out where we slumber and kill us as we slept. So, when the last dragon disappears from the earth, humans’ memories disappear along with them. Stories and pictures remain, but they’re thought to be the work of a human’s imagination rather than reality.

That makes sense. At the Phoenix Institute, I remember seeing drawings of dragons from all over the world, from vastly different time periods. Somehow, humans from different time periods and different places all described dragons in their own ways.Why didn’t I find that strange until now?

And the four of us were there? Together?I ask.

I can hear the smile in his voice.We had a large home up on a hill not too far from a village. Evander and Aydan, although they went by different names then, fought in many of the wars, but always came home to you. You, and the rest of your harem, stayed home, working on the garden, trading in the village, and having a merry life.

It’s weird listening to him, because I believe him, and because the whole thing is so strange. We’ve lived other lifetimes. Together. As humans and dragons.

It’s been a lot longer than two hundred years this time, Aydan says thoughtfully.

Has it? How long did we slumber?Zane asks, sounding thoughtful.

I can feel Aydan’s hesitation.About two thousand years.

Two thousand?Zane sounds like he’s in shock.What could have gone wrong for so much time to have passed without our reawakening?

None of us have an answer, so we stay silent. Minutes pass, and I wonder if I should ask him if he’s alright. All of this has to be upsetting for him.

At last, he sighs.Well, it is what it is. I cannot turn back time now.

I release a breath I didn’t know I was holding, hesitate, then decide to keep probing for answers.There’s something else I’m wondering about.

Ask away.

Why is there only one female dragon?

Zane chuckles.You are the most powerful and most sought after of all the females. You are also usually the first to be awakened, but in the coming weeks there should be at least nineteen others.

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