Page 35 of Redeeming the Dragon

My mother cried even harder at those words, and I realized then what a terrible burden of guilt she and my father must have labored under, believing they’d turned their child over to a beast and lost her to an awful death.

“It’s alright, Mama,” I soothed, assuming the role of comforter. “You did what you had to. I’m still here. I’m alive.”

“Father? Mama? What is it? What goes on?”

My sisters’ voices, sleepy and confused, had entered the fray. Pulling free of my mother, I turned to them with open arms.

“Neena, Marisa!”

Marisa rubbed her eyes with her fists. Neena shouted a strangled little cry of shock and happiness and dashed to me, gathering me up.

“Lorna, you’re alive! You’re alive!”

And then all five of us were gathered together, holding one another, crying, babbling, asking questions, talking, and reassuring each other that our family unit was indeed whole and complete.

For now.

Marisa made tea and we sat at the table, talking until night vanished and dawn brightened the sky. I related all of my adventures since I’d gone.

Nearly all of them.

I told them that the dragon turned into a man, but I did not share that he slept beside me. My cheeks warmed at the memories, which were too intimate, too private, to reveal even to my family. Nor did I admit the times he’d touched my hand, held it, caressed it, or that I’d…enjoyed it.

Instead, I skirted the truth, allowing them to believe he’d merely visited my room at night, beneath the cover of darkness to talk. I did not give out that it was every night, for at the first mention of a strange man who shapeshifted into a dragon visiting my chamber, my parents turned to one another with a horrified, knowing look. They said nothing. They did not ask the question. Not then. Fear seized my heart as Mama regarded me with an intensity that warned me she would ask later. When she had me alone.

The very thing the dragon had cautioned me against.

This incident tempered my joy. The sour feeling worsened when I informed my family that I must return—that it was one of the conditions of the dragon allowing me to come home. My father’s face fell. My sisters’ expressions became clouded. My mother’s eyes glowed with pain and fury.

“So, he delivers you to us only to rip you away again? That is not kindness. That is cruelty,” she snapped.

“Mama…” I was taken aback by her fierceness. “I do not think he means to be cruel. I think, in his own fashion, he means to be kind.”

“It is not kind to steal you away again!” Marisa said sadly.

“Why don’t you flee, Lorna?” Neena suggested the idea, seizing my hand and squeezing it tightly. “Father could find a ship to put youon. We could get you settled far, far away from here. Then follow. We could all be together again. We could—”

“Stop,” I said, gently extricating my hand from her grasp. “It will not work, Neena. The dragon can sense me. Remember?”

“Ah yes. Your magical bond,” Mama said quietly. “This defies belief, Lorna. Why does the dragon make such a claim?”

“I don’t know,” I said, tracing the wooden grains in the tabletop with a finger. “You are right—it defies belief. I don’t understand it myself.”

Nor did I wish to elaborate.

“Look,” I said. Changing the subject, I lowered my voice to a hushed whisper and glanced all about, as if to be certain the giant beast wasn’t lurking unseen to overhear my plan. “I’ve a scheme to free myself, but it will take time. And patience. And help. It isn’t—it isn’t something we can do immediately. Aye, we will need Father to find me a ship. More than that, he must find me a place where the dragon cannot go. Most importantly, he must find a way to block the dragon from sensing me.”

I didn’t confess that the way he claimed to sense me was through a mate bond, fearing that would invoke further scrutiny than admitting the dragon came to my room at night!

My family was staring at me with expressions ranging between hope, pity, and futility.

“Lorna, that will take weeks. Months.”

I released a heavy breath. “It may take years. I’ve committed myself to the fact that this will require perseverance. I’ve already been patient and convinced him to let me return home for a visit. I can commit myself to further patience in the hopes of one day being free. But I’ll need your help.”

My family members exchanged glances. Finally, Father spoke up, saying for them all,

“We are committed too, Lorna. We will help you. Tell us what we must do.”

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