Page 95 of So I Dared a Dragon

“You trust these dragons?” Estene gave us a wary look.

“With my entire heart.” Calista swallowed hard. “We can walk out of this mountain today, all you have to do is follow me. Follow us. The world is a very different place than the last time you saw it. But we can help you find your place in it. If that’s what you want.”

“Estene, who’s there?” A woman with red hair as fiery as Calista’s appeared. Her mouth dropped open. “Sweet moon, I don’t think I believe my eyes.”

“Mom.” Calista rushed toward her mother and wrapped her arms around her in a hug. Emotion spilled from her body as her mother rocked her in her embrace.

“I’ve seen you so many times in my dreams, but I never thought I’d hold you again.” Her mother took a deep shaky breath when she pulled away. “What happened?”

“The mountain is open. You’re free to go.” Calista looked around the open area. “How many of you are still in here?”

Her mother’s face fell. “Not many of us. Maybe twenty? Our males all perished. Without the sun, they lost their power. Many of our females, too.” She shook her head. “The important thing is you’re here now. How did you get here?”

“It’s a long story, and I can’t wait to tell you.” She wiped more tears from her eyes. “Come, please. I can’t wait for all of you to see the sky again.”

Her mother stepped closer. “What about him?”

“Aarix?

She shook her head. “The Night God.”

“He can’t control us anymore,” Calista said.

The truth was, it was complicated. We couldn’t kill him. We needed the darkness as much as we needed the light. But we wouldn’t let him use us anymore.

It was my turn to step forward. “I can’t begin to imagine what you’ve endured while you were trapped here. But I promise I’ll do everything in my power to make things right.”

A small group of women had assembled behind Calista’s mom. Some of them had red hair like Calista’s. Family. Others had blue and purple hair. They were a majestic thunder. They deserved to be free.

“Come,” Calista coaxed the female dragons. “It’s time for the Rocky Mountain thunder to be powerful again. I’ll show you how.”

thirty-six

. . .

Calista

I’d always taken the sky for granted. And as the gentle spring blue welcomed us, I vowed to never be so selfish again.

“You look so beautiful,” Mom said for…I’d lost count of how many times. There was a whole world waiting to greet her, and she couldn’t take her eyes off me. At some point, once we got my thunder settled in their new lives, I’d utterly break down at the enormity of what had happened. How long I’d lived feeling like I didn’t belong anywhere, like I didn’t have anything to offer. I’d been as trapped as the rest of these dragons.

“You do, too,” I said. She hadn’t aged at all. Her eyes were clear blue, her skin smooth, and her hair full and wavy, falling to her waist. Her dress was nothing more than an intricately wrapped piece of fabric, showing only a few scales on her upper arms. She seemed so human. My sisters Celina and Celeste had hardly any scales. No wings, no tails.

But they were full dragon, because they had gone inside the mountain when I’d been excluded. I closed my eyes, trying to remember our father, but no memory came.

Soon, all our questions would be answered. But now, it was time for them to get their magic back.

“I can’t wait to hear about everything you’ve accomplished,” Mom gushed.

I stopped dead in my tracks. I wasn’t ready for that wave of emotion. I could only remember this current, mostly disappointing iteration of my life. How could I explain I’d been a runaway wolf pack brat?

“She was instrumental in helping our thunder gain our independence.” Aarix filled in the blanks for me, reminding me who I was when I’d been too tempted to shrink back into that box that had never fit in the first place. “And now, she’s the star of a television show. It’s like a theater production that gets transmitted all over the world.”

Mom’s face lit up. “What kind of magic is that?”

“It took us a while to understand it too, but you’ll love it.” And I loved how Aarix was winning her over. For a moment, I thought the dragons might refuse to claim their own freedom because they thought my mate was their enemy.

If only we had found each other before the Night God had put his plan into place.

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