Page 55 of Dragons' Mate
CHAPTER26
Kit
Ilove the cabin. It’s in the mountains, surrounded by tall whispering pines and has crystal clear pond I can swim in anytime I want. My mother swims with me too, splashing and laughing and tossing me into the water. We’ve been here for two months—longer than we’ve stayed anywhere that I remember.
I’m sitting at the kitchen table, finishing up my supper as I swing my legs back and forth on the large chair. My toes just reach the oak floor and the sunlight streaming through a window casts dappled patterns everywhere. But it's the way the sunlight dances upon my mother's scales, those iridescent patterns on her temples, that captivates me. They glow, emitting hues of azure and lilac, playing with the light.
I want to touch her scales. She has them out so rarely because there are bad people who would hurt her for having them. I’m never ever allowed to have my scales out, not even when we are alone.
“Are there seconds?” I ask, finishing off strips of deer meat. They are delicious and fresh from the hunt.
“You may, but first, come here, Kit.” My mother beckons me to her, her movements seamless and graceful, yet I can feel the air thickening with something heavy. “It’s alright,” she adds.
I don’t believe her. Her luminescent beauty is a stark contrast with the sorrow in her eyes. Deep, sapphire pools filled with pain and determination. I walk to her tentatively and she pulls me to stand between her knees, her fingers brushing my hair.
“Kit,” my mother’s voice is a haunting melody that makes my stomach clench. Something is wrong. I know it is. She is going to tell me that we can’t stay in this cabin anymore or go to the pond. Her smile is sad. “You are my star. You shine in the darkest of nights, the last hope of our lineage. The Order of Orion won't rest until they have you.”
I’m confused. “But Mama, you're a dragon too,” I blurt out, even though I know better than to say that word. “So I’m not the last. There are two of us.”
She sighs softly, ruffling my hair. “Yes, sweetling. But your destiny eclipses mine. It's woven with ancient prophecies.”
I shrug. I don’t care much about prophecies. I care about the pond. About why my mother looks so sad. “Don’t be scared, Mama. The order can’t find us here.”
“They can find us anywhere,” she tells me.
“But why would they look? We aren’t doing anything.”
“Female dragons are very special, Kit. Do you know what females can do that males can’t?”
“Lay eggs, of course.”
“That’s right. The order wants to kill us because we can lay eggs. Without dames, the dragon race will not survive. That’s what the order wants, what they’ve been working on for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years.”
“So we have to hide,” I say.
“So we have to hide.” There is a note to my mother’s voice that makes me worry that she is talking about something different than what we’ve always done. “You are getting bigger, sweetling. I won’t be able to hide your scales soon.”
“But you hide yours.”
She sighs. “It’s different.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I know.” She hugs me close, her scent of pine and earth, enveloping me in love and sorrow. “You have to hide, Kitterny. Have to hide so well that the order will never find you. Not until you grow and become stronger, and have a pack that will fly beside you. One day you will rise and spread your wings. But until then, you must be human.”
Panic rushes through me. I don’t understand what my mother is saying, but I know I don’t like it.
“You have a journey ahead, Kit. It will be scary times, but it has to be thus. And then, when the moment is right, you will embrace who you truly are.”
“How will I know?”
“Because one day, there will be a human girl. She will have hair white as snow, and will control the wind. Stay close to that girl, sweetling. She will be your key.” My mother pulls out a box but doesn’t open it. I can see two overlapping circles engraved on the top though. Then she takes out a vile from her pocket and tips a few drops of its liquid into my tea. “Drink your tea now.”
“What will it do?”
“It will lock your essence, making you seem like any other human child,” she says, but there are tears in her eyes. I think the tea will do more than she is saying. I know it will. “You have to drink it,” she tells me. “You have to, Kit. There is no choice.”
And so I do.
