Page 37 of Emerald Waves
“Please, help me.”
“Let your protectors help you. If they can.”
Chapter Eleven
Caro
I’d not been down to the cave that contained our gems since before Emerson and I had mated. In fact, the last time I’d been here was the day Ionus discovered that his gem, always a deep, shimmering Amethyst, had begun to glow like a light had been ignited deep within it, bringing out all the woven threads of purple it held.
Now I was stunned to see that my emerald gemstone was also glowing, showing off the deep pockets of green it held. For a moment I reached to touch it, then let my hand fall back to my side as trepidation made me wary of what would happen if I connected with the elemental magic it held deep inside.
As was always the case when I was near water, my eyes were drawn to the surface of the shimmering pool beside the gems, but unlike in the past, there wasn’t an overwhelming pull to dip my toes in or sink beneath the surface. A tight feeling spreadfrom my neck to my shoulders and down, making my gut clench until I nearly retched at the idea of being submerged.
It was almost as if something was pushing me away from the element that had always brought me comfort aside from my own, like a glowing neon keep out sign that left me wallowing in despair. With my dragon still silent and tucked so deeply inside of me that I couldn’t even feel it now, I was left shaken and uncertain how to handle such a traumatic change of events.
Was this what it had felt like for Emerson, to not even know that he had a dragon because of how buried it had been?
Knowing that I could have helped him unlock it much sooner ate at me. In attempting to distance myself from my mate, I had forced him to experience that emptiness far longer than he should have.
I hadn’t lied when I’d told him that I’d only recently sensed that he might be my mate, but I hadn’t been completely honest either. Over the years I’d picked up on uncomfortable sensations whenever I’d been around him. I’d thought that it was his swirling, chaotic energy that had led me to begin keeping my distance, only now did I feel like I should have spent more time analyzing my emotions, and the way my dragon’s ears had perked up in interest every time it had heard Emerson speak.
Funny, but now that I really thought about it, I realized that I’d repressed and even smothered my dragon around him after that. It was one of the few things I’d ever opposed it on. For centuries we’d had an extremely symbiotic relationship, where I was often driven to allow it to lead while my human side retreated from all the complicated feelings I struggled with regarding my place among my brothers.
Once, it had always been easier to become one with the earth than be one with them. Where Ionus had always buried himself in the businesses that kept Dragon City thriving and the politics of the humans who did so much damage to one another forno real reason at all besides hatred and greed, damaging my element in the process. After that, I’d felt more comfortable with the fluid currents and churning waves of the ocean, its temperament, calm one minute, destructive another, had always been the perfect reflection of my own moods.
Because of that, I spent more time there than with my family, disappearing into the depths where I’d known they’d never be able to follow, imposing a sort of isolation upon myself to avoid establishing deeper bonds with them than the ones we already shared.
Of course, my secretive nature had played a big part in that, as I’d strode to keep them from gaining a clue about the work I’d been engaged in since I was old enough to venture off on my own without causing my overprotective brother too much alarm.
He'd fussed though, my goddess had he fussed, often assuming the worst when the truth had been something far more innocuous than the path his thoughts had led him to assume.
Silent, head bowed, I’d always accepted whatever admonishments and the resulting tasks he’d assigned me as penance, with my gaze blank and my thoughts on the water I’d left behind. Now, even the smell of it added to the churning, nauseous feeling burning in my gut. I was beginning to fear that I’d done irrevocable harm to my connection with it, and quite frankly, the thought terrified me.
“Is this what will happen when we each discover our mates?” Mattias asked as he peered at my stone glowing beside Ionus’.
“I believe it is,” Raven declared. “The power signatures in each have always been tremendously strong, but now I feel the growth in them, and the way Ionus’ stone and Caro’s are beginning to enhance once another. This is exactly what I hoped to discover when we came down here.”
“How so?” Ionus asked.
“It’s as I mentioned inside,” Raven explained. “You five have only just begun to scratch the surface of what your powers and abilities can do.”
“After all of these centuries?” Ionus questioned, skepticism clear in his voice. “All the training, all the preparations? We have tested ourselves time and time again, pushing, striving to strengthen our bodies and minds so that we could extend our powers even further, and now you’re saying, what exactly?”
“That we could have slept in instead of sweating our scales off on the practice pitch day in and day out,” Odem grumbled. “Despite what the poets want you to believe, the crack of dawn is not a splendorous wonder to be savored and sought out as a balm for the soul.”
“That’s not even close to what I am attempting to tell you,” Raven declared, shooting a look at Odem that made my jokester brother flush and appear properly chagrined. “What I am trying to explain is deeply rooted in lore, though lore has been proven as fact a great deal lately.”
“What lore are you referring to?” Ionus asked.
“One you and I discussed at length before Alex climbed into your life,” Raven explained. “Where you expressed your concerns about the corruptive nature of the powers and abilities that you and your brothers carry and what might happen if the loneliness of the years took a toll and one of you gave into the despair often experienced by the unmated.”
Wait. What?
Blinking, I tore my gaze away from the stone to stare at my brother, who looked completely unashamed for having contemplated such things.
“Did you really think that one of us would lose our shit and go rogue if we remained unmated throughout the remainder of our existence?” Mattias snapped. “What have any of us ever done tomake you think we’d be so petty and undisciplined, especially after the lessons you’ve drilled into our heads.”
“Control your language in the presence of the high priestess,” Ionus demanded. “And while you are at it, unruffle your scales, as Alex would say. You act as if the four of you are the only dragons in the room.”
