Page 32 of Kingdom of Ashes & Bone
That was it. I wasn’t ignoring it anymore. I whipped around and cuffed him lightly on the nose. “How about you get your mind out of the gutter and actually contribute?”
The golden dragon’s jaw dropped, incredulous. It was so comical I almost laughed. Zion whipped around and stared.
“You can—”
“Hear your little telepathic nonsense now? Yeah. Lucky me,” I grumbled, rolling my eyes.
Zephyr’s head tilted to the side, intrigued. “I’ve read quite a bit about dragons. I thought the section about telepathy between mates had been exaggerated, though.” He smirked. “So you allhavemated.”
The word was strange to my ears. “Mates?” I asked.
Zariah rumbled with satisfaction behind me, nuzzling his snout into my bum. I slammed my palm into his nose again, but this time with force. He whined, but withdrew.
Zephyr raised an eyebrow. “Dragons are magickal creatures, created from wild magick and will that manifests itself. In your cause, the witch who cursed the queen and you. Dragons only have one mate throughout their lifetime. This is a destined mate that could be anywhere in the world. Dragons who don’t find their mate go insane, or die.” He frowned. “The rules on procreating are unclear.” He gave Zion and Zariah a tilt of his head.
I tried to take all of that in. “Procreate?” I said instead, latching onto the one concrete thing I could grasp.
Zariah huffed with amusement.He means hopefully there won’t be any little dragon babies cooking in there.
His head nudged my belly gently.
My lips parted in shock.Baby dragons?Thank the gods.
“The queen had the princes, though,” I argued, still confused.
Zephyr shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know all of the rules, obviously. Maybe there’s more nuances to the curse. Maybe the queen was pregnant when she was cursed. Maybe the curse specifically attaches to her bloodline. It’s hard to say.”
So really, he didn’t know much at all. My disappointment must have shown, because Zion put an arm around my shoulders.
“What can you tell us, then?” he asked patiently.
Zephyr sighed. “Just bits and pieces. It’s important for dragons to find their mates. Seems you’re all right in that regard.” He nodded toward me, and I flushed.
“But otherwise there wasn’t much. Just that you’re made of magick, the change is permanent, and try not to burn down the countryside.”
“The power to turn into a dragon doesn’t seem like much of a curse,” I said, snorting a bit. “Seems right up your mother’s alley, anyway.”
My boys had nothing to say to that, and the awkward tension grew.
“Back to leading the refugees to another land,” Zion pivoted, his voice serious. “We have flown over the desert. To reach another kingdom will be a long and dangerous road, and you can’t be sure of your welcome. What if you’re all killed on sight?”
Zephyr’s eyes flared with challenge. “They wouldn’t dare if we had a dragon with us.”
Everyone tensed. Even Zariah. I put a hand on his snout, urging him to keep control. It wasn’t him I needed to worry about, though. Zion looked ready to spit fire himself.
“If you’re suggesting either of us leave Mari—”
“She could come too. I assumed she’d want to be with her people,” Zephyr insisted, his nose sticking a bit in the air.
Zion turned to me. “Well? What do you think?”
What? This was on me? “You’d leave your kingdom?” I clarified, unable to believe it.
Zion grabbed my hands in his. “We’d do anything for you, Mari.”
Zephyr smirked. “Mates,” he whispered dramatically to Shava, whose lip curled in disdain. He unconsciously rubbed the spot on his wrist where I knew his skin was changing to ash, but his long sleeves covered it for now. He caught me staring and blanched, all the color draining from his face.
My mouth opened to argue, realizing there was no way he could join the refugees. Not when he could turn at a moment’s notice.
