Page 13 of Cassian
“Since I’ve had so much help with my gardens this year, we’re going to have a bumper crop of flowers and blooms.In addition to that, we’re going to have a fresh group of faeries born to help out with the new flowers.I’m even able to plant two of my fields twice this year thanks to Kings and Skye.I’ve never been so relaxed as I have been knowing that most of the burden of keeping the little ones working has been taken care of.For that, I have a gift for all of you.The ability to shift into dragons.”
The room was silent, but she could tell that there would be questions.When Skye stood up and headed for the door, Kings asked her where she was going.With a smile on her face, she told him she was going to go out into the yard and shift.The rest followed.
“I’ve never done this before.How do I shift?”It was Kings who told his mate how to shift.“So I just think of her, and then I’ll just become a dragon?That sounds entirely too easy.Does it hurt at all?”
“No, never.It feels like you’ve been given a second life as a dragon.”They all watched as she stood in the middle of the backyard with her eyes closed.“You should be able to see her when she’s ready.Sometimes she’ll leap at you, but since you’ve never done this before, she might be as shy about it as you are.Just give her a chance.”
Walking off in the distance, Raven thought of her own dragon.Would she be red or blue?Not that she cared, but it would be nice to be able to do the same things as Cassian could.Then she saw her.
Stopping in mid-step, she looked at the beautiful dragon.When she snarled at her, Raven couldn’t help it, she laughed.Then she whispered for her to come to her, and she felt the magic surround her.When she opened her eyes, she saw things from a different height and perspective.Things were…well, they were more.
“Christ, Raven, you’re beautiful.”She laughed again and turned her head to look at Cassian.“Just be careful of your tail.If you knock down any trees, it will be hard to explain to the insurance company that a large dragon did the damage.I can’t believe how magnificent you are.”
She knew that on some level, she couldn’t fly until it was dark out.They never flew during the day for fear of scaring the townspeople.They knew that they were dragons, but they didn’t push their luck with having them around them.It was better at night anyway; they could see better in the darkness than they could during the daylight hours.
“I feel so free, like you said.”He came to her slowly, cautioning her about her tail.“I’ll be careful.I don’t really have a lot of control over it, but I’m keeping it tucked under my body for now.”
“I’m going to touch you to see if you’re hot or not.I don’t know any other way to tell what sort of dragon you are.”His hand felt small against her face, and she leaned down to him carefully.He seemed so small to her at the moment, and she relished the fact that he was going to be flying with her tonight when the sun went down.She looked around the yard.
All the others had shifted as well.Ace stood alone in the yard as his dragon and tears of gems flowed from his eyes.As he stood there crying, she knew just how he felt.After all this time, he was allowed to be just like his cousins and be a dragon as well.Tank too was alone in his shift.The two of them looked so alone that she wanted to go to them.And she might have if she weren’t so afraid that she’d hurt someone in the process.She had to get used to her dragon before she would feel safe just moving around.
Stretching out on the lawn, she laid there while Cassian sat on her hand.She wasn’t as large as she thought she’d be, but big enough that he looked dwarfed by her size.Having had enough of the dragon for now, she thought of her other self and changed back swiftly.She wasn’t sure that she wanted to be just a human again, but she wanted to save up her strength for tonight when she learned to fly.Oh, how she was looking forward to that.
Lady Earth seemed to be pleased with what was going on.Raven noticed that she went to each of them, telling them how proud she was of them and how she was looking forward to this evening to see them in the sky.Raven wished that they could go now, but knew that Cassian and the others were right; they’d scare the people of the town, and that wouldn’t be a good thing when they were so close to getting the town back in shape as it should have been long ago.
She was also happy about the magic that would keep future mates from being in pain when they got the magic from the dragons.It hadn’t bothered her, for she was the first of them to not have the pain, but she’d heard from the others and knew that it had been very painful for them, especially Kings and Skye, since they were supposed to be king and queen of their kind and had gotten a powerful amount of magic that put them down for four days.She’d hate to think how much pain that had been for her friends, and she was glad to be the first one who didn’t have to experience that sort of agony.
Going back into the house when the other shifted back, she asked what would happen to the gems that the two cousins had cried.She’d always thought that it was a myth about dragon’s tears, but was happy that it was true.She knew that the two of them were struggling, but wouldn’t take any help from the family.She was happy that they were a part of the family now and couldn’t be happier too that they fit right in with the rest of the group.Raven couldn’t wait until they found their own mates so they could all be one big happy family.
“The court is set up for tomorrow to hear from Daniel.I’m to understand that he’s going to represent himself at the trial.”She asked if he thought that was smart.“I don’t know if he has it in him to represent himself at work, much less at a trial that will determine his fate.I’m thinking that he’s going to get the maximum amount of time for knocking you around, and then, on top of that, he’ll have to be registered as a convict.I think that it’s good that he’ll lose his job over this.I can’t imagine how he’d be treating his employees if he were to go back to work.I’ve not heard if he was going to have to take the classes again, but I would imagine that he’d have to do something while in prison.”
“I’ll just be glad that he’s off the streets for a while.Maybe he’ll learn something while there.”She doubted it as soon as she said it.People like Daniel rarely learned anything that would benefit those around them.“Do you know how long he might get?”
“All I know is that the company that the two of you worked for said that he was to take the anger classes and pass them, or he’d be charged with assault.I guess since it happened on company property,they can take him to court over it.If he didn’t pass the classes, then they would fire him and make sure that he got the maximum sentence for the crime that he caused.”
“I heard from corporate yesterday.They said that they’re sending me a check for compensation for the hospital stay, as well as a bonus for him being arrested before he hurt anyone else.I guess that’s all right, but I’d rather they take care that they didn’t hire people like him anymore.”Cassian said that would be all right with him as well.“I guess we’ll see.”
Everyone was hungry again, and they had the faeries take care of their second dinner for them.They had thick subs with double meat that tasted so good after all the excitement of the evening.She was counting down the moments until it was dark enough to go out into the yard again and fly.It was something that she’d never done before, not even in a plane, but this was going to be the second-best thing that ever happened to her.The first had been meeting Cassian.
By evening, she was so worked up that she could barely contain her excitement.All the others had gone home so that they could learn to fly in their own back yards.They were going to meet up in the sky when it was time, and she was going to enjoy this even if she had to fly all on her own.
Not only did she have to learn to fly, but she had to learn how to use her wings, too.They were huge and would make things blow around if she used them too much.As she was learning how to walk on her two hind legs, she thought about all the things she was going to do once she was aloft.It took her over two hours before she was able to lift off the ground, and by then she was exhausted.
Disappointed in the way things were going, it was just as the sun was coming up that she was able to lift off enough to fly a few feet off the ground.By then, she was so tired that she didn’t want to do any more of the lessons, but she was determined to get into the sky.Practicing in the backyard provided her with cover so that no one would see her, but it also made it so she had less room to get going so that she could be airborne.She was going to have to take this one day at a time, and she knew that someday she’d be able to fly with Cassian and have some fun.Flying was a great deal more work than she’d thought it would be.
Going to bed was all she could think about.Raven took a hot shower so that she’d not be as sore too and was asleep even before Cassian joined her in the bed.If she moved throughout the night, she didn’t remember.Her body had shut down almost as soon as it got beneath the covers.She thought that she could sleep until noon the next day and not be as rested as she thought that she would need to be.
Chapter 6
Daniel was about as ready as he’d ever been for his day in court.He’d been encouraged by everyone that he’d been around to tell the judge his plan about having Raven working for him at the restaurant and how he was going to be taking her with him when he got promoted.There was no doubt in his mind that he’d be given a promotion because he’d be so calm about working that nothing would bother him.And if it did, he’d have Raven there to take up the slack, or his anger, as it were.
He had declined an attorney as he knew what he wanted to say while in the big room.Nothing was going to get in his way of making his point about how he was going to make things work for him.And it would.Just as soon as he could get Raven and her dumbass husband on board.There was no way he was going to believe that they didn’t need the money as much as everyone did.
When the judge was brought into the room, he remained standing.Plenty was going on in the room, and he felt like he had the most to say and was glad that he was going to have this time in court.He had made him a list of points that he wanted to make, and when he made them, he was sure that the judge was going to see how much time and energy he’d put into this and waive the stupid classes that he had been made to take so that he could begin back at the restaurant where this all had begun.Blaming it squarely on Raven made him realize what a pain in the ass she’d been about the day of the great beating, and he was going to make sure she didn’t get out of hand again.Some of his points were rules that she was going to have to follow in order for her to be his beating board.
One, and the most important, she was never to deny him his time in taking his anger out on her.She didn’t have any say in where he was allowed to hit her, either.He would try his best not to mess up her face, but if he was having a particularly bad day, then she was going to have to deal with it.That’s what she was there for in the first place, so she didn’t have rules that he would follow.Not that he thought she was smart enough to make up any rules, but that was a different can of worms.The judge asked him what he wanted.
“I have a proposal that I’d like to talk to you about.”He said that he didn’t have time for his shenanigans today.“But this is for me not having to go to prison.I’d like to propose something to you so that I can get my job back and not have to take any more classes.It’s a really good one, and if you do this for me, I’ll tell everyone what a fine man you are, and they should vote for you.”
