Elena grew fiercer every day.
The three months since my release had flashed by like a Moon-Bolt’s lightning, bright and fleeting.
She trained hard and accepted who she was with grace.
She wasn’t my bear anymore, but she was still my daughter. She kept calling me Dad, and she listened to everything I said.
I watched every sparring session with her trainers. She favored the axe, just like her mother. She became pretty neat with sword and bow too. Not to mention she kicked the prince’s butt every weekend.
But she feared the Rubicon.
We studied footage of the attempts at claiming him, analyzing him, devising plans of attack specific to Blake’s weaknesses.
He had been released from sedation at last, but he simmered with rage. Whenever a reporter confronted him, hatred toward Elena flared.
He got under her skin, became her nightmare. Literally. She often woke screaming and drenched in sweat.
She swore she wasn’t ready.
But I knew she was. She was beyond ready.
As we settled onto the sofa to watch Lucian’s first failed claiming of Blake for the umpteenth time, I tried a different approach. “What does Blake do in your dreams, Elena?”
“It feels so real, Dad.” She shuddered. “I can feel the burn. His fire scares me the most.”
“It’s your fire,” I corrected. “Accept it. It can’t hurt you if you own it. You want him to release it upon you, only then will you ascend.”
She wrung her hands. “What if I don’t?”
“He can’t kill you. He knows it too. I guess that’s why he’s so terrified.”
She chuckled. “He’s not terrified of me, Dad.”
“Yes, he is. You don’t see it? It’s evident in all his fights, all his pre-fight interviews, in everything he does. Look.”
I opened the screen again. We watched some key footage. I pointed out when Blake laughed, the cocky dipshit. So arrogant and overconfident.
Elena rolled her eyes. “I’ve watched this a million times.”
“Look, Elena.”
I played new footage. She watched dutifully.
“Seeing it without the fights makes it clearer,” I explained. “He’s not so arrogant anymore, doesn’t chuckle, doesn’t—”
“No, he’s plain pissed off. How is that better for me?”
“Because he knows, Elena,” I said with meaning. “He isn’t confident. Not knowing what you can do scares him. That’s his mask. His fear manifests as anger. He is afraid. He will resist with every shred of strength he has. You may not claim him on your first attempt, but you’ll learn, improve, and try again. You are the only one who can, and he knows it.”
Dejected, she slumped back. “He doesn’t want it.”
“Of course not.”
“Not just being claimed, Dad. I mean he doesn’t want me to claim him.”
Oh, if you only understood. “He doesn’t want anyone to claim him. Your bond is written in the stars, bear. It was woven into the fabric of our world before either of you was a twinkle in your parents’ eyes.”
“What if he doesn’t want me?” Her voice was urgent. This had bothered her for a while. “I know what a Dent means for hetero pairs of the opposite sex.”
I grimaced. “There’s something you should know. Something I never told anyone. It’ll sound crazier than all this.” I sighed. “That day I told you about your bond… I didn’t reveal everything, bear.”
She straightened. “No?”
I shook my head. “Three years ago, everyone sworn to protect you was hunted down and killed. Over the last three years, something else warned me anytime danger was near.”
Her eyes burned a hole into me.
“The first time, the message came through a movie. An actor turned to me and said, ‘They are coming.’ At first, I thought I was dreaming, or it was just a weird movie. The actor said again, ‘Herbert, they are coming.’ No way it was my imagination. No mistaking the message, either, with my adopted name. I grew up in a world steeped in magic, so no further convincing was necessary. I heeded the warning. We left that house within thirty minutes.”
She’d loathed running. I watched her. She swallowed hard. Revising every bad memory from her childhood.
“The next time,” I went on, “was a reporter while on the news. The same thing happened. Whoever it was warned me. We ran. It happened often. The night Fox found us, the night you came here, the warning came through the radio.” I locked gazes with her. “The person warning us was Blake, bear, or some unconscious part of him at least. Protecting you, keeping you safe. Your bond is formidable. He’ll never harm you beyond repair. Consciously or no, he did everything in his power to bring you here to him unhurt. He may not remember or doesn’t know yet. I don’t know how a Dent works. I didn’t share one with your grandfather, but I know it’s beyond logic, beyond our understanding. Yours is foretold to be the strongest of all.”
She looked at the frozen image of him on the TV, his eyes blazing with anger and deadly pink fire spewing from his mouth. “Blake warned you?” she asked. “You sure?”
I nodded. “I’m not supposed to be alive, Elena.”
“Dad, you can’t—”
I waved my hands to stop her. That came out wrong. “Let me finish. During the attack, the one when I eventually defeated Fox, drained every ounce of my strength. When the Sun-Blast reappeared, I was weakened. Too weak to fight. Doomed to die. You understand? I hadn’t told you the things you needed to know. Not even a hint, aside from transforming in front of you. No exaggeration, the deathblow was descending upon me when suddenly a foreign power surged into me out of nowhere. I felt indestructible, and I no longer controlled own body. It wasn’t me, Elena. He took over, fought through me, fought for me. I’m alive because of him. We owe it to him to tame him. He needs our protection now. He saved my life. It’s time we return the favor.”
Her mouth hung open as she absorbed this strange tale.
“This?” I pointed at his image. “This is the darkness fighting hard, bear. He’s not defined by this. I remember him as the opposite. Kind. Clever as hell. I watched him for hours through the window when his father brought him along to meetings. That boy hunted slippery frogs in the creek and released them with great tenderness.”
She laughed.
“He’s not that.” I pointed at the screen. “You have to claim him. To bring him back. To end his suffering—the boy I knew is deep inside, suffering. You’re his only hope.”
She sighed under the weight of this destiny.
“There is something else I need to tell you.”
“Uh, Dad?” She sounded annoyed.
“Last thing, I promise.” I smiled. “You’ve been asking Magerite about your mother and Helmut about your father.”
She nodded.
“For some reason, you don’t ask me.”
Bright red spread up her neck and across her cheeks. “I don’t want you to feel like you weren’t enough.” Tears returned to her eyes.
“Impossible, bear.” I rubbed her shoulders and she leaned in for a one-armed hug. I kissed her forehead.
“When you ascend, you’ll see him.”
She leaned back to look at me. “Who?”
“Your real dad. King Albert. You’ll have a brief moment to speak. Use every second, Elena. See for yourself what kind of man your father was. He loved you more than I ever could. He gave his life to save you. That wasn’t easy. Don’t feel guilty. Show him he didn’t die for nothing. Promise?”
She nodded.
I kissed her temple and we hugged.
“Only him?”
“Only him. It doesn’t happen to dragons, only riders. Something special. Last-minute advice, that kind of thing. Part of him looked forward to it. I believe it was what he clung to in his time of need.”
Solemn, she nodded. “How could their best friend betray them?”
“I wish I knew, bear. He was always fascinated by darkness. Always fought it. But so did everyone else in our circle. People tried to beat it out of him. Cruel, what that boy endured.”
“You really were there.” She said this as if realizing it for the first time.
“I loved your father like he was my own child,” I said, nodding. “That’s why it was so easy raising you, protecting you, loving you. We’re family, Elena. Not by blood, but by heart and soul.”
She grabbed me around my neck. “I love you, Dad.”
I grinned like a satisfied Labrador. “I love you more.”
She chuckled and sniffed, our hug broke. “Thank you for protecting me. Sorry for all the times I called you crazy and paranoid. I wish I could—”
“Shh, don’t apologize. You didn’t know.” I wiped of a lingering tear in the corner of her eyes. “That was my fault.” I stretched. “Time for hot cocoa and bed, young lady. You need to make a decision soon. You’re ready, more than you think.”
“I don’t feel ready,” she said.
“That is exactly why you are. You think your father felt ready to rule this world when King Louie died? A good monarch never feels ready. But they did. They brought you into this world. You’re one of them. You’re ready.”
With growing confidence, she nodded.
The next morning, I found Elena in the training facility.
Her focus was laser-sharp and just as intense. Her mother shone through her more brightly each day.
I sat in the benches by her gym bag, stuffed with her extra clothes, preferred face wash since she disliked the soap in the showers here, water, and towels.
Entranced, I watched her complete a graceful yet violent routine slaying dummies.
Her trainers would arrive shortly. They all sparred her now. None of them had anything new to teach her.
Impatience nagged at me, though I was conscious of the importance of free will. A rider needed to make the decision to attempt a claiming on their own. She needed to resolve to claim Blake and select the date independently.
I watched. And hoped.
Helmut showed up while she was in the middle of fighting three of her trainers at once. And beating them.
“She’s ready,” he said, impressed. “Why is she afraid?”
Images of Louis filled my vision. I ached for him sometimes. “She doesn’t feel ready?” I stated her worry.
“She doesn’t feel ready?” Helmut’s tone implied this was impossible, given her obvious skill.
I shook my head. Below, Elena disarmed two trainers with one fluid movement. I held in my cheer, not wanting to distract her.
“She looks different this morning,” said Helmut, ever observant.
“She does. I told her what’ll happen when she ascends.”
Helmut whistled. “You told her she’ll see Albert.”
I nodded.
“She’s stopped asking questions,” he said.
“She’s processing.” I was knocked breathless by the sheer joy of knowing her so well. “She always does that.”
“Kate,” Helmut quipped.
We chortled, awash in nostalgia.
I refocused on her. Spinning her mother’s Frankish throwing axes with such grace and skill, one would think she’d been born with them. She whirled, and her resemblance to her father—the flash of golden hair, the exhilarated smile—was uncanny. “Honestly, she’s the perfect mixture of both.”
“That she is,” agreed the king of Tith, a fond smile on his lips. “Has she approached you about investing?”
“Helmut, don’t.” I injected my voice with all the firmness a dragon could muster against a king. In other words, a lot. “That poor girl has a mountain of a dragon absorbing all her energy. Please don’t distract her. Let her concentrate on this one gigantic thing. Then sure, go ahead. You’ll have her ear.”
“You read your letter?”
I nodded. “All they do is apologize. They had no idea what a blessing it was to raise her. An honor. I guess a part of the reason I delayed revealing the truth was that I feared she wouldn’t be my girl anymore, and I wanted to keep her. A selfish, hoarding dragon. I’m glad I was wrong. She’ll always be my little girl.”
Helmut craned his neck to look a few hundred yards away at the opposite end of the training facility, where the prince glided through his own deadly routine, a massive sword glinting in his hand. Helmut’s expression was so full of love, I could almost taste it. “They never stop being little.”
We laughed again. I watched my girl defeat the third trainer with a flamboyant swish of her axes. “No lies, I haven’t the faintest idea what I’ll do once Blake is in the equation. You’ve seen those peacock blues, right? My poor kid is doomed.”
Helmut roared with glee. All three trainers, who were clustered around Elena instructing her on how she could have improved the exercise, paused to fling annoyed glances at us. “Sorry,” Helmut called. He looked not at all sorry.
Elena exploited the opportunity and—with a playful air—knocked them all to their asses. Kicked their legs out from underneath them.
We whooped with laughter. No apologies followed.
“She’s not easily distracted,” Helmut said once he caught his breath. “That’s an Albert trait. She’s ready, Jako.”
“I know.” My hands flew into the air. “I told her that.”
“Don’t worry about Blake.” Helmut leaned in like a conspirator. “Robert figured everything out.”
I chuckled. “I’m sure he did.”
Break time. Elena jogged up to us.
I handed her the bottle of water from her gym bag. She took a long pull then leaned down, pulled out a towel, and wiped her sweaty face.
Her trainers followed her. “You’re ready,” said Bianca, the trainer who Elena always complained was too hard on her. “You’ve been ready for two weeks.”
Elena lit up. “Thanks, Bianca.”
“You’re welcome, princess. Now, go claim your dragon already. Give the cockroaches something to write about you that’s interesting for once.”
Elena laughed. She struggled with the press. Her three-month absence had driven them wild. So of course what they wrote about her made me wild.
“What will it be?” I asked her cheerfully, hoping to take advantage of the high from beating her trainers. “More practice? Or are you going to grab that dragon by the horns and show him who’s the boss?”
“More like tendrils,” she evaded. She gulped water. “Fine, let’s set the date. A week from today. I’ll squeeze in a few more sessions in Lucian’s virtual game. It’s as real as this.”
Helmut smiled.
I was stupefied. Finally, she’d made her decision.
“I’ll set up the arrangements,” Helmut said, joyous. “How about a nighttime event? Few claimings happen at night these days. They won’t forget this one. I can feel it.” He got up and headed meandered toward the castle, so consumed with plans that he forgot to excuse himself.
“Feeling good?” I asked Elena as she watched Helmut walking away.
“No?” This came out as a question. “I thought about what you said yesterday. If Blake is afraid, well, he should be. Maybe I should laugh in my interview.”
“Not too cocky now,” I cautioned her.
“Just following his MO, Dad. Overconfident, arrogant. That’s the language he speaks. I need to get fluent.”
“Clever.” I smiled, proud of her creativity.
“Besides, it’s time to meet my father—I mean, not the one who raised me.”
I held up my hands in mock defense. “Not a chance in the world I’d get in the way of that reunion. He’s been waiting a long time, bear.”
“I can only imagine.”
“Let’s go.” I jumped to my feet. “Hopefully Bianca’s right: the cockroaches might write something worthy this time.”
The day of the claiming finally arrived.
Elena sat erect as a spear in the Colosseum locker room.
She wore a tight leather outfit, not traditional female attire, which she deemed too sexist.
They’d custom-made hers just for tonight. Crowds flowed in by the thousands. The Colosseum of Tith was packed to capacity. Everyone who was anyone was in attendance to see Albert and Catherine’s daughter claim the mighty Rubicon.
“You okay?” I asked.
“More than okay. I’ve waited too long for this day. Although… I don’t know what to say to him.”
“Bear, your eyes are on the wrong price.”
“Oh, the dragon is just a bonus, Dad.” She winked.
I laughed.
I pulled her in for a one-armed hug. “I’ve been meaning to tell you how much you remind me of your mother and your father.”
A wistful smile traveled across her face. “I wish I knew them like you and, well, everyone else around me.”
“I know. But it’s not hard to figure out who they were, Elena. They both live in you.” I tapped her chest over her heart. “Your determination? That’s a tie. Your father claimed Robert, and he was far from rider material.”
“Wait, really?”
“The only one not born with a mark who has ever tamed a dragon. And the first Chromatic dragon ever tamed. Nobody even witnessed the event. Just Albert and a big old Night Villain, one of the darkest dragons there is.”
“Sir Robert isn’t so dark,” she objected.
“Oh, he wasn’t always peaches and cream. You think Blake is dark? He still fears his dad.”
“Whoa,” she said. “Never thought of it like that.”
“And your mother pretended to be a man to rescue her little brother from the horrors of war.”
“She what now?”
My brow wrinkled. “You haven’t read her journals yet?”
“Started to, but I’m so tired every night, I don’t get far.”
“She’d kick my ass if she knew I’ve been keeping you too busy to read them.”
She laughed softly. “Was she really fierce?”
I grinned. It was the very word that I’d been thinking in relation to Elena lately. “The fiercest ever. Many feared her, but your father fell head over heels for her the first moment he saw her. Their love never stopped from that moment on.”
Her smile was content and dreamy.
“They wanted you more than anything in the world, and I’m sad they didn’t get to spend time with you like I have.” My voice wavered.
“Dad?”
“No, you need to know how much they loved you. I wish I could show you, but that’s not my ability.”
“Crown-Tails, right?”
“Yeah. Fascinating creatures, gentle too. I hope you meet one at Dragonia Academy. They’re excellent guides. Treasure it if you do.”
“I’ll remember that.”
The crowd started to chant. Elena got up. It was time.
“Go get your dragon, bear. And tell your father, no hard feelings. It is my honor to be called Dad by you.”
“I’ll try to remember that.” She stood by the door, waiting for it to open, doing light stretches to warm up.
She glanced over her shoulder and for a split second, both Albert and Catherine smiled back at me.
Elena was the princess everyone had been waiting for. The princess who would become the glue to patch up her world. The world hiding behind an enchanted wall, tucked away from the “real” one to protect its inhabitants and magic.
The world of Paegeia.
