I COULDN’T SPEAK. I was bowled over. Tanya Le Frey was my mom?
“Please, Tanya, you have—”
“What is the Rubicon doing here? Are you insane?” She looked at Cheng through slits.
“It’s not him. It’s another one,” Cheng said.
“Tanya,” the leader spoke. “You said this wouldn’t happen again.”
“Mom,” I finally found my voice. She turned her gaze from Balti back to me and her eyebrows furrowed hard.
I heard Cara gasp. That is our mother?
I ignored Cara completely.
“Who are you?” Tanya wanted to know.
Betrayal and hurt jolted through Cara’s body and mine. It numbed her completely, so it was my time to be strong now, and ask the questions. “What are you doing here?” I yelled at her.
She looked at Cheng for the answer. “How is it that this dragon can speak English? Who is he if not Blake?”
Cheng stared at both of us. I could see in his eyes that he felt my pain and anger. It was silent for a short while before he spoke again. “It’s not a he, it’s female. Her name is Elena.”
Tanya grabbed her mouth. “Change back immediately. Now!” she yelled at me.
My head turned to Cheng who was still protected by my tail. We both just stared at each other.
“Now, Elena, turn back,” Tanya yelled again.
I did as she asked and she ran over to wrap a table cloth that was spread over one of the tables around my naked body. My eyes didn’t leave hers. “I’m sorry that this is happening.” She looked back at Balti. “I know the consequences but I need to speak to my daughter in private, please my liege.”
The leader nodded. “But the boy stays.”
I looked at Cheng. “It’s okay, Elena. Go talk to your mom. I’ll be fine.” He sounded stunned, mixed with confused, exactly the way I felt.
I looked back at Balti. “If you hurt him, I swear to you…”
“Don’t,” my mom grunted.
“He will pay if he hurts my friend,” I grunted back.
“Understood,” the sire said and my mom pulled me away into another passage. I just stared at her as I kept the same pace as hers. Hurt jolted through my entire body again followed by a lot of anger. We took a lift and my eyes didn’t leave her for one second.
When the door closed I gave it to her. “You left us. How could you do that? I was only two years old.”
“Elena, I had no choice.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit, Mom. How could you do that?”
“Watch your tongue.”
“Don’t tell me what to do, you gave up that right the day you walked out of my father’s house.”
My words stung her, but it was not nearly the hurt I felt. She closed her eyes. “Believe me I’ve been punishing myself every single day for leaving you and Jako.” She flinched. “I mean Herbert.”
“So, Jako was Herbert?” I asked. I should’ve known that. I should’ve looked for what Jako looked like when my curiosity about him was piqued. They were so similar in so many ways.
She nodded.
“Why didn’t he tell me? About what I am? About this?”
“This isn’t the place Elena.”
“What!”
“I know you have many questions, but this isn’t the place to get them answered.”
My nostrils flared and I thrust myself against the elevator’s wall with both arms curled, still clutching the table cloth around my naked body.
My mind went crazy with questions and Cheng managed to enter it too. “Is my friend going to be okay with this Balti guy?”
She smiled slightly. “Yes, he knows he’s a dragon. He finds dragons fascinating.”
“So I’ve been told.”
The elevator opened and I followed her down another hall. She opened a door that led into a small apartment that was very high class. Everything was marble and pure white. The kitchen had a glass table and the most beautiful oven I’d ever seen. All the décor was crystal, and on the table stood a crystal vase with the most beautiful flowers in a million different colors. A huge tree even grew right through her apartment.
A monkey came out of nowhere and jumped onto her shoulder. She patted it softly and gave it air kisses before she took it off her shoulder and put it onto the tree.
“Sit,” she ordered me. “I’ll make you some tea and get you some clothes to wear.”
“I don’t want tea, I want answers,” I yelled again. “Why did you leave?”
“I couldn’t stay, Elena. I wanted to so badly, but I couldn’t. Jako kept moving us around. Said there were dragons that knew about you and that they wanted to kill us. He moved deeper into the city and I couldn’t change anymore. I am what I am, even if I try not to be. I couldn’t go without my true form, so the best thing for me was to leave.”
“You only thought about yourself. What about me and Dad? You couldn’t just try to make it work. You never even came back.”
She closed her eyes. “I couldn’t…”
“Oh please, don’t give me that crap.” I wiped off an angry tear and threw myself down onto the whitest couch I had ever seen. This entire place would drive me insane.
She came over to me and sat down on the opposite couch. I could feel her eyes on me but I didn’t want to look at her. I’d never felt so betrayed in my entire life.
“When did you turn into a dragon?” she asked.
“The day Lucian died.”
Her eyes grew and a gasp left her mouth. “Lucian died?”
“Don’t, it’s not like you knew him.”
She sucked in a silent breath. My words stung her more than I’d hoped for, but she deserved it, all of it.
“I knew how he felt about you and you about him. I’m sorry,” she said in a soft voice. It was silent for a while as I kept staring at the tree that grew majestically through her apartment. “Did he tell you anything?” she asked.
“Nothing, he told me nothing because he died. Why do you think we are here? Vacation?”
She bit hard on her lower lip and took a deep breath before her gaze turned down another hall behind her. “Anna!” Tanya yelled.
I frowned as a girl in her early teens came running into the room. She had blond hair like mom and bright blue eyes. She was slender and really tall.
“Please give Elena some of your clothes.”
“Mom!” The girl protested.
“Please, Anna, do as you are told.”
The girl turned around and disappeared.
I started to laugh. “You are unbelievable, you know that.” I glared at the woman who I would have given anything to find a couple of years back. “Does she know who I am? Did Dad know?”
“Yes, Jako knew.”
I couldn’t believe I had a half-sister. “Is she a dragon too?”
“No, she’s not, and neither are you.”
