Blake took me to a natural spring nearby. There was a pond by a small waterfall and fireflies lit the way. Nature had its own way of setting up romantic atmospheres.
“I told you before. It’s not the greatest mission that she spoke about.”
“What if it is, and your father is just pushing it, Blake?”
“It’s not. Whatever is going to come will be bigger.”
“Bigger than Goran, like what?”
“I don’t know, but it’s not this time. Trust me.”
I nodded. Silence linger as I hugged his arm and breathed in his scent with musky tones and woody undertones. “Promise me you’ll get back to me, please. I’m too young to be a bride, but way too young to be a widow, especially if you’d promised me infinity.”
He turned to face me and kissed me on my head. “I’m not going anywhere. You got my heart, and that is where I’ll return to.”
He said the most romantic things.
“I’m afraid I don’t know dragon hearts that well, or how to care for one.”
“With the utmost care.” He almost purred the words.
“I can try to do that.”
His lips hovered close to mine. “You better, and no more kissing other boys on their cheeks.”
My lips fanned out into a smile. “We are going to need his help to cover if we want to skulk off at nights.”
“Yeah, that is his duty as a blood brother, not as your friend.”
His lips brushed against mine, and his kisses were getting more seductive each time he kissed me.
My head buzzed in-between his palm and the need to be closer to him washed over my being. I pushed myself on top of his lap and the kissing became hungrier. Why couldn’t time stand still for a few hours?
I breathed like a bull through my nostrils, and he broke the kiss.
“Stop kissing me as if it’s the last time you are going to see me,” he whispered, and I tried so hard for it not to be. It was just that stupid foretelling and this omen that kept reminding me that something was going to happen that would make me have to make that choice.
“Sorry.”
“Trust me. I won’t lie to you just to keep you safe. That is just stupid.”
I stared into his peacock blues and I felt the truth deep inside. “That is what humans do.”
“I’m not a human.”
“That you aren’t.”
He chuckled at how flirty it came out. “Take a swim with me.”
“Now?” I looked at the lake. “You sure the water is safe?”
“It’s cleaner than some of the water that we shower in.” He tapped my leg to get off him and I pushed myself up on my feet.
He got up and pulled off his shirt and pants.
When he aimed to pull off his underwear, I looked away. “Naked?”
“You want to explain to your dad why our clothes are wet and not Lucian’s?”
He got a point, as heat flushed through me, knowing that this was exactly the reason he didn’t want Lucian to come with us. He walked buck naked to the lake, and I took a deep breath. When was I going to get used to his nakedness?
I pulled off my shirt while toeing off my sneakers. I hated undressing myself, as I know he was watching me with hawk eyes. He is your husband, Elena.
Funny how that didn’t want to sink in, either. I put my underwear with my clothes and tied my hair into a bun.
“Tonight still. We only have a few more hours,” Blake said.
“A bit of patience won’t kill you.”
I looked down as I walked to the lake and climbed into the water. It was really not that cold, and the water grew warmer as I reached Blake.
He was like a furnace, a geyser warming up water pools and little swimming ponds like this one.
He pulled me closer to him as I near and held me tight against him.
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
I looked up, and he fought off his laugh as he kissed my cheeks. It then hit me full in the face. He had enhanced hearing. “You can see in the dark, can’t you?”
“It’s not my fault.”
“Blake?”
“What? You didn’t ask, and I don’t like it if you are this shy in front of me. I’m not.”
“I didn’t grow up in a world where being naked is like taking a breath. It’s weird—”
“It was how it was since the beginning. It’s humans that made it weird. God didn’t intend for us to wear clothes.”
Laughter stormed my throat at his reasoning. “How am I going to argue with that?”
“You can’t. It’s the truth.”
He kissed me again and the way his hands grasped my sides and legs. I knew it wasn’t just going to stay with kissing.
We met Lucian again around quarter to ten, where he had dropped us off.
I climbed into the back and Blake scooted in behind me.
“I hate to be a chauffeur,” Lu said.
“You’ll live,” Blake replied.
“Do I need to ask where the hell you guys were?”
“The less you know, the better. Where were we supposed to be?” Blake asked.
“Jimmy’s.”
“Oh, crap.” A sigh swoosh out of him.
“Well, I had a great time at Jimmy’s.” I tried to make it sound believable.
Lucian threw back his head and let his laughter filled the entire SUV. “My mom is right. You rubbed off on our sweet, innocent Elena here.”
“Haha,” Blake said.
I had to bite my tongue, as I wanted to tell him I wasn’t that innocent. I found Blake staring at me with a raised eyebrow and a smile.
“What is that, Elena,” Lucian teased.
“Keep your eyes on the road, for crying out loud.”
Both of them burst out laughing as we almost reached the castle. I hated tomorrow. I didn’t want it to be tomorrow either.
Blake pulled me closer to him and I took a deep breath, hoping that I would never forget his eccentric scent.
We still had to take out the second team and when we got inside, they all waited for us.
“All the bombs planted?” Blake asked one scientist.
“We got everything, samples of everything, too. Thanks for giving us time to do this, Blake.”
“No need to thank me. I hope the flowers have some magical powers.”
We took them out, taking us about another hour, and then we called it a night.
Blake stayed over at the castle and we watched a movie in the living room under Dad’s supervision. He was such a pain sometimes, but that was Herbert Watkins, or Jaco. It was so weird that he changed his name on my behalf.
I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore and I said goodnight.
Blake shared a room with Lucian, and I closed my door after I crawled into bed, willing my tears away.
I said a small prayer, begging God to bring back my husband alive, and fell asleep during my plea, hoping that my sincerity was enough.
The next morning, we woke up early. I could smell that Blake sneaked into my room and him not waking me up was a shocker.
I could’ve spent the last few hours with him.
The breakfast was lively as King Helmut and King Caleb were there with their fleet.
It took me hours to take the special troops that were going to start the rescue process. We had to work fast before one. That was when the bombs would go off.
When I took in Blake, Mom came with as I still fear the monstrous snatchers.
She gasped like all the others when we reached to core. My gaze flickered to Blake as he stared at the flowers that grew overnight.
“How?” I asked.
“How what?” Mom asked.
“They plucked everything they could last night. How are there more flowers this morning?”
“Hey, don’t read into it too much, okay? They are going to come down, Elena,” Blake said.
I nodded as we walked to the other side. Mom kept her distance as Blake and I whispered to each other, not that it would help. She had enhanced hearing.
“I can’t do this!” Tears glistened in my eyes and he pulled me into his chest.
“Don’t do this, please. I’m not going anywhere. I told you that,” he said. “Why don’t you trust me?”
“I’m human. I’m not a dragon.” The tears streamed down my face.
He wiped my tears and planted his lips on my head. “I’ll be back. I love you, Elena.”
“I love you more.”
“Elena,” Mom said. “They are waiting for him.”
I nodded in his chest, and Mom took my side. “We’ll do it together.”
I brushed away my tears and took them both through. Mom grabbed her chest as she saw what used to be her home. “It’s been so long.”
Sir Robert walked closer and met us halfway. Blake kissed me a few times. “I’ll see you at supper, okay?”
I nodded.
“Take care of her, Tanya,” Dad said, and winked at me. I ran to him and give him another hug.
“Don’t you dare die on me now, please?”
“I won’t. Have faith in your old man. He knows what he is doing, been through many more dangerous wars.”
“Yeah, well, that was when he was a few hundred years younger.”
Dad chuckled and kissed me on top of my head. “It’s going to be okay. Love you, Bear.”
“Love you too.”
“I’ll monitor the pup, too.”
“That pup is your alpha, Dad, whether you like it.”
Dad smiled, and I walked back with Mom. My lower-lip trembled as she wrapped her one arm around me. We walked back to the creepers, as I didn’t want to be anywhere near a place that was rigged with bombs.
The palace felt so empty without their presence, Paegeia felt so empty. The rest of the fleet waited on some hill for one o’clock to enter.
Back at the castle, we helped queen Maggie getting ready for the women and children that made their way to the palace. This was their refugee during war, not that it might reach us.
I handed out water bottles and blankets inside the ballroom that were going to be closed off just for in case.
Mom waited by the end of the row in the ballroom where many had come.
She unleashed a shield. “Want to talk about what happened in the core, Elena?”
I shook my head.
“That was intense.”
“I know. I just can’t lose him.”
“Why do you even think that you would?”
I shook my head, and she grabbed my wrist. “I know I wasn’t a great mom, and I left when I should’ve stayed, but I do care, Elena, with all of my heart. Talk to me.”
“I got a foretelling.”
Mom breathed through her nostrils and looked around. “What did she say?”
I repeated the words that I could remember, and then Mom fell silent.
“What did Blake say?”
“That the time is wrong. Saving my dad isn’t the greatest mission. It’s something else.”
“I’m with him.”
“Why?”
“Because there are two dents. One of them is far from where they have to be for something as big as two dents. There were three dents during the Great War, and we didn’t even know what dents were. It was a stupid name your dad came up with when we discovered that Katie and my bond were stronger. That something else happened with certain bonds, dragons go through and enormous changed and I realized the others didn’t. Two other dragons went through that with their riders. None of us told them what we went through to make the bond stronger, and the rest after us never did either.”
I nodded.
“But it’s real, it’s not magical.” She placed a hair behind my ear. “Three dents during a war that lasted seven years. This is seven hours. It’s not the greatest mission.”
“Then what is more greater than saving my dad?”
Her lips quirked. “I’m not a Moon-bolt.”
What was going to happen for two dents to be needed?
“Are you being safe?”
Heat flushed my cheeks, and my gaze flickered to Mom. “What?”
She smiled. “I might not have given birth to you, but I’m not stupid either.”
“That clear?”
“You are closer than what you were the previous time I saw you. Way too fast for that to be normal.”
“Yes, okay.” The embarrassment rolled off me, getting caught by the dragon lady.
“Don’t tell either of your dads. They will skin him alive.”
“It’s not like that?”
“I know he will never leave you.”
“No, it’s not like that.” I wanted to tell her, but I didn’t know what she would do.
“Catherine’s spawn. What are you not telling me?”
I laughed at the name she had for me. It was the first time she used it too. I did not know where it came from either. Mom’s lips fanned into a grin as she stared at me.
“I know what I want. But I knew Dad would not have agreed. So we did it in secret.”
She frowned and then her eyes grew bigger.
I grabbed her arm and closed the little space that were between us. “You can’t tell anyone.”
“Who performed this ceremony? It’s what you meant, right, a Vastech?”
“Relax. I’m sure you know if you and Mom were that close.”
“I know almost everything about your mom. Adolph?”
I nodded.
“What is it with him and your family?”
“You don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“I can’t. I promise.”
“No, don’t be like that.”
“Mom, please. You can’t tell anyone, especially Dad, neither of them.”
“I won’t. He will be dead when they discovered it. Your father would probably annul it.”
“Sure, like grandpa did with them?”
She sighed. “You knew about that?”
“We learned about that in school.” My lips curved. “I thought about it hard and I asked him, not the other way around.”
“You go, girl. I’m still scared that it might be too young.”
“Oh, c’mon. My mom was—”
“Seventeen, not sixteen. But you are right. She knew exactly what she wanted. The time was different too, young lady. Now women wait until they are in their thirties.”
“Don’t tell anyone, please?”
“I’ll take it to my grave.”
“Thanks.”
“Who else know?”
“Nobody. Just you.”
“Oh, aren’t I lucky.”
I laughed at her tone and hugged her.
“I wish I was there.”
“Yeah, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing.”
“When?”
“Friday night.”
“Two days? No wonder you were a blubbering mess.” Her hand brushed the side of my face.
“I wasn’t that type of mess. I didn’t bawl my eyes out.”
Mom raised her eyebrow.
“Okay fine. Thanks for not tearing my head off. I’m sure if it was my real mom, things would’ve been different.”
“She would’ve cooled off as I would’ve talked some sense into her.”
I remembered what my lecturers said about Dents. When the dragons lose their riders, they couldn’t carry on. “How are you doing it?”
She pushed a blonde slant behind her ear. “Doing what?”
“Live without her.”
She smiled. “Easy. She gave me her greatest possession to look after. Now, if something would happen to her, I might as well die myself.”
I smiled as tears pooled in my eyes and I grabbed her around her neck.
“It’s not that hard. I see her every time in you and sometimes so much that my heart skipped,” she said in my ear.
“Now you are lying. I look nothing like her.”
“That is true. You are a Malone through and through. I’m talking about in here,” she said and touched my heart. “We don’t just feel emotions different, Elena, we see different too.”
