Dad was getting stronger as the days passed. The bandages came off revealing blue, purple and green bruises on the side of his torso. There was no burned skin which was weird because of the amount of fire from that explosion. I thought he would be in pieces.
He laid mostly in bed, but he was getting his strength back as we took walks through the garden, down to the lake with the help of a cane.
The lake was one of my favorite places at the castle and we took a walk every morning.
“So how was the fitting?”
I grunted as my thoughts went back to the nightmare I endured last night. When I finished, Dad was already asleep. “She is a character, that is for sure.”
Dad chuckled.
“The queen said Georgina needs a few days to purchase everything.” She was some sort of royal purchaser. I didn’t know there was a job like that. She had a twang to her unclear words, making it harder to understand her. But she looked human with her strawberry curls that were pinned up messily. “They say she has style.”
“I bet she does. So, what do you think about Queen Maggie and King Helmut?”
“They are kind.” I smiled as the swans graced on top of the water. Long willow leaves covered the top of the lake, caressing the water. Trees, which lead to more forest, surrounded the edges. “There are many trees and mountains here.”
Dad laughed and flinched as he grabbed his torso. “Don’t make me laugh, bear.”
“Sorry.” I led him to the bench and helped him to sit down, holding his cane.
Dad got on the seat with a lot of groans and grunts. I sat down next to him.
“It’s Paegeia. Looks nothing like the other side. Here, the mountains and forests are sacred to them. It’s where they recoup, become one with their aura. Find their balance again.”
“The beasties?”
Dad’s lips curved into a grin. “Dragons, Elena.”
They would stay beasties. My mind couldn’t process the concept yet.
He tapped my leg. “You are doing great.”
“So what is the plan?”
“To train you. To bring you up to date with all the dragon breeds and make you familiar with the dragon you need to claim. It’s a lot of work, but if you give the next four months everything, you might get a dragon for your birthday.”
“Is the gift refundable?”
Dad chuckled as he clutched his torso. “I wish it was, bear. I’m sorry that I didn’t try again. You scared me to death, and I traumatized you so much that you couldn’t even look at me. You refused to come near me, so I had no other choice. I’m sorry that she took away the stories. I don’t think she intended that.”
I nodded as a warm breeze caressed my skin. It sure was beautiful here. The colors were brighter, just like the fantasy paintings.
“So what happened? How did you tell me?”
“I shouldn’t have shown you, cause that was the part that scared you to death, but you didn’t believe me.”
I nodded. I couldn’t imagine that Dad was a beasty. I needed to change the subject as the knowledge twisted my gut again and a heaviness descended on my chest. I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with air.
“Tell me about my grandfather?”
“There isn’t much to tell you, to be honest. He was nothing like your father. Louie still hated the Chromatic dragons but loved the Metallic ones. He loved one with all of his heart and when his father, King Alexander, discovered she was a dragon, they killed her. Louie never recovered from that, but when he took over the kingdom, he made a lot of changes for our Metalics. The Chromatics was still a problem. It was your father and his friends, Helmut and Caleb, with Goran that made the ultimate change. That dragon was a dragon no matter the breed.”
I loved his stories about my parents. I still did not know what they looked like, but I didn’t want to impose. There was still a lot to process and maybe I wasn’t ready for them yet, but I loved the stories.
“The Ancients have summoned me.”
“Ancients?”
“A group of ancient dragons and Dragonians that makes a lot of decisions when the kings can’t. We almost never used them, but Helmut told me since your father’s death, they sort out most of the problems.”
“Why?”
“Because Helmut and Caleb are so different from each other. Caleb’s dragon, Yvonne, perished during that night when the wyverns killed your parents and it changed Caleb’s in so many ways that Helmut doesn’t even know who he is. They lost too much that night.”
I nodded.
“So don’t judge him for that, bear. I’ll be fine.”
“Why do they want to see you?”
“It’s formalities. To find out if I were part of the assassination in Goran’s plan.”
“Dad, that is stupid. I’m here, proof that you didn’t. They wanted you and Tanya to keep me safe.”
“True, but it’s a mission that nobody in Paegeia knew about. So as soon as I’m better, I have to be there.”
“Can I come?”
“I’m sure that you can. I’ll ask Helmut.”
We went back to the castle as he kept speaking about his time with my grandfather. He was a very traditional man, and he struggled with Albert so much. It was hard to make that switch that my dad wasn’t my dad. That someone else sired me and that person was like some sort of hero, not just a king, inside Paegeia.
Jeeves, the butler, helped my father and they disappeared down the hallway. I stayed behind admiring the paintings of the McKenzies ancestors. The room was enormous and golden flower swirl designs covered the entire ceiling. It was so light with the white marble that squeaked under my soles. The smell of today’s flower bouquet of lilies, with purple, red, yellow and blue flowers I’d never seen before, hung in the air. The scent was sweet and hypnotic.
I reached the gigantic painting first. The brass plate said; King Reginald, King Helmut’s father. He looked a bit like his son. Had blond hair, wore a blue uniform with a lot of gold medals that fit with the trimmings and tassels on his shoulders. Blond wavy hair with a golden crown on top and the mother of all mustaches covered his upper lip. Then it was a picture of some sort of cousin. A big guy, with a round face, no neck, double chin. He had droopy eyelids and a crooked nose.
The queen, King Helmut’s mother, was next. She was beautiful. Had long blonde curls cascading down her one shoulder, with thin lips. A beautiful silver tiara with many diamonds glistened on her head. Her skin looked flawless, like soft ivory. In contrast to her blue eyes, she looked magical. She wore a dark blue dress that revealed her shoulders. A lot of Sirs followed, and I struggled to see where they fit in. Were they family?
A gigantic horizontal painting of a red fierce dragon and a younger King Helmut on top of him took up half of the one wall. Was that Emanual? They stood on top of a grassy hill with the mountains and pink and orange skies behind them. Dragon silhouette soared in the distance. The artist rounded off his masterpiece with a bright orange and blue flame dancing on the king’s palm. Remembering what it felt like on top of the same red dragon’s back shot an icy bolt through my body and I shivered.
The next picture was of king Helmut. The way he looked today. He wore the same blue and gold uniform as his father, with a golden crown on his head.
The queen was next to him. Younger but still breath-taking beautiful, wearing the same tiara as his mother. Her hair cascaded down in curls and she smiled. The first painting that smiled. I liked her hair down. She was breath-taking beautiful. They engraved her name on the golden plate and my eyes stuck on her birthdate. I didn’t get past the 18 in her birthdate. It was one thing my mind struggled to process was how old they were, but they didn’t look that old.
A lot of princes and princesses followed. All of them carried features that either belonged to the queen or the king.
Were all of them their children?
I looked at their brass plates, and they engraved their birthdates with departing dates on all of them. All that loss. Some were born two hundred years ago and the dates vary from a hundred years to eighty, seventy, sixty, and so forth. The couple had to endure a lot of deaths. Didn’t they have dragons that gave them essence? One was not even thirty.
A beautiful girl was next. She was young and looked like the king, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She had her mother’s soft curves.
“Beloved Princess Desiree McKenzie.” I muttered as my fingers brushed on her plate. Beloved?
“She passed away about eight years ago.”
I jumped out of my thoughts, and the queen laughed. It sounded like chimes.
“Sorry, Elena, I didn’t mean to scare you.” She came closer and put both her hands on my shoulder, sort of standing behind me, but still next to me. She wore jeans today, with ankle boots and a beautiful floral blouse. Her brown hair sat in another French twist. A sharp floral scent, the expensive kind, caressed my nostrils.
“How did she die?”
“Wyverns.”
I looked at her. “Wyverns? As in more beasties?”
Her lips curved. “They are part of the dragon race, but nothing like dragons. They are worse than the Chromatics, if you ask me. It was one of your father’s goals to unite with them.” She pinched off some invisible dust from the painting. “One of their best friends could speak their language.” She sighed as she brought her hand back and covered her chest. Her smile wavered. A memory she didn’t want to think about.
One of their friends betrayed them. Was it him?
“It was the wyverns that killed your mother and father. It’s funny how the ones we try to save becomes our doom. We can never trust them. We learned that the hard way with Desi.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault she passed on from this life. But I miss her with all of my heart.”
My eyes skidded past the twenty paintings before Dezi.
“Were all of them your children?” It sounded so far-fetched.
She smiled. “If you are as old as me, you will have many kids too, Elena. Some were a blessing, others kept us up at night. But yes, they were our pride and joy.”
“And here is the baby.” She took me to the last painting of a handsome guy. He had blond hair, blue eyes, laugh lines but didn’t smile in this photo. “He will take over from Helmut one day. It’s been a long reign.”
His brass plate read Prince Lucian McKenzie.
“It took a lot of attempts to give birth to a masterpiece.”
I giggled.
“He is a few years older than you, and he reminds me a lot of your father. Had that same passion, just wanted to do good, change Paegeia for the better, which scares the crap out of me as the others who carried similar goals, all died young. I can’t imagine my life without him.”
“That must be so hard to say goodbye to so many children?”
“It is, but maybe this time, we don’t have to. He is one of the few ones that is born with the mark.”
We stared at the prince for a few minutes longer. He was hot. I didn’t see him roaming the hallways yet, but then again, this place was so big. “He lives here too?”
“No, he is a student at Dragonia Academy, but you will meet him soon. We are waiting for him as we speak. Two weeks is more than my heart can take.”
My lips formed a grin at the way she spoke about her son.
“He tried to claim the Rubicon a few times already and every single time, I prayed he wouldn’t die.”
“He tried to tame him?”
“Yes, he believed he could if he trained hard, and if he was passionate enough. He almost had him the last time, but then a new ability emerged. One that almost killed him. I’m glad that you are here now.”
My eyes grew as I stared at her. I could die and she sounded happy about it?
Queen Maggie’s lips spread into a smile. “I didn’t mean it like that? I mean, it will be easier for you, Elena. It’s your abilities within the Rubicon, so when he releases them, you will have access to them. Lucian couldn’t. I can’t wait to see the little shit fall.”
“The Rubicon?”
“Oh, he is cocky and has a tendency to get under your skin and pull all the nerves at once.”
“He’s little?”
“No, he’s gigantic, but inside he is a little shit.”
The Rubicon was a little boy? That was my luck.
She stared up at her son. She touched the brass plate of her daughter’s painting and swallowed hard. “Are you up for some breakfast?”
“Stomach is growling at me.”
She chuckled and led me outside to the patio.
Dad and King Helmut sat at the table on the patio with a breakfast feast lining the table.
“I thought you were up in your room?” I went over to my dad and kissed him on top of his head.
“Nope, I’m not that tired.”
I smiled. “I’m glad to hear that.”
“Morning, Elena.” King Helmut smiled as he buttered his toast.
“Morning.”
I sat next to my father, and the queen poured us each a cup of tea.
“Thank you,” I said.
“I would like to start as soon as we can on Elena’s tutoring,” Dad said.
“I’ll make the arrangements. She can learn here as she is not of age to attend Dragonia yet. We’ll get trainers to train her in the art of war.”
“Art of what?” I asked.
Chuckles filled the table. “It’s a subject, Elena.” My father spoke. “It’s crucial for Dragonians to learn how to fight with weapons, and learn the skill to defend themselves.”
I nodded.
“Mom!” A male voice came from the area we were just in.
Queen Maggie’s eyes raised as she gasped and a huge grin sprawled on her lips as she pushed herself from the chair and almost ran to the door.
“The last time I saw him, he was still in diapers,” Dad said, “Didn’t you have a daughter too?”
King Helmut’s face fell.
I bumped my knee into Dad’s leg, and his eyes flickered to me. I shook my head. Dad squinted.
“Dezi,” King Helmut answered. “She passed away about eight years ago.”
Dad gaped as his eyes pulled down. “I’m so sorry, Helmut.”
“It’s not your fault. I tried to fulfill one of Albert’s wishes, tried to believe that there was good in some Wyverns, but there weren’t. I learned that the hard way and lost Dezi.”
My dad sighed. “I loved Albert like he was my own. Heaven knows he needed a loving father, but his love for scales and danger wasn’t something you could’ve beaten out of him.”
King Helmut chuckled.
“And you say I’m like him?” I asked.
The king laughed as Dad smiled at me, shaking his head as I took a bite of my toast.
“Yeah, no,” a guy’s voice said, and the queen laughed as they both exited the door.
“Lucian,” King Helmut said and got up. The guy came over and hugged his father. They were very affectionate.
My eyes flickered to him. He was tall, had lean muscles, with blond hair combed over. His smile made my stomach all twisty and my heart beat faster. He wore jeans, a branded shirt with a leather jacket draped over his arm. I wiped my sweaty palms over my shorts. His painting didn’t do him any justice.
A bulldog paddled up the steps.
“Hello, my boy.” The prince got on his haunches and the bulldog wiggled his entire butt as Lucian scratched him.
“Cat!”
“He is just saying hello, Cruella.” He spoke to his mom.
I snorted.
“Yeah, not while we are eating breakfast. Between you are your father feeding him bacon and whatnots. The dog already has a hard time breathing. Overweight would cause another ailment.”
“I’ll take him for a walk.”
“I want you to meet someone,” the queen said.
“Oh, I wonder who that can be?”
The queen laughed. “Stop it.”
He got up from his haunches and the queen came over to Dad and I.
“This is Jako Lemuir. King Louis’s dragon. You were almost three when he left.”
Lucian shook Dad’s hand, and I wiped my sweaty palms down my shorts again.
“Nice meeting you.”
“Likewise. You turned into a strappy young man, I see. Do I have to keep an eye on you?”
“Dad!” I hissed, and everyone laughed.
“And have the Rubicon hunting me down, no thanks.”
Everyone chuckled, but that was one of my fears that just became a reality. He was like everyone else, and wouldn’t stand in the way of the mighty beast.
“Lucian, this is Elena,” the queen said.
“So you are the girl that they send an entire fleet to bring home.” He touched my hand and shook it.
“Yeah, it was scary.”
“I’m sure it was if Emanual was among them.”
“Watch it,” Emanual’s voice came from next to the railing and his footsteps ran up the stairs leading to the patio.
Lucian’s lips curved. “Oh, I didn’t even see you.” Lucian turned around and shook Emanual’s hand.
“Yeah, right? I’m starving.”
King Helmut spoke to him in Latin and he nodded as they all sat down.
“Cat!”
“Mom!” Lucian reprimanded.
“Lucian.”
“Let him be. Come here, boy. Lay down.” The dog plopped down on the floor by his feet.
“You named your dog Cat?” I asked and Dad laughed.
“Catastrophe,” the queen answered. “He sure lives up to his name. We had to replace the west garden’s sprinklers again.”
“Cat’s just lonely when I’m not here.” Lucian already started loading his plate with bacon and toast.
“He goes for walks, and the staff play with him all the time. The dog has no reason to take it out on the garden.”
My lips thinned as I tried to suppress my laughter.
“Okay, I’ll have a talk to him and tell him to stop doing that,” Lucian playfully said to his mom.
Queen Maggie giggled. “Yeah, it won’t surprise me if you show him where more are.”
Dad chuckled as I drank my tea. They sure had a great relationship.
After breakfast, Lucian took me around the castle. I got the tour from his mom already, but it was great to be in someone around my age’s company. Someone that tried to tame the Rubicon everyone kept pushing down my throat.
We went to the royal semi-zoo where they housed all the exotic pets.
The monkeys were little shits, and kept pulling my hair and grabbing the peanuts out of my hand, afraid that I would steal it.
They all screeched and screamed as we neared, behaving like mad little creatures when they saw Lucian, and he chuckled.
“Sorry,” he replied and opened the gigantic gate and we walked through it. He closed it behind him and one monkey jumped on him.
“Hey, Bugs,” Lucian said and kissed him.
He sure loved animals, and animals loved him. My stomach twisted and turned as my heartbeat pounded. “Are you some sort of animal whisperer?”
“I always loved animals, and they seemed to love me.” He kept staring at the monkey.
The one that kept screaming at me swung from ropes and branches toward us and jumped on Lucian, too. He gave his head a loving hug.
“Hey, Peanut.” Lucian lifted his arm and scratched his head. I stepped away from that beasty.
Lucian saw it and chuckled.
“You are afraid of Peanut?”
“Yeah, he doesn’t like me much. Kept screaming at me as if I stole his peanuts or something.” I laughed and Lucian found that funny.
“Yeah, he is very bitchy about his peanuts. Come here.” He motioned with his hand.
“No, it’s fine.”
“It’s a monkey, Elena. Believe me, the Rubicon is much scarier. See it as a stepping stone.”
I sighed and walked over. Lucian reached out his arm, and the monkey that hugged his head run the length of his arm. He brought the beasty over to me. He has a beautiful long tale, with a white mane and a dark tiny face with a button nose. The monkey opened his mouth and revealed tiny sharp teeth.
“You can scratch him. He won’t bite.”
“You sure about that?” I hovered to scratch him.
“Well, not while I’m here.”
My finger reached out to him and scratched his tiny round head.
He bent his head in all directions where it itches. Okay, he was adorable.
We spent a few minutes more in the monkey cage and everyone came to say hello. There was even a pregnant monkey, and they loved the prince.
When we said goodbye and exited the cage, the monkeys went ballistic and Lucian’s cheeks reddened.
We carried on walking.
“So, what is the plan?” he asked.
“Train in the art of combat or something like that.”
“War.”
“Is it like war? I mean, will they teach me how to make war?”
“Why, you want to declare war?” His eyebrow raised.
“No, I don’t think I’d be any good at it.”
“Nonsense. You will get a lot of tutors that will teach you some fighting skills and they’ll push Paegeia down your throat.”
I chuckled. “You make it sound so awful.”
“It might be different. I do not know what they teach on the other side. Blake mentioned it was quite boring.”
My heart felt as if it skipped a beat. I took a soft breath. “You know Blake?”
“Yeah, he is one of my best friends.”
“Best friend?”
“Okay, my blood brother.”
So he was the same age as Lucian.
I changed the subject, as I didn’t want to speak about Blake. “So your mother told me you tried to tame the Rubicon a few times.”
“Yeah, I can count my lucky stars that I’m still alive. There were others too and believe me, they didn’t come out of that ring in one piece.”
The muscles in my face slacked as I gaped at him. “He killed them?”
“It’s not the other side of the wall, Elena. Trying to claim a dragon that doesn’t belong to you comes with plenty of warnings.”
“So, you are like me, a Dragonian,” I drawled the word, hoping it was the right one.
“Yes, I’m just a late bloomer. I don’t know what my ability is yet.”
“Which one is your favorite?”
“All of them.”
I chuckled. “Oh, the greedy kind.”
“No, not at all. It’s hard to choose. I’ll be happy with just one, to be honest. Then I won’t feel like such a fraud.”
“Fraud?”
“Oh, my mark is barely there.” He showed me a faint mark on the inside of his sculpted arm. The skin was hardly stained. “See what I mean?”
I looked down at the dark brown blotch that was visible on the inside of my thigh. It was so warm here that it I wore shorts. “Yet, you tried to claim the mighty beast a few times.”
“You make him sound so evil.”
“He is pre-destined to be.”
“Yeah, not anymore.” He shook his head with a faint smile.
My cheeks flushed as we walked through a maze, speaking about Paegeia. I was grateful that he didn’t mention Blake and the Rubicon again. I couldn’t help but like him. He did, however, laughed at my word that I came up for dragons and teased me about that too. I told him the reason, that my mind still struggled to process the concept that dragons were real.
“I can’t imagine a world without them in it. It would be so dull.”
I wished I could be more like him.
He was a prince through and through, and I could see myself with him. Too bad that he felt that way about the Rubicon.
BLAKE
Two weeks had passed, and I hadn’t seen Elena yet. I hated this feeling so much. Lucian went home this weekend, and I disliked he was going to meet her. It was already Sunday afternoon, and he wasn’t even back yet.
All the crap I did to him. Taking Ariana away when he loved her was a low blow. It wasn’t even like that for me. I just needed to find out what she was afraid of. The thought about claiming me shouldn’t even have crossed her mind.
“Really, carry on as if nothing happened. That is your advice,” I spoke to Dad over the hologram as Lucian entered the room with his bag in his hand. My heart settled.
“Blake, the Ancients are afraid.”
“Dad, you were there, for crying out loud.” I spat through clenched teeth.
“We are back in Paegeia, Son. You can turn anytime into the Rubicon.”
“It’s horse-shit,” I said and disconnected the call, chucking my Cammy on the bed and grunted. I rubbed my face hard.
“You changed,” Lucian said.
My gaze flickered to him, and I squinted. “Changed? What makes you fucking say that?”
Lucian’s chuckle escaped through his lips.
“Fucking assholes,” I mumbled.
“She sunk her claws deep into you.”
I huffed. “More pathetic. She doesn’t have claws. You didn’t see her?”
“No, I did. I kept wondering how on earth she’s going to tame you? She looks like she is going to run away any second.”
I laughed. “Yeah, she has that damsel in distress attached to her.”
Lucian’s lips spread as I pulled my hands through my hair. “She mentioned me?”
“Your name has come up.” He opened his bag. My gut flipped at that. “But I got a feeling she didn’t want to speak about you.”
I sighed.
“What happened?”
“She didn’t tell you?”
“Nope, the reason I have a feeling.” He took out clean pressed clothes and put it back in his closet.
“She is angry at me. Which I can’t stand.”
“She is pretty.”
My eyes flickered to him, and I glared at him.
He laughed. “Really? You think I’ll do that to you. I should, but I won’t. For me there are plenty of fishes out there, but I’m afraid that is your whale.”
“She is what she is,” I muttered.
“So what happened?”
“Paegeia happened, that’s what. She hates me because I lied to her. The worst part is that I tried to tell her and then her father interrupted. She is so the opposite of me though.”
He chuckled.
“Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she is struggling with the concept of dragons. Refused to call them what they are. She keeps speaking about beasties.”
“Oh, fuck.”
He laughed. “Don’t worry, we’ll get her there.”
“No, no. You are sitting this one out.” The fear of Elena falling for Lucian turned my gut into many knots. I didn’t like that. It put me on edge and I was already on edge.
“Blake, you are going to need my help. I know you the best.”
I closed my eyes. “I swear if she is going to fall for you, Lu—”
“Relax, she won’t. I got a feeling her heart already belongs to you, she just needs to process.”
“You said she doesn’t want to speak about me.” My eyebrows tugged.
“Because she feels betrayed.”
“Yeah, and now the Ancients have banned me from seeing her.”
“They are old farts, Blake. They never stopped you before.”
“Yeah, that was before,” I mumbled.
He looked at me. There was still a slight tremble in my hand.
“The darkness?” he asked.
“It’s gone when I’m near her. It’s hard to explain. And now they want to keep me away from that.”
“Fuck them. Next weekend, we are going to show them it’s not like that.”
“They won’t let me near your home.”
“They will if I’m with you. You think they are going to tell me no. I’d like to see that.”
My lips curved at the corners as a small smile spread. I like that idea—a lot. “Thanks, Lu.”
“What are blood brothers for?”
I hated that he did that, but I was glad he did that too. It gave me hope when I needed it the most.
