KATIE
I dropped off my siblings at the small school right next to the church.
It was a beautiful summer’s day and I closed my eyes as the sun’s heat brushed my skin.
I hated the winters and wished that it wasn’t as cold as winter always was.
Father sounded better during the summer. He held on and a part of me wished that I could find Albert and just remind him of his offer to heal father with his Swallow Annex friend.
Mother was already in the store when I arrived.
A gentleman was standing at the register and he turned around slowly as he heard me coming in.
He was handsome too, had beautiful weird hazelnut eyes and pitch dark hair.
He loved the sun.
“Good morning,” I said and smiled at him.
He just stared.
“Sorry, Katherine, the inventory.”
“Yes, mother.” I spoke and could feel the gentleman’s eyes on me as I disappeared to the back.
I didn’t like that.
“She is really beautiful.”
“Yes, every gentleman in Eikenborough is smitten with our Katie, but she is a tough one for sure.”
“Katie?”
“Short for Katherine.”
“She works here.”
“She’s my eldest. Do you want me to package this for you?”
“No, I’ll take it just like that. Thank you.” He said and the cash register opened.
Since the shop had gotten the royal seal it always opened. Drizelda hadn’t been back again after that day and I wondered if she ever would.
Her bill settled, by the prince, helped us settle quite a few of ours. There was even enough to buy more medicine for father and food for the house.
I returned to find mother standing in the doorway.
I looked at her. “Is he gone?”
“Yes,” she spoke softly.
“He’s been here before, hasn’t he?”
“A few times. The sweetwater is really starting to become a bestseller.”
“I’m glad.” I didn’t know if I should voice my concern.
“He won’t Katie, he has a sweetheart.”
“Mom, it’s just the way he stared at me.”
“I keep telling you that you are beautiful. Even the prince thinks that.”
“The prince has no idea what I look like.”
“He could sense it,” she came over to me and pulled me in for a hug. “Every boy in this village is smitten with you Kate, you are just full of nonsense.”
“No, I’m not, they all want a damsel in distress, and I’m no damsel, mother.”
“That you certainly aren’t.”
ALBERT
Three weeks after the ball, I felt so many things, irritation was one of them.
Robert has had many shops and girls to search through. He had found a couple that carries the scent but none of the girls fit the description and one that did fit the description had the smell all wrong.
Still I wanted to know more about her.
“I don’t know, Albert. She is just a girl still. A bit too young if you ask me.”
“Dammit.” I said and sighed.
“She definitely told you she was a woman. Reached her womanhood.”
“Yes, she had breasts, Robert.”
“This one is too young, it’s not her. Hey we will find her, I promise.”
I smiled. I was starting to wonder if she wasn’t a figment of my imagination.
“What could you find out about the sick, her father is definitely sick.”
“Not a lot. The minute I ask around they shut down. They are very private village, Al, and a few don’t like me snooping around too much. I am already drawing attention.”
I nodded.
What if she used a spell that night. It could explain why she ran when the clock chimed. But they pay for everything. She didn’t sound like the type that would pay for a potion and not for her father to see a Swallow Annex.
“What if we just send Connie and Issy to heal all the sick in Eikenborough.”
“And have your father asking questions. Al, you know you can’t.”
“Dammit, Robert. I need…”
“You need what?”
“To change her mind about who she thinks I am.”
“Albert, we will find her. I know we will.”
I couldn’t get her out of my head and I was starting to lose hope that maybe she didn’t even live in Eikenborough.
Where was I going to find her?
The cabin was small, but it was my private sanctuary. It held a bed which I used plenty of times whenever I was with Connie.
I hadn’t seen her since that night.
Now, I couldn’t be with any other woman. I only wanted my fair lady.
I felt like I was under a spell, a love spell.
Goran and Helmut found out about my obsession with Eikenborough. They teased me about her. They didn’t understand.
They’d meet someone eventually. Someone who would cause their pulses to race whenever they were near, make their palms sweat, and labor their breathing until it felt impossible to catch a single breath. I just had to find her.
Robert landed. I could feel the earth vibrating whenever he touched ground.
I waited for him on the porch of my small cabin.
A moment later he walked out of the clouded forrest with a tunic around his waist and ran toward the cabin.
“Any news,” I asked sounding hopeful.
“None my prince. All the women that I’ve found with that scent are either married or old. From the description you gave me, it’s not one of them. I’m sorry I’ve failed you.”
I sighed sadly as he came to sit down in one of the rocking chairs.
“It’s okay. Let’s face it. Mother was never going to let me be with her and father, he doesn’t really care enough to know what I want. That’s how it is, Robert. But I do appreciate you trying.” I smiled at him. Not my glorious happy smile, but it was a smile.
“The militia has sent word. They need you full time at the camp.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just going to break my mother’s heart, not to mention Delilah’s.”
“I’ll make sure that she knows the truth soon, my Prince.”
“Thank you Robert.”
The rest of the day we just hung out at the cabin. Caleb, Helmut and Gordy joined us around three.
We went through our plans for killing the crown prince of Paegeia. Me.
Helmut sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know if this is going to work, Al.”
“What isn’t going to work? It’s a solid plan.”
“He is a Chromatic dragon. The kind you are trying to save, and letting your father and ours believe that he killed you, will cause another rampage among the Chromatics.”
“It won’t,” I said softly.
“I know you think your father doesn’t love you because you are not his true love’s son, but he does, Al.”
“No, believe me he doesn’t. He only cares about me taking over the throne from him. Nothing more. My mother is another story.”
“Fine even if your father won’t go on a killing spree, killing every Chromatic in sight, trying to find him,” he nudged his head toward Robert, “someone else will.”
“I’m ready for whatever is bound to happen.” Robert assured Helmut.
“Fine,” Helmut said. “But you are wrong. This will lead…”
“To what,” Albert interrupted him. “War? Whatever my father is going to do, is what we want him to do, Helmut. War is what we need. Without it there can’t be peace, and I’m sick and tired of hearing about dragons getting slaughtered. They are just as noble as Metallics. We both know it. I know you feel like you are never going to find yours, but you saw that Sun-Blast in the dungeon, Helmut. Your flame mimicked his. It was the same. He trusted you because of it.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying it might be more than just a coincidence.”
“I don’t follow.” Helmut said, and we all chuckled.
“For the first time, I’m with Helmut.” Caleb said.
I looked at Gordy and he nodded his head, agreeing with Helmut and Caleb.
I smiled.
“Your fire carries the same blue flame as the Sun-Blast’s.”I looked at Helmut, “Your snow, mimics the snow dragon.”
“And your point is.”
“I don’t have acid, we all know that, but there is a reason why some humans have the same gifts as you and if this law of magic dies and a new one rises up, using magic for good. I can promise you, the more people will step forward that have gifts like yours that mimic the other gifts of the Chromatics.”
“Al,” all three of them said. Bob just stared at the ground.
“I know it sounds ludicrous, but you both have those gifts. It’s not a coincidence. It belongs to the dragons. Something tells me there’s more.”
“Robert,” Helmut asked and Bob looked at him. “What he said, is there some truth to it?”
“I don’t know. But if he wants to dream, let him dream.”
I laughed at the look on Helmut’s face. “Jealousy doesn’t suit you Helmut.”
“I’m not jealous,” he grabbed my neck and ruffled up my hair. “I’m worried about everything that you are going to put, not just your parents Al but, every single subject in this world through.”
“I have no choice. Dragons, all breeds, need to be saved.”
They all just sat there, thinking about everything I had said. Trying to process, still process, the plan that we had come up with a year ago when we started recruiting, or Robert did, on my behalf.
“So it’s set then,” Caleb was the first to speak.
“A fortnight from now. If the plan is going to work, we can’t wait any longer. The militia needs us, well me, right now. If there’s going to be a war then the two of you must fake your own deaths too. I’ll speak to one of the Sun-Blasts. If you die in war, then that is the plan, and it’s crucial that all of you volunteer to hunt Robert down. Don’t stray or waiver from the plan.”
“That is, if your father is not going to hunt him down first.”
“He won’t. And if by some miracle he wanted to, you use his vulnerability against him. The curse. No Swallow Annex can save him.”
Helmut nodded, then Caleb and last Gordy. I would trust these three with my life, with my dragon’s life and with the string of kids I would one day have.
That thought ached my heart again. I was never going to find her.
