My gaze snaps up to the man standing by the door. His eyes are full of concern. "What?" I ask.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," I mutter, taking a deep breath to clear my thoughts.
"So, what should I do about Nathan and Fara?" He asks.
"What happened this time?"
"Well the stories sound a little embellished but basically Nathan destroyed something of Fara's and she retaliated by dislocating one of his shoulders and breaking both his arms . . . and his nose . . . and possibly a few fingers."
I roll my eyes with a heavy sigh. "Fara is going to kill someone one of these days," I mutter.
"She reminds me of you when you were young," he chuckles.
The corner of my lip curls into a tiny half smile. "I did have a temper, didn't I?"
"I remember you killing more than one of the dragons in your litter too."
"Three actually. I had a very large litter and most of them were older than me so I was a target when we trained together.
"Why does she have to be so fucking stubborn?"Kandra sighs. "She's not stubborn, she just loyal and honorable.""Well I wish she wasn't so loyal and honorable," I mutter.She frowns at me. "You know those are supposed to be admirable traits—""Not if they're going to get her killed," I growl.She sighs again. "She's a lot stronger than you give her credit for. There is a really good chance she will be able to survive without a mate.""It is extremely rare for a dragon to live longer than a century without a mate and it is unheard of for a dragon to survive longer than a few decades after losing one.""It hasn't happened before but that doesn't mean it can't ever happen."I let out a heavy breath. "I'm just worried, she's not exactly off to a strong start. She sat in a silent vigil for her mate and daughter for three days until she finally passed out and her sons brought her to her room, and she hasn't left the palace sin
"Ow—fuck that hurt," I growl, rubbing the inside of my arm. The skin stings and is slowly turning bright red."That's why most archers wear guards on their arms. It's not just for decoration.""Well can I get one of those guards then?""No.""Why not?""Because I know you're tougher than that."I scowl a little and notch another arrow. It takes quite a bit of effort to pull back the drawstring and I only have a few seconds to aim before my fingers slip.I purse my lips in annoyance as the arrow goes completely past the wooden target. The inside of my arm throbs."Well you were still closer than last time," Queen Zari mutters."Yeah archery isn't really my thing, I can use a sword though—actually no I'm way better with the two short swords—what are those called?" I ask.She frowns. "I don't remember the name. That's an unusual weapon choice though, more common for girls it seems."My eyebro
"Gods do you all have an entire library in your minds?"Kyla giggles. "It's not difficult. It merely requires practice.""Yeah I don't think I could ever remember all of that stuff even with decades of practice.""The rune helps. Queen Syrra and I come from the same clan where knowledge is valued above everything so we both have the rune for knowledge," she tells me.I frown. "I thought only clan leaders get the tattoo?""I was the clan leader for more than a year while Queen Syrra was building her throne."My eyes go wide. "Aren't you only eleven?"She nods. "Twelve in a few weeks," she replies."Okay so who's the leader now?""My brother. He took over so I could train under Jalen.""Hey what's going on in here?"My gaze snaps to my mate in the doorway. Her eyebrow is raised and there is an amused smile on her lips."I'm learning tons of new things, like how Kyla apparently took over as clan leader
"Oh gods fuck yes. Shit. Fuck. Fuck me!"My eyes widen at the noises coming from the bathroom. "Ash what the hell are you doing in there?""I'm playing leave me alone."My eyes widen as I walk into the bathroom. Then I shake my head. Ash sits on the floor, staring at the old video game in his hands. I raise an eyebrow at him. "Having fun there?""Not anymore," he frowns, roughly setting it down.I chuckle. "Ash it's just a video game. They're hard to win," I say as I pick it up. "Where did you get this anyway?""Your mom gave it to me, she said I needed to modernize a little," he shrugs.I glance down at it and my heart drops. Only one person in our house liked retro video games like this.It was Maia's,Azazel murmurs.Yeah.I carefully place it on my dresser then clear my throat. "Did my mom give you anything else?" I ask."No but we got to talking—we have a lot in common&mdas
I let the waves of heat roll over me, sighing at the energy that seeps into my aching muscles. It's quiet, so quiet I can hear my own heartbeat.After a few minutes of staring into the flames I find myself humming. I haven't heard the song in years, and I don't remember the words but the tune is permanently etched in my mind.The fire seems to almost dance to it.Footsteps snap me out of my trance, and I sit up, my heart pounding. My eyebrows furrow at the dark shadow of the dragon king—only recognizable by his golden hair, gleaming in the light of the volcano."I'm sorry I didn't think anyone was going to be up here," he murmurs."What are you doing here?" I ask.He shrugs. "I couldn't sleep," he says."Where's your mate?""He's helping his mother."I frown. "It's the middle of the night.""Yeah well she's still struggling, and some days are worse than others," he mutters."Right," I mumble, scooting
This should not be this difficult.It's not difficult at all, you just suck at magic,Lucifer snorts.I can control fire better than Jaxon!Maybe when you were ten. He's been way better than you for years now,he scoffs."Everything okay?" Syrra asks.I glance up. "Yeah. Lucifer's just an asshole."Hey!he growls.Oh don't even try to deny it.Fine I'm an asshole and you're stupid,he snarks.Good luck doing fire magic without my help.I roll my eyes and sigh heavily. "Gods he's such a big baby," I mutter.Syrra laughs. "You're both babies sometimes," she remarks."I'm not a baby!""Kaine you practically threw a tantrum when Jalen said you're not allowed to train for another two weeks.""I did not throw a tantrum," I growl."Well you tried to punch him and then threw a spell book at his head
"Gods they're so loud," I mutter.Jax chuckles, turning over in my lap to look at me. "Do you want me to close the doors?" he asks."No," I sigh. "It's nice with them open I just wish they would all go to sleep already.""It's their break, they're not going to go to sleep for another week at least," he says.I make a face, my shoulders slumping a little. "Could we send the guards out? Make them at least stay far away from the palace so we can't hear them?""I suppose, though there's a chance they consider this payback for all the noise we make," he smirks.I feel heat rush to my cheeks. "Right, they probably don't appreciate that at all," I mumble sheepishly.He grins up at me. "If they have a problem with it, they're welcome to complain to me."I roll my eyes. "Yeah like they're actually dumb enough to tell the dragon king to keep it down.""True. Well they're starting to get on my nerves too so I'm going to try to send
"What part of 'no' do you not understand?" I growl."Please Angel I can't do this―""And what the fuck makes you think I can?" I snarl, struggling to maintain control of my wolf as I stalk closer.Her eyes fly wide and she takes a few steps back. "Look I'm sorry! I didn't want to do this to you but Lyza made the wrong choice! I don't have alpha blood and I have no idea what I'm doing! I'm begging you―please!" she whimpers, tears running down her face."I said no," I growl before turning away. I hear her shift and take off into the forest only seconds later."Well that was brutal," Zella murmurs."Telling her nicely didn't seem to get the point across the first three times so I decided to change tactics," I snap, storming through the trees.My mate follows close behind, letting out a heavy sigh. "She's just a kid Angel, you can't seriously expect her to be able to handle this?""Well what the hell do you want me to do?""