“How about a ride mate?” Rilan stood and took her hand pulling her to her feet.
“A ride?”
“Yes.”
“Be careful and stay on the lookout,” Magnus called over his shoulder as they left the kitchen.
“We should probably be studying the books we brought with us.”
“There will be time for that.”
They walked through the living room. The more she was in the room the more she realized that the dragons had been ahead of their time. They were just beginning to develop some of the technology the dragons already had.
“Where’s the vehicle?” she asked when they got to the balcony.
“Your wish my command.” He stepped back far enough not to damage her with his change.
“Climb on.” He lowered himself.
She heard him in her head this time it was clear as day. “Can you read my mind?”
“I wish, that would be the easy way to keep from fighting. No, I can hear questions you direct at me, but not what you’re thinking to yourself or even out loud unless you direct it to me.”
She hated to say it, but that made her feel better. Moving quickly, she crossed the balcony and scrambled on board wishing she was a bit more graceful. Forget grace some coordination would be nice.
Rilan expelled a large breath of air that lifted his wings and sent them soaring in the air. A laugh of pure joy came from her. She wanted to record this to keep it with her forever.
“Where are we going?”
“To one of my favorite places.”
This was beautiful. Sitting on Rilan’s back as he cut through the sky with the moon caressing their cheeks. She could have never dreamed of a moment like this. Now she’ll dream of nothing except moments like this.
“Do you always need to expel air to get a lift?” That’s not what she wanted to ask him. She wanted to know about fated mates and how he felt about her, but she would stick to the safe things.
“No. Children need extra oomph in the beginning. Usually, parents provide it for them, but in emergencies, they can use their element to help them get in the air. I can get into the air from a cold start, but I don’t advertise what I can do unless needed.”
“You said you can control all the elements?”
“In order to be king, you have to be able to do that.”
What gave him the ability to do that?
“Coming in for a landing.”
She held on tight as she gasped at the surrounding beauty. “This is beautiful.”
They were standing in front of a waterfall that led to a lake. Rilan was still in wyvern form. The moon was highlighting his scales and they were being caught in drops of water. He changed forms and led her over to the side of the lake to sit. They took off their shoes and let their feet dangle in the water.
“The water is warm,” she gasped. “I don’t know why, but I thought it would be cold.” She watched the water that looked silver in the moonlight. It seemed to play as it cascaded down the falls. There was a song in the air that was more than the rush of water. If she ever thought a place was enchanted this would be the place.
“The water here is whatever you need it to be.”
“How’s that possible?”
“I don’t know and I don’t waste time wondering about it. If you need a cool drink of water, it will be that for you. If your sore and need a lake of warm water, it will be that too. My dad used to call this place magical. I found I couldn’t disagree with him.”
“It’s beautiful here.”
“It is. I wish you could have seen it when it was alive. There would be hundreds of fireflies in the sky. They would light up the lake casting colors like rainbows around. Butterflies would come with only one thought to show off their beauty. Small animals would come and rub against you while they drank from the waters. This place always made me peaceful.”
“I can see it when I close my eyes. Dragons frolicking in the air, the laughter of children swirling around the ground. Beautiful.”
“This spot made me appreciate life even when it wasn’t going my way.” He slid a little closer to Kisame taking her hand in his.
“You were the prince, the heir elect, how could it not go your way.”
“One would think, but my life wasn’t that easy. The next king had to prove his ability to manipulate all the elements. How would say a fire element keep a water element in line? When I was born, I presented as an air element. Immediately I was dismissed as becoming the next king. My life should have been grand. I didn’t have to worry about taking on the duties of the king, but I was still a prince. There should have been girls, parties, and everyone kissing my feet until the heir apparent was finally born.”
Kisame laid her head down on his chest while he talked. The life he laid out in front of her made her think of a movie star.
“I take it that didn’t happen?”
“Nope, my father felt that I should be trained in all four elements although I only had access to one of them. I spent hours learning how to command air. Then I spent hours learning that movements for earth, water, and fire. One of my teachers told me once that she felt like she could almost touch fire as she watched me conquer moves that would never be needed. Because I didn’t have access to those elements my form needed to be perfect for me to pass onto each level. I outdid everyone when dealing with air.
“It’s a shame, people whispered behind my back. He would have made a great king. His mastery is spot on. Maybe his brother is the one we have been waiting for.”
“How many years?”
“My whole life from the age of six.” There was a pain that covered the hardness of discipline in his eyes.
“When did you know you would become king?”
“Two years before the world ended.”
“But that was hundreds of years.” Her hand found its way to his thigh. She made a soothing circular motion wanting him to know it was all okay.
“My father had to declare the next king and declared me. You probably think he was an asshole. If I don’t look at this the right way, I know I do. When I was born, he had all my elements except one bound.”
“Why?”
“Speculation was rife with the reason he did it. Including some of my favorites, I came back in time and told him he needed to do it. Conspiracy theory 101. To declare me as the next king, he had to unbind my elements. Every king has to be tested. There has never been a stronger king than me. As you noted I was hundreds of years old. In that time, no one tried to kill me or made my life hard because they knew I wasn’t the next king. My life was hard, but he gave me a life I would never have had.”
“He loved you.”
“Yeah, he did.”
She curled up in his arms thinking of a world where her father loved her. In the end, she settled for thinking about Rilan’s father.
“Rilan now that you’re awake, what do you want?”
“I want my people to be awake, to be free. I want the war to be over. More than anything I want you in my arms and in my home. If your eyes lit up every day of our lives, it wouldn’t be enough. I want to be king enough, mate enough, and maybe one day father enough to make you proud of me.”
“I don’t that’s going to be a problem.”
“We should go.”
She nodded and stood. There was a growing darkness coming their way. Until they knew what they were facing, it made more sense to be safe than sorry. When she climbed on Rilan’s back this time her thoughts weren’t consumed with her awkwardness. She wondered what the man would feel like between her legs.
Chapter Eleven
“You’re up early,” Rilan said as he found Kisame sitting on the couch in the living room.
“I couldn’t sleep, thought I’d get some reading done.”
“What are you reading?” He came to sit next to her on the plush couch.
“Don’t laugh, but it’s a book of conspiracy theories. I thought about what you said last night. It always seemed
to me that every conspiracy has a kernel of truth in it somewhere.”
“If you can find that kernel of truth, I’ll owe you something special. What have you learned so far?”
“The war has been my focus. One theory says that you were a twin. Your brother was taken from your mothers birthing pouch hours before you were born. He is the reason for the war, a case of sibling rivalry.”
“So, we could have avoided all of this if my twin would have manned up and came to talk to me?” Rilan laughed, it was deep and rich.
“Presumably.”
“So that makes me the better man. Good thing you’re with me.”
Kisame shook her head at him but couldn’t hold back her laughter.
“I’m pretty sure that one’s wrong.”
“Okay, moving on. This theory talks about a line of dragons that wanted to be king. They have never controlled all four elements.”
“You cannot be king without that ability.”
“No, you can’t be king without it. That doesn’t mean others thought it was necessary. When we want something badly enough, we decide we have exactly what that position needs. The dragon in charge of the family came up with a solution. He began injecting women who came into his practice with a medicine that would ensure their children were born either without the ability to change or who were weak. Then their children would be born without the ability to change.”
“Why would someone do that? It’s cruel.”
She looked at him and saw the horror in his eyes. Was he remembering dealing with those who suffered from the plague that seemed to rule that land?
“If the people are no longer dragons, then one who was a dragon but didn’t command the four elements could still be king.” It was a theory, but as far as conspiracies go, she didn’t think it was half bad.
“It has merit,” he said reluctantly. “What was the family line?”
“Doesn’t mention it. There’s no first name either.”
“That’s why it’s a conspiracy.”
“Maybe. Those are the only two good ones that I have read so far. You have to be willing to face facts. There is a reason behind this war. Do you really believe it was for the purification of the race?”
“Do you really think it wasn’t?”
She squirmed in her seat. Forget what happened two or three hundred years ago. All she had to do was consider what was happening now. There wasn’t a way to deny that the purification of the race seemed to be a top priority.
“I don’t get it. It would seem that we would be better with more input from different people. When everything is homogeneous, we don’t challenge ourselves, we don’t stretch or become better.” She stood and walked over to the sliding glass doors of the balcony needing to feel the sun warming her skin.
Rilan walked over and slid his arms around her, his chest warming her back.
“I can’t give you an answer that will make you feel better. What moves one person leaves another cold. What I do know is that it’s easy to get caught up in a world of your own making. When that happens, we have trouble seeing outside of the bubble we’ve encased ourselves in.”
“How do we stop something, when we don’t know why it started?” She was back to needing to understand the history in order not to repeat it.
“It no longer matters why it started. Hopefully, that will eventually come to light. Right now, we need to find a way to make peace so both societies can live in peace.”
She desperately wanted to agree with him but didn’t think it would be that easy. Every person she knew grew up believing aliens were the cause of the war. When she left and reported her findings, no one would believe that dragons were part of their DNA. The war would rage again with the dragons dying. There were only two of them.
“Are you two going to come to eat so we can leave or are you going to stand there gazing soulfully in each other’s eyes all day?” Magnus grumbled more as he strode off in the direction of the kitchen.
“We better eat before he stops cooking for us.”
Kisame threaded her fingers through Rilan’s. “At least he didn’t end with my queen.”
“Give him a minute, I’m sure he’s just warming up.” Their laughter followed them to the kitchen.
*~*~*~*
“How big is The Interior?” They were flying with Magnus taking his dragon form and going ahead. It felt like they had been cooped up in the vehicle for hours.
“You keep calling it The Interior. It is the kingdom of Terra.”
“You can’t call your kingdom Terra.”
“Why not?”
“Terra is the land, the earth. The whole planet is Terra.”
“And we were the first kingdom. Hence the name.”
Kisame face palmed her hand. “That makes sense, maybe, in an odd sort of way.”
“The kingdom was named long ago. I am thinking of renaming it. Something along the lines of the kingdom of Rilan the great.”
Her head swiveled quickly to look at him. She caught the trembling at the corners of his mouth as he fought his laughter. She broke out in it.
“It does have a ring to it.”
“I know,” he straightened his shoulders. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“Never let it be said that you didn’t know your own worth.”
“Hey, you say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“Nope, not bad at all.” It was sexy as hell, but he didn’t need to know that.
“Terra is roughly half of the land mass we call Amerix.”
“Impossible. The Interior is less than twenty-five percent of Amerix.” Magnus had given him a rough map to reorient himself with their land. “Maybe the land mass has grown? It is possible that you have discovered more area in the years I was asleep.”
“Asleep, is that what we are calling it?”
“Until I learn differently.”
“Okay. Do you have any maps of your land?”
“Yes, we will see if we can find one tonight. If not, it will wait until we get back there are several in the library.”
She nodded allowing herself to get lost in the scenery in front of her. Mostly it was the sky. What took her by surprise were the peaks of buildings and houses that showed up suddenly. That and the fact that not once had he stopped for gas.
“We're here.”
“Where?”
“Southern border.” He sat he vehicle down.
There was nothing but miles of water and sand in front of them. She had been to the beach once when she was a kid. It was loud from all the families laughing and having fun. This was different. All she could hear was the sound of the waves crashing. The beach was pristine, no feet to mar the sand. Nothing dropped from little hands. She wanted, no she needed a picture to prove to herself that this was happening.
She kicked her shoes off before she got out of the vehicle. “There is no beach or water in The Interior.” She told him, just in case, he tried to claim this place as his own. Maybe she was part dragon because she decided she was going to horde this place. It was all hers and no one had permission to visit it. She cast her eyes in his direction thinking of burning him up for daring to set his feet on her sand.
“I assure you this is part of the kingdom of Terra.”
She watched the water so she wouldn’t try to growl at Rilan. “It’s beautiful here.”
“Can you swim?”
“Yes.”
“Then come I want to show you something.”
“What are you doing?” She coughed out the question to hide her embarrassment when he started getting naked. Not stripping to his boxers, but gloriously naked with his dick on marvelous display. Her tongue moistened her lips. She knew some women didn’t like the act of… shit, she needed to get her mind out of the gutter. Or the dick out of her mind?
“What’s the problem? Undress.”
“You can’t think I’m getting naked around you!” Her voice came out much louder than she intended it to.
“Only
you and I are here. I’ve told Magnus to stay away until we surface.”
“That’s good I wouldn’t want him to see his queen naked.” She nodded like it made perfectly good sense.
“Your state of dress or undress would not bother him. Hurry.”
She found herself taking off her clothes. Damn it she knew better but did that stop her? She was too busy thinking about when in Rome. When she was naked, she waited for his judgment to crash over her.
“How can you be even more beautiful when you take the lingerie off?”
Umm was he asking her a question? Her mind was swirling around with answers but her eyes wanted to sweep over his form again before she gave her hands permission to touch.
“This is your first time, don’t let go of my hand.” He threaded their fingers together and then began to walk toward the water.
“Wait. This might not be a good idea.” She tugged against his strength. Her heels tried to dig into the wet sand even as he pulled her along. His face hardened as they walked into the oncoming swell.
Soon she was over her head and trying valiantly to hold her breath. This is how I die. Killed with water for being curious. The ground underneath them disappeared. Rilan pulled her down even as she fought with everything within her. Her brain was getting fuzzy, her eyes closed then there was air.
“What the hell?” She would have screamed, but she was too busy dragging life-saving air into her lungs.
“You were in no danger. You can stay underwater much longer than you were led to believe.” He walked out the water into what had to be a cave in the ocean. How was that possible?
“This is amazing.” There were patches of what looked like clear mirrors or maybe diamonds that reflected light allowing her to see the inside of the cave. She moved to stand by him on the sandy shore.
“What is this place?”
“Once a long time ago when our society worked correctly, the sea dragons would come here to lay their eggs. As far as the eye could see would be filled with the jewel shells of dragons about to be born. That was the first change. When dragons were born in their humanoid form. It was so slow the change became insidious with the fact that no one actually realized it was happening.”
The Dragon's Mate (Ancient Dragons Book 1) Page 7