If she chose to abandon the clan? It would be the greatest relief he had ever felt. But she wouldn’t be welcome here. He’d be cut off if he mated her then, and how was he meant to continue his research and save their next king or queen?
“Gilbert.” Polly's voice made him look up. “I’m ready to go.”
Gilbert nodded. As he stepped towards her, he frowned. There was something… different about her. He studied her, trying to see what it was. She looked exactly the same. Same bright eyes, same lovely face, same tight curls. But there was something weighted about her. Something… Royal.
His heart dropped. His lungs locked as he stared at her. She didn’t meet his gaze. Before he knew it, he strode forward and had her in his arms. Tight, demanding. Unshed tears burned in his eyes as he gazed down at her.
“What did you do?”
Polly slowly rose her eyes to meet his gaze. “What I had to do. I had myself anointed. Now I am your Queen daughter officially. Not just the daughter of your king. When my father dies, I will take on the curse myself.”
He released her as though her words had been flaming barbs. His knees gave out and he fell to the floor. He bowed himself before his queen, as grief and sorrow tore through him. Polly didn’t speak. He could hear his own pained whimpers and wondered when he had grown so weak. His hands clenched, and he let out a shout of anger and fear. He tasted smoke on his tongue, but his fires had all but gone out.
“Why?” he gasped. “Why did you do that? You could have lived long and happy. You could have had a full life. Claimed your dragon. Why did you give it all away?”
“Because I had to.”
“You shouldn’t have.” He looked up at her at last. “We had a little time, you should have known for sure—”
“If I had thought about it anymore, I never would have had the strength to go forward. But this is my role, Gilbert. My burden. I have to protect the clan. What do I have in my life? Disappointment after disappointment. I knew I wasn’t going to fulfill my dreams anyway. Why should I let someone else give up their life, their dreams? Their family, just so I could have the chance to keep going with mine? No. I had to do this. And now,” she let out a dry, rasping laugh, “now I have the money the clan has. I can pay off these stupid debts I have and go back to school. So, you see? I had to do this in order to make my dreams come true.”
She knelt and put a hand on his shoulder. Gilbert stared into her eyes and saw nothing but determination in them. It burned away the guilt and sorrow that would have otherwise frozen him. His fires reignited, and he got to his feet again, pulling her with him.
“We can’t give up hope yet. We can break this curse.” He held her tightly. “Are you ready to be a dragon?”
Her eyes hardened with determination and she nodded. “Yes.”
Chapter Eleven
It was a very difficult decision to leave her new-found clan and father. He insisted he was fine, but Gilbert had confided in her that they had probably a week before the king was taken forever. She didn’t know how to handle it; she had just met him. There was so much more that she wanted. But even the twenty-four hours that she spent there showed her that there wasn’t much she could do in the clan’s lands. Other than the two hours she had spent talking with him on that first day, her father had been unconscious the whole time.
And when Gilbert told her that Bryant might have a cure, she decided to return to the dig in BC. She needed to talk with her mother, anyway… and she needed to do that in person. So, Shane was having her flown up as well.
They took a plane back, so that Gilbert didn’t have to fly all that way again. Throughout the whole trip, Polly considered what her new role meant. She could feel a burden on her shoulders that hadn’t been there before; at times, it was so crushing that she couldn’t breathe. On the flight, Gilbert talked about trying to awaken her dragon, but she didn’t pay much attention to that.
Was it cowardice for her to be leaving her father now? Would she regret leaving his side when he passed, and she still knew nothing about him?
As soon as they landed and made it to the dig, Bryant and Gilbert went into town to research ways to bring her dragon forth. Polly was so bone-tired, all she could do was climb into a tent that had been set up for her and fall asleep. She woke to the sounds of the twins playing, and it was like a nail to her heart.
Any child she had would face this same choice, and if she didn’t have a child, then it would be some other mother and father who would have to watch their child slowly decay under the force of the curse.
She knew if she stayed where she was, she’d collapse under the weight, so Polly got up. The archeology students were all trailing in from the dig. She joined them to eat, and once the meal was over, she turned her attention to cleaning up the dishes and making everything shine. Having something to focus on helped. Esther joined her.
“Want to talk?” she asked quietly.
Polly shook her head. “No, thank you. This isn’t something that can be solved with talking. But you know what? Maybe tomorrow I can go out to the dig… ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be an archeologist. I know I’ll never be one, but I’d like for one day to pretend that I am, like nothing is wrong. You know?”
Esther’s face lined with sorrow as she nodded. “Yeah. I know. We can do that for sure.”
“Except we don’t have time for you to waste on that,” said a rumbling voice behind them.
Polly jumped. Bryant, the twins cradled in his massive arms, stood a little ways from them. She hadn’t even known that he and Gilbert had returned. She instinctively looked over his shoulder. Near the edge of camp stood Gilbert. His hands were shoved into his pockets and his shoulders hunched. The tension was obvious, even from this distance. She tugged a couple of her curls loose as she gazed at him.
The pain in his eyes when she had told him she’d had herself anointed… it still cut her heart open. She hadn’t thought it was possible to feel that much pain.
Was it because of guilt? Because he had brought her to the clan, because he hadn’t found a cure for her disease? Or was it deeper? Were his feelings for her more intense than she had realized? Was he mourning her as his mate? His forever?
She looked back at Bryant, trying to push those thoughts from her mind. She wasn’t going to let herself get sucked into a cycle of self-pity. If there was ever a chance for her and Gilbert, she had thrown it away when she had herself anointed. There was no way she was going to ask him to go through the pain of watching someone he loved suffer a long, slow death. That was the reason why her mother ran away, after all. And for the first time, Polly understood her reasoning.
“I don’t see why I don’t have time to go to a dig,” Polly said, narrowing her eyes at Bryant. “So far this has just been me sitting around twiddling my thumbs while you and Gilbert discuss things. Or are you going to share?”
Esther took one of the twins as Bryant shook his head.
“We need to awaken your dragon. If that happens, then the curse will be broken. It might save your father, too.”
She straightened at that, her heart suddenly pounding. Save her father? Then she would have the chance to learn everything she wanted from him. She leaned forward, grabbing Bryant’s arm. “Yes!”
Her cry startled both twins. The one Esther held started to cry, but she patted and rubbed his back until he calmed again. Bryant bounced the little boy he held, and Polly bit her tongue. She wanted to explode with questions, demand to know exactly how they were going to do this. Energy tingled through her body, a hot furnace in her belly lighting. Was that the fires of her dragon, waiting to be ignited?
“Go wait with Gilbert,” Bryant told her softly. “I will be there shortly.”
Polly nodded. She strode toward Gilbert without any hesitation, her mind full of possibilities. If this worked, she would be able to have everything she wanted. It had to work. No matter what they asked of her, she would try it. If she was able to save her father, save herself, save her
clan… then yes. She would try absolutely anything.
***
A scream tore through her throat as she plummeted towards the earth. The trees rushed up like spears ready to strike through her body. There was a fluttering in her chest but no matter how hard she tried to pull it free, no wings sprouted from her back. No fire erupted from her throat. No scales covered her body.
The beating of wings filled her ears and a giant clawed hand caught her. Moonlight glistened off his black scales as Gilbert glided over the trees and landed next to Bryant. He set Polly down and she collapsed at once, retching from the fear and adrenaline.
“This isn’t working,” she gasped. It was the fourth time that Gilbert had flown to great heights and dropped her, trying to force the dragon out as a self-defense mechanism. She hoped he wouldn’t suggest that she walk through fire—she wasn’t sure she’d have the courage to risk burning to death. “It’s not working.”
Gilbert crouched next to her, rubbing her back. “It’s only been a few hours, we can’t give up.”
“The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results,” Polly snapped back. “We have to try something else.”
Bryant scrubbed his hands over his face. “You’re right. We do. But not tonight. It’s too late, we all need to get some rest. We can pick this up again tomorrow.”
Polly wanted to insist that they didn’t have time to rest, but when she glanced up, she saw Gilbert repress a yawn. He hadn’t slept since they got here. He hadn’t slept on the flight, either. He hadn’t slept since before he’d flown them down to Belize. She reluctantly nodded.
“You’re right. Maybe in the morning we’ll have more ideas, too.”
Both men nodded. The three of them headed back to the camp. When they arrived, Polly was shocked to see her mother sitting next to Esther at the fire. She’d known that her mom was coming, but had expected her to get a hotel or something, and come out tomorrow. Not come to rough it like this. She complained about her back if she slept on any mattress other than her own, sleeping on the ground was going to kill her.
“Polly!” Jessica jumped to her feet as soon as she saw her. She rushed over and threw her arms around her daughter. “Why haven’t you called me?”
Polly sighed. There was so much to tell her… “Mom. Can we talk privately?”
Jessica’s lips pressed thin, but she nodded. Polly led her away from the fire and the tents, to the kitchen. A battery-operated lantern hung from the ceiling and Polly sighed as she rubbed her hands over her eyes. Where should she start?
“Mom… I met Dad.”
She looked up to see a flare of longing in her mother’s eyes. It was overshadowed by despair, and her mother’s shoulders slumped. Lines creased her face and she glanced away.
“He said that he held me when I was born.”
“You anointed yourself. You don’t have to tell me, I can see. You have the same look of determination and defeat that he did when he told me. He swore that he’d find a way to save you from it, and then he went and cursed himself. And cursed you along with him.” Her mother’s hands clenched. “That stupid, stupid man. And you. How could you do this? I left him. I left the man I loved, the only man I could ever love, to give you a chance in life. To stop them from forcing that curse on you. And you go and take it on yourself?”
Polly was left speechless. So, all those years of lies boiled down to this? That she loved her dragon king, but could not bear to see her daughter under the same curse. Anger abruptly swept through Polly. Her hands clenched.
“You’d rather let somebody else lose their child? Or worse, let a whole clan be cut off from their dragons and die?”
“They aren’t you.” Jessica’s expression held no guilt. Only pain. “They weren’t my little girl. The one I thought I’d never be able to have. You were a miracle, I wasn’t going to give you up.”
“A miracle? That isn’t what you told me. My whole life! You acted as though I took every good thing away from you. Do you blame me for your choice to abandon your mate, Mom?”
“Of course I don’t. I blame him!”
Polly threw her hands into the air. “You are the most selfish person I have ever met. I never knew how selfish until right now. How could you? How could you think that your pain was worth condemning them? Did you think about the people you were leaving behind? No, don’t answer that. I already know. You didn’t. Did you have friends there, Mom? Did you look at their children and think that you’d rather they die?”
Jessica didn’t reply.
The anger burned so hot inside of Polly, she thought she might explode. For a brief moment, she thought that it might be her dragon, but no change happened. The fire only burned until she thought it was going to consume her.
“He’s dying. He’s got less than a week left. And all you did was deny me the chance to get to know him.”
Jessica sagged over. Her arms wrapped around her stomach as she let out a cry. Sobs started to wrack her body, but Polly couldn’t bring herself to comfort her. Tears burned her own eyes. For once she didn’t want to be the one comforting; she wanted to receive the comfort. She was far too angry to try to make her mother feel better.
She turned on her heel and walked away without looking back.
Chapter Twelve
There was something in the air that made Gilbert nervous. The night seemed still enough, with a bright moon in the sky and thousands of stars shining in the dark velvet abyss. He couldn’t relax enough to sleep, though. He tossed and turned, until he decided that there was no use. He wasn’t going to get any sleep. His mind turned to Polly, and the urge to go to her was overwhelming.
When he checked her tent, he found her outside, sitting cross-legged as she stared up at the sky. He sat next to her silently. She wiped her eyes, embarrassed by her tears, and he slowly reached to put an arm around her.
“I’m sorry. All those years and I didn’t tell you about the truth of your heritage. I can understand if you’re furious with me.”
“I’m not.”
Gilbert frowned, doubting that.
“Don’t give me that look.” She elbowed him in the ribs. “I’m not furious with you. I understand why you did what you did. That’s a terrible burden to have on your shoulders. You wanted to be able to give me good news, not hand over my death certificate.”
Gilbert flinched. “Polly, we have time.”
“To go skydiving?” She shook her head. “It was a mistake to leave Belize. Whatever we can do here to try to make my dragon emerge, we can do there. You’re right. We have time. But my dad? He doesn’t. And I did the same thing my mom did, took off. Disappeared because I couldn’t stand the pain. He deserves more than that, Gil. I need to be there for him.”
His heart felt heavy, but he nodded, understanding where she was coming from. He had thought that Bryant would be able to do more for them. But by his own admission, he knew nothing about breaking curses. So why had Shane sent them out here?
“I’m not going to give up,” he whispered. He sought her out in the darkness and pulled her closer to his chest. “I swear. I will dedicate every last second of my life to finding out how to cure this. I’ve made huge strides so far. Just because I didn’t find a cure in time, doesn’t mean that there isn’t one. I swear, I will not let you die like this. I won’t let your children be cursed. I swear, with every flame in my breath.”
Polly buried her face in his chest. To his surprise, she gave a little giggle as she did so.
“What?”
“Flames in my breath? Is that a normal thing with dragons?”
“Ah… well, no,” he admitted. “It’s an archaic oath. But don’t worry, I’ll catch you up on everything you need to know about our culture.”
Polly, her face still in his chest, shivered. “Yeah… cause that’s a thing, too. I don’t know anything about Dragon culture except what I’ve learned from Tyler and Shane, and neither of them have a clan. They’re not from y
our—our—clan, either. That’s going to be a hell of a culture shock, isn’t it?”
She lifted her head at last. Gilbert tangled his hand into her curls and gave her the lightest of kisses. “I’ll be here for you every step of the way. I promise.”
Her eyes glittered in the moonlight. She leaned forward, sliding her arms around his chest. Their lips pressed together, parted, and met again. His fires flared, filling his body with heat. He started to lay Polly back as he eased her legs apart. She caught his hips between her thighs and arched, grinding herself against him—
A flash of light caught his eye. He jerked back from Polly, his gaze raking over the forest that surrounded them. Polly’s hands were clutched around his shoulders and she glanced in the direction he was looking.
“What is it?”
A dark shape moved. Too big for a bear. Another flash of light glinted from that same place. He hissed under his breath.
“Dragon,” he whispered. “Get to the camper; warn Bryant. Stay low.”
Polly’s eyes widened. He rolled off her and, crouching low to the ground, made his way around the tent. Polly hurried toward the camper while Gilbert watched the dragon slink around the edge of the camp. His fires flared to life, but he held them in; if he released them now, he’d give away his position. He tensed, watching, waiting.
When the dragon emerged near the kitchen, he threw himself forward. His clothes ripped apart at the seams as he shifted. The enemy dragon shot a jet of fire towards the kitchen, but Gilbert was there before the flame could reach the building. His jaws crunched down on the dragon’s neck and he twisted around sharply, dragging it away. The dragon let out a muffled roar and clawed at his face.
Polly started shouting; from inside the tents, students gave sleepy cries. Gilbert wrenched at the dragon’s wing. It threw itself at him and flung him to the ground; he made a mental note to do more sparring with Shane as he got back on his feet. There was a roar from somewhere behind him. The dragon launched itself at him, but he ducked, making it overextend its reach, and flipped it to its back. He pounced again and locked his teeth around its throat and squeezed. His teeth ripped through scale, blood filling his mouth.
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