Fated Souls (The Fated Saga Book 1)

by Sariah Skye

  I felt my face flush with heat. "Oh um, well...I'm not sure. For some reason I just feel drawn to him, you know?"

  My grandfather raised his brow. "Is that so?" He sighed, and turned away from me for a moment, clearly in some sort of deep thought.

  "Grandfather?" I prompted.

  He swiveled back around in his seat and offered a nervous chuckle. "Sorry, it is sort of fretful to imagine my youngest grandchild thinking about a romantic relationship with someone."

  "Romantic? Oh, I am not sure—" but I cut myself off, because I honestly wasn't sure what I felt. A thought suddenly occurred to me where he was heading with his thought. "Wait—so what if…? What if a human and a dragon got pregnant…? Would that person be a dragon or a human or…?" My head ached at the possibilities. "A monster?"

  My grandfather laughed. "Well not a monster any more than a regular dragon. But that person—or dragon—would be born in the form in which it was conceived. So if you were…mating," he ahemed pointedly, "as human, you would be pregnant as human. It would be human when it was born, but could shift into dragon form at any time and might not be able to shift back. It’s very unpredictable, but it has happened before."

  My mouth fell open. "Really? Do you know anyone?"

  "Not myself personally but I do remember hearing about it happening in a village eons ago…the mother didn’t survive the childbirth but that was a normal occurrence then. The baby was born human in human form but soon changed shortly after. Dragon DNA always takes control."

  "So the person—the mother—was human? And the father a dragon?"

  He nodded. "I am not sure what would happen in your case, but I know you’d be strong enough to handle it. But…with what may await you I highly urge you not to let that happen, okay?"

  I nodded quickly. "Yes, Grandfather…definitely. I don’t even know how I feel I mean…he left in a hurry the last time I saw him. I wasn’t even sure if he was telling the truth, honestly. It sounded so unbelievable! Me? Something special? Please!"

  My grandfather smiled. "Oh I always knew you were special. Somehow, you were saved in a world where your kind is discarded. The fates chose to save you. I have no doubt that whatever lies ahead you will succeed. But you will need help."

  I sighed slowly, feeling weighted by the burden.

  "Oh, come now…I believe in you, and I believe that whatever it is, you’ll be just fine. Just…trust in your allies." My grandfather reached over to pat me comfortingly on the shoulder. "You’ll be fine."

  I forced a smile. "If you say so…" I trailed off, unconvinced. I glanced down at the book one more time and traced the embossed design on the cover...a part of my mind wandered, and I was sort of imagining tracing the tattoos on Gabriel's chest instead of this book, when my reverie was interrupted by the sound of the large door to the entryway of our home opening and shutting, rather loudly (couldn’t be helped—it was large and heavy).

  The smiles fell off our faces and my grandfather nodded towards the ancient book. "Keep that safe. Don’t let anyone but Gabriel see it; or whomever you learn you can trust, later. But no one in this house and certainly not your mother or father. Possession of this book is punishable by torture to whoever has it, and death to whoever owns it. If you value my life, please—" he pointed towards my backpack that I had tossed carelessly on the floor near the opening to his chambers. Quickly I scampered across the floor for it and quickly sealed it with a zip into the main pocket, covering it with the sweatshirt and other minute possessions I bothered to bring with me.

  "Oh, and Leo," he said. "Please, just be careful with relationships and what not. Sometimes they just pull you in and before you know it, you're lost. Don't let that happen to you."

  I squished my eyes, giving him a grimace. "I don't think we're at that point."

  He nodded quickly. "Good, good." Another noise from downstairs and we paused a minute listening for voices.

  "Think it’s Mother and Father?" Usually when they came back from Court, my father, Saladin, came to Grandfather’s chambers to regale the day’s topics. When no one came after a few beats, I figured it was safe.

  "What are you going to do now?" Grandfather asked. "You going back now?" He sounded a little disappointed and saddened.

  I had planned on it—time did move slower here than on Earth but seeing the lonely look on my grandfather’s face, I softened my resolve and decided to stay. "Well, no, I can stay for a while. Anything special you want to do?"

  He beamed. "Well…I am confused by this new Book-Face thing."

  I stifled a laugh. "You mean Facebook? You want to join Facebook? Do dragons even do that?"

  He shrugged. "This dragon wants to. I hear they have some ridiculously great time wasting games on there. You can grow your own crops and farm them!"

  "Don’t you do that for real?" I said in between giggles.

  "Well yes, but this way I don’t have to sit in the hot sun. Help me get on?"

  "Oh Grandfather, you never cease to amaze me," I said, leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I suppose I better go show myself to Mother and get the ridicule over with."

  He agreed. "You’d better or else it’ll be ten times worse when she sees you in your chambers wearing your ‘tattered garments’ and catch her by surprise."

  "Oh, I'd hate to do that," I said dryly, but I grumbled, slowly rising and perching the backpack next to Grandfather’s chaise for safekeeping. "I’ll be right back," I said reluctantly.

  Sullenly, I tried not to stomp my feet unhappily at the thought of meeting up with my parents; either one would be equally painful. I did not feel like listening to their crap tonight.

  "Mother?" I called when I reached the foyer area. "Father?" My voice echoed and bounced across the room, off the brick walls. Silence.

  "Hmm…" I said under my breath, stomping down the hard stairs. "Braeden?"

  The next sound I heard was most unexpected: a piercing shriek.

  I jumped about three feet in the air and stepped back from the stranger in our doorway.

  Chapter 6

  "Oh my gods, I am so sorry!" A pretty young woman stood in the foyer who was listening to something on a pair of earbuds and tapping into her fancy phone. She reached out and steadied me as I attempted to regain my footing after being startled.

  "Who the hell are you?" I demanded, finally composing myself, narrowing my eyes at her.

  She held out her hand. "I’m Kiarra. You must be Leorah. Oh I’m so glad I caught you before you left!"

  I took her hand and shook it firmly. "Really now?"

  She nodded. "Brae has told me so much about you, I’m glad to finally meet you!"

  "He told you about me…and you’re glad to meet me." I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes at her. "Really? And why’s that? You eager to meet the freak dragon he has for a sister?"

  Kiarra seemed momentarily taken aback by my comment, but she brushed it off and smiled widely. "Oh that must be that sarcasm he told me so much about. He said you were absolutely hysterical!" She laughed, her musical voice seemed to dance off the walls.

  "Uh-huh…" I said, rolling my eyes. I didn’t know why I was so surly with this girl. I mean, I had just met her. But she caught me off guard and I hadn’t had enough time to work up enough patience to deal with the notion of someone taking away my brother (still worried me no matter what he said) and what chippie had possibly caught his eye this time. In the past, he didn’t exactly have the greatest taste when it came to females. At least, those we knew about. They were either dumb, dumber or just plain stupid. Like people, some dragons weren’t all that smart.

  "Oh, I’m sorry…I bet this is all really weird to you, huh? Your brother and me?" she said, sympathetically, a look of pity on her pretty face.

  Reluctantly, I had to admit it: Kiarra was quite beautiful in her human form at least. Long straight black hair, light cocoa skin and deep brown eyes. Her face was heart-shaped and friendly; her full lips seemed to be in a permanent smile
from the little I’d seen her so far.

  "That’s the understatement of the century," I retorted dryly.

  "Aw, yeah that’s what I thought. But I assure you, I do love your brother and I’m not taking him away. That’s why I agreed to meet you in the human realm but I just talked to your brother and he mentioned you were here for a visit, well, forgive me but I couldn’t help it—I just had to come see you." She said that last part like she was actually excited.

  "Why so eager to meet me?" I asked skeptically.

  "Well because I’ve met the rest of your family, silly. Braeden talks about you non-stop, more than anyone else and you were the only one I had yet to meet. Of course I’m excited to meet you!"

  I fixed my sour face into an even more skeptic, sour expression. "Excited? Excited to meet the freak dragon in town?"

  She laughed. "Freak? What makes you say that?"

  I raised my eyebrows. I couldn’t decide if she was just being nice or if she truly didn’t know. "Um, hello? Freaky pink dragon here! Can’t fly! Always ridiculed, never liked! Hello?" I pointed at myself.

  "Oh that," she waved me off with a gesture and a big grin. "I don’t listen to what people say, I hear a lot of things and meet a lot of interesting people working where I do. Nothing phases me."

  I stared at her blankly. Interesting people...in the Court? Court was anything but interesting….

  Surely she had to be lying. "A pink dragon doesn’t faze you? You never heard of Cyril the Mad?"

  If I didn’t know better, I would have thought she winced at my remark. But I couldn’t tell because she was smiling brightly and laughing. "Oh seriously…you can’t be any worse than some red dragons I deal with. Really? Those guys are weird." She gave a scoff, both of us knowing fully well that my brother was a red dragon and they were prone to having "fiery" tempers.

  My crabby resolve softened. "Yes, yes they are. One very much in particular."

  She giggled. "Yes. And if you can put up with him growing up, you have to be okay because honestly, he’s a handful."

  I chortled. "You have no idea."

  I caught a glimmer in her eye. "Oh I’m beginning to really. I hoped you’d help me handle him when he gets out of control."

  Against my better judgment and resolve that I wanted to remain eternally surly towards her, I found myself softening to her. Perhaps I could like her.

  Give her a chance, you don’t know her, quit being a bitch, I thought to myself.

  "Well, maybe. But that would require too much time and I have a job back home. And a cat."

  "Oh a cat!" She squealed. "I’ve always wanted to see one of those! Is he cute?"

  "She. And yes she’s adorable. You like cats?" I asked surprised. Most dragons just viewed them and other house pets as a waste of time. Anything that couldn’t be eaten was just a burden.

  She nodded. "Well, from what I see in books and stuff. Never actually seen one."

  "Well you’ll have to come Earthside with Braeden sometime. Although, Sona hates him."

  "Smart cat."

  I snorted. "Yeah, probably." There was an awkward pause then, and I started shuffling my feet and examining my nails; I'd just noticed they were getting a little long.

  She spoke first. She heaved a sigh and said, "So…this must be kind of weird for you, huh?"

  "What’s that?" I asked, pretending to be in the dark. Which part was weird? The part where my only brother was getting engaged after just a few months? The part where someone wasn’t instantly offended by my presence?

  "Well…your brother and I. He told me how close you guys were, and how responsible he feels for you because of all the…ridicule you’ve faced." Kiarra gave me a sympathetic gaze.

  I smiled slowly, a skeptic smile. "He told you about some of that?"

  She nodded. Reaching out her hand, she tenderly squeezed my upper arm in a gesture of compassion. "Like that day at school when all those dragons were breathing fire at you," she shook her head. "A dragon breathing fire at another unprovoked? That’s just messed up."

  I started to nod when I suddenly recalled the incident, and the new information I came across upon talking about it with Gabriel. "What did Braeden tell you about that, exactly?"

  She shrugged. "Oh I don’t know, just one of the many times dragons have come after you for who you are. They were calling you Stinker or—"

  "—Tinkerbell," I corrected.

  She chuckled. "Tinkerbell. Whatever that means. Then Lorusto started breathing fire and you got freaked out and did your sparkly thing."

  "Sparkly thing…you know about that?" Most dragons knew I couldn’t breathe fire, but most did not know about my fairy dust…. thing because they frankly didn't pay close enough attention.

  "Well…yeah. Should he not have? Oh no, I probably shouldn’t have said anything, I don’t want to get him in trouble for— "I waved her off with a hand gesture.

  "Forget about it," I said, dismissing her. "It’s not a big deal. I won’t tell him you told me." I forced a smile. "After all, we’re going to be family right?" I was trying to hide the dryness from my tone, something about this conversation was sending up red flags and warning lights in my brain, but I didn’t want to appear suspicious and make my brother mad.

  I must have been hiding it pretty well, because Kiarra got all teary-eyed and weepy. Her lower lip trembled and she threw her arms around me in a one-sided hug. Human or dragon, I was not a hugger at all so I just stood there, ramrod straight, eyes bugged out as she gushed.

  "Oh, Leorah…what a sweet thing to say! I’m so sorry everyone has been so mean to you, I know it must have been hard but I just have a great feeling we’re going to be great friends! Your brother has so many great things to say about you and the fact that you want to consider me family, well…" she trailed off into a cacophony of loud sniffling and sobbing, crying into my shoulder. I would care more if I was wearing one of my favorite plaid flannel shirts but this was one I wore just to piss off my parents. The grubbier it got, the better.

  I reached up and gave her a tentative pat on the back. "There, there...I’m sure it will be just…great." I knew some of the sand in my dry tone squeezed through on that last word, but if she noticed I’ll never know as we were interrupted just then.

  "Do I have to separate you two?" Braeden asked suspiciously.

  Oh, I hope so, I thought, but actually said nothing.

  Still blubbering, Kiarra (thankfully!) pulled away, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her buttoned up, blue silk blouse. "Oh, I just had the best conversation with your sister! She’s just as lovely as you said!" She threw her arms around my brother and kissed his cheek.

  I winced, shocked at the open display of affection. Dragons were not known for affection and such acts were usually frowned upon. Kiarra apparently was different and didn’t care.

  Braeden allowed it and put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her to arm’s length as he eyed her simpering. He cocked an eyebrow over her shoulder at me. "My sister? Lovely? Are we talking about the same dragon?"

  I stuck my tongue out at him and made a bitter face. Kiarra let out a high-pitched giggle and gave him a playful shove. "Oh Brae, stop it!"

  He chuckled and gave her a small hug. "Well, I’m glad no one’s killing anyone, that’s a good sign. Leo, you need a lift back to the portal or are you sticking around awhile?"

  "I—umm, promised Grandfather I would help set up his Facebook. He’s waiting on me so…I better go." Awkwardly, I forced a cheesy smile and gave Kiarra and my brother a little wave and I turned to walk up the large staircase to my grandfather.

  Before I could take a step Kiarra wrapped her arms around me. "It’s so good to meet you Leo, really!" she squealed.

  "Leorah." I corrected. Only family and friends called me Leo…I didn’t know her yet and frankly was a little weirded out by her cheerful disposition towards me.

  I pulled away, offered her another forced smile and turned to go up the stairs.

  I heard my brother mum
ble something to her and the large door opened and closed again. I assumed they left but I felt a hand on my shoulder as I reached the top of the stairs.

  "So?" he prompted, like he was waiting for some kind of reaction from me.

  "So, what? You told her about Lorusto trying to barbecue me at school?" I asked, outraged.

  Braeden paused in his tracks and frowned sheepishly. "Well yes, I’m sorry. Was I not supposed to? I mean a lot already know about it so it was just natural that she would ask about it, don’t you think?"

  "She asked about it?" I asked incredulously. "What did you say?"

  "Just the truth; what happened. You were getting taunted and this big black bully dragon started to breathe fire at you, you panicked and did your sparkly thing, and it must have freaked him out and he stopped and that was it."

  I looked at him with wide eyes. "That’s it?" I shook my head. Normally, I wouldn’t have thought too much of it. Certainly lots of dragons spread nasty rumors about me; about that day. There were only about twenty-five dragons there, counting Professors and since I was a mockery of the dragon community I was used to hearing about my shortcomings nearly every day.

  But the fact that according to my grandfather there was something big coming (because otherwise why would I be here, apparently), something I was supposed to be careful of and the fact that according to Gabriel that was the first time I performed my magic in public, I was on high alert now.

  Coupled with the fact that she and my brother’s union was a bit unorthodox and sudden…well, there was just something that didn’t sit right with me. Add in the fact that she was overly friendly--perhaps she was just that way normally, but even friendly dragons had a tendency to be stand-offish with me, usually preferring to ignore me. Hardly anyone was ever eager to meet me. Even Maxxus and a handful of other dragons were not keen on dealing with me at first but apparently some of them grew to like or tolerate me. I’d been going through that portal now for a couple years, regularly over the past year or so and Nicodemus still barely uttered more than a polite word to me, recognizing only that I was an Elder silver dragon’s granddaughter and I earned some respect for that reason alone.