Awakening The Dragon (Exiled Dragons Book 9)

by Sarah J. Stone

  “Fair enough then. Have you eaten? The kitchen is closed up for the night, but I can probably find you some bread and sweet jam or honey.”

  “No. We are fine. Just the bed should do us,” Penelope replied.

  “Let’s get you settled into it then,” she told them.”

  Kergot and Penelope followed her to the room and thanked her again as she left them there to settle in. Penelope could feel that Kergot was a bit on edge, but she decided it was most likely from just being out of his element. He was used to being alone. Except for her recently, he had grown accustomed to not having a lot of people around him.

  “Are you okay, Kergot?” she asked gently as they settled into the bed.

  “Yes, my darling. I’m great. And you?” he said.

  “I think I am the same. Scared and apprehensive about what might happen here, but it was the wise thing to do, and we will make the best of it.”

  “The dragon leader seems kind enough. I suspect we will find it to our liking here.”

  “I think so too. We can find a house of our own and work with the community to earn our place here. We can teach their children and, one day, perhaps we will have children of our own.”

  “That would be wonderful,” Kergot told her, pulling her close and kissing her.

  They curled up against one another and fell asleep. Each felt content for the first time in a while. Hopefully, the events that had befallen them in Scotland were far behind them now, and they could begin to build a new life here with people who could understand and accept them as one of their own.

  CHAPTER 12

  Tomlin wasted no time in putting them to work once they arrived back in the village the following morning. They were well prepared for the day by a huge breakfast and small, packed lunch sent with them by Cassi. Penelope found herself hoping that everyone was as hospitable as their initial encounters with people in the village, but there were bound to be some that didn’t take to strangers.

  “I’m putting a lot of faith in you, Kergot. You are new to this village, but I’m pretty perceptive, and I feel like you and your mate are shifters that will fit in well with us here. Welcome, welcome, welcome!”

  “Thank you. I hope things work out for all of us,” Kergot replied.

  The dragon leader, Kergot, Pene, and several other members of the village gathered around a large parchment spread across a nearby table and discussed the construction of a new school. It would start out small, accommodating only a dozen or so children in need, but there was room on the grounds for it to expand and grow as time told whether more would need educating outside their homes.

  Additionally, Tomlin granted them a small plot of land near the school on which they could build their own home to live in for as long as they remained in the village and taught at the school. They were more than elated to accept. After a few more nights at the inn, Cassi set them up in an empty cottage owned by someone she referred to simply as a friend until they could finish their own dwelling.

  “Isn’t this wonderful?” Pene asked one night as they sat cuddled together by the fireplace, unwinding from what had been a very long tiresome day.

  “What? The fire and you? Yes,” Kergot replied softly, watching the flames as they danced across the walls of the old cottage.

  “Everything. Not just this, but the way people here seem to have embraced us.”

  “It is only that way because no one knows I’m half human, and they have sympathy for you having lost your abilities.”

  “Perhaps, but they have been good to us, so far.”

  “Yes. So far. I just cannot trust men that I can’t be honest with, that’s all.”

  “I can understand that. I wonder if there are others like you here. Others who hide things in order not to be persecuted?”

  “I don’t know. It is a shame that it has to be that way.”

  “Kergot, we don’t have to stay here. If you aren’t comfortable, we can go somewhere else.”

  “Where? Off in the countryside away from everyone? That’s good enough for me, but I know you need more of a community about you, and when we have children, you’ll want that for them as well.”

  “All I need is you, Kergot. If we aren’t both happy here, then we shouldn’t stay.”

  “I am happy wherever you are. I will get used to it, Pene. I’ve just been alone a really long time, and it is hard for me to adjust to having people around. It is hard for me to trust them. I know we can’t build a life worthy of a family, in a cave.”

  “Speaking of that. We should work on that family, don’t you think?”

  “Are you being fresh with me, young lady?”

  “Yes, incredibly fresh I think,” she laughed.

  Kergot leaned in to kiss her, his warm lips trailing down the side of her neck as he pushed her softly back onto the fur beneath them. She cooed quietly beneath him as they made love slowly in front of the fire and lay there holding one another in the flicker of the flames that danced across the room.

  It was the first time in a very long time that Penelope felt things might finally be okay. After all she had been through, life was looking up for a change. She had a wonderful man by her side and their whole future ahead of them. Hopefully, they would get settled into the school quickly and get their own home built with enough room for a large family.

  Pene had always wanted children, but had been hesitant to have them in the past. It was one of the main reasons she had told her former betrothed her secret, because she couldn’t see having children with him without him knowing what they would be. That wasn’t a question with Kergot. He was well aware of what she was, and she knew about him. Their children would all be very special with human genes mixed in, but it was a secret they could share, even embrace.

  “They will be beautiful. I hope we have tons of them to chase around this place too,” Kergot said aloud.

  Pene sighed. She sometimes forgot his ability to read her thoughts, and her mind whirled with things like that. He brushed her hair away from her face and smiled at her softly.

  “Some women would hate not having any secrets from their mate, but I love that you have such a full understanding of me,” she told him.

  “We’ve no need for secrets, do we?” he asked.

  “No. None,” she replied.

  “I do have one secret though.”

  “And, what would that be?”

  “I want to marry you as soon as possible. Will you marry me?”

  “I think if we are going to have a brood of children, we probably should do things properly.”

  “It’s not too soon? I know you’ve been through a lot.”

  “Too soon? That is an impossibility. From the day I met you, I’ve never seen myself with anyone else.”

  “Then, we will get this school in place, get our home built and we will marry. I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy, Pene.”

  “I want to do the same for you,” she replied.

  “You already do,” he told her. “You already do.”

  The weeks were busy as the couple worked side-by-side, setting up a small school in the center of the village and beginning to take in pupils. In the afternoons, they made wise use of the long, Irish days to finish their home. Though they were appreciative of the humble cottage Cassi had afforded them, they were eager to get into their own place and even more eager to be joined together in marriage.

  By the time spring had rolled around again, they had gotten everything done and set out to marry in the shadows of a large beech tree that stood near one of the many streams that ran through the Mournes. The entire village had come out to join them, gathering together to watch as they took their vows with their hands bound together as their lives would now forever be.

  Afterward, there was a great celebration to cheer the marriage of the village’s newest members, the two teachers that were quickly becoming an integral part of this place. Both their pupils and the adults had come to adore them in the short time they had been the
re. Likewise, they loved their new home. Even Kergot seemed to be adjusting well despite his previously solitary life in the cave where they had once hidden away from the world together.

  CHAPTER 13

  “Miss Penelope?” came a small voice from nearby.

  Pene shook herself from her thoughts. The years had flown by since the day of her wedding to Kergot. Though they were still just as deeply in love as they had been way back when, not everything had worked out the way they had hoped. It saddened them both to know that the only children they would ever have were those that they taught each day in the school that had grown considerably from the large two room cottage to a proper set of classrooms and courses with many teachers.

  These days, she and Kergot only taught a few classes between them. The majority of their function was to make sure everything continued to run smoothly. Today, they were a teacher short, as their English instructor was off for a few days due to unexpected illness. The short notice had left Penelope filling in for her.

  Looking down, she saw a small face looking back at her with a broad smile.

  “Yes, Aiden?” she asked.

  “You’re very pretty,” he told her with a toothy grin.

  “Thank you, Aiden,” she said, waiting to see if he had anything additional to say.

  “You are welcome. If your husband dies, can we get married?”

  “What?” she asked, thinking that, perhaps, she hadn’t heard him correctly.

  “Sometimes people die. My father died. My mother married someone else this year. When your husband dies, I want to marry you.”

  “Aiden, that isn’t an appropriate thing to say,” she stammered, unnerved by the odd conversation with the eight-year-old boy.

  ‘I’m sorry. I thought you would want to marry someone younger and stronger.”

  “Aiden, I think you best leave now,” she said tersely.

  “I bet we could make babies.”

  “What?” she asked incredulously.

  “Babies. My mommy says you don’t have any. She says your husband can’t give you babies. I can.”

  “Get out, Aiden. Get out of here and don’t ever say things like that to me again,” she said angrily.

  Rather than seeming alarmed or confused by how upset she was getting, he merely continued to smile at her without moving. Penelope found herself growing more concerned by the odd behavior as the seconds seemed to tick by slowly, far too slowly.

  “Aiden, leave now,” she told him sternly.

  “You’ll want me when I’m bigger and more powerful,” he said as he strolled quietly from the room.

  Penelope stood looking after him, still aghast at his brazen comments. She knew his mother had her hands full with him. He was a very strong-willed child that had been allowed to run amok in the absence of a father figure. Hopefully, his mother’s new husband could rein him back in. Still, she found his behavior very unsettling.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Kergot said as he stepped into the room a few minutes later to collect her for home.

  “Not a ghost, just a very odd, little boy,” she responded.

  “Aiden?” he asked.

  “Yes. How did you know?”

  “I saw him skipping down the hallway. He seemed very pleased with himself for some reason.”

  “Strange. I’m glad Miss Primroth will be back tomorrow. Another day in here with that child might do me in.”

  “What did he say?” he asked, studying her face.

  “Nothing important, just being odd,” she replied, struggling to hide her thoughts from him.

  “Then why are you blocking me?”

  “I don’t want you to get angry. Just let it be,” she told him, leaning in and kissing him on the cheek.

  “Right. Well, I’ll let you keep it to yourself, for now. I trust you will let me know if it becomes a problem.”

  “Of course,” she said with a smile.

  “Let’s go home and forget all about it then,” he told her.

  “Okay, but first, let’s go by Cassi’s and pick up one of those delicious pies she makes,” she told him.

  “I’ll do you one better. How about we pick up an entire meal, and you skip cooking tonight?”

  “I can get behind that,” she told him.

  It was a day that quickly faded away in Penelope’s mind. Life went on and she and Kergot only grew closer, despite an inability to conceive a child of their own. They continued to surround themselves with the children from the village, doing what they could to educate them to become the strong, young dragons of tomorrow.

  Time had passed quickly, far too quickly as they watched the children of the village grow into adults. Generations of McCords, Donnellys, Shivers . . . every family but their own grew. Decades passed with only the two of them. In the early days, they had tried so hard, but after so much time passed and nothing happened, they gave up, resigning themselves to the fact that one of them was incapable of producing offspring. It was only after a conversation with Cassi that Penelope allowed herself just the slightest bit of hope.

  “Can I ask you a personal question?” Penelope asked.

  “Sure, honey. Anything you like,” Cassi told her thoughtfully as she tooled around the counter of her restaurant.

  The place was empty except for the two of them. Pene had stopped in to grab a bite of breakfast to have on the run. Kergot had already headed over to the school to take care of some paperwork, and she was going to meet him there with a bite before classes started.

  “Why did you never have children?”

  Cassi looked at her fondly, not saying anything for a moment. Then she let out a quiet sigh. Her eyes seemed far away for a moment before she spoke, but then she met her gaze and spoke softly to her.

  “It’s just not meant for everyone to have children, Penelope. Some of us have a different destiny. Our destiny is to take care of those who maybe have no one else or need something others can’t give them.”

  “And, you think that is why I have not been blessed with children?”

  “Perhaps you would not have chosen the path you have, if you had children of your own, wouldn’t have given so much to other children that needed you, needed someone who cared about them to teach them.”

  “Perhaps, but why couldn’t I have done both, Cassi? Why couldn’t we both have done both?”

  “I know why I have no children, Penelope. It’s a personal burden that only I can understand. As for you, perhaps it wasn’t meant to be and just is a misfortune. Have you tried getting tested?”

  “Tested?”

  “Yes. I know that I’m much older than you, but even when you came into this world, it was a very different time. Medical science has come a long way. You are not too old to have children. Go to one of the doctors in Dublin and get tested. If you are okay, then send Kergot to be tested. Perhaps they can tell you the reason.”

  “I fear that the reason is far beyond anything their medical journals might tell them.”

  “The witch you mean? The one who took your shifting ability?”

  “Yes. I fear the curse went much deeper than just my dragon.”

  “Perhaps you are right. I am guessing that is why you haven’t already considered that there might be options, but I know you want children, Penelope. I can see it in the way you look at the small ones others bring near you. Don’t give up just yet.”

  “Thanks, Cassi. I’ll think about that.”

  “You do that,” Cassi told her, accepting a bag of food from a young woman that emerged from the kitchen and handed it to her. Penelope paid her and left for the school, still contemplating whether she might be right.

  CHAPTER 14

  “Kergot, do you think I should see a doctor about my problem?” Penelope asked later that afternoon when they got home.

  “What problem, Pene?” he asked, looking up from some of the work he had brought home to finish.

  “A fertility doctor,” she told him.

  Kergot put down the
paper he had been working on and studied her face for a moment. Slowly pushing his chair away from the table, he stood and walked over to where she sat, kneeling in front of her to look into her eyes. His concern was evident in the way he observed her sad expression.

  “What has brought this on?”

  “I don’t know. You know I hate that I can’t give you children.”

  “Is that the only reason? For me?”

  “No, not the only reason,” she said, looking down at her hands.

  “Listen, Pene. I don’t want you to worry about me. If we can’t have children of our own, then that is just the way it is. Don’t you ever think that you are doing me any disservice.”

  “I just think it would be nice to have a family. I know you do too.”

  “Yes, it would be nice for both of us. Just don’t think I spend any time at all fretting over the fact that it hasn’t happened for us. If you want to do this, to go to the doctor and get tested or see what help he can give, then I support that. Do what will make you feel best, but just know I love you either way. All that is important to me is you, Pene.”

  “Okay, Kergot. I think I will go, if nothing else, just to know if there is even a chance.”

  “Then I will go with you. We will both get tested. It might not even be you. I love you, and we will do this together.”

  “Thank you, Kergot. I love you too,” she told him, leaning forward as he kissed her on the forehead and smiled at her.

  “Make an appointment for us both, and we will go.”

  That is exactly what Penelope did, striking it lucky by getting in to see a fertility specialist in Dublin within the week due to a cancellation. Hopefully, it was a good sign that they were getting seen so quickly. After their initial day of testing, they returned several days later for the results, sitting in the doctor’s office hand-in-hand as they awaited what might, hopefully, be good news.

  “Kergot, Penelope,” he said, addressing each of them as he came into the room and sat on the edge of his desk to face them. “I’m afraid it is not good news.”

  “How bad is it?” Kergot asked solemnly, squeezing Penelope’s hand in solidarity. Whatever it is, we are in it together, his mind said to hers, causing her to glance at him with a feeble smile.