by Terry Spear
Then again, how could Kayla have hidden her aura if she had shifted into a dragon in the golden fae kingdom? If she wanted to grow her lavender, she would have to wear the locket. But if she wanted to be a dragon, she would have to remove it. When she came of age, would she have to choose between the two?
Why couldn’t she be both?
They finally reached the clearing and set down and shifted. She had a million questions for her father, even though it seemed so weird calling him that since she hadn’t met him before, except, she did feel a strange sense of family, even with Sid.
“Before you ask anything of me, let me explain what happened,” Arne said.
“Okay.”
“Your mother and I were in love. We still are.”
“How could you be? You haven’t once seen her!”
“Many times. Every time Tasha left you with her parents so she could see her sister? She was seeing me. But we knew it would be hardest on you. She knew before you were even born, it would be your calling to create gardens of lavender.”
“But the locket has kept me from turning into a dragon all these years?”
“Yes. Your ability has been…suppressed. For your own good. She couldn’t be sure what would happen if the royals learned you were a dragon shifter. Most likely, force you and your mother out.”
“But then we could have lived with you.” None of it made any sense. Why couldn’t they have lived with her dad all this time, if her mother and he loved each other that much?
“When you come of age, wear the locket, and—“
“And I’ll never be a dragon shifter again?” Her eyes filled with tears at the thought. She had the most extraordinary gift, the best of both worlds, and she didn’t want to give either up.
“The magic from the locket will be infused with your very being. You’ll always be able to grow lavender wherever you go.”
“What if she wants to be with me?” Alton said. “We’re getting married. She wants to be a dragon shifter too.” He wrapped his arm around her waist again, his challenging gaze switching from her father to Kayla, his look softening.
She wanted to say they had been joking, hadn’t they? He wanted to be with her for real? Even if she was also a golden fae?
“Don’t we?” Alton said, his voice firm, not truly asking her a question to see if she agreed.
“Do you even know that if I wore the locket when I come of age, I would be able to shift into a dragon again?” Wait, had Sigrid not been the one to make this happen? But why hadn’t Kayla been able to turn into a dragon before? When she lost her locket to begin with?
The issues continued to bombard her, everything she knew coming into question.
“Do you honestly know, Father, if I wore the locket when I came of age, I would ruin my chance to become a dragon shifter again?”
He smiled a hint at hearing her call him father and shook his head. “That’s the problem with real life. We never know what the future truly holds. You plan your whole life out, and something occurs that knocks the whole plan out of whack.”
“Like you loving my mom?” Kayla hastily brushed away the tears trailing down her cheeks. She didn’t want to make choices like that. Be near her mother, or never be able to see her again? Be with her mother, and not be able to see Alton or her father again?
“Yes. We didn’t plan on falling in love. It just happened. She tried to steal some of my gold, she said because she was riveted by my beauty and wanted to catch my attention. I said it was because she was a golden fae and couldn’t resist my treasure.”
Kayla smiled, never having known that side of her mother’s personality.
“We had the best time together, Kayla. But then her parents needed her home. Your grandparents and great grandparents were elderly, and Tasha’s sister already had two boys and a girl she was raising and she couldn’t help out all the time. Then you came along and Tasha had to think of you and she still had to take care of her aging parents.”
“But then they died.”
“Only this past year.”
“Was she not going to let me have a choice? A say in what I wanted to be?”
“Remember that plan I was speaking about? And about how they can be tossed out in a heartbeat because of unforeseen circumstances?” Her father looked at Alton.
He only smiled back like this had been his plan all along.
“We were going to celebrate your big coming out a little early. Only the next thing we know, you’re off saving dragon fae and dragon fae shifters, something that is my kind of work. You’re falling head over heels for a dragon shifter. And you’re participating in the dragon games, something that no golden fae could ever do. What made all that happen? Your curiosity about the dragons practicing for the games. Why do you think you kept searching for the mushrooms on their side of the river?”
“Because Mom…” Kayla’s heartbeat ratcheted up a few notches. “Mom loved them.”
“They’re the same as the ones in your own backyard forest.”
“She wanted me to get caught by the dragon fae?”
“She wanted you to see them, to be curious about them, to get to know them. Which you have done. I wouldn’t have suggested it. But I would have been on hand had they arrested you. They would have heard my angry roar, and I would have proved to everyone you were a dragon fae with every right to be there.”
“But…but Sigrid, the falcon fae, she turned me into a dragon.”
“No. Her mother made the locket for your mother, infused it with the magic that would keep you from shifting. To protect you. Sigrid must have known this. Once you weren’t wearing the locket, she suggested she could turn you. That way you didn’t have to deal with the shock of the truth—that you are a dragon shifter. And a golden fae.”
Kayla thought back to what Brett had told her. “Brett, who also knows of magic, said no one could change a fae into a shifter unless he was already a shifter.”
“I wouldn’t know for certain, but it seems plausible. He didn’t know about his dragon shifter ability either.”
“And my aura?”
“You have had the ability to be either aura for as long as you’ve lived, only again, the locket suppressed your dragon aura. You have to choose which one you wish to wear, and so why would you choose to be a dragon, if it’s not something you ever thought you could be?”
Kayla realized her dad made perfect sense. “So if I had wanted to fly across the river, or turn into a dragon when Alton caught me that one day, I could have just called upon the ability to shift before I ever spoke to Sigrid.” She cast Alton a smug smile. If only she had turned into a dragon when he had taken her to the beach beyond No Man’s Land. What a surprise he would have had.
He was smiling back at her, probably imagining the same thing.
“Exactly. You had to believe you could do it. First.”
“So now where do we go from here?” Kayla was so bewildered. She didn’t want to be denied the chance to see her mother, or grow her lavender for the queen even. But she didn’t want to give up being a dragon fae either. She was excited about being one actually, and doing the kinds of jobs her father and Alton did. Maybe not all the time, but in the winter when her gardens weren’t growing. It would be great! Though she loved the cottage where she stayed with her mother, the idea she could live in a castle made her smile. Would she have to have her own piles of treasure somewhere else, or would Alton let her add her treasure to his in the cave, if they should marry?
“Okay, so you want to participate in the games, right?” her father asked.
“I do.”
“All right. I think it would be a good idea if we get some practice in. And I might even be able to show Alton some moves he hasn’t thought of also.”
She thought the world of her dad for offering because Alton would be in direct competition with him at the games and her dad didn’t seem to mind.
After they shifted, her father showed her how to fly in great arches, how to land on
the smallest of objects, how to grasp pinecones, drop them, and grab them in midair. Maybe she’d just needed more practice or maybe something her father had said had finally clicked with her. She really was having fun with this.
Then he showed Alton how to do a dragon roll in the sky, spewing fire at the same time. The maneuver was more spectacular than anything she had ever witnessed. She sat on the boulder in the middle of the clearing and watched the two of them practicing until Alton had the maneuver down pat. Maybe not quite the same as her father’s form, but she loved the way Alton had perfected his in his own manner.
As soon as they landed on the ground beside the boulder, they shifted and Alton asked her father, “Are you staying at the barracks?”
“I am.”
“Will you stay with us at my castle instead?”
“I would have suggested it, if you hadn’t.” Now he was being a protective father, which she appreciated.
Alton smiled. “I have a whole staff that ensures your daughter is in the perfect hands. But I would be honored.”
“Would it be too much of an inconvenience if my wife comes also?”
Kayla closed her gaping mouth. Her father had said he loved her mother, but he had married a dragon fae instead? She could have screamed, she was so mad.
“I think it’s time we all were together,” Arne continued.
“My mother?” Kayla asked, still thinking he meant he had a wife who wasn’t her mother and maybe some kids too that would be half siblings.
“Of course. Who else did you think I meant? We talked about it, and Sigrid has cloaked her fae aura.”
“But I thought you said Sigrid hadn’t done that with me. That she couldn’t.”
“Not that she couldn’t, but that she didn’t need to.”
“Oh. Mom would watch me flying in the games? She wouldn’t mind seeing me as a dragon?”
“She already has and was about to expire right on the spot when she saw you trying out for the second level trials. She is so proud of you and has been trying her hardest to stay out of your view when you’ve been around. Though she couldn’t believe it was you at the first. She said you’ve done something different with your hair.”
“Uh, yeah, to disguise who I really was.” Kayla couldn’t believe that her mother had been watching her all along. “Why didn’t she let me know?”
“Because she didn’t want to ruin it for you. She wanted you to participate without the knowledge that the two of us have been watching out for your welfare once you decided to try out for the games.”
“I was worried all along that Halloran would have me arrested!”
Her dad shook his head. “No chance at that. Like I said, I would have taken care of the matter promptly.”
Now she would be doubly worried about “performing” well with both her parents there. “Did she know I’d lost my locket?”
“We learned of it from Tanya. She’s been so concerned about you. We assured her we were keeping you safe.”
Tanya. Kayla let out her breath, glad her friend knew what was going on even if she hadn’t.
“What about Kayla’s Uncle Sid, my brother? Can he stay with us also? I’d like for Kayla to get to know him better,” Kayla’s dad said to Alton.
“Yeah, sure,” Alton said.
“Let’s go pick up your mom, shall we? So we can tell her the good news? I’m used to living in a castle. Staying in noisy barracks is not for me.”
She was glad she wasn’t staying there either.
Arne asked Alton, “You aren’t pushing your game too much after your recent injury, are you?”
Alton shook his head. “I can do this.”
“All right. I just don’t want my future son-in-law, if Kayla wishes to marry you, to kill himself during the games. It’s not worth it. Believe me, I know. I’ve been there, done that.”
“I’ll be fine. Thank you, sir.”
Kayla couldn’t believe it when she and her father and Alton flew back to the game site and found her mother visiting with Ena and Brett. Thankfully, her mother must have known they were okay to talk to, or she had been careful about what she had said to them. Then again, they would know she was a golden fae if they knew she was Kayla’s mother.
Ena smiled brightly at Kayla. “We’ve been keeping your mother company, delighted to meet her. We would invite all of you for dinner, but I suspect you’ll be having dinner at your place tonight, Alton.”
“Yeah. We have some matters to discuss.”
Kayla hugged her mom, and they both had tears in their eyes. Her mother touched her short hair and smiled. “Beautiful.”
Kayla was glad her mother wasn’t disappointed in her, and she couldn’t wait to ask just how she had gone about stealing treasure from a great dragon shifter, Arne, Kayla’s father.
It was one thing to pretend marriage, quite another to make it come true. But Alton had never felt the way he did about Kayla for any other girl, even when he thought Kayla wasn’t a true dragon shifter. Knowing she was half, made him happier than he could ever be because they could fly together, be together, and not be separated like Kayla’s mother and father had been. He wondered if the situation with her parents being apart would change now that Kayla knew what she was and that Tasha no longer had to take care of Kayla’s grandparents.
They ate a feast of crab and shrimp, rice, and greens fit for a wedding while Kayla drilled her mother about stealing her father’s treasure. Kayla was so happy, and Alton was too. But he knew she had to make a decision still about growing her lavender and staying in the golden fae territory, or being a dragon shifter and staying with him. He was glad her Uncle Sid had come along too, though he was quietly listening the whole time.
“Arne was off partying with Sid, and everyone knew what a fierce dragon he was. Except I could see he had a soft spot when others couldn’t. I had seen him in a mixed crowd of fae, and he had seen me. I don’t think he saw me as his enemy. I think he just liked all the gold I was wearing, wishing it could sit on his pile of treasure too.”
Tasha had light brown hair like Kayla but her eyes were more amber. When she smiled or when she frowned, he could see how much Kayla and her mother looked alike.
“Ha!” Arne said. “She was the treasure. And she had such a devilish look about her, I suspected she wanted to test my resolve. Sure, I went out partying, but I followed her when she went to find my treasure. She must have been watching me for weeks, trying to learn where it was in the first place. And then she finally located it, though I made it difficult enough so that we had time to get to know each other.”
“Believe me, all he could do was talk about the golden fae. I thought he was just going through a phase.” Sid shook his head. “If so, he’s still going through it.”
That reminded Alton of how he was torn between giving Kayla’s locket back, or keeping it for a while longer so he could get to know her better.
“Then what happened?” Kayla asked.
“I found her staring in wonderment at the piles of gold.”
“He had a dozen of them, mountains of gold. He really worked hard to make all that money. Plus, he was the only one in the area, so he had lots of business. Sid had his own territory farther west. I just stared at all the gold, overwhelmed. I couldn’t even decide on any one piece, just stood there eyeing all of it. I heard him arrive, the sound of the flapping of his wings before he settled on the cave floor, but I ignored him.”
“She laughed when she heard me. I truly believe she wanted to get caught.”
“But she didn’t steal anything,” Kayla said, sounding disappointed.
“Oh, she did. She stole my heart. She finally saw a ring, and rescued it from the pile, turned, and faced me and said, ‘With this ring, I wed you, great dragon shifter.’”
“Did I say great? I don’t remember that part,” her mother said, smiling broadly at him.
The others laughed.
“Yes. I remember it well.”
“You took a ring from
Dad’s treasure to give to him?” Kayla asked. “That’s precious.”
“That’s why I loved her so much. She was daring and fun to be with. And then we wed. We had been together for only six months when news reached your mother that your grandmother was dying. Shortly after that, her father fell ill. Tasha learned she was pregnant, yet she couldn’t tell anyone who the father was or that she was married to a dragon shifter. So we saw each other when we could. We hoped the day would finally come when we could share our story with you and anyone else who cared to learn of it and we could be together again.”
“What will happen if I don’t wear the locket when I come of age, Mother?” Kayla asked.
“We don’t know. None of us do. I think in your heart, you already know the path you’ll take. And we are happy for you, whatever you decide,” her mother said.
“What about you?” Kayla asked.
“Oh,” her mother said, smiling, “I can finally live with the great dragon shifter and enjoy all those piles of gold. No lilac gardeners are in the area, and the castle is just to the south of here, so we will be together. If you live here, we can see each other as quickly as the dragon flies. We don’t have to worry whether we’ll be accepted there either.”
“Father said you would have told me about being a dragon shifter before I made the decision to remain as a golden fae or not.”
“Yes, but you might not have believed any of it until your dad could be here to prove it to you. I didn’t realize you’d lost your locket and everything that had followed. Not until your dad told me you were participating in the games. And then I had to see Sigrid so I could be there with you and your father.”
“Now the pressure will really be on,” Kayla said.
“No. You’ve never been a dragon before. You can’t be expected to be an expert overnight. Just enjoy the games,” her mother said.