by Sariah Skye
I wanted to feel sad for her, but I just didn't. “Oh.” I simply said. I should be relieved but I felt terrible admitting that I didn't care like I should for my parents' fate.
I reached over and grabbed my grandfather's hands. “You too? You marked as well?” I asked with concern.
He nodded slowly. “Me too. It's quite painful and...” he shuddered briefly. “... quite disconcerting.”
“Oh no... wait.” I suddenly had a thought. “How are you able to tell that we don't have the mark, but everyone else does?”
“Well, dammit, your magic apparently unlocked some new abilities in me, darlin'.” We were joined by Daniel now who now made his way back to my beside who was careful to avoid my grandfather but didn't offer the same care to Finnian as he nudged the Loremaster aside. “Quit hoggin' her,” he said, his tone full of mirth.
Finnian held up his hands and acquiesced. “I surrender; I have potions to mix anyhow.”
“Mix? Really?” I gave him a half glare.
He chuckled. “Okay, attain. Damn you...”
“I can see Auras now,” Daniel said with a wink. “Everyone has one. Human. Dragon. Demon,” he threw that quip over his shoulder towards Finnian.
“I heard that!” Finnian called back, though he was apparently out of the room.
“Really? What does that have to do with anything?” I asked.
“See, when I look at you and concentrate on it—there is a light around you. It's like a force of energy that shimmers like a puddle in the sunlight but, it's faint. But immediately around you, it's a pink color.”
I snorted. “Of course it is.”
He smacked at my arm playfully. “Hush. It's a pink, like the color of a sunset and emanates out in layers... yours is the most fascinating of all... it's like a pastel rainbow of colors. Strips of blue and orange and—it's just beautiful. But that's all it is.”
“Should there be more?” I asked.
Daniel smiled wryly. “Well, there shouldn’t be but everyone else I see—besides us—their auras are tinged with black. The blacker, the more Shadowed they are but it seems to coincide with the episodes of rage and fits of insanity...”
My face fell as I looked to my grandfather. “And, what do you see when you see...”
Daniel sighed deeply. “It's very black, Leo,” I let out a fearful whimper.
My grandfather reached out to pat my shoulder reassuringly. “Don't worry, Leo. We don't think it's permanent.”
“That's right,” Daniel said. “As long as there is still some of... well, some of him, most of the remaining aura he has been a pure, bright silver... I believe it's not too late. We're working on it.”
I gave a slight nod and began to sit up with newfound assurance. “Great, let's get on it.”
Both of them pushed me back down. “No, Leo... you need rest,” Grandfather insisted. “There isn't much you can do in this state. Your magic is depleted for the time being or at least, very weak.”
“Finnian has been working around the clock for days to heal your magic,” Daniel explained, with a laugh. “I've never seen so many potions and powders.”
With a sudden sense of newfound panic, I put my hands over my heart and closed my eyes, sensing inside for that feeling of power inside me. I felt it tug, slightly, what I only can explain to be like a feeling of warm sunlight inside my chest, deep down announcing its presence. It wasn't very strong, yet, but at least it was there. Relieved, I opened my eyes and sighed. “Oh, thank god.” I let out a peal of laughter then. “I can't believe what I'm thinking... I hadn't even known it existed for years and all of a sudden I'd miss it if it were gone!”
My grandfather let out a small cough. “I suspect you've been able to feel it all along... sort of like your conscience, but since you were told you couldn't... and... the magical block you had on you...” my grandfather trailed off, looking to the side, his expression one of shame.
I raised a brow. “What, Grandfather?”
He hesitated to meet my gaze and exhaled, slowly. He gave Daniel a pointed look who immediately stood to his feet.
“I have somewhere else I need to be... apparently,” he said. Before departing, he leaned over to give me a quick, friendly peck and I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“I'm so glad you're all okay,” I whispered.
Daniel smiled into my neck. “We're all glad you're okay.”
When he'd left, I turned to my grandfather suspiciously. “What do you know about this block?”
From nearby on the bed, I heard Gabriel speak up, albeit groggily but he was speaking. “He knows something about the block?”
Ignoring the protests from my grandfather, I shot up out of bed upon hearing Gabriel’s voice. My tired and worn out body protested, but I didn't care one bit. Seeing Gabriel, awake and alive and overall well gave me newfound determination. I all but threw myself at him, charging into him and plying myself around him as much as I could. “Oh my, you are fine!” The relief I felt hearing his voice speak was like...euphoria in my confounded, muddled mind. I still was confused on what was going on but in my mind, it was ten minutes ago... in the Throne room, with the shadows.
Gabriel struggled uncomfortably under my weight, but offered no protest, he simply struggled to right himself and returned my hug. “Leo...” he said in a small voice... weak with sleep but full of emotion.
I pulled away from him momentarily, only to gaze into his deep brown eyes. My vision blurred as the tears welled and streamed down my cheeks. “Oh Gabriel, I thought you were—” I couldn't say the word, I choked it back and continued to admire his face.
His eyes were weary and slightly red-rimmed and the rest of his normally pale skin was somewhat paler than normal; the only color on him was his dark facial hair that stood out in stark contrast against his porcelain skin with the apparent four days growth it had accumulated. His lower lip quivered slightly as he gave me a small smile.
I tightened my embrace around him and just continued squeezing. “Well, hello to you too!” he said.
I giggled through my tears, raising my hand to wipe them away, but he beat me to it. A finger gently traced down my cheek down the trail of my tears, effectively wiping them away as he stared intently into my eyes. “I don't know how you did it, but... thank you.”
I had no words to speak so I just smiled and nodded, sniffling and struggling to choke back the sobbing sounds as I clutched his dark hair on either side of his face... I leaned my forehead into him and nuzzled my nose against his. It was an innocent gesture full of relief and familiarity and adoration for this man; this Knight that came into my life and upheaved everything. I didn't want to let go of him for fear the dream of his being alive—truly alive—would shatter like a waking nightmare.
Our happy reunion was interrupted by the sound of my grandfather, clearing his throat from nearby. We both turned to look at him. Leaving a hand on Gabriel's neck, I gave my grandfather the once over. He paced slowly gingerly in front of his bookshelf, purposely not looking at either of us. When he paused momentarily to turn and pace the opposite direction, I lifted a brow witnessing an expression on his face briefly I never, ever saw.
Shame.
Shame, like he'd just run over a child's favorite dog with his car and now had the terrible task of informing said child his beloved puppy was dead—and that he had done it.
Gabriel and I frowned at each other, expectantly.
“So, you know about the magic block?” Gabriel questioned him, narrowing his eyes at him slightly.
“Well, not specifically, but... I do have something I need to discuss with both of you,” He said, heaving a deep sigh. He rose to his feet and crossed the room to his bookshelves and pretended to be interested in them as he spoke but his gaze was distant.
“Both of us?” I exchanged a confused look with Gabriel who just shrugged.
He sighed again and hesitated. Gabriel and I sat upright and scooted back on the bed to allow ourselves room to sit comfortably, but ou
r hands grasped the entire time and we refused to let go of the other. I nestled myself under his outstretched arm and lay my head on one of his broad shoulders once again comforted by his presence; like we were at my little apartment in Pineville. When things were simpler.
I noticed he was wearing a set of robes over his top half that were open in the middle. I parted them briefly to peek at the site of his injury; it was red, and raw, but no longer bleeding and packed with some sort of compress. I frowned, feeling both relieved and saddened to see the mortal injury.
“It's okay, it grazed my kidney only, but you healed that. It was the blood loss and hemorrhaging that did the most damage,” Gabriel whispered. “At least, that's what your grandfather told me.”
I forced a smile and tried to pull at the magic inside me. My palm warmed slightly, but I couldn't summon enough of a force to do any good so, I simply rest my hand gently on the injured wound and let the warmth radiate from me to him. I felt Gabriel tense at the touch briefly before relaxing. I knew it must have been causing a bit of pain, still as he relaxed. “That feels nice,” he whispered, and I grinned widely, leaving my hand there as my grandfather continued to speak.
“I knew your ancestor, as you know,” he spoke. “Niall. I guess he would be your great, great, great, great grandfather?” He muttered to himself, trying to do the math of the generations that had passed of Gabriel's ancestors while he'd been alive. “No matter,” he said with a waving gesture, indicating that he couldn't figure it out at this time. “Anyhow, Niall was a great friend of mine. However, I didn't meet him until he was somewhat older. We spoke of the dragons like you, Leorah: how they were being used, abused, and manipulated. They were dying out; we suspected that they were being assassinated. Niall worried that his charge—Cyril—was going to snap. He handed me a tome, one day that was written by Cyril during one of his moments of clarity before he completely lost it.”
“So, he really did go insane?” Kiarra was unsure of those details. I remembered then the shock and sadness seeing her grandfather come out of that portal and appear to her and I made a mental note to ask about her later.
Gabriel snorted. “I'll say he did.”
“He did at that, but not for the reasons you think. The monarchy at the time was strictly against the usage of a pink dragon's magic and began banning it. They began dying off, left and right until Cyril was the last one that remained. He spent the majority of the latter half of his life, struggling against the magic blocks that were put on him. Cyril had suspicions that the Court was assassinating pink dragons in secret and he was fervently trying to uncover that subterfuge. All that, the Court against him, it did cause him to behave a few times in public rather... strangely. He spoke of conspiracies and corruption. He began inadvertently proving the Court's point—that pink dragons were unstable; their magic, dangerous. Whether his 'insanity' had to do more with the magic they placed on him or his actual magic going awry... I'll never know.
“One day, he managed to break it and went on a rampage throughout Morenden one night before Niall could get to him—Niall had been key to keeping his sanity secure but that night, Cyril and Niall had been separated. Niall had some sort of Order business to attend to which was just was well. Niall would only be in the way, he figured. Because, Cyril, was attending to his mate who was giving birth to their third child that night and she was in peril; the baby was breech and she was tiring quickly. But Cyril had to use his magic to assist her in the delivery. I don't know how he did this and it's not important. What's important was that Niall wasn't there for Cyril, through no fault of his own. He'd tried to infuse him with all the spirit magic he could when he arrived but, Cyril was spent. The baby and his mate had died.”
I felt a sadness for Cyril at this time, but this wasn't anything we didn't already know. “We know that part already.”
My grandfather paused in his pacing to stop in his tracks and look at me. “You do... but what you don't know is all this time, Cyril felt himself slipping away. He was afraid. Afraid of what the magic being forced on him would do.” He looked away from me at this time, and sighed before speaking again. “Shortly before his mate had passed, Niall and Cyril approached me about a spell.”
“Spell?” Gabriel chimed in question. “What sort of spell?”
Grandfather looked to Gabriel. “A spell to help stop Cyril if he went too far.”
I squinted my eyes thoughtfully. “I'm still not getting what this has to do with me.”
“I'm getting to that.” My grandfather paced in silence for a moment before settling back into his favorite plush chair. He stroked his long beard with a faraway look in his eye. “I don’t know how he came up with this spell, or why it was me they chose. Before all this, pink dragons were a lot more common at that time before the Court starting cracking down on them. They were born to around one in seventy-five or so families at that time...it's just that as you know...” he trailed off, of course inferring to the pink drake infanticide that still happened but no one spoke of. I gulped nervously at the notion.
“Cyril had said that sometime in the years to come, there would be a nasty force that would threaten the kingdom. All dragons would be at risk. This spell, if cast on my bloodline would produce a very strong magical dragon who would be the only dragon with magic strong enough to have a chance to take him on.”
My mouth fell open. “Me?” I squeaked.
My grandfather gave me one sharp nod. “Aye. You.”
“So... wait wait wait. What does this have to do with Niall, other than he helped cast the spell?” Gabriel asked just as I demanded, “What kind of spell was it?”
“The chances were good that a pink dragon would be born to my bloodline eventually. And, since my magic was so powerful, this pink dragon would be very powerful. Only the magic of another pink dragon could stand up to a pink dragon, they figured. But they bolstered the bloodline with every magic possible—every magic. The magic of all the elements: fae magic, nymphs, unicorn—everything that could be found at the time. Somehow, our family DNA was infused with this magic to help make the most powerful pink dragon ever known, but it wouldn't come out until the pink dragon was actually born; it was magically latent until the right time.”
I blinked once to twice, not sure what I was hearing. “Oh my gods...” Immediately a thought had slammed into the front of my mind.
Prelate Yarrem? The crazy dragon from the cave in Castle Danger? Yeah, apparently not so crazy after all.
He glanced at me, teary eyed. “Leorah, believe me...I had no idea it would be this soon—that it would be my own grandchild. I figured it would be millennia from now.”
“And that makes it better?” I demanded, fumed. “Turning your own descendant into a magical weapon, essentially?”
“I was very young then. I didn't quite know what I was getting into. Niall assured me that it was no big deal. I was already strong, my father strong, his father before that—it would just give an extra boost.” Grandfather sighed again. “We all figured it'd be centuries before we ever saw this, times would be different and this drake would be revered among all others. But, when you were born and somehow allowed to live...” he looked away from us and blinked rapidly, staring down at his folded hands at his lap, “I knew it was you. I was prepared to help guide you through all the magic you must endure, but... the magic never came. I didn't know why; I thought perhaps the spell didn't work. That maybe, I was wrong—it wasn't you.
“When you met Gabriel here, I knew that in fact it was you.”
Gabriel raised a brow. “Why that? Why is our meeting the trigger?”
Grandfather groaned. “This is what you're really going to hate me for.” He ran his hands over his face and let out a frustrated groan before explaining. “Every pink dragon needs a Knight, right? So... the spell was also infused with a...propensity as it were, to eventually come together and... to have a certain... closeness.” He hesitated to look at us now, and Gabriel leapt to his feet, enraged.
“A Love Spell!??!” Gabriel was furious. “You put a love spell on us?”
I gasped out loud. “What?”
Grandfather held up his hands in surrender. “It was more of a genetic magnetism spell. But I was told by Niall that it would bring you close together... you'd have a special bond. Because you would need it to battle this new danger that would arise. The closer you two are, the stronger your magic will be.”
Open-mouthed, I stared at Gabriel with a new appreciation—or not.
“So... we are only...” I coughed uncomfortably, “were—are—whatever—attracted to each other because of a spell?”
Gabriel slapped his palms against his face and cursed under his breath. Funnily enough, it resembled a lot like a dragon.
My grandfather let out a long, desperate sigh. “I am sorry. I was assured that, if you hated each other, it would be nullified, but how can you hate someone your genetics have been searching for... well, forever?” He buried his face in his hands. “When I was young, I thought it sounded like a good idea. So often dragons—and people—don't find their mates and wish somehow, they had an insight into who was right for them. I thought, well, maybe it'd be nice to do this for my descendant. At least they would not be alone.”
I didn't have enough time to evaluate my feelings. I'm sure I was ticked, but the volcano of molten angry Gabriel near me was reaching its exploding point. Perhaps it was just instinct, or my new spirit pink dragon powers, but, I could feel Gabriel tense next to me like a rubber band. Slowly, slowly he was pulled until…
He fucking broke.
Gabriel, his fists balled and thrust tightly at his sides, deftly got to his feet, his brown eyes narrowed into slits, his jaw gnashed against itself, his cheeks red like lava. He breathed heavily, almost a low growl rumbled in the back of his throat. “You cast a love spell on my bloodline... to fall for someone in your bloodline. How could….” he struggled to spit out the words through his growl.