Luminosity
Page 15
“Thank you, my love,” I whispered in his ear.
Then Jeremy danced with Griana, which brought tears to my eyes. Watching him waltz his girl around the dance floor reminded me of when she was little and he would put her, a perfect doll in pink tulle, on top of his feet and do the same. She was the pride of the kingdom, that little girl, and I prayed she would stay that way even after we were gone.
The dancing would have continued all night, but just then, an unusually strong gust of warm wind whipped through the room. The air must have come from the front door because it pushed past us like an angry commuter and blew through the windows on the opposite side of the room.
“I’ll tell the servants to secure the door,” I said, but before I could move, someone entered the ballroom. He wore a royal blue cape, the hood of which covered his face, and blue pants tucked into matching boots.
“Queen Lumi,” he cried, his voice deep and sure. “I’m looking for Queen Lumi.”
“I am she,” I replied. Jeremy tried to step in front of me, but I brushed past him. “Who asks?”
“Merlin,” he said, before pushing back his hood to reveal the sharp features of a man in his midtwenties with black hair and blue eyes as bright as King Grian’s had been.
“Merlin?” I stepped closer. “Is that really you?”
“Indeed.” The last time I’d seen Merlin had been ten years ago, when Griana was just a little girl. “I am sorry to bother you on this festive occasion, but I must take council with you immediately.”
“Of course.” I looked to the musicians. “Carry on, please. Jeremy and Griana, come with us.”
We left the crowd to dance and eat, while we exited the ballroom and followed Merlin into the hallway.
“Where have you been?” Griana asked him with her usual pout. “We used to see you every summer, but you haven’t been back to the Mansion in ages.”
I’d always suspected she had a crush on Merlin—in fact she’d trailed him like a puppy wherever he went—but after a few years apart, her feelings were less than subtle.
“I’m sorry, Princess. I was working hard to prevent a disaster, which, as of last night, has happened anyway.”
“A disaster?” Jeremy and I shared a nervous look. If Merlin had traveled all the way across space to find us and ask for our help, things had to be bad indeed. “What kind of disaster?”
“It’s a witch who calls herself Elaine,” Merlin said. “Apparently she was inspired by the original sorceress Elaine’s cause, but this new Elaine’s powers are even stronger and darker than her predecessor. Somehow, she had managed to resurrect all of the foes of the recent past, starting with Roland and working her way to Eads. Every evil man or woman from our history now walks Earth seeking revenge.”
Just the name Eads made my skin tingle.
“What can we do?” Griana asked. I doubted she knew who half of those evil men and women were, considering every time her tutor tried to teach her a history lesson she fell asleep, but she was eager for action.
“You must come with me. The Council is holding a meeting of the clans, but they will need your help to triumph.”
“Of course. Mom and Dad, you should stay here and watch over the planet,” Griana said, feigning worry. I knew she really wanted to use this quest to gain her independence, had been waiting for it since she first went to Earth. If given the chance, she might stay there and never return.
“Oh, Princess, I’m so sorry that I did not make myself clear.” Merlin averted his eyes. “I actually came for your mother.”
Never in my entire life had I yearned so badly for a camera. Shock was painted on Griana’s face, and no matter how hard she tried to hide her feelings, she could not erase it.
“My mother?” Griana turned from Merlin to me. “Why her?”
“She’s the last Artist in the world,” Merlin said, though of course Griana already knew that. “No one can fight demons better than Lumi.”
“But don’t you need the last Sun Dragon too?”
“Of course you can come along. You never know when Shayla might ask for a fire breath from all five dragon clans.”
Naturally, this statement did not assuage Griana. First Merlin had asked me to come and not her, and then he had reduced her to just one among five equally important clans. There was nothing Griana hated more than a lack of special attention.
“Remember, your mother is the daughter of Shayla,” King Jeremy reminded Griana. At least he still saw my worth, even if to my daughter I was a glorified decorator. “Her part in the story of Earth is immeasurable.”
“Fine,” Griana grumbled, though she didn’t look fine. “How are we getting there?”
“I will create a portal.” Merlin looked at me. “With your majesty’s permission, of course.”
“You’ll make sure the party ends happily and then follow us with the troops?” I asked Jeremy. I knew I shouldn’t be worried about the guests, but I couldn’t help it.
“Don’t worry about us.” Jeremy kissed me on the mouth, and Griana grimaced in disgust. “It’s you I’m worried about.”
“Don’t be. I’ve faced Eads once before, and I can do it again. You know that.”
“And she won’t be alone,” Merlin assured Jeremy. “She has the whole Council and all of the dragon clans on her side.”
I squeezed Jeremy’s hand one more time. Then Merlin clapped his hands and transported us to Earth, where it was well after midnight. The first thing I noticed, besides the familiar front yard, was something white perched in a nearby tree.
It can’t be, I thought, but sure enough, the dove bobbed its head in an enthusiastic hello before spreading her wings and testing the air. Egret, is that you?
Though she didn’t respond, the dove lifted off the branch and pulled up into the air a few feet above our heads. She circled twice and then pushed forward toward the Mansion with our party following behind her.
“Weird bird,” Griana muttered, stomping her way along the path in her too-big boots.
“Not weird,” I said as I followed her. “Just incredibly special.”
Griana gave me a weird look, then rolled her eyes and followed Merlin.
I know who you are, I thought, even if you can’t answer me.
Perhaps it was the reflection of the trees, but I could have sworn the dove above us turned a brilliant green.
Once we reached the Mansion, Merlin led us straight to the Council’s quarters. Griana had never been up there—in all her years of life, there had never been the need—and for once she stayed quiet as we waited for Merlin and the Level Twos on watch to wake the Council members from their slumber.
“Sorry this happened on your birthday,” I said to break the silence.
“It’s okay.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. What could be a better gift than spending my birthday on Earth, even if it is because of some psycho witch lady?”
She really did love Earth better, I realized as I noted her relaxed posture and easy smile. And if I had been a Dramanian teenager, I might have yearned for the ease of living that came with Earth as well. No chamber pots, no desert storms, no drafty castle. To Griana, Earth probably looked like a fantasy land where all of her teenage dreams could come true; she could not yet appreciate the quiet beauty of her home planet.
“When we get back to Draman, I’ll talk to your father about moving you here permanently,” I said quietly. “You can go to college here and then decide where you want to be.”
“You mean that?” Griana asked cautiously, as though she expected me to change my mind.
“Yes, I do. Despite what you may think, I want you to be happy.”
Merlin returned with the three current Council leaders, their eyes red and puffy from sleep but also, most likely, from worry. Defeating these monsters had been difficult enough the first time; vanquishing them all at once would be next to impossible.
“Mom can do it,” Griana said confidently. “After all, we know how Al
lanah defeated Roland, Sara Lee defeated Elaine, King Grian defeated Shull, and Lumi defeated Eads by sending him back through that portal the first time. Vanquishing a few ghosts has got to be easier than all that, especially with the Maker and her only Artist leading us, right?”
Maybe she has been paying attention to those history lessons after all, I thought as I took her hand and squeezed.
For once, she didn’t pull away.
More from Annabelle Jay
The Sun Dragon: Book One
Dragons once roamed the skies, as common as our modern-day airplanes but much more beautiful in their gliding, soaring thermal choreography. Until King Roland and his gold-greedy men defeated them.
Years later King Roland reveals that not only did he let the dragons live, but he turned them into humans so that they could enter the population and breed him an army. Allanah, a sophomore in high school, saves her know-it-all friend Victoria from exactly this fate with magical powers she never knew she had. Allanah’s first high school crush, Jason, reveals that he’s been sent by a secret society of wizards to bring Allanah and Victoria to the Council to have their magical abilities tested by The Egg. Everyone, including Allanah, is shocked by what she produces: the world’s first light dragon.
Allanah must save her best friend and all of the rest of the dragons from Roland’s evil plan, but when she meets the beautiful Dena, a member of the native forest-dwelling Igreefee camp, she must wrestle between her feelings for her new wizard crush, Cormac, and her attraction to Dena.
The Sun Dragon: Book Two
Half-human, half-dragon Mani hatched from an egg and was adopted by Allanah, a human woman who discovered him after the death of his dragon mother. He possesses abilities he’s only beginning to understand, and every night he takes the form of a blue dragon.
When Mani’s secret is revealed, he takes refuge at the wizard Mansion. There, he encounters the Animal Guard, a group of people who share his affliction. But the members of the Animal Guard are under a curse by the sorceresses, and they need Mani’s aid to break the spell and resume their human forms. Growing romantic feelings for the wolf-boy Lup convince Mani to offer his help, but Mani’s own developing powers might destroy any chance at a relationship. The world of magic is changing, and as Mani and his friends fight to stop the evil sorceresses from using the deadly North Star, they must figure out what places they will hold when the battle is over.
The Sun Dragon: Book Three
The inhabitants of Earth thought they evaded the enemy robots by fleeing to another planet, Balu, under Merlin’s leadership… but they were wrong.
Meanwhile, on the nearby planet Draman, the half-human, half-dragon people celebrate a Naming Ceremony. On that day, the children pick between colored robes that represent the choice to become male or female.
After Sara Lee, maid and best friend to Princess Nimue, escapes the ceremony with a child who refuses to select a robe, she resigns herself to a life without the princess in order to fight an oppressive tradition. However, an attack by a robot spaceship looking for Merlin forces both women to seek help from the sorcerer, and princess and maid are reunited. Unable to protect them during the battle, Merlin sends them back in time, where the women must find Allanah, defeat the creator of the robot army, and decide whether the gender norms of their society are strong enough to keep them from falling in love.
The Sun Dragon: Book Four
Long ago, in the days before King Roland, the four dragon kingdoms—Ice, Sun, Earth, and Bone—battled for dominion over the bountiful planet Earth. Prince Grian, a young dragon, hid aboard a Sun Dragon ship, traveled to Earth, and met Caden, an Earth Dragon who’d run away from his village. Despite falling in love, destiny’s plans for them turned cruel, and both perished in the war.
The Artists who created the universe could not let this tragic loss of true love go unpunished. They wiped out the race of Sun Dragons, exiled the Bone Dragons to Draman, and banished the Ice Dragons to the North Pole, safely away from the Earth Dragons. Only the rebirth of Grian and Caden could break the curse. One day, the return of their love would usher in an age of peace and prosperity for all dragons.
But when Prince Grian is reborn, he finds reuniting with his soulmate on Earth will be no easy feat. As he searches for his lost love, the Earth Dragon Protection Society, or EDPS, searches for him, ready to kill him when they find him. If Grian can elude the EDPS, he might find that the true love he once had isn’t guaranteed to bloom a second time.
If there’s one thing author ANNABELLE JAY believes with all her heart, it’s that there is no such thing as too many dragons in a book. As a fantasy writer with few other hobbies—does being bribed to run with her partner or dancing awkwardly in the kitchen count?—she spends every day following her imagination wherever it leads her.
A hippie born in the wrong decade, Annabelle has a peace sign tattoo and a penchant for hugging trees. Occasionally she takes breaks from her novels to play with her pets: Jon Snow, the albino rabbit who eats all of Annabelle’s bookmarks; Daisy, the Angora rabbit who constantly tries to escape her cage; and Stevie, the crested gecko who climbs glass with the hairs on her toes.
During her day job as a professor of English, Annabelle is often assumed to be a fellow student playing a prank on the class—that is, until she hands out the syllabus. When people stop mistaking her for a recent high school graduate, she will probably be very sad.
Website: www.annabellejayauthor.wordpress.com
Email: annabellejayauthor@gmail.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Annabelle-Jay/376249719245415
Twitter: @AnnabelleAuthor
By Annabelle Jay
THE SUN DRAGON
The Sun Dragon
Merlin’s Moon
Starsong
Caden’s Comet
Luminosity
Published by HARMONY INK PRESS
www.harmonyinkpress.com
Published by
HARMONY INK PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
publisher@harmonyinkpress.com • harmonyinkpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Luminosity
© 2018 Annabelle Jay.
Cover Art
© 2018 Stef Masciandaro.
http://www.stefmasc.com/
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Harmony Ink Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or publisher@harmonyinkpress.com.
ISBN: 978-1-64080-181-3
Digital ISBN: 978-1-64080-182-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017911067
Published February 2018
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America
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