“What are you doing here?” He grinned and broke away from the group, running over to catch her in a warm embrace.
She returned his embrace, but knew her face was grave. “Cyrcinus was in my house last night,” she blurted.
His smile faded and he stared down at her. “What?”
“She attacked Logan. She called him ‘dragon warrior.’” Tiyenen paled and Willow frowned. “Something strange is going on, isn’t it?”
Her brother met her eyes and nodded. “Not strange… Miraculous.”
Willow’s frown deepened. “What are you talking about? What do you know that I don’t?”
He sighed. “You know how I said that something about that Logan guy reminded me of a warrior?”
She nodded.
“Well it kept bothering me. So much so that I went to talk to Elder Ember.”
Her brow creased. “What did he tell you?”
Tiyenen snorted. “Do you remember when Cyrcinus exterminated all of the Alveda d’Kai?”
“Of course I do. It was horrible. I was only a little girl, but I remember it like it happened yesterday. She killed all of them except for Hokan.”
He nodded. “Because he was old and crippled and not a threat.” He shook his head. “But there was one more, Willow. One more dragon warrior who ran away out of cowardice.”
She blinked at him in bewilderment. “What?”
He took her by the elbow. “Come on. I was going to come see you in a few days and tell you this, but since you’re here and asking, now is as good a time as any.”
Willow went with her brother, intrigued, but strangely apprehensive. She got the unsettling feeling that everything in her world was about to change.
* * * *
Logan paced restlessly around his cabin for several minutes, scowling at nothing. He’d cleaned up the mess left from the leak and vowed that he was going to fix the roof so that this wouldn’t happen again. Although, sleeping in Willow’s house had been far from torture.
Pain stabbed through his head, then retreated as quickly as it had come. He winced and let out a frustrated sigh. He felt so weird.
His entire life he’d always felt like he didn’t fit. It was why he’d always put on such a brash bravado, to make himself fit. It was a complete and total lie. He’d lied to everyone around him and he’d lied to himself. He’d lied to himself so well that he’d actually believed his own deception. Now, suddenly, it was like the false personality he’d put on himself had been stripped away by some sort of hidden, lurking who knows what that decided it was sick of being in the shadows. It made absolutely no sense and he had no idea where it had come from. Had it been Willow telling him he was basically worthless? Had it been a bunch of kids calling him a loser and then freely forgiving him when they had no reason to? Had it been a little girl giving him flowers and forcing him to look into the darkest part of his soul? Or had it been some whacked-out dream that had felt so real he still shivered when he thought about it? Nothing made any sense whatsoever all of a sudden and all he could hear was that woman’s voice. You’re next, dragon warrior… What the crap was all that about anyway? And why did his heart do somersaults every time he remembered it?
He turned on his heel and paced some more, his mind running at high speed. His father had taught him to feel next to nothing, to never let anything bother him, to be strong, solid, cold. That was how he’d lived his life. No real attachments. No real commitments. If he kept everything superficial, he’d never have to feel anything. Now he felt like some part of him that he’d locked away years ago was wreaking havoc on all of that. He’d always felt a strange restlessness within him, for his whole life, lurking beneath the surface, waiting to pounce. He’d never had any idea what it was. He’d always ignored it by indulging in excess. Drinking, carousing, general debauchery. It had given him momentary peace, like a temporary high. Now it was back and raging with a vengeance. And he just kept hearing that woman’s voice…
Lucy. He stopped pacing as her name popped into his head without warning. She knew all about dragon warriors. They were her obsession… He felt ridiculous for even thinking it, but maybe if he knew more about the myth he would be able to decipher his dream. Otherwise, it was just going to slowly drive him insane.
Making up his mind, he turned and left his cabin, heading over to the kids’.
Chapter Eleven
“His name was Rory and he was from the Alveda d’Kai tribe of the Three Rivers,” Tiyenen said as Willow followed him through the gate and into the royal house of the Avari, her home. “When Cyrcinus mass murdered all of the Alveda d’Kai, he ran while everyone else tried to fight. He somehow managed to escape into the human realm.”
Willow frowned and grabbed Tiyenen’s elbow, turning him to face her while they came to a stop inside the main hall.
“Lady Avaris, you’ve returned!”
She glanced over to see three guards bowing. Two at the main door and one at the entrance of the corridor that led to the dining hall and bedrooms. She forced a smile. “For a short while. Please, I wish to speak with my brother in confidence.” They nodded and filed out. Willow turned back to Tiyenen. “Why did we not know about this?”
Tiyenen sighed. “It was a great disgrace to everyone that Rory abandoned his people, and abandoned the Avari as well. He became dead to everyone; no one spoke his name again. Even when I spoke to Elder Ember, he was reluctant to talk about it.”
“Was that all he said?”
“Yes, but that’s not all I know. Elder Ember said that, the last he’d heard from an Avari informant in the human world, Rory had adopted the name Rory Rivers and was living as a human. I went into the human realm and did a little research.”
Willow’s eyes widened. “You went out into the human realm? T!” She shot a worried glance at his pointed ears, bedecked with several hoops in both lobes and one at the top of his right ear that were anything but inconspicuous.
He rolled his eyes. “Relax, Willow. I wore a hat. Come on, I’m not that stupid.”
She let out a sigh of relief. She’d already lost her mother and father in a Supporo attack. The last thing she wanted was her careless brother to be carted into some human government testing facility.
“Anyway,” he continued, “I did some research on this Rory guy and I managed to find out some very interesting facts.”
She arched an eyebrow.
He smiled. “Apparently the guy shacked up with some human for awhile. Never married her, but had two children with her. This woman’s name was Mary Savage. Obviously, her children would have her last name since Rory had never married her. I’ll give you one guess as to what his son’s name was.”
She swallowed and felt her face pale as her mouth went dry. “Logan…” she whispered.
Tiyenen gave a smug nod. “I told you there was something about him. Your criminal counselor is half Alveda d’Kai.”
She blinked rapidly. How was that even possible? Of all the places the judge had decided to send him for his sentence, he’d sent him to a camp run by an Avari fairy? That was insane… Some twisted part of it made sense, though. Logan’s aggression, his dominance and severe alpha personality. They were traits of the Alveda d’Kai males as well as human males. The poor man had gotten a double dose of testosterone in the worst form.
The way he had reacted to Cyrcinus’ attack suddenly made sense as well. She had smelled the dragon warrior blood in him. The part of Logan that was Alveda d’Kai had reacted to her attack out of pure instinct. It had been dormant up until now. He wouldn’t be able to put the dragon warrior part of himself back to sleep now that it had been awakened.
“That’s not all, Willow,” Tiyenen said.
She looked up at her brother. “There’s more?” she croaked. She almost dreaded what else he had to say.
“Rory ran out on his family because he met and fell head over heels for an Avari fairy who lived in the human world. He got her pregnant and then abandoned the human family he had to marr
y this Avari woman. Apparently he disappeared so amazingly the courts couldn’t even find him to make him pay child support.”
Willow snorted in disgust.
“No kidding,” Tiyenen said. “I can’t believe the man came from Alveda d’Kai parents. Anyway, he had a son with this Avari woman. His name was Darien.”
Willow felt like someone had socked her in the stomach. She drew in a wheezing breath and looked up at her brother. “Darien Rivers?” she squeaked.
He frowned. “Yeah… What’s wrong? You look sick.”
Her hands started to tremble. “Darien Rivers is one of the students in my camp…” She shook her head. “He’s—”
Tiyenen nodded. “He is a perfect Alveda d’Kai/Avari mix.”
“His mother died.”
He nodded again. “When he was small. He has no idea what he is.”
“Neither does Logan…” She let out a slow breath, trying to process all of the unbelievable information her brother had just dumped on her. “They’re brothers… That’s insane.” She frowned and looked up at Tiyenen. “How did you find all of this out?”
He gave a devil’s grin. “I have my ways.”
She didn’t want to know. It was best if she didn’t. She mulled over what she’d just come to find out. Darien and Logan were half-brothers. Darien was an Alveda d’Kai/Avari mix. Logan was half human, which would be why he didn’t have any special powers. Darien would once he came of age, however… She gasped. Cyrcinus knew that Logan was half dragon warrior, but she didn’t know about Darien…yet. She would soon. Darien would be eighteen in… Her stomach plummeted into her feet. “He’s eighteen tomorrow,” she whispered. “Oh my gosh.”
Tiyenen frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“I have to go. They’re both in danger.” She spun on her heel.
“Wait!” He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. “You have to tell them, Willow. They need to know.”
That would be a fun bit of information to give to Logan. By the way, you don’t believe in anything mythical, but guess what? Your evil father who ran out on you was a yellow-bellied dragon warrior who abandoned his people. You’re half of the thing you don’t believe in! Oh, and you have a brother…who happens to also be one of the kids you’re in charge of… The one who socked you in the gut, as a matter of fact. She wanted to groan aloud. If this wasn’t so serious, she would laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.
“Willow,” Tiyenen persisted. “You have to. You can’t leave them in the dark. Being a teenager is hard enough. You want this Darien kid to suddenly have powers and not know why?”
She shook her head. “No, of course not. And now that Logan’s Alveda d’Kai instincts have awakened, he’ll be all messed up too.” She let out a growling sigh. “This is a disaster.” She huffed. “Let me go, T. I have to go. They need to be warned before something awful happens!” She yanked her arm away. “I’ll be in touch.” She ran towards the door.
“Be careful!” he called after her.
She ran as fast as she could through the Avari village and forest. There was a foreboding dread weighing heavily on her chest. She had to get to Logan and Darien before Cyrcinus did. They were both completely clueless as to what they were while she knew exactly…
* * * *
Logan was surprised that Lucy was by herself when he went to the kids’ cabin. Usually the five of them ran in a pack. He gave a slight frown as she opened the door. “You in here all alone?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I wasn’t feeling too good. Something I ate upset my stomach, I think. Everyone else went to go do some live action role playing with the younger kids.”
“Oh…” He scratched at the back of his head, feeling stupid. What was he even doing? This was dumb.
Lucy arched an eyebrow. “Did you need something?”
“Uh…” He sighed in defeat. Okay, she wasn’t going to think he was stupid. She loved this stuff. He had to get over the feeling that, if he showed any interest in fantasy, or anything out of the ordinary, he was going to be thought of as geeky or stupid. No one here was going to think he was geeky and stupid. They were all eccentric and thought he’d been the biggest loser of all when he was being normal. He needed to figure out what that dream meant and Lucy may have the answers. He had to learn how to put his pride and insecurities aside on this one. “I was actually wondering if I could ask you some stuff about those dragon warrior guys you like so much.”
Her eyes lit up. “Sure! Come on in! I’m not doing anything but lying around anyway and that gets real old real fast.” She stepped aside and motioned him in the room.
He smiled at her enthusiasm and went in, still feeling stupid, but trying to ignore it.
Lucy flopped down onto her bed and looked up at him expectantly. “What do you want to know?”
He frowned and tried to remember what she had been saying that day he’d flown off the handle and called them all freaks. “You said, in that legend, that there were two warring tribes of fairy or something, right?”
She nodded. “The Avari and the Supporo.”
He scratched at the bridge of his nose. “Okay… Well, why?”
She frowned. “Why?”
“Yeah. Why were they fighting?”
“Oh. Well, the war actually was started because of an Alveda d’Kai warrior. You see, the Avari were a race of fairies without really any special gifts or abilities. They were gentle people, nature-loving and peaceful. The Supporo were more dominant in nature and they thought of the Avari as lower than them because they could do things that the Avari couldn’t.”
He met her eyes, then started to pace again as he digested the information. “Like?”
“They could alter their appearance. Not like shape-shifters, but they could change the color of their hair or their eyes at will. Small things like that. They had highly developed senses. They could also dream walk.”
His attention snapped to her on that one. “Say what?”
“Dream walk,” she repeated. “They could go into someone’s dreams and control them.”
A chilling shiver went up his spine.
“Anyway, they thought of themselves as superior to the Avari and used the Avari as slaves for centuries. The Alveda d’Kai were allies of the Supporo at that time, guardians and protectors of the race. That’s how things were for ages until the queen of the Supporo wanted one of the dragon warriors as a mate. Naturally, she wanted the one who was the strongest.”
Logan shrugged. Of course.
“Well, this particular Alveda d’Kai warrior had fallen in love with an Avari peasant and refused to be with the Supporo queen.”
Logan wrinkled his nose. “That’s never good.”
Lucy shook her head. “Not good at all. The queen was enraged at the thought that an Alveda d’Kai warrior would choose an Avari slave over a queen and she had the warrior’s lover killed. The warrior was furious. Being as he was one of the strongest and highest ranking warriors of his race, he persuaded the rest of his clan to turn against the Supporo and liberate the Avari. The Supporo were strong, but couldn’t stand against such a powerful force. The Alveda d’Kai freed the Avari and turned their allegiance to them. The Supporo queen swore she’d have vengeance and the war raged on for generations.”
“Until all the dragon dudes were killed.”
She nodded.
“How were they killed? What happened to the Avari?”
She blinked. “Uh… I dunno. It’s a myth. It’s not history. It kind of stops there.”
He frowned and sat down on the edge of one of the beds. He met her eyes with purpose. “Why did you draw that symbol on my back last night?”
She raised both of her eyebrows. “Um… Because I like it? Are you okay?”
He waved his hand. “I’m fine. I just…” He sighed. “You really just drew it on there because you like it? Come on, Lucy. You’re like a creepy psychic. I think you have a deeper reason behind everything that you do.”
A faint blush crept into
her cheeks and she looked down. “Well… I don’t know. I guess I just feel like, if the Alveda d’Kai did exist, you could be one of them.”
He frowned. “Why do you say that?”
She shrugged her shoulders, then hunched them self-consciously. “Because you’re strong and aggressive… You seem like a warrior to me. You and Darien both.”
He studied her for a minute, then a small smile touched his lips and he went to sit next to her. “Hey.” He put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a playful shake. “I’m not trying to badger you and I’m not going to call you a weirdo or anything. I really am just curious.”
She glanced up at him and gave a meager smile.
He smiled. “I’m flattered that you would see good in me when all I’ve been is a jerk. You have an amazing amount of character, Lucy.”
Her smile was shy. “I can see past all the crap. I always can.”
“That’s a remarkable gift.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze and grinned. “I’m gonna go see if Willow is back yet. Do you need anything?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m okay. The others will be back soon anyway.”
He nodded. “Okay. Thanks for filling me in. Something about that legend has just been nagging at my brain.” He stood.
She giggled. “It’s intriguing, that’s for sure.” She gave him a wink. “We’re starting to assimilate you.”
He rolled his eyes. “Great, just what I need.” He said it in a teasing tone and smirked, causing her to giggle again. He waved and left the cabin, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he made his way back to Willow’s. Something weird was going on. Something weird inside his body. He wanted to talk to her about that dream of his some more because, as interesting as Lucy’s facts had been, they hadn’t helped him one iota.
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