She was about to say something biting when she noticed a faded picture still hanging on the wall.
She recognized the shock of red hair the same as hers, even though the photo was of a child. There was her father, looking impossibly young, holding her. And beside him, a woman with the same eyes as she stood smiling at the camera. This woman could only be her mother.
She reached up to touch the photo, her finger streaking through a layer of dust as she did.
“This is where your mother and I spent the first two years of your life,” he said. “We were in hiding.”
“In hiding?” she asked, sounding almost robotic.
“You are the descendant of two clans, mixed carapace blood. And that is not allowed.”
“Why?” she asked. “Are they racist?”
“No. The clans know that mixed carapace blood would result in a carapace much more powerful than either clan’s leader. And when the mixed-blood child is the child of the heirs to both clans, things get much more complicated.”
She processed the words quickly. “You and my mother?”
“Were each the equal heirs to our clans. We weren't supposed to fall in love, but we spent so much time together with our parents in negotiations to keep the peace. She was my soul mate; it was inevitable. When we found out she was pregnant, we ran away from that life, afraid that they would kill you.” He paused, seemingly lost in his own memory for a brief moment. “For two years, this was our sanctuary; this was our paradise. We raised you as best we could, acting like we were like any other family and any other parents.”
“But…” Ariel's stomach dropped. She felt like this story had a terrible end.
“But we weren't,” her father said. “Eventually, they caught us. It was us who were stupid, staying in one place. But we were so content in our happiness; we had set up a little home. We tried to run, but the clans were wild. They were determined to destroy what threatened them.”
“Me,” Ariel said. “I threatened them.”
“Yes. So, we put you in hiding and put you in care where no one would know your name or what you were. We thought that you'd be safe, and you'd come back to us some day, but then the slaughter of carapaces began, thanks to the dragons. Your mother was a victim of that slaughter.” He smiled, tears in his eyes. “But it taught us a lesson we would never forget. It taught us that we are stronger united than divided. Those that were left banded together, and we went in search of you.”
“And you found me,” she said. “Under a dragon's paw.”
Chapter 11
“We feared for you for so long,” her father said. “I thought that he was hurting you, that you were his prisoner. I was relieved to see that you had at least a little bit of freedom.”
“You think I don't have freedom?” Ariel raised an eyebrow. “I have all the freedom. I come and go as I please. There is no issue with that.”
“Ariel, please,” he smiled. “It's my job to be worried about you. And dragons are dangerous.”
“They aren't dangerous.”
“Today, somebody walked through the park without realizing this would be their last sunrise,” he pointed out to her. “But because of a dragon, it was.”
She sucked in a breath, having nothing to say to that. She stared at the picture of her mother a bit longer, her heart hammering. She wasn't sure how to feel. She also wasn't sure whether she believed him or not. There had been so many people in her life who had misguided her and broken her trust.
But it honestly seemed like she had no reason not to trust him. The photographic evidence was in her face. She had no reason to believe he was lying.
“What was she like?” she asked, at last.
“Your mother?” He smiled. “Feisty. Strong. A believer in a better future. I see her so much in you. She held her chin high like you do. And she laughed like you do.”
“How do you know how I laugh?” she asked.
“We have been watching you, just to make sure you are safe,” he said. “Just to make sure the dragons don't overcome you.”
“Look,” she said, at last, “I don't know what you want me to do.”
“I want revenge,” he replied. “Revenge for your mother. Revenge for our kind. Peter has killed before on a whim, just hours ago. He will do it again. The dragon world must be stopped. They must not return to Earth. They should lose their kingdom, as we did ours.”
“That's a tall order,” Ariel replied, sternly.
“There are enough of us in numbers to crush the dragon lords if we could get into their kingdom. With the princes dead, the rule would fall ultimately to you. You are their queen, as you are ours.”
Ariel stopped even breathing at those words.
“You have the same rule as the dragons,” she realized. “A 50-50 monarchy. My mother is dead–”
“So, the kingdom is yours,” he said. “To share with me. And when I am gone, you will inherit my part as well. Two kingdoms – two separate rules – under your control.”
She said nothing to that, again reaching to the painting. The clock was ticking; she had to get to the theater. At that moment, all she wanted to do was dance. Dance was her solace – her comfort. She needed to let the music guide her.
“Can I take this?” she asked. It embodied her every dream. A family photograph was the simplest thing to most people, and yet it was something she always dreamed of.
“Of course,” he said. “I will meet with you tomorrow to discuss this further. You would have had 100 family photographs, an album full, had it not been for the dragon lords. Including the one you are married to.”
She could hear no more of this. It felt like her ears were bleeding. Her heart certainly was. She took the photograph from the frame, tucking it in her pocket.
“Yes,” she heard herself saying, as she backed away from the room. “I'll meet you.”
She didn't establish a meeting place, because she knew he would get in touch with her.
The theater was always her job, but today it was her solace. When she arrived, she threw herself into her work, her heart beating in time with the music that pumped into the stage. She cried real tears during the sad scenes, and laughed until her chest hurt during the happy ones. She was desperate to feel something that wasn't the confusing emptiness she had felt today.
Her family. Her dreams. Her hopes. They couldn't all be dead because of this mass slaughter? It couldn't have been taken away just because the dragons felt threatened?
She had known about the slaughter, but she didn't care about the facts back then. It hadn't occurred to her that her family had wanted her.
“Did you see this?” one of the girls said to her at intermission. She was waiving a phone at Ariel, a news article pulled up. “At the park, just across the street?”
“The strange creature and the body?” Ariel asked. “Yeah, that's old news.”
“No, not that,” the girl replied. “That was this morning. There were three more bodies found in the park just an hour ago. And another video of the same creature. What the hell is going on? This place is scary.”
“What?” said another girl, coming over. Soon, the entire stage-right area was filled with babbling, frightened ballerinas. Ariel backed away, pale against the wall. They were afraid of the unknown, of what lurked outside the gates.
But she knew what creatures swarmed in the blackness and what killed in the dark of night.
She could barely make it through the second half of the show, her mind whirling. What was she going to do? Who was she going to choose?
She supposed she could have stayed in a different hotel, or perhaps chosen a different room. But her purse was back in the hotel room, and hopefully her phone as well. If she was going to get some space to think, she at least wanted her things.
Her head was swirling as she rode the elevator to the top floor where they were staying. She had always known dragons were dangerous, and she didn't care. They had a reasonable moral compass, and she always thought it was co
mforting to be protected by the most dangerous creatures that walked both planets.
Except they weren't protecting her. They were the reason she was in the foster system; they were the reason her life had been harsh. The school of hard knocks didn't offer a degree that could match the heartache she had gone through.
She was hoping that the room was going to be empty when she came in. It would save her the awkwardness of explaining why she was storming out. But as soon as she put the key in the lock, Alexander pulled it open.
They had fought before. One of them storming out was nothing new. They were such different people that it was just something they had come to accept over the years. However, this time was different. She froze when he pulled open the door, and she took a half step back.
His face was clouded in confusion.
“What's the matter?” he asked. He looked a bit better, but certainly not top form. At another time, she could had expressed concern. But this time, all she wanted was her things.
“You killed my mother,” she fixed him with a harsh stare. “And you knew about it, too.”
From the way his shoulders deflated, she knew was was right. He went three shades of pale as she brushed past him.
“Where's my phone?” she demanded, picking up the things she had left on the bedside table. “Alexander?”
“Here. Peter had no idea what to do with it, although he did advise me to leave you,” Alexander handed it over gently.
“That's it? You have nothing to say about the fact that you knew?”
“I did know,” he said, softly. “But not right away. Not for years.”
“That makes it better?” she spat at him.
“No,” he admitted. “But by the time I found out that it was one of us, you and I were already deep into our relationship. And you looked me in the eye and said that you didn't care.”
“Because I didn't know the truth!” she said. “I thought they abandoned me. I thought they left me! But it was you and your dragons! You've been lying to me this whole time! And now it's come crashing down, Alexander, and haven't you made the mistake? Because I am your queen now, you can't undo that.”
“I had no intention of lying to you,” he gritted his teeth, and she half wondered if he was going to throw up again. She found that she didn't really care. “I didn't. It just happened.”
“Well, me leaving can just happen, too,” she said, making sure she had the last of her things. “Don't call me, don't come looking for me, and don't just appear out of nowhere. Do you understand me?”
“Ariel!” He caught her arm tightly. Their eyes locked, and she saw what she recognized as desperation. The hunger was setting in again, the lust for blood that ruled him. For eleven years, he didn't have to exhibit as much control as he normally did, because he had her. She could dull his pain; she could make his lust disappear. She was his addiction. “I need you.”
“Deal with it.” She ripped away from him, making sure the door slammed behind her.
Once she was out in the hallway, she realized that she had no idea where she wanted to go. The theater was across the street, and it would be wildly inconvenient to stay anywhere else.
Anger filled her again. Why should she be inconvenienced by him? Staying across the street from the theater was a rare occurrence, and she certainly didn't want to be taking taxis simply because her husband and brother-in-law were murderers?
She shook herself as she thought that. What kind of world was she living in?
She got herself a new room, checking in right above Alexander, which did not impress her. She splurged, going over and above her per diem to get herself the biggest suite possible. She didn't need him to feel like a princess.
Her phone was blowing up with the news alerts of Peter's victims He clearly couldn't control himself, and despite the fact that he hated being a dragon, he was shifting at every opportunity. She knew Alexander was going to have trouble with his own lust with Peter constantly eating, but she didn't care.
This was unforgivable and unfixable. They had made a broken relationship work for too long, and she couldn't do it any longer. She was done with dragons.
As soon as she got upstairs, she pulled out her phone again, texting the number her father had texted from.
I want to hear more.
She was sick of the burden, sick of the responsibilities, and sick of Alexander's addiction and his needs. She was even sick of her phone beeping with alerts about Peter's victims.
Tell me where to meet you, her father texted back, and she sent her room number.
Bring them all. I want to know anyone who knew her. I want to know what I missed.
There was only a millisecond before the reply came.
You are truly a carapace. You are truly my daughter.
She put down her phone, staring out of the window into the dark night. She wasn't sure how she felt about that statement. But she supposed she had time to find out. Alexander could deal with his brother's drama by himself. She was going to find out about her family, and he could deal with his own.
Chapter 12
When she had asked her father to bring the people who knew her mother, she didn't expect it to be a crowd, especially at midnight. But it wasn't long before there were twelve people in her huge hotel room, sipping wine, and spreading out pictures while telling stories.
Most of them had red hair and green eyes – features that had always made her feel like a black sheep. They were carapaces from both sides of the family, and they couldn't stop talking to her, smiling, and enjoying her presence.
“Here,” said one that she didn't know quite yet. He handed over a bundle of photos that were held together with an elastic band. “Your mother and I grew up together. I'm her second cousin, but we were neighbors. She liked to perform, just like you.”
“She liked to dance?” Ariel asked, shocked as she flipped through the pictures. She found pictures of her mother looking much younger than in the first picture she had seen, in a tap dance outfit. She recognized the shoes as tap shoes, and she smiled. “Oh my, those are old leggings.”
“She performed mostly in community circuits, but she did a pageant. She was pretty like you.”
“Yes,” Ariel was almost speechless, looking at a photo that she could have sworn was her. “What else did she like?”
“Oh, she was a pretty calm, easy going person. But she knew what she stood for and what she wanted.” He glanced up at her father. “And I wish we could have all respected her for that.”
“I'm sorry.” Ariel sat on the couch, feeling shaky. “It's just so odd. I never imagined her...any of you like this. I tried to not think about it, because that made it worse.”
“We thought about you,” her father said. “Frequently. We made sure that you were hidden, but it turned out you were so well hidden that we couldn't even find you.”
“When did you find me?” she asked.
“Your fame,” he smiled. “Your dance fame was helpful. But when we saw that you were walking with a dragon, we pulled back until we thought it was safe.”
“Was it safe when you finally did?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “But a second dragon surrounding you made it necessary. The situation changed with the fact that it was Peter.”
“Who is killing half the city because he's hungry,” Ariel sighed. “He just doesn't know what he's doing again. He was basically dead.”
“Does that make it better?” her father asked, and she sighed.
“No,” she said. “But the dragons...they aren't always in control when there is blood lust involved.”
“Or when they are threatened,” he said, and she put her head in her hands. She never got a wedding ring, but she felt like she was wearing one. It was like a phantom on her left hand, something that had bound her for years.
And these people surrounding her were so much like her – the same eyes, the same hair, the same body type.
“What is that you want me to do?” she asked.
“The kingdom is half yours. If the king is gone, the kingdom is all yours.”
“It's not that easy,” she said. “Even if something happened to Peter, there's Alexander and Nicholas to be king, and then Cole is married. It's a strong line, and I'm not going to kill them.”
“You do not have to kill them,” her father said. “But you do have to stop them.”
“How?” she said. “When they want something, they take it. When they decide that something is going to be done, it will be done.”
“And that doesn't bother you?” he asked. “Think about the behavior you just described. Those are not rulers. They are tyrants. Every time they come to Earth, someone dies. Sometimes it's one of us. Sometimes it's innocent people. But if there's enough of us, including your extreme power, we can start to close vortexes where they cannot enter this world.”
“Can't enter?” she said. “How?”
“A ring of carapaces this powerful in one place at the right time can suck so much magic from the Earth that they could never land there when they try to transport. There are only certain places that they can transport to. Have you noticed?”
“Now that I've think about it, yes,” she realized. “He's never said anything to me, but we do only land in certain places.”
“Because the dragons are restricted. We can make sure that those places are taken away from them, one by one.”
“Oh,” she said. “I... maybe would be alright with that. Maybe. But the kingdom...that is not mine to take.”
“They took ours,” her father said.
“Alvin,” someone said, and her father turned. She realized that she didn't even know his name until this moment. What else didn't she know about him? How much had she missed?
“The other dragon is back,” he said, and Ariel felt Peter's magic from above. “Should we turn on the news and see who he's killed this time?”
“I don't think every time he goes he...” Ariel said as they turned on the TV. Sure enough, before she said another word, there was another news story, and another body. “Jesus, Peter.”
Evander (Stratham Shifters Book 4) Page 25