Page 6 of The Last Dragon King
“Alright, it’s getting hot in here!” Brenna announced with a laugh. “Take off those blindfolds and meet your match, my young lovebirds!”
All at once he fell away from me, the lips, the hands, the warmth, the butterflies. It was as if I’d been plunged into a frigid ice bath. I reached up, frantically yanking the blindfold down, and came face to face with the back of the white tent.
He was gone.
An ache formed in my chest. My throat tightened as I cleared it, trying not to show emotion but feeling as if I’d just been left at the altar. You didn’t run away from a May Day match unless you thought the kiss was awful and you never wanted to see them again.
I peered to my left and the hole in my chest grew wider. Nathanial was beaming down at a flushed Ruby Ronaldson. Her inky black hair fell in soft waves to her waist, where Nathanial held her hips tightly over her green silk dress. Ruby was a baker. She was feminine and wore dresses and knew how to cook—perfect wife material, and everything I was not.
Tears blurred my vision but I blinked them back. I didn’t want to be here anymore, this was stupid. Turning around, I snuck out of the side opening of the tent and went in search of my mother.
She’d looked so scared earlier, and now I welcomed whatever distraction she was about to throw at me. Anything to forget that world-changing kiss and aching goodbye.
TWO
I stepped into our home and the scent of the boiling cougarin stew made my mouth water. My gaze flicked to my traveling pack leaned up against the wall. It had been cleaned and looked fully stocked and ready to go.
“Mom, you’re scaring me. Why did you pack my bag? I just got back.”
She set my pile of dirty clothes in the washing hamper and then turned to face me with tears in her eyes. “I sent your sister to play with Violet so we have some time to say goodbye privately.”
My eyes nearly fell out of my skull. “Goodbye? Mom, I’m not going anywhere. I just got home from a week on the road.” Not to mention I just got left in the kissing tent and was now mortified. Whoever my world-tilting kisser was, I wanted to avoid him now at all costs. I wanted to go into my room, cry myself to sleep, and then stay in bed for the next two days.
My mom wrung her hands together, shaking her head, which made her dark brown curls fall away from her face. “I’ve kept a dark secret from you your entire life,” she said and I froze.
I reached out and grasped the edge of the chair, not prepared for those words to ever leave my mother’s lips. “What are you talking about?”
My mother stepped closer, picking up my travel bag and handing it to me. “You have to leave before the sniffers find you.”
I took the bag but then let it fall to my feet. Reaching out, I grasped my mother’s shoulders and looked her right in the eyes. “Whatdark secret?”
It was something you never wanted to hear anyone close to you say. Now I was full-on freaking out. Why did I need to keep the sniffers from finding me? They smelled magic on people and I barely had any. I would be of zero interest to them.
She sighed, and her breath smelled of sage and rosemary, reminding me of my childhood. She loved chewing on the herbs while cooking.
“Your father and I tried for a child for five winters but the healer said there was something wrong with his seed.”
Her words cut right through me, causing chills to break out on my arms. What was she saying?
“Youaremy child. Mydaughter,” she growled, reaching out to grasp my forearms as if trying to convince me.
That declaration made me sick. Of course I was her daughter.Why is she telling me I am her daughter?
“But another woman birthed you,” she said, and I dropped my arms, breaking out of her grasp, and collapsed into the chair beneath me. My chest heaved, my breath coming out in ragged gasps.
She fell to her knees in front of me, tears streaming down her face. “I should have told you sooner, but it was never a good time, and I didn’t want you to think that you weren’t mine.”
I sat there in stunned silence for a full minute until she stood again and pulled up the chair before me.
“Who was she? The woman?” I asked, finally able to suck in a full breath and keep my panic at bay.
My mom chewed the inside of her lip. “A traveler passing through. Dressed like a highborn wearing bright colored silk, embroidered with jade. This was when I was still working at the tavern.”
Iwas ahighborn? Was that what she was telling me? Highborns were at least half dragon-folk, maybe more.
“What happened?” I didn’t recognize my own voice. I needed information, and quickly. The hole in my chest was too big now and I needed to fill it with something or I was afraid I would disappear.
My mother swallowed hard. “She came to the tavern alone, heavily pregnant, pale as a ghost and speckled in blood. She looked shaken, like she’d seen a battle. Due to her obvious status, I didn’t ask questions. I just showed her to her room.”
