Page 45 of Sapphire Seas

At some point we must have drifted off because Mattias’ face suddenly blinked in and out of focus while he called my name.

“You’re back!” Caspian screeched, hurling himself at Mattias while I was still struggling to focus.

When had he shifted back to skin?

My dragon needed a moment to greet our mate first, nudging his side until he got a hug from them.

“I am and I’m glad you found your special place,” Mattias said, loosening his hold on my dragon enough that I could shift and snuggle right back in his embrace.

“It’s magnificent,” I said as he kissed the top of my head. “What happened? We you able to catch any of the bastards or did you destroy them all?”

He chuckled, the sound rumbling through me as I clung to him. “This time there was no enemy. Dragonets from a shadow dragon nest were sent to us to protect. Their warriors have found a way to combat the Gorynych and wanted their children to be safely away before the battle took place. They were afraid that Baird’s warriors were the Gorynych when the patrol spotted them and that was why they were hiding in the shadows of the woods. They’d been cautioned by their parents to travel under the cover of darkness and hide in the shadows during the day. This morning, they got bold. Fueled by exhaustion and desperation, they tried to cross the mountains in daylight.”

“I’d have run away too if I saw Baird or any one of his warriors flying at me,” I admitted.

“Same,” Caspian said. “Those dragons are fierce.”

“Yes and rather frighting, according to the dragonets once we got them back here and scanned by Raven. There were eight of them. The oldest was just sixteen but managed to keep them all together and safe to reach us. Rona and her wife Azure were about to open a new Bed and Breakfast in Dragon City and immediately offered to host the children instead so they could remain together under one roof until their parents are able to come for them. They will be enrolled in school with the other dragonets and be fully provided for during their stay here.”

“You…you mean they just canceled their plans, just like that, to take care of eight dragonets?” I stammered as I starred at Mattias.

“It must be jarring to see dragons behaving the way they should after the experiences you endured,” Mattias said as he stroked my cheek.

His finger brushed the edge of my scars, but his touch didn’t make me flinch. He was the first to ever touch the jagged flesh.

“It was a claw,” I said. “Punishment for seeing something that I shouldn’t have. He took my eye and swore he’d take the other if I didn’t stop hunting for things I shouldn’t. As soon as Canyon, Upalo and I were able to get away from there, that’s all we did until we landed here. We kept digging into their secrets, following every lead we came across so we could find a way to bury them for what they did to us. I wish I could have been there to see Ronan lava bomb the hell out of that village, even if he wasn’t able to destroy it all.”

“Who’s claw?” Mattias hissed, his voice having gone completely dragon.

“Daigle’s.”

His roar shook our cavern, then I felt him reach out to his brothers, fury radiating from him, invading every crevice of the space as he communicated with them. He was trembling as he held us, shift overtaking him until his dragon wrapped his wings around us, protectively holding us in the middle of our nest.

The whales came around again, their song becoming a part of the cocoon I’d found myself in. His wing was like soft leather beneath my cheek. Pressed against his side, each of his breaths created a rocking motion, soothing me. There was more to the story, pieces I couldn’t remember. The only one who did was Upalo and I doubted he’d ever share those details with me.

They will be made too pay for everyone they’ve ever harmed, Mattias swore.

“I’m glad you didn’t have to fight today,” I said. “I’d much rather you come back and share stories of little shadow dragonets. How adorable were they?”

I doubt they’d appreciate being called that, with how fierce they were able to appear when they huddled together. The oldest actually told us to fuck off. He thought we were Gorynych. He told us that his Papa said we were all going to die when the Protectors caught us, if his Papa didn’t catch us first.

“That’s adorable!” Caspian said, snickering. “Oh, my goodness, I hope our dragonets have that kind of spunk.”

We were all in shock, to be honest. They were surrounded. We were ready to capture or destroy. For a moment, everything was so still, like time had frozen, then Ionus started talking to them like a father instead of the dragon about to char them with lightning bolts. The oldest dragonet, Noir, had been told that each Protector carried one of our father’s scales with us and demanded to see them before he’d take our word about being the Protectors. Someone trained that dragonet well. It’s a shame he’s had to learn the arts of war at such a young age. We need to end this before more children grow up to be warriors instead of scholars and creative souls.

“You’re both,” I said. “Your drawings were…there are no words…we walked through history to get here and cried a few times too. Some were so moving and realistic.”

“And tragic!” Caspian declared. “The walls with the extinct creatures, particularly.”

“But touching too,” I added. “Because you found a way for them to never be forgotten.”

“This horde is a treasure beyond words,” Caspian said. “When the walls kept curling, there was a sense of being held.”

“Like turning yourself into a burrito in a giant, fuzzy blanket,” I said. “Upalo would trap himself so deeply in his that there were times where Canyon and I threatened to cut it apart because we were having such a hard time getting him out. It would have helped if he hadn’t been wiggling so much, but most times he was desperate to use the bathroom.”

Mattias’ rumbling laughter rolled through the room in waves.

“Please do not let on that I shared that story,” I groaned the moment I realized what I’d just done.