Chapter One
≈≈≈Author’s Note! ≈≈≈ This book is the third book in a series. The first book is Dragon’s Heart. The second book is Burning Hearts. Please at least read Burning Hearts first or this book may confuse you. There’s a lot of pre-established characters and explanations in Burning Hearts, though Dragon’s Heart does establish Adrian and Robyn’s story. Burning Hearts establishes Casen and Tana’s story, but all the brothers are involved in BH's book. I just don’t want you reading this and thinking it’s bad because it doesn’t make sense to you. This is not standalone.
Character Pronunciations: Rami-Rah~me; Adari-Ah~dar~ee; Zabi~Zah~bee; Cyllenna-S~eye~len~nah; Camaria-Kah~mare~ee~ah; Calesta-Kah~lest~ah; Rezan-Ray~zah~n; Arlan-Ar~lah~n; Zahn-Za~h~n; Orien-Or~ee~en {NOT-like Orien’s belt}; Brayon-B~ray~on; Myrri-My~ree; Jovan-Jo~vahn; Sasi-S~ah~see; Alera-Al~air~ah; Aryan-Ar~yan; Korran-Core~ahn; Aryelle- Ah~ree~elle; Arenna-Ah~ren~nah; Ayne-Eye~neigh≈≈≈
Rami
I flipped the pancake in the heated pan. It landed a little wonky and I scowled at the deformed pancake. My brothers and I have been trying to learn as much as we can about living on Earth. It is not too dissimilar to our home planet except we don’t use electricity. My brothers and I do find the devices used here on Earth fascinating.
“Make another one. They need to be perfect.” Adari chastised and scowled at the deformed pancake. Sometimes it is unnerving to see my probably exact facial expression reflected on my brother’s face. “What needs to be perfect?” I heard the melodic tone of my Cyllenna. I tried to remove the pan from her view, but I wasn’t fast enough due to Adari blocking my way.
“Uh, um…” I looked at Adari for help.
“Are you trying to throw that pancake away?” I gave Cyllenna an awkward smile. “There is nothing wrong with it.” She took the pan out of my hand and used the spatula to scoop it onto the plate where I had other pancakes I’d made. “It is all going into our stomach. It doesn’t need to look perfect to taste delicious and fill our stomachs.” I felt like we were being chastised, but I was not upset about it.
“Come on, let’s get breakfast in. We have training soon.” Cyllenna turned with the plate of pancakes and walked into what the ladies call a dining area. I grabbed the bowl of fruit. Adari had already escaped the kitchen. Adari had taken the seat next to Camaria. She had smiled at him as he sat. Zabi and Calesta were already digging in.
Cyllenna placed the pancakes down and I set the fruit next to them. I took my seat next to Cyllenna. It has only been about two weeks here on Earth since we arrived to court the triplet royal celestial princess sisters Cyllenna, Camaria, and Calesta daughters of the Queen of all light celestials Tana. Queen Tana rules with the six celestial brothers and former celestial princess Juno though she is queen now too. They have all been married in the ancient celestial way by Tana binding them with Ayne our ancient star’s fire.
Our father Kapelo is a light celestial, and our mom Deqa is a nephilim. We come from the planet Tebal. Tebal, like many inhabited planets throughout the galaxies, have similarities to Earth. Aside from what ‘makes us special’ from different species. Oxygen is a main factor to breathe on all planets for whoever inhabits said planet.
I’m grateful that spells put on us allowed us to adapt to speaking English like the triplets. We have been finding it hard to deal with what Calesta called ‘slang terms’. I was lost in my thoughts and hadn’t noticed Cyllenna had placed two pancakes on my plate. I started to reach for the breakfast food. The kitchen can send food up, but my big mouth said I wanted to learn how to prepare food on Earth. Zabi groaned the loudest at my bold statement, but he has taken to preparing food faster and easier than Adari and I have.
“Are you looking forward to today’s training?” Camaria asked us. I looked at my brothers and they gave the knowing look in return. “What was that look supposed to mean? I know all about the triplet silent communication looks.” Cyllenna demanded. Adari smiled at her. “It was kind of…” Adari trailed off. “We have never fought before.” Zabi blurted out. “Oh!” Calesta responded.
I took an internal sigh of relief that the sisters didn’t seem to pick up on. I noticed my brothers had as well. I’m glad we didn’t allow the triplet’s second mom Robyn to connect us in what she calls mind link to be able to speak telepathically. Their mom Robyn is queen of all fae and is legally married to the second youngest of the six celestial brothers Arosan though he goes by Adrian here on Earth.
Robyn can control dreams, souls, and can heal. Basically, the unconscious mind. We couldn’t allow her to invade our thoughts. It immediately put us on suspicion to their dads especially their biological dad Comet, or Casen as he is known here on Earth. We just explained we didn’t feel comfortable. We don’t like being a little deceptive, but it is necessary. Thankfully, the brothers are distracted by all the children in their family.
I had a pang of jealousy. I hope one day we can produce the size of family that Tana and Robyn have created with the brothers. We want a big family. We were an oddity when we were born. It was incredibly rare to have multiple births like our mom had. It was accepted that she had so many of us due to our father being a light celestial.
It saddens me to think that there is a high mortality rate for nephilim births on Tebal. Our planet is dying due to war and when King Cepheus sought out suitable light celestial brothers for his triplet grandnieces, we realized that maybe we could change our fate and the fate of our home. Maybe infusing other species' genetic codes are key to any even part nephilim survival. We just didn’t realize that we would be mated to the triplets.
The bonus is Cyllenna’s dragon is mated to me. Camaria’s dragon is mated to Adari, and Calesta’s dragon is mated to Zabi. It gave us high hopes that this trial time on Earth with them will result in positive results all around.
Zabi brushed his hand through his golden locks and gave me a quick look that told me to focus on what is happening. I realized I was so lost in my thoughts that I’ve no idea what is going on for the conversation. I apparently have been absentmindedly eating too. That may be why the sisters haven’t expected me to really contribute.
“Finish up. We need to get to the training room in like five minutes.” Camaria warned.
∞∞∞
My brothers and I were breathing hard after the training their dad Casen and their honorary aunt Kalina just put us through. My clothes are soaked with sweat. I don’t think I smell all that pleasant now. I lifted my arm and sniffed. I definitely don’t smell too pleasant now.
“Come on, we’re going to swim now.” Calesta slipped her hand in mine. “Swim?” Zabi questioned. “Yeah, swim.” Camaria replied. They looked at us. “Don’t you swim on your planet?” Calesta inquired. My brothers and I looked at each other. There is trepidation in their eyes and probably mine as well. We shook our heads.
“I guess we’ll just have to teach you.” I heard Cyllenna say as she came from the weapons room. “Yes.” Camaria beamed a smile at us and took Adari’s hand and tugged him, making him follow her.
“Here, these are your lockers. We put some of your clothes to work out in as well as fresh clothes to change into after. These…” Cyllenna held up a weirdly textured pair of what I’ve learned are called shorts. “These are your swim trunks. They are designed for swimming. You only wear these, nothing else. No underclothes of any kind nor shoes. Only these.” Cyllenna handed me a pair of red swim trunks from my locker. “Oh, and if you need to use the bathroom do so before we teach you to swim. Just use it regardless. Believe me it is easy to get the sensation of needing to relieve yourself and it is frowned upon to do so in the pool. It… Well, it’s nasty.” Camaria interjected. “Meet you through those doors in about ten minutes give or take.” Calesta pointed to the doors in question.
I moved into an area where I noticed the ladies had stepped behind after retrieving their swim trunks from their lockers. I pulled the cloth curtain across the space to block the view of removing my clothes. I’m not ashamed of my body, but I do understand the implication as everyone has been teaching us the ways of Earth that there are younglings, and they just didn’t need to see everything on our bodies.
It felt good to remove my damp clothing. I looked at the swim trunks. “Which way does it go?” Zabi complained loudly in the other changing area. “The writing on the inside goes in the back.” Camaria called out across the area. “Thank you!” Zabi called back. I let a small laugh escape, but honestly, I was about to put mine on wrong apparently. Though each of the sisters have the same speaking tone they do have slightly different inflections in their tones and our hearing can distinguish each sister’s voice almost like it has its own energy imprint.
We moved to the bathroom and relieved ourselves. I didn’t feel like I needed to relieve myself, but I relieved myself per their instructions. I couldn’t smell the sisters in the area anymore. My brothers and I moved through the door indicated. My heart picked up pace and it took everything to control the desire that overwhelmed me. I know my brothers are suffering as I am.
I’ve not seen such perfect flesh before. “Where are your swim trunks?” Adari blurted out. The sisters laughed. “Females wear different swim outfits. This type is called a bikini.” Calesta gestured to herself and then her sisters. I smiled. “I like these bikinis. You must wear them more often.” Zabi absently stated. Adari and I hit him. The ladies laughed at us.
“Come on let’s shower first before we get into the pool.” Cyllenna said. They showed us where to shower and how to use the handles. “You don’t have to shower long.” Cyllenna said as she shut her shower off. I was desperately trying to temper down my reaction to Cyllenna. If I don’t control my pheromones due to my desire, they will not be teaching us to swim. They will be teaching us how to please their bodies. I know my brothers were struggling to control their pheromones too.
“We can start in the shallow end.” Calesta held her hand out and Zabi rushed forward to grasp it. We love touching our mates because although I’m mated to Cyllenna’s dragon we are mates to all the sisters. Like how Tana and Robyn are mated to the brothers though only Tana and Casen’s dragons are true mates. I can only imagine how much of a family we can create with the sisters since there is three of them to bear our babies.
Cyllenna brushed past me and took my hand as we walked along what they called the pool. “Step down in like this. Maybe when you learn how to swim you can dive in at the deep end.” Camaria chuckled. “You know the irony is Aunt Kalina or even our cousins could teach you how to swim probably better than us. Them being merpeople or part merpersons.” Camaria added.
They each guided us down the stairs into the water. “Crouch down a bit. You are too tall, and you honestly don’t have to have your feet on the bottom of the pool. How about we show you how to float first?” Cyllenna offered. “Watch me. This is how you float. Think as if you are weightless. Let the water support and hold you up.” Calesta proceeded to lay back in the water. Zabi wanted to reach for her. She looked delicate as she floated along the surface of the water.
“I can do that.” Adari exclaimed.
He laid back and sunk under the shallow water. Camaria reached for him and lifted him out. Adari was coughing and sputtering. He spit water out of his mouth. Camaria was wiping his wet hair from his face. “Oh no! I was going to tell you that you should let us guide you by holding you until you get used to it. But before that hold your breath if your face goes underwater. You can drown if you get too much water in your lungs and die by drowning.” Calesta was worried.
“Would you let me guide you?” Cyllenna asked. I nodded.
“Lay yourself back into my arms. Remember to think like you have no weight to yourself. Don’t tilt your head back too much, just look up at me. I promise I’ve got you.” I let Cyllenna guide my body and she had her hands under me. “Relax. Straighten out your legs as if you are sleeping in bed on your back.” I felt myself wobble as I tried to relax and straighten my legs out. I felt her push on my back and straighten my spine. I grasped her arm. “I got you.”
My heart was racing, but I tried to put my trust in Cyllenna. “Close your eyes. It may help you to relax more. I’ll be your eyes for right now.” I closed my eyes and laid my head back into the water. I didn’t quite like the feeling of the water entering my ear canals, but I endured. Having Cyllenna touching me calmed me and soothed me.
I felt like I was drifting on a cloud almost. It was peaceful. I felt a gentle hand on my chest and one caressing my face. I opened my eyes to see who was touching me. I wobbled when I saw it was Cyllenna. She immediately placed her hand under my back and guided me to an upright position. “You did so well. I wasn’t even touching you for those last few minutes. We do need to work on teaching you how to hold your breath underwater and how to tread water before we actually teach you how to swim. I think you should practice floating on your own, but I will be right here to help you.”
As we got more confident in our floating the sisters began swimming around in the deep end of the pool. We could increase our height and stand on the bottom of the deep end, but we are respecting the sisters’ order and staying in the shallow area. Zabi and Adari began releasing controlled breaths that are so subtle they are hidden within our natural breathing. My sensitive ears were picking up on the vibrations of the language of air speak we created between us that it was as if we were literally speaking to each other in a form of silent communication.
“How much longer before we reveal the truth?” Zabi asked. “I don’t like deceiving the sisters.” Adari stated. “We have to hold out as long as we can. We haven’t heard anything from anyone on Tebal nor our mother. We need the sisters on our side.” I replied. “I don’t like this. How will they trust us when we are lying to them daily. We should have told the truth from the second we arrived.” Adari was upset. I couldn’t respond.
“We need to get to the studio we have classes to teach. Do you want to come, or are you going to mingle?” Camaria asked. I looked at my brothers. Their faces were identical to mine. I heard the answer. “We will mingle and meet you at the studio.” “Just remember to shower in the changing area showers. Chemicals are used in the pool, and you don’t want that building up on your skin before you put normal clothes on.” Calesta told us.