Secret Dragon

Chapter 19

Airo

My would’ve been queen… Cadmus’ would’ve been mother, and that could’ve changed everything! Instead of being a lightning dragon, a mix of a water and air dragon, he could’ve been an air dragon like me! I saw her across the courtroom. Her platinum blonde hair was up in a nice low bun with some hair on her face. Her dress has a high collar with a light blue brooch just under her collar. She seems to have a small crowd with her, and I don’t want to be rude. Why am I so nervous?? Come on, I’m a king, dammit! I take a deep breath to calm my nerves and try to walk towards her. Once I’m finally close to her, she bows to me politely.

“Your Highness. An honor to meet you.”

“No need for formalities, my lovely mate. I’ve waited for you for a very long time.” I take her hand to kiss the back of her hand, and I see her blush. “Finally… thank you, Delphyne and Typhon!” Delphyne and Typhon are dragon gods. Supposedly, the first dragon couple. Any dragon-mated couple is a gift from them... I feel like a newly mated dragon just looking at her!

“My, my…” she says, smiling. “I’m like a young dragon all over again! My name is Fiona Skylark, and these are my hatchlings, despite being adults. They are Lyra and Samira, my daughters, and my sons, Zephyr, Storm, and Coro.”

“You loved your mate.” Her smile falls as she thinks of him, which makes Aeros and me jealous.

“I did… he died…” Well, that was blunt. I’m taken aback by how bold she is.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” I try to comfort her, but she blows it off.

“Don’t be. He died because he was stupid.” She still seems a little angry about his death. I’m still surprised by her bluntness.

“How did he die?” I ask. My curiosity got the best of me.

“A challenge. They had a duel over property or taxes, or something like that, and he lost. He pointed his weapon at the sky since he didn’t want to hurt the homeowner, and the homeowner shot him. His dragon attempted to save him, but the landlord had laced the bullets with nightshade flowers, and it weakened his dragon too much, and succumbed to his injury… I felt the bond break, and I went into mourning for a year, but I still had hatchlings to take care of, so life had to go on.” One of her daughters holds her hand offering support, and she smiles at her as a silent thanks. “I mourned for a year,” Fiona says, her voice softer. “But I had hatchlings to raise. Life goes on.”

“You have a title?” I at least know the titles of the people in Galvan, but in the other kingdoms, I’m a little fuzzy.

“Dowager Countess Fiona Skylark.” She bows a little again, probably out of habit.

“How about I change that?” My heart beats faster. “To Queen stepmother?” I feel myself blushing like a young dragon first meeting his mate. She blushes again and laughs softly.

“Oooh, how romantic! Kids, you don’t need me anymore, and I’m going to enjoy my second chance.” I hear them all chuckle as we walk away, and the daughters wave at us. I took us to the rose garden. Wyvern had started from her time here and sat on a bench among the blooming flowers.

“Well… these past few days have been something… I’m so sorry about your former queen.” She takes my hand and rubs her thumb across the back of my hand. Even something that simple, I can feel the sparks of the natural mate bond.

“If only I had met you a long time ago… I met Adelinda when I was 18, and we had our mating ceremony right away, and Cadmus was a honeymoon hatchling, so not much time to enjoy us, but I doubt that would’ve mattered.” I sigh. “From everything that was said, I doubt she even loved me after all this time, even with having Cadmus, and I’m so proud of him, but my retiring also brought her down, too. Now that Cadmus and Wyvern are in charge, I have more time with you, and I feel… free.” She smiles and kisses my cheek. The bond ignites fully between us, warm and sure. I chuckle, happier than I’ve been in years.

“How about next time we can meet at the Whole Latte Love Cafe in the markets? Wyvern had mentioned it and liked it. She and Cadmus like to disguise themselves and freely go to the markets for dates, and it sounds like fun.”

“I’d like that.” She kisses my cheek again. We sat there for a while, hugging under the quiet sky.

Cadmus

I’m honestly happy for Dad and his new mate. I’m excited to meet her when they want me to. I glance over at Wyvern, who’s happily chatting with Queen Ember Flamehearts.

“So, how about this, Miss Kai? You go live with the Flamehearts in the Volaha castle, and get used to being a fire dragon. Get some basic training from their female trainer and have private lessons about what it’s like being a fire dragon. Their culture, their powers, how to get to know your new dragon, stuff like that. When you’ve finished that, you can either stay in Volaha with the Flamehearts, and they can do as they see fit, or you can come here, and we’ll see what we can do.”

“Thank you, Your Majesties. You’ve both been very kind about everything,” Kai says, wide-eyed.

“Of course. We’re taught from a young age about coming of age and getting our dragon at 16, but you just got yours at what? 18? 19?”

“I just turned 18…” Kai says shyly.

“Good, not too much to catch up on,” Wyvern says warmly. “Most dragons your age would’ve had their bond for only two years already. Does your dragon want a new name? I doubt she wants to keep her old one.”

Kai chuckles and smiles shyly.

“No, she doesn’t. She’s tired of hearing it shouted and scolded to her too many times over the years by that awful wench pretending to be a queen.”

“Well, if she’s anything like her sister, I don’t blame her… how about Ash?” Wyvern suggests with a smile. Kai listens to it for a moment and smiles.

“Yeah, she likes it. She’s smiling and purring.”

“That’s a good thing. My dragon’s name is Hayle, like a stone made of ice.”

“I bet she’s beautiful.” She looks at me like a hatchling first getting its dragon.

“I think so,” I grin proudly. “But I’m biased. I’m going to love her no matter what.” She turns to me and smirks. “We’ve been through a lot together, but that’s a long story. Well, I’ll leave you in Queen Ember’s capable hands, and we’ll see you soon.” We all laughed, and after a few encouraging words. They walked away, and I felt accomplished after handling that.

“Spoken like a true queen. That was wonderful!” I proudly beamed at her and kissed her cheek.

Time jump to engagement tour.

Cadmus

Wyvern and I have all been in contact with Wyvern’s friends to start our engagement tour. Start with Flurris, an obvious choice for both of us, then Ocecadis to visit the royal water dragon family who we’ve gotten to be good friends with, Crovaria, to find Kai’s family and how they’re handling everything, Malefis to give thanks to the shadow royal family our thanks for what they did during the trial, Seri Desert, Terbius to keep our friendship with the forest, mountain dragons, Huricus to have an ally with the air dragons and maybe visit dad’s family if they’re around. Dad doesn’t talk about his family. Volaha last again for obvious reasons, but it’ll be nice to see how the Flamehearts have settled into the new hierarchy. Wyvern has her suitcases separated by climate and kingdoms.

“Well, seems like you packed your entire closet.” I chuckled as I saw the three suitcases stuffed full.

“Well, we’re going to lots of kingdoms with different climates, and I don’t want to bring one type of clothing.” She says matter-of-factly.

“Ok, ok, fair enough. Come, let’s go down for breakfast.” We went down to breakfast hand in hand and saw Dad and his new mate chuckling like a newly mated couple.

“Well, don’t we look happy?” I couldn’t help but be happy for him. “Someone you’d like to share?”

“Fiona Skylark. My true mate. Fiona, my son, Cadmus, and his new bride, Wyvern.” Fiona hugs me warmly, and it feels like a real mom’s embrace.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Cadmus.”

“My would-be mom!” We both chuckle, but only half joking. How life would’ve been if Dad had found Fiona sooner.

“I guess so. Well, we can meet our would’ve been family at a later time. I hear you’re about to go on your engagement tour! How exciting! Where are you going to start?”

“We’ll start with Flurris and go from there.” Dad beams with pride as we figure out a plan.

“An excellent start. Family first, and then go meet your allies.” He holds Fiona’s hand close to him and kisses the back of her hand. The bond between them is as clear as day! “While you’re gone, we’ll serve as temporary regents.”

“Fair enough.” We shake hands, and I take Wyvern’s hand and look at my… parents. “Well, I suppose we should get going.” I shift to Volt and Wyvern frosts my wings before shifting to Hayle, ready to take on the world together.