Moonbreeze (The Dragonian Series Book 4) (10 page)

“You are shitting me right?”

“I almost killed her father.”

“Who almost killed her brother. Stop your whining and come. She needs both of us, not just me.”

She reached out her hand for me and I looked at it for a couple of seconds. George transformed and a low grumble came from him.

I finally took it and she helped me up. “It’s going to be fun.” Becky’s nose wrinkled up and I couldn’t help but snort.

“Let’s go.”

She climbed onto George’s back without her stupid saddle and reached out for me again.

I climbed on his wing the way I had that day with Cheng and stationed myself behind Becky.

George took a quick run and pushed himself off the ledge before he opened his wings.

We were a few flaps up into the air in seconds.

It was a gorgeous night. A bit chilly I thought as I used an incantation to form protection over my eyes.

“Have you sensed her yet?” Becky spoke in Latin.

“I’m getting some vibes up ahead,” George spoke in a deep voice.

It was amazing how fast he picked something up.

He flew in the direction, and in fifteen minutes plenty of trees came up. He landed and we saw Dean holding Sammy. She was calm.

I slid off George’s wing first. My feet barely touched the ground when Sammy flung her arms around me and cried again.

“Shhhh.” I stroked her back. “It’s going to be okay.”

“Thank you,” she said through sniffs and it brought tears to my eyes.

“Sammy, I almost killed your father.”

She sniffed again and wiped her eyes. “You didn’t, he needed that.” More tears welled up in her eyes. “How’s Blake?”

“He hasn’t woken up yet,” Becky answered. “He’ll be okay, Sammy. He’s the—”

“Don’t say it. I don’t care if he’s the stupid Rubicon. Why isn’t he accepting this? Hasn’t he experienced darkness enough? Why is he holding on so long?”

She started to break down.

“I don’t know.”

“If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be the Rubicon.” I told her what Cheng had said to me.

“It’s not okay. What if he never Dents?”

“Then I’ll just have to start beating the crap out of him too.”

She giggled. “It’s not funny, I’m serious.”

“Sammy, you’re speaking about the future, unless you are a Moon-Bolt that can see my future, worry about it. If not, don’t.”

“Okay.” She sulked and hugged me again. “Thanks again.”

“I wish I could say it was my pleasure, but it wasn’t.”

“I understand that.”

“Sorry about the crappy b-day.”

“It’s fine. What would a birthday be without family feuds?”

Becky laughed and hugged her too. “We still have this baby to finish.” She took out a bottle of shooters and a faint smile lit up Sammy’s face.

We spent the entire night, just the five of us and that bottle.

We even watched the sun coming up on the horizon. It was stunning how the orange and soft pink light started to light up Paegeia. Dragons soared in the sky in the distance and for the first time in a long time, I truly felt like I was home. If they had to send me back to the other side again, I would die.

E FLEW BACK to the manor around six-thirty that morning and crawled into bed. George went home and Becky passed out next to me.

The memory of what had happened here last night laid heavy in the air.

It thickened it somehow and I struggled to breathe.

I couldn’t sleep even though I was dead tired, and found myself in the kitchen.

I switched on the kettle and waited for the water to boil.

A pair of female arms wrapped around me. I looked over my shoulder and only saw her silver blonde hair. I hadn’t even heard her come in. They were so silent when they moved around.

“You want a cup of coffee?”

She started to giggle. “Coming from the Princess of Paegeia, how can I refuse?”

I smiled. She never treated me like that, I felt like a part of her family, like a normal human being and not something that had special blood, something that was breakable, when she was around.

I took out another cup and made us both strong coffee as Isabel took the chair at the wooden table.

I put her cup in front of her. She looked dead tired, drained from last night.

I always felt sorry for her as she was the mother of the Rubicon, she loved him unconditionally and her husband was one of the most vile dragons out there. How on earth had my father found the courage to tame him?

We sat in silence, drinking our coffee.

“How are they?”

“Robert wakes up every now and then but always goes back to sleep a couple of seconds later.”

“I’m so sor—”

“Don’t Elena, he almost killed my son and he desperately needed that himself.”

“I couldn’t stop. If it hadn’t been for Dean and George…”

“It’s over. You have shown him mercy with that beating. He will be good for a long, long time again. I don’t know how to thank you for that.” Her eyes glistened with tears.

“I beat him up, Issy. You make me sound like some sort of a saint.”

She just smiled and looked down at her cup again.

“They say that the Dragonians feel worse than the Dragon after a beating. It will pass when you see how it transforms Robert.”

“Why can’t Blake hold out longer?” I asked.

“He’s still young and new to this Dragon/Rider relationship. It’s something that only kicks in with years and years of being a part of a team. You become dark for the right reasons and not because you want to be. Blake, well, the wrong kind of dark still lays heavy with him.”

“And that disappears when they are part of a Dent?”

She nodded, closed her eyes and threw her head back. She sighed, opened her eyes again. “I just wish he didn’t have to fight so much against this.”

“I’m used to it.”

“You are so strong, Elena.”

What?
Nobody had ever told me that. “I can just imagine how he must make you feel when he rebels against this. It breaks my heart. Every time I look at him, I see the son that I lost. He was such a beautiful creature, so helpful and kind. We used to be so proud of him, he was a real blessing, did really good in school and then he started to become darker. The process was slow, and now….” She wiped a tear away. “I know I shouldn’t lose hope, not now that you are here, but I’m scared of holding on too tightly. What if he never Dents? What then?”

“We deal with it, or I’ll deal with it.” I tried to reassure her that I had everything under control, even if I had nothing in control.

She touched my hand. “I know plenty of people tell you this, but you really are so much like your father, and Katie too. I wish I could show you what they were like in real life.”

I smiled. If only she knew.
Don’t think about that.

Her chair screeched on the floor as she got up, put her cup in the sink and came over to me, kissing me on my head.

“Try to go and sleep, I’m quickly going to check up on Blake.”

She started to walk away.

“Will he be okay?”

She turned around and nodded with a slight smile. “It might take a couple of weeks, but he’ll be fine.”

I watched her body disappear around the corner. I finished my coffee and went back to my room.

AROUND SIX WE were taken back to the port.

Constance was still with us, and the silence was thick as all of us, including Tabitha, took the elevator back to Elm.

She was quiet, didn’t even look at anybody. I didn’t even know what had happened, why she was unconscious lying in the corner.

I wanted to ask her how it all started, but that was pushing my limits, so I kept quiet.

We went our separate ways at the stairs, said goodbye to the boys and just went to our room.

This weekend was more than I could handle.

ON MONDAY, IT was bliss to have Blake-free classes again. I was worried, don’t get me wrong. Isabel said she would phone the minute he woke up, but I was also grateful for the terror-free classes.

How I stiffened up every time I entered a class and prayed that the professors wouldn’t push. His answers were always right, but he would find a way to slip in something, aiming at me. It was so stupid to think about it, and he was such a bully.

Without him here, I actually started to look forward to them again, well except Aviance.

Peter actually got Tabitha’s attention again as Blake was nowhere near to scare him away.

She wasn’t as mean to him as before, but you could see that she still didn’t love this relationship at all.

But it also meant that I was spending the entire hour alone, just sitting on the steps waiting for all of them to return and wishing that I could fly again myself.

That afternoon I had another meeting with King Helmut and King Caleb. It was our monthly meeting where decisions were to be made once again.

Emanuel smiled when he saw me in the lobby of Tith’s palace.

“Elena,” he greeted me.

“Hey.” I still sounded tired as we walked to one another.

“How is he?”

“Urgh!” I pulled my face. “You heard.”

“Yes, unfortunately a beating like that doesn’t stay quiet for long. It’s a wonder that the cockroaches don’t know about it yet.”

I giggled as he had adopted my name for them.

“You ready for this?”

“No, but I guess it’s a choice I don’t have.”

“It sucks, I know. Let me take you.”

We talked the entire way to King Helmut’s study. Emanuel only knocked once and opened the door.

“Your Majesties, the Princess is here.” I slapped him playfully once as I entered.

A small chuckle escaped his lips as he closed the door.

The meeting finally started, on the table were so many choices to be made. Some of them gave me a headache, another one should’ve been handled already, the contract about the oil.

“Caleb, we’ve already decided against that,” King Helmut sighed.

“It’s still debatable.”

I wished my father was here. He would’ve stuffed it.

“Well, my vote is still no. I’m not going to let the Dragon cities feel threatened no matter how much money will come Paegeia’s way because of this deal. We have to live in harmony with the Dragon cities, Caleb.”

“I’m with Helmut,” I said.

“You don’t see the bigger picture.” King Caleb started again.

“No, you don’t,” I said back. “It will be a mess we will have to clean up.”

He gave me that sarcastic look of his. “You do not sort messes out, Princess.”

“I could if you’d let me.”

“You don’t have nearly enough experience for that kind of responsibility, to be honest I don’t think you are even ready for this sort of decision making, Elena.”

“Then what do you want me to do, Caleb? I’m bending all sides for you just to give me a chance to prove that I’m willing to learn. All you do is tell me that I’m not ready, so teach me.”

“I’m trying but you don’t even want to listen.”

“Because we don’t look at things the same way. Greed is what pushes you in life, mine is heart.”

He jumped up. “How dare you?” He pounded his fist on the table.

“Enough, both of you,” King Helmut said and I sat down.

“She has no authority to say those things, she knows nothing, nothing.” Caleb sounded like a deranged dragon.

“Then maybe if you shared your belief in why you want this, your reason behind this, without sounding like a greedy bastard to her, maybe she will get it.”

King Caleb sat down and started telling me about a couple of things, things we didn’t have the money for because they were way above budget. I listened, they were all really good reasons, more farms, work for the people, more of everything. I actually considered changing my vote the way he made it sound, but I couldn’t.

“I’m sorry that I thought you were greedy, but we can’t approve this project. We have to find the money somewhere else.”

“Where?”

“I’m sure in this pile of things, there might be an answer, Caleb.”

He shook his head. He was so adamant.

“I’m not going to change my vote either, Caleb, and I think Elena is right. We will find the funding with some other project.”

“You know what, whatever.” He sounded like a spoiled brat who didn’t get his way and got up and left, making an excuse about why he had to cut this meeting short.