“Maybe the guilt and the building grief after losing my mate did the damage to my body and soul. I won’t live past today, and it’s time you meet your father.”
“I don’t want to meet him.”
“Blaze…” Lana coughed for nearly two minutes and emitted blood. “Promise me you will go to him and let him know I’m sorry for not telling him sooner. Restore my honor.”
Damn it! How could he deny his mother anything? She wasso kind and generous, showing patiencewith his impetuous and bold behavior. Blaze knew he had not been an easy child to raise. He asked a million questions, always questioned authority, and went after every challenge presented to him no matter the danger. All she asked of him now was to let the male who fathered him know of his existence and of his mother’s regret for keeping that secret.
He opened the cloth-wrapped item in his hand and found a gold crescent ring on a gold chain. His mother never wore this but must have kept it hidden over the years. The crescent showed a green dragon — the official royal seal for King Zocor’s region. For the king to give this to a peasant female showed that the king held Lana in some esteem. He felt his mother’s eyes on him as he placed the ring on his finger. It fit him. He looked into her face and the relief he saw there was priceless.
“I promise to restore your honor, mother.”
“Thank you, my son. Now, help me to my feet so I can shift and take my final flight.”
Blaze helped her to her feet. He turned his back and lowered his emerald-green eyes to allow her the privacy needed to shift. It took much longer than a normal healthy shift should take.When he turned around, his mother’s beautiful dragon form sat perched on the ledge. She lowered her snout, and he petted her.
“Until we meet again, fly true and knowI love you.”
With those words spoken, he watched as his mother’s dragon lifted into the air. Her wings battingslowly. She flew out to sea until her form was no longer visible. Lana would not return. She would fly until her dragon had no more strength and allow herself to fall to the sea. The weight of the ring on his finger was almost too heavy to bear. He had no idea what his father would be like and if he had not promised his mother thathe would seek him out, Blaze would have walked away. But he had learned so many things from his mother, and keeping one’s promises was one of them.
