Midas nodded. “Let us fetch your brother.”
With the dayswarmer and the skies clearer, there were no better conditions to teach his sons about their true nature. Midas stood in his hulking dragon form in the ridge near the lake where he first met Elowen, and observed his boys for a while with new eyes.
With the village gone, there was no danger.
Auric and Kalen had grown leaner and taller in their human forms. They were still young boys, but were quickly shedding the last softness of early childhood. Their horns were longer and thicker. One pair unbroken, the other uneven and sharp but no less than the other. Whole, in its own way.
Midas nudged Elowen once, awaiting permission from the matriarch of their young pride. She nodded with a softsmile, and took a seat on the rock she had rested on so many times before. They both knew their boys were ready, and so Midas stepped into the clearing with his sons at his side.
Midas’ dragon form was towering and regal, wings covering the glade like thunderclouds. By contrast, the boys were small and uncoordinated still in their dragon forms. They scarcely took the form, mostly for sleep or play, but never for learning.
But they looked up with awe in their eyes at their father, ready and eager for whatever he would teach them. Midas lowered his head and spoke in the dragon tongue, the deep tremble in his throat woven into words only the three of them could understand.
You have carried my fire from birth. The time has come for you to learn to use it.
The boys nodded. Midas turned to Auric first.Try, he commanded.
He gave no instruction, for he desired them to learn it from the instincts they were born with. The child closed his eyes, focusing. He inhaled for a long time, and on the exhale, a thin stream of flame spilled from his mouth—brief, hot,perfect. His eyes lit up.
Midas let out a low, proud growl.Good. Your fire is elegant.
Kalen stepped forward next, confidence in his stance. His fire came quicker. Wilder. It was a burst instead of a stream, and he stumbled back, blinking through the smoke, grinning despite himself.
Midas lowered his head.Good. Your fire is fierce.
Kalen’s grin faltered slightly.But it’s so…angry.
Midas met his eyes, serious and steady.Rage is not evil. Rage is a response. When you channel it, it becomes protection. When you control it, it becomes strength.
Elowen watched from the stone, her hands tangled in her hair as she braided flowers into the plait as she watched them.
Next came the lesson of flight. Midas stood behind them on the ridge and opened his wings wide.Feel the air,he said.It is a part of you as the fire is. It wants to lift you. It wants you to protect the skies with me.
The boys tried, extending their wings to their full span. Still small, but strong enough to carry them. At first, they stumbled. Wings flapped unevenly. Their bodies landed hard enough to leave divots in the dirt.
Midas did not laugh. He did not force them to try harder than they were willing. He simply encouraged them by helping them back to their feet when they stumbled.
Your wings are not just muscle and bone,he said.Inside them is instinct. You were born for this.
They tried again. And this time they rose. Not much. It was just a few feet. Just a few seconds. But both Kalen and Auric flew in small circles around their father’s great head.
The sound that left Kalen’s throat was half-laughter, half-roar. His brother’s feet barely touched the ground as he spun midair, wings twitching.
Midas watched them from the ground, his heart full and silent. When they landed, breathless and panting, they ran to him. Not to Elowen. Tohim.
They wrapped their claws into the scales around his legs, laughing, shouting:Did you see? Did you see?
Midas crouched and gave them both an affectionate lick between their brows.Yes my boys,he said softly.You were the most magnificent thing I’ve ever witnessed.
They beamed, and Elowen, who had watched every moment, wept quietly into her hands with pride and love.
Forty
Elowen satin the shallow basin used for bathing, the hem of her underdress hitched up around her thighs. Her hair was unbound, floating slightly behind her as she leaned back, eyes closed, the tension slowly bleeding from her limbs.
She hadn’t had a moment to herself like this in…she couldn’t remember. Maybe never.
Elowen heard bare human footsteps behind her. She opened her eyes and turned just as Midas stepped into view—his humanoid form glowing faintly in the late light, his gold-kissed skin marked by faint traces of onyx scales. His tail trailed quietly behind him, relaxed.
