He truly was the sweetest, kindest dragon in the world. And the Goddess had blessed our girls with him for a father.
And me, when she’d made him my mate.
I stuffed a scallop in my mouth, reminded of the day he’d caught me standing in front of the open fridge looking like a desperate chipmunk with my cheeks stuffed full of deviled eggs. I’d have been mortified if he’d taken a picture, though part of me wished he had for their baby books. Just wait until the first time they smeared something on their noses. Oh, the pictures I’d take.
“There’s a tree outside that would be perfect to hang a swing for them,” I said in between bites. “You won’t be able to miss it. It’s the one with the impression of my dragon at the base.”
“Crash and burn a few times little brother?” Upalo asked.
“More than a few,” I said. “And I plan to immortalize every dent I left in the lawn, too.”
“It is a story I cannot wait to tell them,” Odem said, chuckling as he tickled the tip of Ruby’s egg where the red swirled into a lighter, pinkish hue.
“I once landed on top of an old mining shaft,” Upalo recalled. “One moment the ground was solid beneath me, the next I wastumbling head over heels into the darkness. I always wondered what they were mining there.”
“Was it before, or after you went to live with Daigle?” Odem asked.
Upalo grew quiet, his fingers growing still on Opal’s egg.
Three deviled eggs and a scallop found their way into my stomach before he answered. “Not long after Foley brought us to the mountains. The moment someone discovered what had happened they ordered the mine shaft to be sealed back up again.”
Now my mate grew thoughtful, silently using our egg for a touchstone until the soft purrs of her slumbering joined that of her sister’s.
“Do you think you could find it if you returned to the mountains?” Odem asked.
“I don’t know,” my brother replied. “Maybe. It was a long time ago and I’ve explored a lot of terrain since then. After a while, mountains start to blur together. I’d be willing to try though.”
“I’ll reach out to Ionus and let him know about the shaft so he can decide if it’s worth pursuing or not,” Odem murmured. “How far did you fall?”
“Far enough to feel like forever,” Upalo replied. “But I could still see a sliver of light when I hit the bottom. It was wider there, with a bigger shaft that disappeared into the mountain. I didn’t stick around to see more than that. My fall dislodged a bunch of dirt and rocks. As soon as some of it came cascading down on top of me, I got my tail out of there.”
Who could blame him. Getting buried alive wasn’t on my bingo card either. But if there was something more to that mine, then I hoped Ionus decided to investigate it.
Happily stuffed, with nothing left on my plate but a few smears of butter and garlic bits, I crawled back into the nest to rejoin my family.
“We owe it to them to bring them into a world where there is no fear, only love,” I said as I snuggled into all that warm fluff, our bodies forming a triangle around the eggs, allowing each of us to touch them.
“Aye mate,” Odem murmured, smiling tenderly at them. “We do.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Odem
I’m sensing a presence. This area has haunted my dreams,Upalo said, flying past the mine shaft opening again. I’d lost count of how many times he’d circled it already.
“The wards are strong,” Raven called out from Ionus’ claw she was cradled in. I was glad he’d had the forethought to bring her, but I suppose if the last slumbering extraction taught us anything it was to bring a mage along. I hated leaving my mate and our eggs, but it felt important I be here for, not only Upalo, but Ronan as well. Goddess only knows what we’d find, and he may need a shoulder to lean on afterwards.
Ionus, Quint, and me, as well as Baird, Ignatus and Angus, readily joined this search party. We were strong in numbers and held hope of finding more family members in slumber. With the journey only taking a couple of hours, depending on the numberwe found, we might be able to return to Dragon City with them in a single trip.
Hope was a big word as of late.
I’d love nothing more than to bring my mate’s birth parents home to him. What a gift that would be, and the fact that not only had Upalo searched high and low for them, but that this area kept calling to him, led me to believe at least one of them awaited us inside.
Cue in more hope, only this time that whoever awaited us was still alive.
We scouted the area as Ionus placed Raven at the entrance while he hovered just outside it. Raven immediately began closing the spells while Ionus remained in dragon form, ready to protect her at a moment’s notice.
“Two left,” Raven said, right as the sound of incoming wings filled the air.
