“My dad let them think that?”
“Yeah, he did. She was so angry with him and it was easy to believe that. We didn’t understand her anger at all, but now I do. She wanted him to eliminate the threat so that you could come home. I wished they told someone about you, other than your father and Tanya.”
“They didn’t tell me?” Dad said.
“What?” the queen asked.
“I followed when she and Cara didn’t get back. She just told me she had to leave on royal business.”
“Where is Cara?” the queen asked.
“Who is Cara?” I asked, and the queen looked at me.
“You don’t remember Cara?”
“She is safe, don’t worry. Nothing can hurt her,” Dad replied and walked faster into the woods.
“Who is Cara?” I asked the queen.
“Their daughter. She was a Thunderlight. A breed that died eons ago. She was the first of her kind again.”
“A Thunderlight?” I learned nothing about them.
“They are purple, as kind as dragons could get, so she was part of the Metallic breed. They had a purple lightning that stung like you never can imagine, and they were walking lie detectors. I always found it contradictory that her mother could lie without batting a lash and that she hatched an egg that was the complete opposite.” She walked faster toward Dad and started speaking to him. “If she is on the other side, we can go fetch her, Jako.”
Dad spoke to her in Latin. I hated this language more. The queen’s face slacked of all emotions, turned a shade paler and her mouth formed a soft circle. I really wanted to know what he was saying to her.
Dad tapped a tear away.
I crouched in front of him as he sat on the boulder and touched his arm. “English, please?”
He touched my cheek and lowered his head on top of mine.
“She died a long time ago, Bear. She is safe, no one can hurt her now.”
My lower lip wobbled. I felt his pain.
“You became Cara to me. I lost a daughter, but I gained one back. So as sad as it is, I’m grateful that you were there.”
I nodded.
He planted his lips on my head. “I love you so much, never forget that.”
“I won’t. Love you too.” I hugged him tightly. He was my father through and through. He would always be my father.
35
ELENA
After the flight to the mountain, Dad kept his word.
We flew every day. Maggie only took two flights with us and then I was solo.
It was scary the first time, but the second we reached the top of the clouds, all the fear just fell away.
I even gave the simulator a chance. Another brilliant idea of the queen was to teach anatomy inside the simulator. I met all the dragons face to face as professor Wick’s voice spoke in my ears.
The fear of facing them became less and my fascination with them took flight. I even began drawing them.
