Home.
I sensed Braxton long before he joined us. The wind carried the scent of him to us. I forced some of the dragon down, which was so much harder than it should have been. I feared for a moment that she would never let me take control again. She did not want to leave this world.
Brax...
I hoped he would hear me. I’d dreamed about communicating with him as a dragon.
Jess, babe, now is not the time for a flying lesson.
As his warm tones washed across my mind, I gained more control over my dragon, as if she, too, was unable to stop herself from granting his request.
Apparently what I want is not that important right now. My dragon needed some her time.
He chuckled. I understand. Mine is the same, but that tells me that we’re in the right place. This is where we will find the key to defeating Larkspur.
He was right, and we had to hurry up about it. Who knew what the hell was happening in the human world while we were here. Actually, Louis might know, he’d just been there dropping Jonathon off. I’d ask him, right after he explained about this damn dragon mated thing.
I flew beside Braxton for some time, our dragons companionably gliding through the air. The scenery below did not change much. There were some lakes, a few mountains, trees, and other variances on nature – the most peaceful oasis I could ever imagine.
Time to get back to the others.
Braxton’s voice echoed across our bond again, and we banked to the right, turning our large bodies back in the direction we’d just flown. My dragon was calm now, satisfied. Her heart, body, and soul seemed more at peace, and she was content to allow control to return to me.
I tried not to dwell on how easily she’d wrested it from me; it was a relief to have our status-quo returned. We flew rapidly now, our keen sight locking in on the rest of our group. A few pangs rocked my body as we started to descend. I couldn’t quite tell if they were from me or my dragon. Still, as I landed, the change back to human was easy, effortless.
Braxton and I were both in our usual after-shift naked-state, but Louis quickly fixed that for us. The sorcerers hand lingered on my shoulder for a few extra moments, as if he knew I was still trying to pull my frazzled psyche together. It was disorienting trying to deal with the dragon’s mind as well as my own. I reached out and gripped Louis’ shirt.
“I think it’s time for you to tell us everything you know about this place.”
We ended up beside one of the large lakes, a small stream trickling down a series of staggered rocks. I don’t know which one of us decided to jump in first, but before we knew it, all of us had stripped down to our underwear and were swimming around in a sort of reckless abandon. Don’t get me wrong, we hadn’t forgotten where we were, or what we were doing here, but for some reason the urgency was lost in our need to frolic.
I might not enjoy dark, scary waters, but in a small lake like this, I was in my element, diving and rolling with the cool current, so soothing and refreshing.
“So, Louis, spill.” Tyson was flat on his back, floating around, using his magic to power himself like he was a little boat.
Louis sat on the edge of the lake, his pants rolled up and legs in the water, the only one who wasn’t swimming. “I’ll tell you everything I know, but you must keep in mind that original fey, like the shining ones and shadow spawn, are very secretive. I have inferred a lot from my fact gathering missions over the years, but there are many blanks.”
We just waved our hands at him. Even if eighty percent of his facts were made up, he’d still know a hundred percent more than most of us.
He splashed out with his feet as he spoke. “The shining ones are the original gods of Faerie, pretty much. They’re blessed to be able to contain and use the Gold. There is only one other race who have the same sort of ties to this pure energy, and that’s the dragons. The two are cousins of a sort.”
No way! I stopped my frolicking and focused on him with an intensity that would make most supes feel very uncomfortable. Louis didn’t even seem to notice.
“The reason there are dragon shifters, that dragons and supes have any relationship at all, is because of their bond with the shining ones. There used to be thousands of dragons, maybe hundreds of thousands. They roamed the lands and were the top predator of both Faerie and Earth. It got so bad that at one point the supes were ready to go to war with the wild dragons, but then the shining ones stepped in. They tamed some of the more animalistic nature of your wild brethren.
“The first dragon shifter was recorded over five thousand years ago, and the story goes that a wild dragonling was born to a weak body, something which happened on occasion, and always resulted in the early death of the young. The problem being that for dragons, even if the body is damaged, the soul is as strong as ever. In a desperate attempt to save him, one of the shining ones managed to set the soul free but kept it contained in the mortal realm. The retaining of an essence had never been done before, and it gave the fey an idea about how they could save these dragon souls. The dragonling was given the choice to bond with a member of Faerie or to move on to the great sky.”
I was literally not breathing right now. If Braxton hadn’t swum up behind me and cupped his hands under my butt, hauling me into his body so he could hold me up, I’d have drowned. I was all over the feel-o-meter with this story. It was achingly painful and yet beautiful at the same time. I had to know more.
“He chose to be bonded,” I breathed, my eyes fluttering closed as my head tilted back to rest against Braxton’s hard chest.