Chapter 3
Impatience burned hotly within Vaughn as he stood in the Dragonwood with Con. Only Fae could see the doorways they created. Vaughn had no idea where the door was, but Con had pointed to some rocks that Rhi had apparently marked.
“I doona know what’s taking Rhi so long,” Con stated, annoyance deepening his voice.
Vaughn didn’t answer. His gaze was on the place where the doorway stood. He couldn’t wait to walk through it. He wanted to go through it immediately, instead of waiting for Rhi.
“Is it my daughter?”
Vaughn’s head jerked to Con as he frowned. “What?”
“The woman you search for. You saw her when Erith opened the small window between the realms.”
“I got a glimpse of the twins. I didna see either’s face. To answer your question, I’m no’ sure.”
Con nodded, his black gaze dropping to the ground for a moment. “Did the woman tell you her name?”
“We didna talk that night.”
“But she knew yours?”
Vaughn shook his head. “No. At least, I didna tell her. As I said, we didna say much. At least, with words.”
But he’d heard her say his name in his dream. Was it because he’d wanted to hear it? Or had she known it? The questions were eating him alive.
“What?” Con pressed.
Vaughn swallowed and shrugged. “It might be nothing.”
“It’s always something. What is it?”
“In my dreams, she says my name.”
It was Con’s turn to frown. “How often do you dream of her?”
“Frequently.”
“Does she always say your name?”
“No.”
“Do you see her face?”
Vaughn shook his head once more. “I try, but I’m unable to see her clearly. I feel her. I hear her, but that’s all.”
“You’re the one with the power of dream manipulation. Are you using it?”
“I have to be near a person to use that gift.”
Con quirked a blond brow. “Could it be just a dream?”
“It feels too real for that.”
“I’m no’ liking the sound of this. After someone on Zora took and imprisoned Varek, I’m no’ sure you should go with us.”
Vaughn crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance. “You’re my King, and I’ve always obeyed you. But I willna on this. I’m going.”
“Bloody hell,” Con said as he ran a hand through his wavy blond hair. “We doona know what to expect when we get to Zora. No’ with the twins, no’ with the dragons, and certainly no’ with the humans who live there.”
“Varek came out fine in the end.”
Con cut him a dark look. “Barely.”
“We’ve lived for so many lifetimes. Both with our dragons and without. Varek will be there, as will the twins. If the humans try anything, we’ll be ready.”
“Rhi!” Con called, irritation tingeing his voice.
Vaughn waited for her to appear. A Fae always heard their name called, no matter where they were on a realm. Several minutes ticked by as Con paced, his agitation growing with each heartbeat. It was all Vaughn could do not to pace alongside him.
“Sorry,” Rhi said in her Irish accent as she appeared beside Con.
Vaughn turned to Constantine’s mate. Rhi’s black hair and silver eyes identified her as a Light Fae. She wore her long tresses down with the sides pulled away from her face and gathered at the back of her head.
“What took you so long?” Con asked. “I thought you were ready half an hour ago.”
She shrugged and glanced at Vaughn. “I didn’t like what I was wearing.”
Vaughn hid his smile. If Rhi knew one thing, it was fashion.
The fact that she’d had a difficult time deciding on something to wear spoke of how deeply her anxiety ran at finally meeting her children.
She typically wore all black, occasionally adding gold to match Con’s dragon color.
Today, Rhi wore a pale gold silk button-down blouse tucked into black leather pants, paired with her customary favorite shoe—Christian Louboutin—in a black mesh peep-toe bootie with snakeskin accents.
“My love,” Con said in a soft voice as he ran his palms down her arms to take her hands in his. “You look beautiful, no matter what you wear.”
She smiled softly. “We’re meeting our children. I want to make a good impression.”
“You will,” he assured her.
Vaughn felt like an intruder as the two shared an intimate moment where they whispered words to each other.
He turned his back on them, his mind returning to his dream.
The sound of the woman’s voice had been husky, seductive.
He wished he knew if he had concocted her in his mind or not.
She felt like the woman he’d spent that one amazing night with so long ago.
Their moment together had become branded in his mind and soul. Nothing, not even time, could make him forget her. He had to find her. Somehow. Some way. Whether she was a magical being and immortal as he was, or reincarnated. Until he held her in his arms again, he wouldn’t stop looking.
Someone touched his arm, startling him. Vaughn swiveled his head to the side to see Rhi standing between him and Con.
Rhi might be Fae royalty, but she was also his queen.
She took her position as Con’s mate seriously.
Her love for the Dragon Kings and all those associated with them was beyond reproach. She had proven it time and again.
“Are we ready?” she asked, looking from Vaughn to Constantine.
Con winked at her before meeting Vaughn’s gaze. They nodded at each other, then faced forward.
Rhi linked her arm with Con’s and took a deep breath. “I’ve been waiting for this day. Let it be everything we hope it is,” she whispered softly.
Vaughn held back as the couple walked through the doorway together. He watched as they disappeared from the realm. With one last look around at the Dragonwood, he followed. The moment he stepped across the threshold, he found himself in the other realm. The beauty was indescribable.
Trees reached high into the vivid blue of the sky. There were tall mountain peaks tipped with snow, deep valleys awash in vibrant greens, and flowers running the gambit of colors. Then he heard them.
Dragons.
His knees went weak to once again hear their many roars.
Vaughn closed his eyes as emotions crashed into him like a tsunami, pummeling him one after another.
For untold years, he’d only heard the roars of the other Dragon Kings—and only when there was a thunderstorm, so it hid the sound from humans.
He’d forgotten the different dragons’ calls.
Some long and loud, others short and soft, and in every octave imaginable.
The Kings had long feared that their dragons had perished. Despite that, they held onto hope that the dragons were alive. To finally find the realm and hear them was a dream come true.
He opened his eyes and turned in a circle as he searched the sky.
It didn’t take him long to find a group of dragons flying nearby.
More lay sunning in a valley. He saw Reds, Whites, Blacks, Golds, Silvers, Hunter Greens, and Yellows.
There were Jades, Bronzes, Clarets, Ambers, Greys, Browns, and Ivories and even some mixed colors.
When he saw his Teals, he dropped to his knees, emotion tightening his throat.
His eyes watered as he watched a group of adolescents playing on the side of a mountain, taking turns seeing who could push the others off.
It was the most beautiful sight that Vaughn had ever witnessed.
A hand clamped down on his shoulder. He knew it was Con without looking.
Vaughn wasn’t sure he ever wanted to leave this realm.
Regardless of whatever negative things it held, the dragons were here.
A Dragon King needed his dragons to fulfill his duties.
Every King at Dreagan had suffered without their clan.
Vaughn finally looked up at Con. The King of Dragon Kings was just as moved at the sight of the dragons. They smiled through their tears, each understanding the Kings on Earth should witness the spectacular sight on Zora.
“Con,” Rhi called.
Vaughn looked at Rhi to find her gaze directed up the slope of the mountain. He jumped to his feet at the same time Con turned and walked to his mate. Vaughn spotted the woman observing them. His stomach dropped to his feet as shock rippled through him.
He knew her.
He could barely draw breath as he stared at the woman he’d been searching eons for.
The breeze teased the ends of her long, golden locks that hung to her waist. She stood tall, her bearing regal.
Her gaze never wavered as she looked upon Con and Rhi.
She was dressed in all white. Her sleeveless top molded to her breasts, stopping a few inches below, displaying the tight muscles of her stomach.
The hem of her skirt brushed the grass, hiding her feet as the breeze moved the thin material, molding it to her legs.
Vaughn knew in an instant that this was one of Con and Rhi’s twins. Nor did it go unnoticed that the doorway leading to Zora from Earth had been set in a valley, causing anyone who came through to look up.
“By the stars,” Rhi whispered, her voice shaking with emotion.
Vaughn was thinking the same thing. Was the woman the reason he’d felt such a driving need to come to this realm? Would she recognize him? Would they share the same fiery attraction as the first time they met?
She didn’t come to them. In the end, Con, his arm around Rhi, started toward her.
Vaughn followed several paces behind the couple.
The climb was steep and awe-inspiring. The more Vaughn saw of the realm, the more beautiful he thought it was.
His heart sighed in contentment, knowing the dragons had found such a planet.
No place was perfect, but this world came close.
It reminded him so much of what their realm had once been before the humans arrived.
Before the war.
Vaughn put all of that out of his mind as they drew nearer to the woman. He didn’t know what to say to her. Thankfully, he didn’t have to since Con and Rhi were there and spoke first.
“We’ve been waiting a long time to meet you,” Rhi told her daughter.
Con nodded, smiling. “Thank you for opening the doorway.”
She didn’t respond. Instead, her sharp gaze slid to Vaughn.
It felt as if he’d been kicked by a dragon.
He stared into her intelligent, spirited eyes, mesmerized by the various shades of silver.
In that moment, in that very instant, he realized that she remembered him and their night together, as well.
Finally, she broke eye contact and returned her attention to her parents. She took a deep breath and said, “I’m Eurwen.”
“Means gold and fair,” Con said. “Which you certainly are.”
Vaughn couldn’t agree more. Now that he knew her name, something else bound them together. The more he stared at her, the more he suspected that his dreams hadn’t been dreams at all. They had been real. Though he hadn’t yet pieced together how that was possible. At least, he had her name now.
Rhi blinked as tears coursed down her face. “I don’t know where to begin, Eurwen. You know more about us than we do about you. We have so much to catch up on.”
“What are your intentions?” Eurwen demanded.
Con glanced at Vaughn over his shoulder. “Rhi and I have come to meet you and your brother. Obviously, we’d love to see the dragons while we’re here.”
“And him?” Eurwen asked as her gaze bored into Vaughn.
He moved a step closer. “You know why I’m here.”
Con and Rhi wore identical frowns as they looked between the two of them. Eurwen broke eye contact with him first. Vaughn felt the dragons before he saw then. They had moved closer as if sensing that Kings had arrived.
“Where is your brother?” Rhi asked. “We want to meet him.”
Eurwen showed no emotion on her face, something she likely got from Con. “He isn’t yet ready to meet either of you.”
“In other words, he didna want us here,” Con said, not bothering to hide his hurt. “I hope both of you understand that what happened was no’ something Rhi nor I knew about until recently.”
Eurwen nodded. “We do.”
“What changed your mind about allowing us entry?” Rhi asked.
“By refusing, we acted like children when we are far from it.” Eurwen jerked her chin and looked beyond them. “Even now, the dragons know who has arrived, without having to be told.”
Vaughn glanced over his shoulder to see a mass of dragons approaching in the distance as more gathered around them—some on land and others in the air.
“I didna come to take over,” Con told her. “Neither did Vaughn. None of the Kings who come from Earth will.”
Eurwen’s lips twisted. “Some things are out of your control. This is Cairnkeep. My home is over the next rise. Come when you’ve finished.”
With that, she turned on her heel and walked away.
Vaughn wanted to go after her. He was happy he’d finally found her but confused and disturbed to learn that she knew him.
If so, why hadn’t she come to him on Earth?
Before he confronted her, he needed to get control of his raging emotions.
Besides, Con and Rhi needed time with their daughter first.
Vaughn turned and searched for the Teals. The moment he found them, he shifted into his true form and jumped into the air, his wings catching a current. He flew above the other dragons. As he dipped his wing to turn back, he spotted his clan flying toward him.
A multitude of voices filled his head as the adolescents began talking at once. Then, suddenly, they grew quiet. Vaughn saw why a second later when a dozen adult Teals closed in around him in a defensive, aggressive manner. He took no offense. He would’ve done the same in their shoes.
He felt a push in his head before a female voice asked, “Are you really the King of Teals?”
“Aye. Before we had to send the dragons away to keep them alive,” Vaughn answered.
“You should’ve wiped out those mortals,” said a deep, male voice. “Eurwen and Brandr have made it so the humans here willna try the same things.”
Vaughn understood their anger, which had most likely been handed down by past generations. Dragons lived a long time, but only Kings and their mates were immortal. And the only way a Dragon King could be killed was by another Dragon King or Queen. “I’m happy to hear it.”
“Are you here to be our King?”
The young voice shocked him. Vaughn wasn’t sure which of the dragons it was, but he heard the wariness in the tone. “We’ve only recently discovered that you found a home. We’ve been trying to find you. I can no’ begin to describe the ache of missing all of you on Earth. It’s our home.”
“Your home,” said another adult female, her anger palpable. “This is ours.”
With that, the Teals flew off in a different direction. Vaughn watched them, wondering if he should follow. In the end, he decided against it. Hopefully, he’d have time to speak to his dragons again later.
For the moment, his thoughts were on a particular woman he’d believed he would never find.