Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Katla’s words had barely registered with Merrill before she made her way back to the children. He watched as she carefully lifted the blanket over Aven and curled beside the lass. Merrill stared for a moment longer, but he had to look away from the cozy scene as it brought back memories of his older sister and her family.
Delving into the past stirred up his already agitated emotions. Merrill couldn’t remember the last time he had thought about any member of his family. He had pushed away any notion of them to survive the devastating pain of their departure. In the process, he had barred the pieces of him that he needed, glossing over the yawning voids with smiles. When it became too much, and he ended up drowning in misery, Varek had been fighting the same torment.
Merrill had helped his friend and, in the process, found momentary relief for his sorrow. From then on, he’d made the conscious decision to plod onward without confronting his grief. It was easier to elbow it away than give in to the driving need to eviscerate every last mortal. Wiping them from existence and returning his clan and family were the only ways he could heal. He had comprehended the gravity of his hostility.
Choices had been made. There was no going back. Merrill had felt—and seen—how banishing Ulrik had affected the Kings —especially Con . He refused to follow that path and force his brethren to banish him. So , that left him with one option. And he gladly took it, grasping it tightly with both hands. Otherwise , he would have gone to a place he would never have returned from.
Yet here he was. Facing those same arduous emotions all over again millions of years later. And they still terrified him. Mostly because he knew there was still a chance they could swallow him whole.
He listened to the dragons in the distance. Many were settling in for the night, but some preferred the moon to the sun. The dragon within urged him to shift and soar toward the stars. He closed his eyes and imagined the wind in his face, brushing against his scales and wings as he spread them and glided upon the night air.
Merrill opened his eyes, cutting off the image. He wanted nothing more than to return to the dragons and stand among the Kings as he once had. But to go now would be a disservice to all of them. He had wounded his brethren enough. They deserved better. It was time he confronted the past and whatever it held.
First things first, though. Merrill reached out with his mind. “ Cullen ?”
“ Aye , brother,” Cullen answered immediately.
“ Do you have room for three additional bairns?”
“ Of course. There’s plenty of room. I take that to mean you returned to Stonemore .”
Merrill grunted. “ It’s worse than we feared.”
“ Wonderful ,” Cullen muttered. “ Are you bringing the children tonight?”
“ Tomorrow .”
Cullen was silent for a beat. “ Is anything amiss?”
Merrill should’ve known Cullen would pick up on the fact that something wasn’t right. He looked toward the fire where Katla slept with the kids. “ The bairns were in the tower with Katla .”
“ The Druid saved them, then.”
It wasn’t a question. “ She did. She also knows who I am and where the bairns will be going.”
“ Does she intend to remain with them?”
“ She only wants them somewhere the priests will never harm them again.”
Cullen made an indiscernible sound. “ They’ll have that at Iron Hall . Are the bairns or Katla injured?”
“ If the kids were, she took care of it. I’m no’ sure about Katla . She’s hesitant to trust.”
“ No ’ surprising. I didna think we’d ever see her again.”
“ I think she’d prefer it that way. She’s sure I’ve been sent to mete out justice.”
Cullen exhaled loudly. “ Villette manipulated Katla . It also helps that she fought alongside us. She isna without blame, though. She had a choice.”
“ So did I . And I made the wrong one.”
“ You didna kill dragons.”
Merrill briefly squeezed his eyes closed and turned away from the comforting sight of the bairns. “ I did something worse. I turned my back on all of you.”
“ That isna your fault.”
“ If Katla is to blame for what she did, then so am I ,” Merrill insisted. “ We’ve all been manipulated by Villette .”
“ Aye , we have. No one intends Katla any harm. Let her know she’ll be welcome if she wishes to visit the bairns.”
The muscles in Merrill’s shoulders relaxed. “ Thanks , brother.”
“ See you soon.”
Merrill hadn’t realized how much he needed to hear that the Kings wouldn’t harm Katla until Cullen said the words. Merrill would wait until morning to tell her the news. There would be no sleep for him, however. Dragons didn’t need to sleep like humans. Instead , he patrolled the forest. Katla stirred only once, rising to look around groggily. He wondered when she’d last allowed herself to rest. She set up a barrier around her and the children before lying down again.
Her magic rolled across the ground. He stilled and waited for it to sweep past him. The moment it made contact, it paused and wrapped around him. Then , it moved on. Maybe it was because he had been waiting for it, but Merrill felt something unusual. It was subtle, faint, just a whisper of a deviation from the Druid magic he was familiar with.
Then he reminded himself that they were on another planet. Zora was similar to Earth in many ways, but there were also differences. It stood to reason that a Druid’s magic on Zora would feel different than it did on Earth .
The sensation of Katla’s magic stayed with him as the hours passed and dawn approached. He had encountered many animals on his patrol, each more unique than the last. He could compare most to creatures on Earth . Though some weren’t recognizable. The more time he spent on Zora , the more apparent it became how distinctive the realm and its inhabitants were.
When the first rays of sun broke the horizon, Merrill returned to the fire. He studied the sky as it steadily lightened, and one of the moons sank below the skyline, leaving only one visible in the heavens.
Perick was the first to wake. The lad sat up and shoved away the blanket, pulling it away from the girls on either side of him. Maely grunted and turned over before yanking the covers to her shoulder. Perick rubbed his eyes sleepily. It took a full minute before he noticed Merrill . He climbed over Maely and walked around to drop down next to Merrill , leaning his head against Merrill’s arm as he yawned.
Merrill gazed down at Perick’s head of dark curls. After a moment, the curls faded, replaced by orange scales as a memory surfaced of how his nephew used to lean against him just like Perick . He had lost that recollection until now. Part of Merrill wanted to stay with it, open to more memories. The other part resisted because of the pain it would dredge up.
His thoughts halted when Aven stirred and rolled onto her back. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned. A moment later, she sat up and looked for Maely and Perick before searching for Katla . Aven seemed pleased to find the Druid sleeping beside her. She carefully extracted herself from the covers and got to her feet. To Merrill’s surprise, she came to sit on his other side.
“ I’ve not seen her sleep,” Aven whispered as she looked at Katla .
Merrill’s gaze was drawn to the Druid . He kept his voice low as he said, “ Then we shall let her rest.”
“ I’m hungry,” Perick declared loudly.
Katla startled and sat up.
“ Well , there goes that,” Aven muttered angrily.
Merrill fought a grin as he handed the lad some leftover meat. Perick ate it with his eyes closed. Katla rose and folded the blankets, gently rousing Maely . Soon , everyone was breaking their fast.
When their bellies were full, Katla took them to the river to wash up. Merrill used that time to wrap up the last of the deer. His magic created a bag he used for the blankets and the meat. The bairns giggled and splashed handfuls of water at each other. He leaned a shoulder against a tree and watched them.
The kids had been taken from their families and hauled into the tower to be executed. Yet there was no anger within them. They adjusted to each day and whatever Fate threw at them. If only it were that easy for him. Merrill knew exactly what they had lost: family, shelter, love, security.
Katla’s approach pulled his attention from the bairns. She combed her fingers through her long length of hair as their eyes met, then quickly turned her gaze to the children.
“ Do you still wish for the bairns to go to Iron Hall ?” he asked.
She nodded.
“ I spoke with Cullen last night. They’re making room for all three now. It is farther than I originally thought, however. It will take us days if we walk.”
“ Are you suggesting you’ll fly us there?”
He shrugged. “ It’s an option.”
“ Not a good one. It wouldn’t be good to show yourself on this side of the border, and I’m certain the dragons wouldn’t care to have humans on their land.”
“ I had another idea.”
Her head swung to him as her stormy gray eyes met his. “ Oh ?”
“ I have a friend who can teleport us.”
Katla hesitated, her gaze returning to the bairns. “ You trust them?”
“ With my life.”
“ And they wouldn’t harm the children?”
“ Never ,” he replied. “
Her shoulders lifted as she inhaled. “ The kids have endured enough. They haven’t complained despite being out in the elements with little to eat and nowhere to go. The three of them are innocent. They didn’t ask to be born with magic or to live at Stonemore . I want the fear they try so hard to hide to vanish. Forever .”
“ It will at Iron Hall .”
“ Then take them.”
Merrill frowned as he stared at her. “ You’re no’ coming?”
“ I know what I’ve done and what the dragons think of me. I don’t want that to taint the children.”
“ It willna. Cullen has said you’re welcome to come anytime.”
Her smile was fleeting as she glanced at him. “ I appreciate that, but my presence is a reminder of what was done to your kind. I don’t want that for the children.”
“ I willna let it.”
Gray eyes slid to him. “ I’m trusting you to bring them to safety. Please don’t make me regret that.”
“ I’ve spent centuries defending my world and the mortals living there from threats. I protected the descendants of the ones I went to war with. I give you my word that nothing will ever harm those bairns.”
“ I believe you.”
Merrill didn’t want her to leave. There was still much about Katla he wanted to know. More than that, he liked being around her, which wasn’t something he said about many people at present. She cared deeply for the bairns. The only reason she would leave was to protect them. “ Bloody hell. You’re going after Villette .”
“ Someone needs to, and I have much to make up for.”
“ Villette manipulated you. Why can you no’ accept that?”
Katla grinned and waved when the bairns showed her something. “ I accept it. But that doesn’t erase what I did.” She turned to face him. “ Last night, you said something I’ve not been able to stop thinking about. You said the women you took as lovers on Earth weren’t able to carry a baby to term.”
Merrill grimaced at his carelessness. The humans on Zora were unable to procreate. Yet , somehow, infants appeared all over the realm. “ I shouldna have spoken about that.”
“ I’m delighted to learn there are worlds where women can become pregnant. But I began wondering if dragons were affected like us or if they are like the other animals and can reproduce.”
He knew where Katla was going with this. He wished there was a way to lessen the blow, but nothing he could say would change the facts. It was better to state the truth as simply as possible. “ Aye , dragons can produce offspring.”
Tears quickly welled in her eyes. She blinked hastily as she fought to keep them from falling. “ It’s as I thought, then. I took children from their parents. From families.”
“ Doona go down that road.”
“ Too late,” she whispered.
He took a step toward her. “ Katla ,” he began.
“ I need to tell the children what’s going to happen.”
Merrill clenched his hand to keep from reaching out to her. Instead , he watched the soft sway of her hips as she walked away.