Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ronan
The front door banged open and my dragon slithered forth with careful precision, filling the nest, wrapping around our eggs.
Mate! Are you home?
Aye and Upalo and I have a surprise for you.
You all just scared the scales off me coming in here like that!
I’m sorry, but you’ll understand in a moment why your brother is so excited.
Footsteps pounded up the stairs, keeping my dragon on edge.
Only when I see that we are safe. My dragon had been tripped into full protective mode, and I would not ask him to go against his instincts. Not after he’s saved me as many times as he had. He’d never steer me wrong.
Upalo burst into the nursery, a brilliant smile on his face, until he saw my dragon and realized his mistake.
He tripped over his feet backing up, and landed on his ass, hands up, realizing instantly what his abrupt entrance into our home had triggered.
Another man stood behind him, one that was unfamiliar to us, meaning my dragon was going nowhere.
“Ronan, I am so sorry,” Upalo said. “I wasn’t thinking. We found dad and I couldn’t wait for him to see you.”
He found dad?
It took a moment for the word to sink in, for me, and my dragon, then he retreated, allowing me to slip into the robe I kept draped over the edge of the nest.
“Ronan?” I might not remember his face, but when he spoke, there was a note of familiarity to it, hazy, but I was certain I’d heard it before.
“Dad?”
“I’ve missed everything,” he said, staring at me forlornly. “Look at you, you’re all grown up. “My baby boy. With a family of his own now. I am so sorry I couldn’t be there for you all these years.”
“You haven’t missed everything,” I said, holding my hand out to him. “You only missed the beginning. Come see the future.”
He came around the outside of the nest and hugged me over the wall of blankets. When my brother and my mate left on their mission, the furthest thought from my mind was that they’d return with my father.
Piece by piece the Goddess was giving me my family back, here in a place where we’d all be safe.
With tears streaming down my face, I clung to him, excited to get to know him.
My girls had a grandfather, which meant another protector and teacher to grow up with.
I felt when my mate slid into the nest to tend to our eggs so I could have this moment with my dad and Upalo, who had joined in on the hug.
It took time and a flood of salty tears that left my father’s shirt damp, before we were able to compose ourselves so I could show him our eggs.
“Meet your granddaughters,” I said as I wiped away the last of my tears. “Ruby and Opal.”
The sweetest giggles came from the eggs when I said their names, and dad smiled and hesitantly reached out, pausing midway to the eggs, waiting for my permission. I nodded, tearing up again the moment he stroked their shells.
“Hello, little ones,” he said, his voice the same low, soothing rumble I remembered.
Now I understand why they’d stressed the importance of talking to babies while they were still in the womb, or in the case of dragons, still in the egg. My father’s voice was embedded in my memory.
“They love to be read to,” I said.
“So did you,” he replied. “Your egg was the cutest darn egg I’d ever seen. Not that yours wasn’t adorable, Upalo, all gleaming red like Ruby’s there. But Ronan’s egg had white scales, just like Opal’s shell. I’d never seen anything like it. They are the same color as your mother’s dragon.”
“Dad believes that she went back to her people,” Upalo said.
“Beneath the sea,” I murmured. “Sometimes I wondered if that’s where she was.”
“Being on land for extended periods was always taxing for her,” Dad explained. “When you were an egg, we lived in a seaside fishing village. She swam to her heart’s content. She would take you boys into the water with her when you were still eggs and hold you in her arms as she floated.”
“I’ve never seen the ocean,” I said.
“Oh, you have,” my father said. “For three glorious weeks after you hatched you not only saw it, but your mother carried you out into the water each day. The rest of the story will have to wait until there are no young ears in the room.”
Though he had not been a father in twenty years, he still possessed the wisdom and instincts of a dad, and conversations such as the one we would eventually need to have weren’t ones I wanted my girls to hear until they were at least in their thirties.
Make it forties.
The longer we could keep the ugliness away from them the better.
“Was that always your home?” I asked, curious about where we’d come from.
“Yes. Small, remote, we lived apart from the humans, traded with them when necessary, but otherwise, chose to stay to ourselves so we didn’t have to keep what we were secret.
Allowing them to believe that we were myths meant we didn’t run the risk of curiosity seekers invading our space.
For generations, that was life in our special piece of the world. ”
“Did you and our mother grow up together?” Upalo asked.
He gently stroked his grandchildren’s eggs, a fond smile making his lips curve as he got this faraway look in his eyes. “In a way,” he replied.
He grew silent then, but it felt like he had more to say and was just gathering his words.
“We were the same age,” he explained. “But she lived beneath the waves, and I was fascinated by the ocean. Each morning, I would rush through my chores and studies so I could race down to the beach and spend the rest of the day in the water. It’s how we met.
One day, she was just there, splashing in the surf with me, body surfing, diving, exploring the reef together. There was hardly a day we spent apart.”
“Soulmates,” Odem murmured.
“Yes,” he replied. “We knew, even without fully understanding what it truly meant, that we were meant for each other.”
“What a beautiful love story,” I said.
“It was truly magical,” he said. “Your mother had the loveliest voice I’d ever heard. Sometimes we’d sit on the rocks together and I’d listen to her sing for hours, in several different languages. But the one of her people always enchanted me.”
“My brother Caro’s mate, Emerson, speaks many languages as well,” Odem said.
“He’s our archivist, and I know that he will be interested in learning all he can about the village you come from and the line of dragons that dwelled there.
He’s been studying and cataloging every shred of our culture and history that he’s been able to get his hands on.
Now that more dragons have come to Dragon City, we’re hoping all will be willing to share their stories and the histories of their people with him so that we don’t lose anymore of it. ”
“A lofty goal, and an admirable one,” Dad said. “It would be an honor to contribute in any way I can. I am just overjoyed to be back with my boys again, and to see how my family has grown.”
“We have so many new brothers here,” Upalo said. “And there are other elders. Alex’s father and grandfather are among them. Alex is Ionus’ mate. They have four dragonets. Three boys and a girl who cannot wait to play with her cousins.”
“I’ll just bet. It sounds like she’s outnumbered.”
“Four to one, since Emerson and Caro have a boy too,” I explained.
“Seven dragonets,” Dad said. “It will be a joy to see them thrive.”
“Were you a fisherman?” I asked, thinking back to what he’d said about growing up in a fishing village.
He chuckled at that. “No. Not truly. I went out on my family’s boats when there was a need, but I preferred being in the forge.”
“You’re a blacksmith,” Odem said, looking thoughtful.
“Yes. The fire in our forge was fueled by the volcano that had formed our island and the items crafted there were endowed with a piece of our own elemental magic,” he explained.
“When we are away from busy ears I have questions,” Odem declared.
“I’m sure we will have plenty to discuss,” Dad replied. “Right now, I am just thrilled beyond words to be here and to have the opportunity to be a father to my sons again, and a grandfather to these girls. It’s been both a joyous and momentous day.”
“I had dreamed of that volcano so many times,” Upalo said. “But it was always with fear and dread. It wasn’t until today that I realized that there were spells warding it designed to repel anyone who sought to explore its depths. I’m sorry I was unable to awaken you sooner.”
“You woke me right when the Goddess intended for you to, son,” he said, wrapping an arm around Upalo and tugging him into a one arm hug. “No fault lies with you.”
I had my dad back.
I had my brother back.
A dragon of my very own.
My mate.
Twin eggs.
And a giant extended family.
As far as I was concerned, that was as good as being offered the universe on a silver platter.
There was no greater gift she could have bestowed upon me.
It didn’t matter that we were technically adults, I could feel the joy and relief my brother felt at hearing that from our father.
His dragon and mine had been rapidly bonding, and I understood now why my mate and his brothers were so close.
Dragon senses were so much stronger than human ones, as I was coming to discover as mine revved up to new degrees every day.
When dad resumed stroking Ruby and Opal’s shells, my babies, already on the verge of sleep, began to purr as they succumbed to slumber.
“Aren’t those the sweetest sounds,” Upalo whispered.
“They are indeed,” Dad said.
“I think a picnic by the nest would be the perfect homecoming for your father,” Odem said. “Why don’t you take my place, Upalo, and I’ll go whip us up something to eat.”
My father grinned at me and winked. “You make sure you hang on to that one, especially if you got my cooking skills.”
“I have no cooking skills,” I admitted.