Chapter Nineteen
The door slammed open and a very angry Drake marched in, tossing Brenna and Kai’s clothing onto the bed where they lay. Brenna just rolled her eyes at her brother’s dramatic entrance and pulled the quilt over her shoulders. Kai didn’t jump up but did watch Drake’s every move.
“Good morning to you too,” Brenna said, yawning.
“It’s been days since your curse broke, Brenna,” Drake growled. “A little too soon for—”
“Really? How long did it take for you to get Elda naked in your bed?”
Drake paused and scowled even harder. “We’re both older and—”
“And nothing. Unless you want me to leave with Kai to live in his kingdom, you will give me the freedom I deserve, as a grown dragonite, a princess, and your sister.”
Brenna watched her brother open and close his mouth twice before gritting his teeth and stomping back out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
“Wow,” Kai said, turning over and smiling down at her. “That was probably the most arousing thing I have ever seen.”
“You liked that?”
“I did.”
“You forget, Prince Kairon, that I have claws too. Real ones.”
“Yes, Goldie,” he said, laughing.
Then he rolled between her legs and made love to her again, until Nunu came to fetch them for breakfast.
~*~
Drake ignored the way his sister and her new mate were cuddling up on a settee on the other side of the room. He was both happy for her and annoyed by it at the same time. It made perfect sense and no sense at all.
It wasn’t that he didn’t approve, it was just the timing of it all.
He and Elda had yet to do ‘too much’, as his mate called it.
They’d done plenty other things, and they were among the best moments of his life, but sex was not one of them.
His sister did not have the same idea about it, apparently. She’d jumped all in on her mating.
He wouldn’t ever push Elda to do more until she was ready.
Until she asked for it, herself. Perhaps, that was why he found his sister’s new relationship so irritating.
He was slightly jealous of how much easier their mating had been, compared to his own.
It wasn’t fair to his sister and he knew it.
He was glad she was happy and he would find a way to stop growling at her mate. One day. Maybe.
“Is that all the spells you require?” Nox asked, taking a seat in a chair nearby.
“In a hurry to leave?” Drake returned, raising a brow.
“I’ve been a burden long enough.”
“You’re not a burden, Nox. You’ve been a tremendous help to Athera. I would ask you to stay as my Royal Mage, if I thought you might actually agree to it.”
Nox rubbed his face and sighed. “It’s complicated.”
“Isn’t it always?” he asked, looking over at his sister and Kai.
“That’s not complicated,” Nox replied, nodding toward Brenna. “That’s expected.”
“I know that. It’s just…”
“Brotherly protectiveness?”
“Maybe. She had a hard time with boys when she was younger. They avoided her.”
“Because she’s the princess?”
“That and because she’s a storm dragonite.”
“And that’s… a bad thing?”
“It’s a rare thing. She’s the first in our family and one out of only three in the history of our kind, that I know of.”
“Wow. Rare indeed.”
“A lot of the males were threatened by her. They didn’t want a mate who was stronger than they were, so they would avoid her. She had to watch her friends start to pair off while she was alone.”
“I could understand how that would make you want to protect her.”
“Exactly.”
“Except, she’s not alone any longer. She found someone who isn’t afraid of her or her dragonite.”
“I suppose…”
Drake wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he was starting to grow fond of the young man.
Kai was a quick learner and had yet to snub his nose at any of the tasks he’d assigned him to around the castle.
He doubted the prince was happy to do them, but he’d yet to complain.
To him, at least, which meant he was smarter than he looked.
The prince also couldn’t seem to keep his eyes—or hands—off Brenna.
Kai already treated his sister better than any of the dragonite males in the past ever had.
And as long as that continued, he would allow the prince to remain here with Brenna.
He’d even look past the fact that they were now casually leaving their clothes lying all around the castle, apparently.
Just then, a roar shook the mountainside. Dust from the ceiling floated down around them and Drake jumped up out of his seat just as Manny appeared beside him.
“Ladon,” Drake gasped. “He’s awake.”
“And I just put this damn mountain back together,” Nox grumbled.
~*~
Nox followed the dragonite prince out of the castle. It wasn’t really outside, however, as when they exited the mountainous palace, they were still in a giant cavern.
Below them was a large flat area that Drake had explained was a landing space for when the valley was visible.
In the center was a dragonite emblem and Nox always felt a rush of magic when he crossed it, as he did now.
Athera was a wonder and he desperately wanted to see this vast valley Drake spoke of, filled with dragonite families of all kinds.
He wished Zaria was here to see it, even more.
“He’s awake!” Elda squealed, rushing up to meet them once he reached the castle steps.
“I will go in first,” Drake said, giving his mate a quick kiss. “Then if he’s amiable, you two can join us, if you’d like.”
This made Nox a little nervous since he hadn’t seen one of them in dragonite form since their first encounter.
He was intrigued, though. The entire story of Athera was tragic yet interesting and the dragonites and gnomes he’d met so far were just as strange and out of place in the realm as he was. He would be sad to leave them.
Being there had helped his magic to calm as well.
Every spell took him longer to do than usual, due to his weakened state, but he was able to concentrate better inside the mountain than he had out in the forest. He’d tried new magics also, with protection spells he’d never even seen until Drake had found some of their old mage’s spellbooks in an empty upstairs room.
He thought Zaria would be proud of him, if she could see him now.
It’s just too bad she still hadn’t visited him in his dreams, and he didn’t know how to find her in hers.
He wondered now, however, if dreamwalking instructions were possibly inside of one of those spellbooks.
It’s too bad he wouldn’t have time to go through them all.
Drake had been in the cavern for several moments before coming out and waving them inside.
Walking through the doorway and into the cavern, the first thing the wizard noticed—but wasn’t surprised by—was water.
Apparently, the youngest dragonite sibling was a water dragonite.
A large, sparkling clear pool was on one side, casting a wave of glittering light on the rock ceiling.
And next to that pool was a sleeping dragon, his scales a mix of blue and green, with a pearl shine to them.
“He’s asleep again?” Elda asked, quietly.
“He was awake for a few moments when I first came in,” Drake replied, crossing his arms and looking his brother over. “Before I could even begin to really explain anything, he wanted a nap. It’s not unusual. Water dragonites are fairly calm, compared to the rest of us.”
“He’s beautiful.”
“He’s just as spoiled as Brenna is,” Drake joked, earning an elbow to his side from his mate.
“Magnificent,” Nox murmured to himself. He felt Drake’s eyes on him, but the prince didn’t speak again until they were outside of the cavern and on their way back to the castle.
“Nox, I would like a word, if you don’t mind,” Drake said.
“Sure.”
“Follow me.”
Nox did and was led to the armory, where Drake took down one of the swords on the wall.
“Do you spar?” the prince asked.
“Not with swords. I’ve only ever used a dagger, really.”
“Grab a pair.”
Looking over to another section of the wall, there were daggers of all sizes. Some with straight blades and some curved. A few so large, they were more like short swords. He took two daggers down and turned to face the dragonite prince.
It took no time at all before Drake had Nox pinned to the corner and soon after, he was disarmed, with the sword tip pointed at his throat.
“You’re good,” Nox said, smiling when the prince lowered his arm.
“Our previous mage, who was Elder Mage at the time, is the one who trained me, surprisingly. He told us that it was important not to always rely on our dragonite side to do the fighting. That if we were ever too weak to shift or injured, we might need to use human fighting forms.”
“Smart.”
“He was. Probably the smartest man I ever knew. I have a great respect for your kind, mage.”
“And I do for you, as well.”
Drake nodded, looking down at his sword. “It’s too bad you aren’t staying a while longer. I could teach you how to use a sword or any other weapon in this room. With your weakened state of magic right now, it would be good to have other ways to protect yourself out there.”
Nox knew this was Drake’s way of hinting that he should stay in Athera.
“I do need to fix the mountain again,” Nox admitted. “And I wouldn’t mind taking another good look through those spellbooks of yours.”
“Please do. Meanwhile, we can start training in here each morning. I might make a warrior wizard out of you yet, Nox.”
Nox laughed and accepted a sword when he was offered it. It took a bit to get used to the weight, but it was a nice feeling to work out some of his stress. The dragonite prince was a good teacher and he soon began to feel more at ease with the weapon.
Afterward, he cleaned himself up and went to look over the spellbooks, flipping carefully through the first one. If there was a chance he could learn how to dreamwalk and see his mate, even just for a moment, he would go through every book in the castle. Twice.