Chapter 4 #3
“Well, listen for yourselves and tell me who else it could be.” Brannoc read directly from the book.
He was attacked, bespelled by evil wizards, separated from his kin, and then imprisoned in human form.
It talks about the wizards and the river he’s buried beside, but then goes on to say he is one of royal blood and destined for greatness.
He holds the power of his ancestors. Then it talks about him holding the true fire which is what the old guys always told us when we were barely old enough to sip their beer when our mothers weren’t looking.
” Brannoc paused, following his finger until he started nodding.
“Here is the part that makes me sure it’s Kayne.
Once you have found him, you can only free him by calling his given name, a name only those closest to him know.
You will be able to summon that information once the Focus Stone is near the dragon’s crypt. ”
“Okay, wait, what do y’all know that I don’t?
We all just called him Kayne…” Rory left his question hanging in the air because from the look on his face, he wasn’t sure how to finish it or what he was really asking.
Rian watched as the others looked around.
He was hoping someone else would answer because he was really tired of being the only one revealing secrets in their little group.
Giving in, probably because it was obvious Kyra was yelling in his ear, Royce explained, “Okay, here’s the big, deep, dark, dragony secret,” He wiggled the fingers of one hand in the air and grinned, “Which honestly sounds like less of a mystery since its hinted about in a hundred-year-old journal. Yeah, way to keep a confidence, guys.” He rolled his eyes and gave a sarcastic thumbs up.
“But anyway, Kayne is the offspring of a very important dragoness, Adara—the princess of the Golden Dragons—and the Celtic Sun God, Lugh.
Her true dragon mate was killed in battle before they were able to conceive a child.
Until she met the Sun God, the princess thought she was to be alone for the rest of her life.
The Universe saw the love that the dragoness and the Sun God shared and granted them one year together.
If they were to have a child, the Universe deemed that child would be wholly dragon and as such, he was to be raised by his mother and her clan.
“Adara was thrilled when she found out she was pregnant and when Kayne was born, named him something with a bunch a letters in the old language that has special significance to his birthright. All I know is only Maddox and probably Drago ever took the time to remember it; we all just called him Kayne. What’s important is that his given name means Son of the Sun.
Now, Lugh was thrilled too, but knew he couldn’t live on earth with his true love and child.
So, he gave Kayne the power to call upon, not only his dragon fire, but also the fire of the sun when it was in righteous defense of those he was sworn to protect or in dire consequences to save his life or that of dragon kin.
Of course, there was a hitch, as there always is when the gods give anyone anything.
If Kayne was in dragon form, had already called his dragon fire, and someone he had a blood bond with said his given name, well, our boy could go super-nova.
“When he decided to abdicate his crown to become a Guardsman, his mom commissioned a white witch to mark his forearm with Lugh’s family crest then charmed that tattoo so that anyone in his vicinity was simply unable to remember his real name.
I still have no clue how Maddox was able to remember but insanity never has made sense.
The old dragon and Drago’s entire Force were thick as thieves, so maybe that’s it.
But that’s a whole other can of worms I’m not opening tonight.
“For now, my guess is Adram…whatever the hell you said that Demon Lord’s name was, knows about Kayne and his special birthright but didn’t know he was gone or that we thought he was dead.
So putting all the pieces of the puzzle that we have together, I’m just guessing, that’s why he sent Audrey as a trap for you,” Royce pointed at Rian.
“He thinks you know Kayne’s real name and the stupid bastard wants the fire of the sun. ”
He shrugged and took a drink of his bottle of water.
“I mean it’s just a guess. I know you’re the Elder of the Clan and all that bigwig happy horseshit—but you weren’t the night Audrey came to you the first time—and it was just weeks after Drago and his Force had gone missing and no one knew but us dragons.
Hell, I still don’t think many know we had no clue what happened to those guys. ”
Royce paused and Brannoc started. “Roy makes some good points, Rian. You’ve always had really strong magic.
The Chancellor had to have felt it and somehow the bastard knew Audrey was your mate before even you did.
That’s the only reason he would have to make a deal with her uncle to kill her father, then let the stupid uncle die and the land just sit and wilt away.
I mean, demons usually want souls willing to do anything, and it sure seems like her uncle was just the asshole for that job.
But Adramelech let the man be killed. It’s all been a plot to get to you and what you know and the shits and giggles of it all is, you knew nothing and still basically don’t. ”
Rian tried to find the bright side in what they were saying, looked for the humor, searched for something positive that would help bring Audrey home, but failed miserably.
Then Kellan spoke, and for the first time since his mate had laid the book in his hands, Rian felt real hope.
“Sounds like we have a bad guy to kill, a girl to save, and a brother to bring home. Anybody up for a trip to hell?”
Not one to be left out, Rory added, “And then I get to kick some ass for getting left out of the loop, right?”