Chapter 17
Klauth
It has been heaven and hell through the first forty days of the eggs in the nest. The scent of new life permeates our home, a sweet, almost earthy aroma that stirs ancient instincts within me.
I never got to witness the laying of my first clutches.
With Mina, I get to see all the miracles as they unfold.
We are exactly forty days into their incubation, and Mina’s drive to be close to them hasn’t lessened.
We had to hold a meeting with Balor curled around them behind where Mina was sitting.
Every few minutes, she would reach back and touch his scales.
Her slender fingers seeking reassurance against the cool, rough surface, then go back to what she was doing, the tension in her shoulders easing momentarily.
I never understood the drive a dragoness has when the eggs are laid.
The maternal instinct that burns like wildfire within them, consuming all other priorities.
Drakes, unfortunately, don’t have that drive.
We do, however, become more defensive of our territory and female.
Thauglor has been an absolute terror. When he’s not with Mina, he’s shifted in the courtyard, blocking the only way into the nest. His massive form casts long shadows across the stone, his sapphire blue eyes scanning constantly for threats, nostrils flaring to catch any unfamiliar scent.
Without telling Mina, the kill count is now up to seven shadowblades.
Their blood has seeped into the earth around our territory, a dark offering to protect what’s ours.
Her father either knows something has happened or suspects something has happened or is happening.
Or the last possibility is that he just wants to take her to turn her into a Dracolich.
The thought makes my blood run cold, despite the fire that always smolders in my veins.
I walk through the halls of our home, my boots barely making a sound against the stone floor, and oddly enough, I can’t find anyone.
The silence presses against my eardrums, unusual and unsettling.
There are eight other beings in the nest, and the house is as silent as a grave.
The only sound is my breathing echoing off the walls.
Stepping outside, the sudden brightness momentarily blinds me, and I find where everyone is.
The entire nest is behind Thauglor and under his extended wing, the massive leathery membrane creating a living pavilion.
“What am I missing?” I ask, my voice rumbling in my chest. Mina is sitting on a blanket with the eggs, their shells gleaming in the dappled sunlight that filters through. The guys are sitting close by, sipping on their drinks, the sweet and bitter aromas of various beverages mingling in the air.
“I wanted to take the eggs outside for the first time. So Thauglor is shielding us from view so I can do it,” she shrugs her shoulders and sighs, her silver and green hair catching the light like metallic thread.
“I was tired of being inside and wanted some stress-free fresh air.” She smiles before coming over and wrapping her arms around me, her warmth seeping through my clothes.
Her scent—ozone and something uniquely dragonic—filling my nostrils.
“That’s understandable.” I kiss her temple, her skin soft beneath my lips, and take her out from under Thauglor’s wing to stand in the sun for a moment.
The softest purr escapes her lips as she tilts her head back, basking in the sunlight, her skin glowing golden in the afternoon light.
It’s tough for a young dragoness to go to ground for so long, to deny the primal urge to soar through open skies.
“The sun feels so good,” she says on a sigh, her body relaxing against mine as the warmth penetrates her skin.
“We can come out more often. It’s not hard to talk Thauglor into basking in the sun for a while.
” I smile down at my mate, watching her open an eye and smile, looking at me.
Her iris catches the light, golden and luminous, a treasure in itself.
Thauglor rumbles deeply, the sound vibrating through the ground beneath our feet, expressing how much he’s enjoying the sun on his scales.
“Can we go for a quick flight? It’s been forever,” Mina asks as she backs towards the cliff’s edge, her movements eager and light, like a child about to receive a longed-for gift.
“We can fly for however long or far you feel comfortable with.” I press my lips to her temple again and listen to her soft purring. The vibration is a tactile expression of her happiness.
“Balor, shift, and coil around my babies,” Mina calls back to the group, then walks over to make sure it was done.
When she emerges, she’s smiling from ear to ear, her joy infectious.
“Be a good daddy dragon and burn anything that doesn’t belong here.
” She kisses Thauglor on his maw, the heat of his breath stirring her hair.
I can feel the vibration from his purr even by the edge of the cliff, a deep bass note that hums through the stone.
He rumbles, telling her he would do it without hesitation, his massive head dipping in solemn promise. In less than twenty days, we’re all going to be fathers to possibly three little hellions. Definitely at least one little dragon with an unknown breath weapon.
“Let’s go,” Mina calls out and runs and jumps off the cliff, her body a graceful arc against the blue sky.
I watch her free fall for longer than I’m comfortable with.
My heart climbs into my throat, before she shifts and shoots straight up into the clouds, a flash of silver and emerald against the white.
Rolling my eyes, I step off the cliff backwards; the wind rushing past my ears, then shift shortly after I start falling.
The pain is brief but intense as bones crack and reform, muscle stretches and thickens, scales erupt from skin.
Several beats of my wings, the membranes stretching tight with effort, and I’m high above the cloud cover, gliding along.
The air is thin up here, cold against my scales, but pure and clean in my lungs.
Mina is darting in and out of the clouds, playing in the updrafts, leaving swirling trails in her wake.
I can feel her joy like it’s my own, a warmth that spreads through our bond despite the chill of the altitude.
When she comes to glide beside me, I can see the scale that Balor gifted her just behind her skull.
The single black scale stands out against the emerald and silver armored scales that protect her body, gleaming in the unfiltered sunlight.
She’s a little over half my size now, and it amazes the hell out of me.
At the rate my mate is growing, she will hit wyrm status long before her twenty-fifth year.
She falls back just enough that I am leading the flight over the territory of her birth. ‘How are you holding up?’ I check in with her to make sure she’s not fatigued after being underground for so long, our mental bond a warm pulse between us.
‘Doing good. Thauglor keeps giving me glimpses of Balor coiled around the eggs. He wants me to enjoy my flight.’ Her voice sounds like a siren’s song in my head, melodic and enticing.
She suddenly banks right, and I flap hard to follow her, muscles straining against the sudden change in direction.
I feel the lightning build in her, a crackling energy that raises the scales along my spine before she unleashes it on something below us.
‘Get inside!’ She yells down the bond, her mental voice sharp with alarm, then starts igniting the woods below us, her lightning striking like the wrath of an angry goddess.
I focus on where she’s striking, and it’s drow hiding in the shadows, their pale forms barely visible among the trees.
Fire burns in my throat like liquid magma, searing my insides, before I set the woods on fire, the heat of my breath making the air shimmer.
Several screams can be heard before they are extinguished forever, the sound oddly satisfying to my protective instincts.
I summon the drakes of our flight to assemble in the lower courtyard, ready to defend the nest, the mental call stretching out like a net.
Thauglor has sent his descendant and Balor inside with the eggs. Then he changes his mind, his thoughts sharp with urgency. He changes the order to have Zigmander phase them into the sealed hidden chamber off the hot springs, where the air is dense with mineral-rich steam.
Together, Mina and I set about three miles of woods on fire, eliminating the drow from our land.
The smoke rises in thick, black columns, carrying the acrid scent of burning vegetation and flesh.
We turn and start flying back once we’re sure the threat is neutralized, the landscape below us scarred black, still smoldering.
Mina is quiet in the bond, but I can feel the rage burning under the silence, like magma beneath a seemingly dormant volcano.
The whole territory feels off now that we dispatched the drow.
How many other threats have we missed by focusing on protecting the clutch?
Before I can react, Mina is already in motion as a stream of acid comes shooting up from a group of cedar trees.
The caustic liquid hissing as it cuts through the air.
She takes a direct hit to her underbelly, and it slides off her scales like water, the protective layers doing their job.
The suppressed rage surfaces as she dives for the tree line, her body a silver bullet aimed at her target.
The crashing of the other dragon trying to escape can be heard, branches snapping, undergrowth crushed beneath its weight.
Eventually, it breaks through the canopy, and it’s a green dragon.
Its body is lithe and sinuous as it takes flight, trying to outmaneuver Mina, emerald wings beating frantically.
‘I’ve got it. His name was Mertz. He’s my sire’s cousin,’ Mina says coldly as she glides behind him, watching him panic. Her mental voice is like ice now, all traces of the earlier joyful flight gone.
‘Playing with your prey, my treasure?’ I’m amused watching Mina play cat and mouse with what used to be a flight mate, her control and power evident in every wingbeat.
‘Green dragons can talk to each other across great distances. It’s the secret of our flights,’ Mina says, relaying a fact I wasn’t aware of, the information sliding into my mind like a new puzzle piece.
‘I want my father to know what I’ve become.
’ No sooner does she finish the statement than she uses her lightning breath weapon and fries the green dragon mid-flight.
The blast illuminates the clouds from within.
I watch as his body crashes into the trees below us, vanishing from sight, the impact sending a flock of birds scattering from nearby branches. ‘Are you okay? Are you tired?’ I maneuver myself to line up under her, ready to catch her if needed.
‘Exhausted,’ she moves from over me to under me and gets within reaching distance for me, her wings struggling to maintain altitude.
Carefully, I grip her dragon’s body in my taloned hands and pull it flush to my chest as she folds her wings in; the membranes making a sound like sails being furled.
I feel her start to shift and adjust my grip as her body shrinks to her human form, the transformation causing her scales to recede with a sound like sand sliding over stone.
Gently, I cup my hands around her human body, holding her close to my chest, her warmth a stark contrast to the cool air surrounding us.
I can feel her exhaustion seeping into my hands, a heaviness that speaks of pushed limits.
She overdid it. For now, she’ll rest in my grip, and I will guard her fiercely, my wings carrying us home as the sun begins its descent toward the horizon, painting the clouds in shades of fire.