Chapter 29
Caspian stared at me, confused. He cocked his head and studied me, and I could tell that he didn't believe me. "What?" he asked, finally, after a moment's pause. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I have a dragon," I replied. "His name is Shilan."
"Dragons aren't real," Caspian said. He shook his head. "I would've known if they were real or not."
I raised an eyebrow. "Really?" I asked, and he nodded. "Did you know that Dwarves were real?"
He opened his mouth, so say something, but he closed his mouth. "Well..." He trailed off and rubbed the back of his neck while he cleared his throat. He didn't meet my pointed gaze, and I could tell that he was feeling slightly uncomfortable. "I knew that there was such a thing as Dwarves."
"But you had never seen any," I pointed out. "You knew that they were real, even though you had never seen any."
"Well, neither have you," Caspian retaliated. He gave me a pointed look, and I raised an eyebrow. "Or have you seen one before rescuing me?"
I shook my head, no. "However, I do sometimes stay in a place that they had made," I replied. "I knew that they existed."
"What about dragons?"
I shifted in my seat and sighed. "I wasn't taught that much about dragons," I replied, honestly. "But I was taught that they had existed before."
Caspian furrowed his brows and cocked his head.
He looked confused, and I had a feeling that it was because he didn't know why I wasn't taught about dragons either.
"Why weren't you taught about dragons?" he asked.
"You are part of the Hargen Tribe, and from what I gathered, they should be able to have that information. "
"They should," I confirmed. "However, I wasn't allowed to have it." I sighed and moved a hand through my hair, wondering what I should tell him and what I should keep private, at least for now.
"Tell him everything," Shilan said, listening in on my thoughts. "Tell him what you know and don't know."
"You're a bad influence on me," I grumbled with pursed lips and narrowed eyes. "What if Jonah and Ard?n did not want him to know?"
Shilan mentally shrugged, and I could tell that he was nonchalant and didn't care. "Then they should have said something," he replied. "They know that you're talking to him."
I furrowed my brows, confused. "How?" I asked. "How do they know that I am talking to him?"
"Because they are here with me," Shilan replied. "And I told them."
"Shilan," I scolded, not really liking the thought of them knowing from someone else besides me. "Why did you tell them?"
Shilan mentally grinned, and I held back an eye roll. "They asked. Don't worry; I didn't tell them anything else. All I said was that you were talking with the prince and that I had told you to tell him that you had a dragon."
I huffed and mentally nodded. "Fine," I grumbled, knowing full well that I wouldn't be able to do anything since he had told them already. "I still don't like the idea of them knowing that he knows."
"You don't like anything that I tell you to do," Shilan pointed out, and I snorted. "I mean, you didn't like me telling you to say the prince's name, but it got him to be out of his stupor."
I huffed. "True," I replied. "But some of this stuff could lead us to get into trouble, or him, and I do not like the idea of him being in trouble."
"Awwww," Shilan teased. "You like him. Should I start singing that song?"
"No," I warned, knowing full well what he meant. I kept my cheeks from turning red, but it was hard to do, and I had a feeling that they turned slightly pink because Caspian raised an eyebrow.
"Why are you blushing?" he asked. "Is it because of me?" An innocent smile appeared on his face, and I snorted and rolled my eyes.
"You wish," I replied coldly while I tried to get my cheeks under control and not blush.
"It is," Shilan teased.
"Shut up, Shilan." My cheeks turned a darker pink at my dragon's teasing. "This is your fault."
Caspian raised his eyebrow higher and smiled. "I think it is," he teased. He cocked his head and studied me intensely while I tried not to blush. "But I don't know why you are bushing. It is amusing, however, and I prefer the blush over the scowl."
I rolled my eyes and scowled, and he grinned innocently.
"Very funny," I said dryly, and his grin grew wider until it seemed to touch his cheeks.
I cleared my throat and licked my lips, thing to get my blush under control.
"My dragon is stupid, is all." I shrugged. "He doesn't know when to shut up."
Caspian nodded, and I could tell that he still didn't believe me about having a dragon. "What is his name?" he asked.
"Shilan," I replied. "His name is Shilan." I cleared my throat again and shifted in my seat. I was nervous, anxious even, about him knowing my dragon's name when he hadn't met him before.
"Cool name," he said. "So you can talk to him through your mind. Is it like a mind link?"
"It is a mind link," I corrected.
"How?"
I raised an eyebrow in question.
"How does it work? Do you say something, and he hears it and vice versa?"
I nodded. "That is exactly how it works," I replied. "He can also hear my thoughts, and I can hear his."
"How did you get the mind link?" he asked.
"From being marked," I replied. I shrugged and grimaced. "Each Dragon Rider can hear another dragon once they have been marked by their own."
"There are more dragons?"
I sighed and shook my head, a deep sadness filling the pit of my stomach because I knew that there weren't that many dragons except for the one I had. "Unfortunately, no," I replied solemnly. "There are more Dragon Riders than me, but I am the only one with a dragon."
"What happened to the other dragons?" He cocked his head and studied me. Realization dawned in his eyes, and I had a feeling that he knew what had happened to them. He frowned and looked down at his hands before he looked at me. "Oh."
I nodded. "Ya," I replied. "Oh."
Caspian cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, feeling slightly uncomfortable. He shifted in his seat and got comfortable before he cleared his throat again. "What about the other Dragon Riders?" he asked. "What happens to them when their dragon dies?"
I shrugged. "Some die," I replied, "when their dragon dies. Others are killed with their dragons or before." I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat. "The rest live."
"Do you know where the live Dragon Riders are?" he asked.
I shook my head, no. "Only two," I replied. "One of them is an Elf, and the other is a Human. However, the Human is much older than you and I."
"How is that possible? How is he much older than us?"
"Dragon Riders are immortal, I think," I replied, furrowing my brows and shrugging my shoulder. "Even when their dragon is killed, at least the human dragon riders are. Elves and Dwarves are immortal no matter what."
"So, you're immortal?" Caspian asked, and I nodded. "But, you can still be killed."
"Age won't kill me," I replied. I shrugged and grimaced. "I guess you can say that I'm half immortal because age won't kill me, but other things will."
Caspian nodded. "What are their names?" he asked. "The other Dragon Riders?"
"Jonah and Ard?n," I replied. "I won't give you their other names because names have power and so forth, and it is up to them to give them to you.
" I gave him a pointed look, and he slowly nodded his head, not even fazed about me, not giving him that information.
"Jonah is a Human, and Ard?n is an Elf."
"Does he, Ard?n, know what SN means?" he asked, and I was slightly surprised that he remembered the conversation that we had a couple of nights ago. "Since you said that these are made by Elves." He reached under his shirt and pulled the hidden necklace from under his shirt.
"Yes," I replied. "And so do I."
He raised an eyebrow but stayed silent.
"It means, S?lan N?ran or High King. Ard?n is the High King of the Elves, and you are under his protection."