Page 71 of Protecting my Human
My comment led to Alistair arching a brow.“Sound like a fairy tale.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Nessie murmured.“Tiamat often muttered about needing to be ready before The Destroyer woke.Her belief in it was part of why she wanted to ingest you and the hatchlings so badly.”
“Tiamat was crazy.Pretty sure I’d know if there was a dragon as old or older than me on this planet,” Alistair remarked.
“Would you if it’s been sleeping all this time?”I queried.
“I’ll have Oliver look into it,” Alistair declared.
“Have me look into what?”Oliver asked as he came trotting into view with an armful of fabric.
“We’ll discuss it on the morrow.”As Alistair pulled on some pants, and I tugged on a shirt, Oliver turned to Fiona and held out his coat.“Sorry.I have nothing else.Can I offer you a ride somewhere?”
“Actually, I think I should like to remain, if Nessie wouldn’t mind?”Fiona glanced at the water dragon, who bobbed her head.
“I wouldn’t mind the companionship.”
“Excellent, although I am upgrading my room.Can you believe Tiamat had me quartered in the same hall as those smelly Red Caps?”
“Uh, yeah, I don’t think there’s many, if any, left of those,” Alistair’s sheepish reply.“They kept getting in my way when I was seeking Malone.”
“There won’t be any of those monsters left once I’m done cleaning,” Nessie’s vehement promise.“I must get my house in order in case the hatchlings visit.”
“That might not be a good idea,” Alistair cautioned.“Tiamat’s influence might be too strong, given how long they stewed in their shells.”
“I’d like to think they got some of their father’s goodness,” Nessie replied.
“Their father?You know who the unlucky bastard was?”
Before I could open my mouth, and mitigate the bombshell, Nessie blurted it out.“You are.Did you not know?”
Judging by his wide eyes and dropped jaw?Nope.
“Impossible.I refused her request, quite vehemently I might add.”
“According to Malone, you’re the daddy,” I murmured to confirm Nessie’s admission.
The revelation struck him mute.
Nessie’s head lowered.“I’m sorry, Ali.For some reason, I thought you knew or at least suspected.”
“All these centuries, I thought I’d escaped before she….”He couldn’t say it.
“That’s what she wanted you to think because the truth would have seen you killing her.”
“Fucking right I would have,” he seethed, pacing stiffly on the beach.He shifted suddenly into his dragon, and before I could blink, frost shot from his snout and hit the trees, turning them to ice.A lash of his tail shattered them.But still his anger seethed, and he rose into the sky, his wings spreading wide to keep him aloft.
Nessie craned to watch him.“I didn’t know he could blow ice.”
As something glowing green spewed from his mouth next, and fell, landing atop the trio of Blue Men trying to sneak out of the lake, Nessie murmured, “Acid too.”
“Is that unusual?”I asked, but before she could reply, Alistair landed and shifted—and this time I didn’t avert my eyes from his naked form.
“Bloody hell.”He raked his fingers through his hair.
“Well, I now see why your brood have such an eclectic mix of abilities.Exactly how many gifts do you have, Ali?”Nessie tilted her head as she queried.
“More than I’d like to admit,” he muttered.“Being born in a more savage time led to me acting in ways I wouldn’t dream of now.”
