Page 48 of Dragon Mine (Dragon Kings 2)
Chapter Eighteen
Zora
Brandr paced his cottage until he could stand it no more. He walked out the door, and even though he told himself not to look toward Eurwen’s place, his head turned anyway. There was no movement outside. He didn’t know if his parents were there or somewhere else.
He was tempted to find Varek. He hadn’t wanted to like the Dragon King, but the simple fact was that he did. It helped that Varek had freed the dragons from imprisonment.
Brandr opened his mental link and reached out to his generals to see if they had learned anything.
“The four humans I’m following have remained on their side of the river. They’ve no’ found the crone as of yet.”
“Thanks,” Brandr said.
Nundro, another of his generals said, “More and more dragons are growing uneasy. Tempers are flaring. I’ve broken up two fights already.”
“Fights are no’ uncommon,” Brandr reminded him.
Nundro snorted. “These are no’ common skirmishes.”
“I see.”
And Brandr did see. Whatever he’d felt was causing more and more disruption on his realm. The answer seemed simple enough: Get the Dragon Kings off Zora immediately. That should right things instantly. He’d known that Eurwen had been wrong to create the doorway. If she really wanted to meet their parents, she could’ve done it on Earth. No one needed to come here.
He didn’t care about the Kings’ wishes to see the dragons. In his mind, they’d lost that right when they sent their clans away without finding them a proper home. He didn’t care that they’d never left their realm. To blindly open a dragon bridge to some unknown place was tantamount to murder in his mind.
Brandr stilled when he heard a woman cry out in pain. He frowned, wondering if it was Jeyra. He didn’t know much about the mortal, other than that she was Varek’s mate. She appeared quite capable, however. In fact, she would’ve been someone Brandr would have considered entertaining as a lover. But he didn’t tread on other’s territory.
The woman shouted again. This time, he was certain it came from Eurwen’s cottage. Instantly, he reached out to her via their mental link. No matter how many times he said her name, Eurwen didn’t respond.
“I’ll kill each and every one of them if they harm her,” he vowed as he strode angrily across the expanse to his sister’s home.
Brandr threw open the door to find Con, Rhi, V, and a pregnant female. The woman was propped up on Eurwen’s bed, her long, blond hair stuck to her face from sweat. Her lips were pulled tight in pain as she gripped V’s hand as if her life depended on it.
The King of Copper’s face was set in determined lines as he softly urged the woman on. But Brandr saw V’s fear.
Rhi sat on the bed near the woman’s feet. She had her hand on the mortal’s protruding stomach. “Breathe, Claire. That’s it. Just breathe.”
In an instant, Brandr realized what was happening.
Con suddenly stepped into his line of sight. “I hoped to meet you, son. These are no’ the conditions I expected to see you under, however.”
“Where’s Eurwen?”
Brandr saw the briefest of frowns on his father’s face. “She didna tell you?”
“Would I be asking if she had?” he snapped.
Rhi suddenly said in a clear, authoritative voice, “Enough, you two. Outside. Now.”
Con walked past him without hesitation. Brandr hesitated a heartbeat before turning on his heel and following his father outside. Brandr closed the door and realized that Con had strode farther away from the cottage.
Growing more irritated by the second, Brandr lengthened his strides to catch up with him. When he did, Brandr glared at him. “Where is my sister?”
“She went with Vaughn, Jeyra, and Varek to Dreagan.”
“She wouldna.”
Con stoically stared at him. “She did.”
Brandr didn’t want to believe it, but Eurwen would never go without answering his call no matter how angry she was with him. The fact that she hadn’t answered earlier confirmed what Con had said.
“I didna know she left without telling you,” his father said.
First the doorway, then Vaughn. And now, this. Brandr felt as if he were losing his sister. He wasn’t sure how or why it was happening. They’d always had each other’s backs, but she was doing things completely out of character lately. And he wasn’t sure what to do.
“She’s merely getting a tour of Dreagan,” Con told him. “Something you’re welcome to do anytime.”
Brandr shook his head. “Nothing on your realm interests me.”
“As I told Eurwen, we’re no’ here to try to take over or invade your realm. Rhi and I are here to see the two of you.”
“You’ve seen. Now, leave.”
