Page 52 of Dragon Mine (Dragon Kings 2)
Now it made sense to her. “Dragons mate for life, but humans and Fae don’t.”
Vaughn slowly nodded his head. “Con has long feared how mortals might respond mentally to being immortal. It isna in their DNA to live that long. Though that wasna his only concern. At one point, he actively tried to dissuade the Kings from taking mortals as mates.”
“How did that turn out?”
“As you’d expect. Once a dragon finds his mate, there is no one else for him. Con knew that. He understood it. But he looked to the future, as he always does.”
Eurwen scooted to the cushions on the sofa to support her back. “There is no divorce for dragon mates.”
“Dragons know this. Con tried to explain it to the mates, but all of them swore their love for their King. I believed them. We all did. Even Con.”
“But that doesn’t stop him from worrying that something might eventually tear one or more couples apart,” she guessed.
Vaughn slowly sat back as he sighed. “When I first became King of Teals, I remember looking at Con and thinking it couldna be that difficult to be King of Kings. I’ve learned from watching him over the eons that I had no idea what I was thinking. Con shoulders a great responsibility. He’s put his happiness to the side for ours, time and again. He’s always thinking about our continued survival and how we can find fulfillment and love while remaining hidden from the humans.”
“If any of the mates leave their King, it would mean death for both of them. A dragon can’t survive without its mate.”
“And the mates are tied to the King through the ceremony.” Vaughn’s lips twisted. “Every King here would like to have a child. But at what cost?”
“That’s what irritates you with Darius and Sophie, isn’t it?”
He nodded. “We all resigned ourselves to never having children. We expected to live out eternity alone. Then the unexpected happened, and some of us began finding mates.”
“Perhaps more change is coming. Brandr and I were born. Granted, not of a human but rather a Fae.”
Vaughn’s gaze was focused on a spot before him, though he absently nodded.
Eurwen knew he was most likely entering a dark place with memories of his lost child. She put her hand atop his to get his attention. “Take me to your mountain.”
“What?” he asked as he turned to look at her.
“Your mountain. Take me to it.”
His face softened. “All right.”
She got to her feet and pulled him up by a hand. “Let’s go.”
“Now?”
“Why not?” she asked.
He smiled and linked his fingers with hers. “Why no’, indeed.”
When Vaughn turned her toward the door, she tugged on his arm to stop him. Then she shook her head. “I’ve another way.”
In the next breath, she teleported them to the back of Dreagan Mountain.
“It’s still too light for us to fly,” he told her. “We’ll have to walk.”
“Which direction?”
Vaughn pointed to the west.
Eurwen focused on one of the mountaintops as far as she knew she could teleport and jumped them there. One mountain at a time, she teleported with Vaughn directing her until they finally reached his. She watched as the tension from the manor fell away from him. He took her hand and led her down one side of the rockface until they reached a boulder that hid an entrance to the mountain.
“I never wanted to be caught and no’ be able to get into my mountain,” Vaughn explained. “There’s an entrance at the base, one I use in my true form, and this one.”
Eurwen had always wanted to go into one of the mountains on Dreagan. Neither she nor Brandr had ever used one for themselves, but other dragons on Zora did. She often wondered if her Fae blood made it so she didn’t yearn for a mountain.
The instant she entered Vaughn’s mountain behind him, something moved through her. The sensation was one of comfort and solace. The deeper she went into the tunnel, the darker it became. Her dragon sight took over, allowing her to see easily.
Her hand was still linked with Vaughn’s. He led her through the tunnel that wound slightly downward. She spotted a couple of forks in the passageway but decided to ask about those later. Just as in Dreagan Mountain, carvings of dragons were prevalent all through the tunnel.
“Did you do these?” she asked.
Vaughn glanced at her over his shoulder. “I did.”
They were impressive. Some were lone dragons. Others clustered together. Some stood while more were in flight. Some were done as closeups, and still more were carved as if seen from a great distance. But they were all Teals.
The tunnel widened, emptying into a cavern. Eurwen paused to take it all in when Vaughn released her hand and walked ahead of her. A moment later, a ball of light emerged from his hand. It began rising into the air, growing larger and brighter until it touched the ceiling above.
Eurwen looked from one end of the cavern to the other. The floor was smooth and bare except for the occasional boulder. It almost looked as if someone had rolled them out of the middle. The arched ceiling that came to a point was high enough that a dragon could stand without hitting its head. The curved walls were absent of dragon carvings, but what stood out were the scorch marks made from dragon fire. And the scratches from Vaughn’s claws.
“This is where I slept away many centuries,” Vaughn said.
She made her way to one of the scorch marks and lightly ran her fingers over the burnt rock. “You did more than sleep.”
“I had to release my anger somehow. Allowing it to fester would’ve only made things worse.”
Eurwen turned her head to him. “And you couldn’t take it out on those you felt responsible.”
“Humans.” He shot her a lopsided grin. “That I couldna.”
