Page 53 of Dragon Eternal (Dragon Kings 4)
“You don’t have to continue.”
He shook his head and faced her. “It isna as if I doona relive it. It’s always there. What is the difference in telling you?”
“I’m a stranger who knows nothing of what you endured.”
Shaw attempted to smile before sighing and looking away. “Being King of Sapphires was hard. I was pulled in hundreds of directions every day. I hated it. And I loved it. I didna see my brothers as much as I wanted, but they were with me. Ross was well cared for at all times. It took a while, but I settled into a routine of sorts. I’d meet the other Dragon Kings, and, of course, Constantine, King of Dragon Kings.”
“What?” she asked in shock.
A soft chuckle fell from his lips as he looked at her. “Did you think we wouldna be governed? The magic of our realm is specific. Only the very strongest of the Kings, the one with the greatest power, can be King of Dragon Kings. Con is the perfect person for the position. He puts us and the dragons above all else. I’m no’ sure I could’ve done the same in his position.”
“I’m sure you could.” As a matter of fact, she knew he would. They shared a long look. She was the first to look away.
Shaw cleared his throat. “It was a normal day when we first learned that new beings had arrived on our realm. Humans. The Kings approached them together, and it was there that we shifted for the first time. I’m no’ too proud to admit that it scared the shite out of me. None of us knew what was happening. Just this awful pain that consumed us. Then, it was gone. Leaving us in these new bodies.”
She almost asked what he looked like as a dragon, but her attention was drawn to him as he lifted his hands and flipped them back and forth, gazing at them as if for the first time.
“My talons were gone. My tail and wings were gone. I was in a body I didn’t know how to move or use.” Shaw slowly lowered his arms to his sides as he met her gaze. “The humans talked amongst themselves, shocked and scared. We pick up languages quickly. Con was the first to speak. Dragons communicate telepathically, so to hear his voice outside of our heads stunned us all. We quickly realized that the humans had no magic. They had no way to protect themselves or even find shelter. We offered them sanctuary on our realm. We taught them how to hunt and what locations would be safe for them.”
Nia was speechless. To have such powerful beings like the dragons open their home to those they could’ve wiped out in an instant was astounding, to say the least.
Shaw continued. “Our new bodies were no’ the only things we got. The tattoo you see? Each of us has one. Some say we’ve always had them, but that our scales hid the design. I think it’s something the magic gave us when we shifted. From then on, we’ve been able to shift back and forth at will.”
“And the humans?” She swallowed hard when his face went taut.
“Things began all right. Humans breed quickly, though. It wasna long before every dragon gave up land so the mortals could spread out and grow. Then came the time when the dragons snacked on mortals that crossed boundaries. Humans also hunted the smaller dragons for food—and sometimes for sport.”
Her stomach knotted. This was where the hatred and fear stemmed from. It had to be.
“Still, we took mortal females as lovers. Some dragons had an issue with it. More humans had a problem with it, though.”
“Were there children?”
Shaw shook his head. “Two different species. In some instances, the females became pregnant, but most miscarried quickly. Few rarely carried to term. Those who did birthed stillborns.”
Nia had never wanted children, but she couldn’t imagine the pain the women or the Dragon Kings must have endured.
“Until recently, no child between a Dragon King and human has ever lived.”
Her mouth fell open.
“I’m getting ahead of myself,” Shaw said. “First, you need to know about the war. Ulrik, King of Silvers, who was more of a brother to Con than anything, fell in love with a mortal. Dragons mate for life. We know when we find our mates. Ulrik believed he had found his with Nala. Ulrik’s uncle, angry that he wasna King, turned Nala against Ulrik. Mikkel told her that she needed to kill Ulrik on their wedding night. Con noticed Mikkel acting weirdly and overheard what was being plotted. Con gathered us and told us.”
“Ulrik was furious, I suspect.”
“He told everyone but Ulrik. Con wanted to spare him any pain.”
Nia snorted. “That didn’t work out, did it?”
Shaw shook his head. “We hunted Nala down and killed her. When we told Ulrik, he was devastated. And furious. He didna lash out at us as he should have. Instead, he gathered his Silvers and began attacking the humans. There was verra tenuous peace between us as it was, and that severed it. The Kings were divided. Some went with Ulrik because they were tired of seeing their world destroyed by ungrateful mortals. Others remained with Con.”
“Which side did you fall on?” She was almost afraid to ask, but she had to know.
He held her gaze and said, “Ulrik. I watched the mortals hunt down the Pinks. They were the smallest of the dragons. No’ much taller than my knee. I saw humans encroach more and more past the boundaries of their land and onto my clan’s and other clans’ land. They were never satisfied with what they had. They always wanted more, and they didna care how they got it.”
His words made her ashamed to be a human.
Shaw ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. “I wanted them gone. We had made a vow to protect them, and Con held to that. He was the one that reminded us of who we were. Of why the magic chose us. But I saw the mortals as bullies, just as my father was. The Pinks? They were slaughtered. I heard Con. I knew he was right. I also knew that if I kept with Ulrik, if I allowed my Sapphires to kill the mortals, the magic would choose a new King. And I didna care.”
The resentment and rage were so thick, Nia thought she could reach out and touch it. Had he never spoken of this before? Had he kept it bottled up all this time? She feared the answer was yes.
He made a sound in the back of his throat. “Con and the others made me see reason, even though I knew the only way for us to have our realm again was to wipe out the mortals once and for all. Con kept saying, ‘That isna who we are.’ It wasna who we were, but we had reached a tipping point. It was all-out war then. None of us could stop Ulrik. He and his Silvers continued their destruction. The worst part of all was the Kings who told their dragons to guard human cities against Ulrik and his Silvers.”
“What was wrong with that?” she asked when he didn’t continue. He was silent for a long time before he blew out a shaky breath and fisted his hands.
“The mortals killed the dragons.”
She was aghast. “What? I don’t understand. Didn’t the dragons fight back?”
“They had been ordered by their Kings to guard and protect the humans.”
Nia brought her hand to her mouth as tears filled her eyes.
