Page 3 of Dragon Eternal (Dragon Kings 4)
CHAPTERONE
Cairnkeep
Shaw stood with his eyes closed on the cliff near Cairnkeep and listened to the dragons. The flaps of their wings, their roars as they called to one another, and the whoosh as they flew. He had missed the sounds the most.
He drew in a deep breath and slowly released it, enjoying the feel of the sun upon his face. The dragons’ peaceful noises calmed the rage inside him. Most of his Dragon King brethren pretended that fury didn’t exist. But it was there.
Always.
Until now. For the first time in ages, he felt as if things were back to normal.
Except, they weren’t.
They were far from it, actually. Yet, for this moment, he could pretend as if they were on Earth, that the dragons had never been sent away, and that they had never heard of humans.
Sadly, all of that was simply wishing. Because the mortals had come, there had been a war, and the dragons had been sent away. For so long, Shaw, like many Dragon Kings, had feared they would never find their dragons again.
He opened his eyes and looked at the mountains around him. Zora. A realm the Dragon Kings only recently discovered that had been the dragons’ home since that fateful day on Earth. Zora was a spectacular realm. Majestic mountains, breathtaking plains, stunning forests, and everything in between. Every vista was dazzling in its splendor. The sky was brighter, the oceans bluer, the grass greener.
Shaw felt whole once more. And it was all because he was with the dragons.
Yet he knew his time on Zora was limited. He and the other Dragon Kings were there simply to seek out something that had been able to attack and killed dragons—something that had never happened before.
The crunch of grass alerted him that someone approached. He glanced over to find Merrill. Shaw had never been much of a talker. Merrill made up for that since he never seemed to shut up. He wondered if Merrill would give one of his pep talks. The thought nearly made Shaw smile, but he swallowed it before Merrill could see.
“I’ll never get tired of this view. Or any view with dragons,” Merrill said. “I saw all of you every day. I suppose that should be enough, but it wasna.”
Shaw grunted. The Kings had hidden their identities from the humans on Earth, only taking flight at night or during storms.
“I missed seeing my Oranges. I missed gazing at my clan,” Merrill continued, his dark blue eyes on the dragons in the distance.
Shaw glanced at him. The pain etched on Merrill’s face was the same every Dragon King endured from the instant they’d sent their dragons away to save them. But this was the first time in ages that he had seen it on Merrill’s face. Shaw frowned, a small niggle of worry taking root. Then he realized who he was thinking about.
If anyone had gotten past the anger, heartbreak, and misery, it was Merrill. He had been born blessed with a sunny outlook. There were times that Shaw had been jealous of Merrill’s ability, but Shaw had accepted who he was long ago.
Merrill pulled his gaze from the dragons and shuttered his agony. “I wonder if they’re changing up our patrol area. The desert area I had was pretty, but I’d love to see some water. Maybe look for some caves.”
Shaw shrugged. He had no idea why he and Merrill had been called back to Cairnkeep. For weeks, each of the Kings had had a designated area along the dragon border in hopes of finding the new threat. It was bad enough that this new invisible foe had killed dragons, but the twin rulers of Zora—Brandr and Eurwen—had also been attacked.
“I think this has something to do with Cullen.”
Shaw frowned at Merrill.
Merrill ran a hand through his dirty blond hair and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Cullen arrived a few minutes ago. I was hoping he’d bring his mate, Tamlyn, with him. I can no’ wait to meet a Banshee.”
Shaw turned to face Cairnkeep. The twins hadn’t built a large castle or any such structure. They had kept things simple with separate cottages to call their own. Shaw didn’t blame them. He wouldn’t have built anything if it were him. Then again, the twins were half-dragon, half-Fae.
And were incredibly powerful as children of the King of Dragon Kings—Constantine—and a royal Light Fae—Rhi. The twins had seen the mistakes the Kings had made on Earth, and they had been determined to do better when humans began arriving on Zora.
Shaw had to admit that Brandr and Eurwen had done things well. They had sectioned off a good-sized area for the mortals and told them to do with it what they wanted, but that they wouldn’t get more land. So far, the humans hadn’t tried. They would. Eventually. Shaw was curious to see what the twins would do when that time came. Hopefully, he and the other Kings would still have access to Zora to find out.
“I wonder how long we’ll be allowed to stay after we find this new enemy,” Merrill said.
Shaw shook his head and shrugged.
“It’s easy for them to look at our decisions and point out where we went wrong, but we did the best we could,” Merrill continued. “It also seems like the twins’ relationship with Con and Rhi is improving. I think that’s a move in the right direction.”
Shaw shot him a dry look. Merrill was crazy if he thought millennia of contention between parents and children could be healed in a few months. Granted, Con and Rhi hadn’t even realized they had children. That was because Erith, also known as Death, had intervened to save Rhi after she was attacked. By taking the embryos so Rhi could heal, Erith had created a ripple through time that had affected everyone. Rhi hadn’t known that she was pregnant, and once she was healed, Erith hadn’t been able to put the babies back.
So, the twins had a healthy dose of anger toward their parents. Like Merrill had said, it was easy for someone, especially a child, to look back and point out the mistakes of a person’s past. Con was far from perfect, but he had set aside his wants and needs—and his love for Rhi—for the Dragon Kings.
Fortunately, Rhi and Con had found their way back to each other—as all of them had known they would. Now, the couple was getting to know their children.
“Here they come,” Merrill said.
Shaw spotted the dragons flying toward them. He caught sight of Con’s gold scales as well as Cullen’s garnet ones. It wasn’t long before he spotted Vaughn’s teal scales, and beside him, Eurwen’s peach body and gold wings. The last one to arrive was Brandr. His gold scales faded to beige on his stomach.
