ready.”
“I’ll never love him the way I loved you.”
“And that is my biggest fear. That you will forget me faster than you think.”
I stared at him for a couple of seconds and then our lips touched. It was a feverish kiss and one I didn’t want to end.
“I want you to live, I want you to love again. Make love, have babies, Elena.” He touched my face gently with his thumb. “And I promise you, you’ll be happy. Just trust him.”
I squeezed his arms and they wrapped around me tighter.
Blake hurt me once, I didn’t know if I could let him in again.
We kissed for a second time and the same funny zing feeling inside my stomach started to turn. I knew what it meant.
“I’m going back?”
“It’s time princess. This is the last time I’ll visit. I love you, Elena Watkins,” he whispered inside my ear and then everything started to fade.
T WAS DARK but I could hear things going on around me. The clatter of a pan and Julia’s voice apologizing to Constance.
I knew where I was without having to open my eyes. The pain I’d felt the day I claimed Blake was gone. I took a deep breath and struggled to open my eyes.
“I think she’s coming to,” a male voice said. It was Sir Robert.
“Elena, can you hear me?” Lucian’s mom asked.
“Give her some time. She’ll get out of this soon.” I heard Constance putting them at ease. Her hand touched my head. “At least the fever broke.”
My eyes opened slightly, I could see the outlines of a bunch of people around my bed.
“Will she be okay?” Becky asked.
“Just give her time. She’ll be fine.”
“What happened?” I croaked.
“My stupid brother. He’s such a coward,” Sammy sulked through a blocked nose.
“He couldn’t control it, Samantha,” Sir Robert spoke softly. “It needed to happen.”
“How do you feel?” Becky asked.
“Like I exploded and was brought back to life.”
“Yeah, sounds a lot like mine,” Becky answered.
“Wait, you went through this too?” I opened my eyes more but my head ached and spun like a whirlwind. I closed them again as my entire face pulled at the pain.
“Here, let me help.” Constance’s hands rubbed my temples softly. At first I thought she’d lost her magic touch when nothing happened, but when the swirling started to calm down and the pain started to disappear, it felt amazing.
“King Caleb is trying to make your claim against Blake unofficial. He’s saying you are a dragon and you can’t be his rider.” Becky sounded angry. “He’s trying to get Blake to become Arianna’s dragon since you interfered.”
“That won’t happen.” Constance eased her worries. “Blake is the Rubicon. Arianna won’t be able to control him.”
“What were you thinking, Elena?” Sammy said.
“The claim was legit. My foretelling was exactly that. I had to claim Blake in order for the truth to be revealed. King Albert and Queen Catherine are my parents.”
Everyone gasped and I opened my eyes. Becky was sitting at the left side of my bed. Right next to me, Constance’s eyes looked worried. Her eyebrows knitted together. Julia froze in one spot right in front of my bed. Queen Margerite looked at the ground and on my right were Sammy and her father. Didn’t Cheng tell them? Urgh, my evil twin.
“I knew it,” Sir Robert said.
“Why didn’t Cheng tell us?” Constance asked.
“Because evil Elena made him promise not to. I did horrible things to that dragon.”
“Which I’m sure he will forgive, Elena.” Constance eased my worries.
“What is it Margerite?”
“She would’ve told me,” Queen Margerite looked at him. “Katie was my best friend…”
“They were in danger during that time, Margerite, they wouldn’t have.” Constance carried on rubbing my temples.
The Queen was my mom’s best friend?
“She’s a dragon, how is that even possible?”
“Easy,” I said. “I was sick and Tanya sacrificed Cara, her Thunderlight, to save my life.”
They all looked at me and then back at one another. Queen Margerite closed her eyes. “She didn’t betray them, she sacrificed her child to save her sister’s. There is no greater love.”
“She just left you?” Constance asked, shocked.
“She was a Chromatic dragon. She said that my dad, I mean Herbert, Jako, whatever his name was, kept moving to all the big cities and she couldn’t turn into herself. She couldn’t stand it anymore and when my mom died, she was free to go back to Paegeia, so she left.”
“Jako raised you?” Sir Robert asked.
I nodded as I turned my gaze to his. He looked to the ground and hurt pulled