Dark Carousel (Dark #30) - Christine Feehan Page 0,103

It was a child’s dream, and there were new additions to it. Lourdes let out a squeal of excitement, dropped Charlotte’s hand and rushed to the lead dragon sitting in the yard. There were five of them. The leader was larger and made of blue stone. Lourdes petted it and slipped her arm around one leg to hug the animal before using the tail to climb onto its back.

Bella went right past the green and orange dragons, straight to the red one. She wrapped her arms around the red stone neck and hugged the dragon tight. Like Lourdes, she climbed up the tail to the neck so she could pretend to ride it.

Charlotte watched as both girls leaned down to whisper secrets to the rock creatures, delighted with them.

“Where’d they come from?” Amelia asked, coming up behind Charlotte. She walked silently, completely at ease in the dark and blinking a little when she came into the powerful light of the floods.

“Lojos, Tomas and Mataias created them out of some stones. Aren’t they beautiful?”

Amelia nodded. She moved to the orange dragon and stroked its head. “This one whispers.” She smiled, a smile of pure delight. “To me. It’s whispering to me.”

Charlotte frowned. “I can’t hear it. What’s it saying?”

Amelia circled the orange dragon’s neck with her arm and pressed her mouth against the ear. “It’s telling me I’m safe with it. I can’t hear any of the other dragons, but Bella and Lourdes are both talking to their dragons. I think they have chosen us. Or Lojos, Tomas and Mataias created them for us.”

That had to be. Lojos, Tomas and Mataias were ancient hunters. They hadn’t found their lifemates, yet they thought to give each of the children living on the property their own special dragon—dragons created under duress, when a battle was imminent. It was more than thoughtful, yet none of them could feel emotion for the children. What was the explanation? They were good men. It came down to that.

“Can the dragons fly?” Charlotte eyed Lourdes and Bella warily. The dragons had flown, but could they still? Certainly not with two three-year-olds on their backs.

Amelia frowned at her. “They’re made of stone.”

“That’s true, but still, they flew before.” She whispered so the two little ones couldn’t hear. “The dragons defended us when we were ambushed by Fridrick and some of his vampire friends.”

Amelia touched a long gash in the side of her dragon. She was silent for a moment and then she nodded. “That’s what happened here. It hurt. Yes, they can fly when needed. We have only to say . . .”

“Don’t say it aloud. Bella and Lourdes cannot be flying dragons around. Don’t let them know how it’s done.”

To her credit, Amelia didn’t laugh. “They would, too, the little demons. Bella’s so smart, Charlie. Even after everything that happened, she’s the most resilient of all of us. At first she was in a cage, but the monster threatened Liv with her. Indicated he would eat her alive. He actually pulled her from the cage, but she got away and from then on, she kept moving herself inside the tunnels so when a vampire or puppet tried to get her, she just simply went somewhere else. Once she knew they were bad, she played hide-and-seek with them.”

“Telekinesis,” Charlotte guessed.

Amelia nodded. “She wouldn’t leave Liv or me, although we both tried to make her go to Danny. We ended up making it a game, so fortunately, she wasn’t as traumatized as she could have been. Liv had it the worst, and I couldn’t do anything to prevent it.”

The guilt and sorrow in Amelia’s voice ate at Charlotte. Touched her heart. Tariq was right. The children needed guidance. Someone to love them. To help them.

“What gift do you have?”

Amelia rubbed between the ears of the dragon and then scratched the scales going down the graceful neck. “I can talk to animals.”

“What did they do to you in the tunnels, Amelia?” Charlotte kept her voice low. Gentle. No one talked about Amelia or what had happened to her. They knew Vadim had given Liv to a puppet and that Emeline had been assaulted by the master vampire, but what happened to Amelia remained a mystery and she evidently hadn’t talked about it to anyone.

Amelia’s smile faded, and she shrugged her shoulders. “Liv had it the worst,” she muttered.

Charlotte moved closer. “Whatever Liv suffered doesn’t take away from what was done to you, hon,” she counseled. “I hate what happened to me.