Dragon's Isolation - Miranda Martin Page 0,4

Tajss told you. You can know on your own.”

“Sure, Mommy,” Malcolm says, shrugging. “But I’m not going to lie to you either.”

“Thank you, baby,” I say, pulling him into a hug.

I crush him against my chest. I don’t want to let him go. The world outside is terrifying, and I can’t do anything about it. It’s enough to drive any mother nuts.

“Too tight!” he exclaims, squirming his way out of my grip and dropping to the floor.

“Okay, go play,” I say.

“Okay,” he says, then stops in the doorway to his room. When he turns back, he has a faraway look on his face. “I’ll stay home.”

“You will?” I ask. “I thought you wanted to go?”

“Yeah,” he says, shaking his head. His eyes focus back on the here and now, and his shoulders slump. “I guess I’ll stay.”

I look at Shidan, who gives me a subtle shake of his head to indicate he doesn’t understand this change either.

“Okay baby, thank you,” I say.

“Sure,” he says, turning around, tail limp and dragging as he mopes his way into his room.

“What was that?” I ask.

“Our child is in tune with the planet,” Shidan says. “Beyond that, I do not know.”

Not an answer, but I don’t have one either. Shidan slips the leather straps that will hold his lochaber over his arms and around his wings. I watch, silent. My stomach churns uncomfortably and pressure pounds in my head.

“Is there anything I can say?” I ask at last, and he stops to look at me.

“Amara,” he says, taking hold of my upper arms. He stares into my eyes with an overwhelming care and intensity. “I love you. You truly are my everything, but you need to believe. Our love is one that goes beyond anything the stars themselves can count. My love for you is eternal. Nothing can ever tear us apart. I won’t let it.”

“But what if…” I trail off. I can’t say it. Can’t even think it.

He kisses my forehead then wraps his arms around me one last time. If only he would understand what I’m feeling. There’s a certainty, I feel it in my bones, I’m certain something terrible is about to happen. It’s barreling down on us like an incoming enemy ship and I have to stop it. But I can’t see it to do anything about it. I can’t even put it into words.

“There is no “what if,” my treasure,” he says softly.

“You don’t know that,” I disagree. “You could… anything could…”

My throat closes, and no more words will come. Anger is so much better than these depths of despair. All I can imagine is a nebulous future where I’ve lost him, my perfect Shidan. The man I never saw coming who is now the man I can’t live without.

“I will be careful,” he says. “This I promise you. I will do all I can to be safe.”

“You better,” my voice squeaks as I force the words out.

I hug him tighter. He holds me in silence, giving me this moment, because that’s the man he is. Perfect. Patient. Giving. My everything, damn it all. He’s my everything, and letting him go right now is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

All my life has been hard choices, but none of them compare. I force my arms to relax. The muscles resist, some primal instinct urging me to not let him go. Scared of what I don’t know, but a total certainty something awful is about to happen.

“I will, my love,” he says.

I let go of him. Silent, I watch him finish attaching the harness across his chest. Then he slides his lochaber into place between his wings. He opens the door, steps into it, and stops. He turns and his radiant smile is on his face.

“I love you” bursts out of me.

“And I you, my treasure,” he says.

The door closes, and I stand, staring, until Malcolm calls for me. Reluctantly, I turn away from the closed door, knowing, deep in my bones, something terrible is going to happen.

2

SHIDAN

The City is quiet. Strange to think it’s only been a couple of years, a blink of an eye really, since quiet was my normal and sound would be the unusual.

Until four days ago, though, the City wasn’t bustling with sound, but it felt… alive. Now it feels empty. Alone. No one is moving on the streets, no banging as people work to clean out debris from the buildings. No construction. No conversation.

It’s a sobering situation, and despite my attempt to