her lip, realizing that Hadrian had been alone, without parents or siblings, just as she had been.
“Darian buried them in a clearing in the forest that was tranquil beyond all others, ensuring that they remained in the shape of a heart together, their hands entwined. He created a marker of steel forged in dragonfire, a heart that he had thought too fine to be a knocker. He realized then that he’d been unwittingly saving it for this use.”
Rania recognized the marker as the one she’d seen in the forest, and her heart thundered at the importance of that spot. It was a Pyr grave, but that of a Pyr with his mate. Hadrian’s parents. She swallowed. There had been a second marker, there, though, as well, and she had a feeling whose grave it might mark.
“Darian pledged to raise their son as his own and asked Loreena to be his bride. She agreed and they were happy together, in their own way. They prospered and they never forgot the dragon and his mate, ensuring that the boy knew his heritage and legacy.”
The vision spun again, seasons passing with dizzying speed.
“It was twelve years later when Darian had a dream. He awakened with a smile but no memory of the dream’s details, save the word ‘Boreus’. He conferred with Loreena but neither could make sense of it. Hadrian was tall and lanky by this time, on the cusp of manhood, and though the smith had watched, he had never yet seen any sign that the boy had inherited his father’s nature. On that very day, a stranger approached the cabin. He looked somewhat like Notus, but older, and when he offered his hand, he introduced himself as Boreus, cousin of the boy’s father, come to teach Hadrian what he needed to know. The younger man with him was his own son, Alasdair.”
“You,” Balthasar said.
Alasdair smiled.
Once again, Rania watched a dragon being tutored by other dragons. Alasdair was hematite and silver, but much more slender and agile in this vision. His father was amethyst and silver, a doughty opponent who moved with deliberation. He was both precise and encouraging in his instruction and Rania watched Hadrian master his skills.
“Darian and Loreena then had the honor of watching a Pyr instruct one of his own. They were as thrilled as Hadrian when he mastered the art of shifting shape, when he learned to fly, when he breathed fire for the first time. The cousins worked together day after day, until Boreus had been a fortnight at the blacksmith’s home. He had come on the new moon, the first new moon of autumn, and by the full moon, he announced that he would return home. Hadrian chose to go with him, and though the blacksmith and his wife were saddened by this, for they loved the boy dearly, they knew it was right for him to be with his own kind.”
The vision showed that cabin and clearing, the night sky overhead filled with stars. A yellow moon rose, hovering over the trees like a great lantern, then three of the people in the clearing shimmered blue. They shifted shape, one becoming a larger dragon of amethyst and silver, one becoming a slim dragon of hematite and silver, and the third becoming a slender dragon of emerald and silver. The three dragons bounded into the air and took flight as one—and if the youngest was a little slower in making the transition, the delay was barely noticeable. They circled the cabin as the couple below waved farewell, then turned and flew into the night. The trio were silhouetted against the moon for a long moment, then flew on, as swiftly as the night wind.
“And each year, on that same new moon, Hadrian returned to his foster father and mother. He stayed that same fortnight with them, helping them, breathing fire for their forge, taking them on dragon flights, until the day he arrived to find only silence. He found them still abed, for they hadn’t awakened that morning, their bodies curled together and their hands entwined. Their posture was the same as that of his own parents, all those years before. What he didn’t know was that Loreena had been ill and Darian had finally told her that he loved her with all his heart. The confession had been her greatest joy and she had died, after hearing it, thanks to Maeve’s curse. Darian hadn’t been able to imagine his life without her, and he