Once upon a Dragon Gift (Once Upon a Dragon Series Book 4)

With this new revelation, I tried with everything in my power to find what there was to know about Thunderlights.

The king had a vast collection in his private library about dragon breeds.

Mom entered the library and kept me company.

She didn’t speak, which I was grateful for. Her presence alone was all I needed.

They were such magical dragons; I couldn’t fathom why there were a dying breed, extinct and rare.

She was a kind dragon from what I remembered. She stayed most of the time with Jako, especially when Tanya had to do errands for the queen.

I couldn’t understand how she could’ve done that to her daughter. I saw it through the Dent, but I never understood.

“Blake,” my mother said, and my gaze lifted from the book I was reading through. “You need to find a way to forgive and forget.”

“Mom,” I breathed.

“No, just listen, please. It’s a lot to carry, and I know you are angry. Your mission changed; it got more dangerous because of Cara and that spell. You need a clear mind, heart, and soul if you are going to succeed, and being angry with the king, it’s not going to help anything.”

“I could’ve saved her, Mom. Cara could’ve been alive, but they didn’t think this through properly.”

“Stop, you have no idea what you are talking about. I know you roamed these halls with Anouk as little dragons, but we tried everything in our power to hide certain things from you, Blake. From all of you. That time was probably one of the scariest times, and I fought wars. I saw how cruel humans can be. But to see your friend disappearing in front of your eyes, becoming a shell of a person, that paranoia, not knowing who was going to betray them.” She swallowed hard. “It makes me sick just thinking about it.”

“Mom.”

“I understand why they didn’t tell your dad.”

“Dad would’ve never—”

“They were not Dents, Blake.”

“He would never, Mom!”

“I know that, and you know that. They didn’t. I just want you to have a different type of perspective. You were the first Rubicon we ever met. We didn’t know what it was you could do. So it’s easy now for your father to say you could’ve healed her, but to be honest, we don’t know if you could. You were still little yourself.”

I got what she was saying. “It’s not just the king and what they did. It’s what I did, Mom.”

She frowned. “What did you do?”

“I killed so many people when I was with Goran. I almost killed one of my best friends, and the worst part was that I liked it. That is not normal.”

She sighed. “You were not you, Blake.”

“Mom!” I looked away.

She grabbed my chin and forced me to look back at her. “No! You were under a sadistic narcissist’s spell. He loves the killing and the destruction. It was his spell. It wasn’t you; the spell just made you think it was.”

Tears welled up my eyes as one rolled over her cheek.

“Bastard.”

“Mom, please.”

“No, Blake. I still struggle with the fact that it was him. That he did this to everyone I cared about. We all protected him. We all loved him like a brother, and he did that.”

I grabbed her hand and squeezed. He was our villain, but every villain was someone’s friend, someone’s brother.

That night I laid in bed. I still saw her face just before the vortex pulled her in. I felt how the spell left me and reality came back.

It wasn’t supposed to be her. Those were Lucian’s words. It was supposed to be him.

Maybe he would’ve broken the spell, maybe his uncle would’ve killed him. Nobody would know.

A knock sounded on the door, and I climbed off the bed and opened it.

Emanual blocked the entrance. “We’re back, come look.”

King Helmut must’ve heard about the findings and must have send him to assist.

I followed him, and he led me to one of the empty rooms that King Albert had just finished renovating.

The only piece of furniture was a long oblong table. Burned scraps of artifacts littered the top. I walked closer and picked up some of it. One was a wallet, the contents inside missing. Didn’t know if it had any or whether it got burned.

A brush, something that resembled a piece of a bow, and one of the wyvern boy’s wooden carving toys. A little tin soldier.

I tried to find anything that Arianna could use to do another scrying spell, but it was all burned, had lost the essence of the one it belonged to.

A sigh pushed past my lips as I walked to the door.

Emanual touched my shoulder, and I stopped. “Blake?”

“There is nothing of use. I don’t know where they are.”

The disappointment washed over his face, and he nodded before removing his hand from my shoulder.

I went on a flight and carried on with my searching. Revealing spells left my lips every time I felt something. There was nothing, only my desperation of wanting anyone to be here. Not that it would help, but the revealing spells weakened them. My eyes could easily pick up the rest.

My ears perked up at a rustle, and I flew as fast as I could, only to find Jako’s fleet.

I told him about the latest discovery, leaving out the Thunderlight.

“I heard.”

“Then why aren’t you going back? He asked you to come.”

“Because my daughter is still out there, Blake.”

“This is important, Jako. Go, the king needs to speak to you.”

“Fine.” He looked at the fleet. “Don’t wait for me. If you hear anything, go after it, get my daughter back to safety.”

All of them nodded as Jako and I left. Our paths split as I searched for another hour.

When my claws skidded on the top of the east tower, I could hear Jako demanding why King Albert had summoned him back.

“Calm down,” Tanya’s voice followed. She was already waiting. It must have been hard for the king not to utter a word, or maybe he had. It was hard to tell with her. She was so different from the king and Dad. Was much more open-minded with things.

The scales on my body retreated as it got replaced with skin and a much smaller body than my dragon figure. My hair blew in the wind that was coming in from the north as I walked with huge strides toward the door.

I opened the tower’s door, grabbed a robe, and pushed my arms through it. Once I pulled the garment over my head, gravity set in and the robe covered my entire body, reaching mid-calf. I skidded down the steps, still tuning in.

“What is going on?” Jako finally asked.

A sigh, probably King Albert’s, filled the room. “One of the search parties found Goran’s location.” His voice reached my ears at the same time a chair thumped backwards. “They are gone already; sit.”

Jako’s grunt filled the room as I neared the king’s office. I opened the door and found Dad standing against the wall with folded arms.

“Anything?” Dad asked, and all of them fell quiet, staring at me.

I shook my head.

Silence lingered again.

“Is she even still alive?” Jako asked, his voice faltering at the end.

“She is. She will not shake off the spell, either.”

“Why not,” Tanya spoke, and I got my answer. The king didn’t tell her yet. He waited for Jako. She carried on, “Lucian said that they created that spell for a dragon. Elena is human.”

King Albert just stared at her and shook his head.

“Stop shaking your head and give me an answer,” Tanya demanded.

“The spell awakened Cara. The scout told me with his dying breath that Goran had a Thunderlight. Your daughter didn’t die. She was asleep all this fucking time, and that spell needed a dragon, which woke her.”

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“Which bring us to another situation. What are we going to do to break Goran’s spell?”

“Ask Lucian to take her place,” Tanya replied as if Lu’s life meant nothing.

“Lucian? You think Goran hasn’t changed his tactics after what happened to Blake?” Jako yelled. “This is all your fault.”

“I know; you don’t have to yell. Believe me, you can’t punish me more than I do. I sacrificed our daughter so that another can live, and now we have another decision to make. I can’t, not again.” She looked at King Albert.

“She is supposed to be Blake’s rider,” Jako said. “She can’t be his rider if she is a dragon, Tanya.”

“I know. Okay, I know. You think I don’t know how dangerous this was from the beginning? That was my baby—”

“Our baby and you just…” He grunted, as they had already had this fight a long time ago. His fist covered his mouth as he closed his eyes. Tanya looked away, crossing her arms, sniffing as tears rolled down her cheek.

King Albert had no words.

“So you have absolutely no idea what to do in this situation?” I asked.

Tanya sniffed as she turned her head to me. “No, I do, but nobody will do that.”

“Which is?”

“Kill her dragon form.”

Silence filled as we just stared at Tanya.

Jako murdered her with his gaze.

“What? You said it yourself. She can’t be his rider if she is a dragon.”

“Oh, and killing her again is the answer?” Jako asked.

“She isn’t supposed to have woken up. She was supposed to have fallen asleep and gone to the after-life. That is not our daughter.”

“Not our daughter! How can you be so sure? Such a monster with Cara.”

“I had no choice! Elena would’ve died. I loved Cara with all of my heart, but that was her destiny.” The words vibrated from the windows as they fell from her lips.

The pain in this room pulled at my heartstrings. It was still such a raw subject between the two of them.

“No, you loved your sister more,” Jako spoke.

“Stop, Jako.” The king put his hand on his arm. “I can’t imagine what it was you went through when losing Cara, discovering what your wife—”

“Ex-wife,” Jako spat.

“What Tanya had done to save Elena’s life. It wasn’t just her fault.”

“Al, don’t.”

“No. It was mine and Catherine’s as well. There were other ways to save Elena’s life—”

“There was nothing, Albert. Nothing. We tried!” Tanya yelled. “There were so many doctors, I remembered as I took away that memory, and when I discovered what her foretelling had meant, I cried for days, days! I loved my daughter, but she is not here. It’s not Cara inside of Elena. If you want Elena back, kill her dragon form.” Tanya got up and walked out of the office as Jako remained seated and stared at his lap. Tears rolled down his cheek.

“I killed her once already. I can’t do it again,” King Albert stated.

“We have no choice, Al. Unless we want to lose Elena too,” Dad spoke.

“Just hold on,” I said and walked closer, splaying my ass on top of the table, scratching my forehead. Was this even a solid plan?

“Blake?” King Albert said, ready to dismiss the idea without knowing what it actually was.

“What if I try to claim her in order to break the spell?”

Their gazes flickered to me.

“Son?”

I showed my father the palm. “Hear me out. We are a Dent. If she is a dragon, then that would automatically make me the rider now. What if I claim her in my human form? If we can save them both, the spell might break.”

Silence continued around us.

“Her being a dragon might not be such a bad thing. The claim,” King Albert said.

“You think it will work?” Dad asked.

“It has to. She is part of the Metallic race as I remember there wasn’t a bad scale on a Thunderlight,” King Albert explained.

“Okay, but she isn’t a dragon,” Jako pointed out. “Not really.”

“There is potent magic in the claim, Jako,” King Albert responded. “If Blake can claim her, it will break the spell. It was why we wanted her to reclaim him.”

“And then what? She is claimed, she will still have her dragon form. How is that going to work, Al?” Jako asked.

“I don’t know. We can cross that bridge when we get there. I’m only thinking of getting Elena away from Goran’s spell. Focusing on one thing because I’ll go crazy if I have to focus on all of them.”

“We have to try it,” Dad said. “And decide for our selves if it is Cara inside of her or just an idea of her.”

Albert nodded as Jako’s eyebrows furrowed, trying to make sense of it.

I touched his shoulder. “It’s breaking the spell. I’m still the dragon and not giving anything up. I’ll always be a dragon.”

Jako sighed. “It sounds better than killing her.”

“Then it’s set. If I find her, I’ll try to claim her on the spot.”

Jako nodded and got up.

“Where are you going?” King Albert asked.

“To find my daughter. Both of them.” Jako walked out, and his footsteps sounded through the hall.

“I’ll go with him,” I said and followed his lead.