AllFreeNovel
Share Us
twenty
ELODIE
When we got back to the living area of the mountain, I didn’t ask them to lead me back to my room. They took me to what looked like a small cafeteria, or a large kitchen and dining area.
Eli grimaced when he saw me.
“I’ll grab your food. Sit down and rest,” Jasper said, striding off toward the place another dragon was already filling a plate.
I crossed the room and took the seat next to Eli.
“How bad is he?” Eli asked.
“Bad.” I ran a hand through a few of my waves.
There was dried blood in them, too.
“He didn’t agree to leave?”
“No. He won’t abandon you guys. He says you’re family.”
Eli’s forehead wrinkled. “And you’re not?”
“I don’t know. He still thinks he can survive down there for six months.”
Eli scoffed. “Cocky moron.”
I couldn’t exactly argue in the dragon’s defense. Not against the moron part, at least. And he was definitely cocky. That much was a fact.
“What are mated dragon pairs like?” I asked him, changing the subject.
It was a question I needed answered before I could even consider my terrible plan.
“Annoyingly close. The mental bond kind of ensures that. They’re rarely separated, but when they’re apart, they can communicate continuously. It drives you crazy in a way you can’t help but like.”
“Does the thunder always come first?” I asked.
“No. Most mated dragons spend their lives in the human world, and only come back to Main Mountain when we really need them. It’s been decades since we’ve called a mated dragon in. The only female here all of the time is the one mated to the leader of the thunder, if he’s paired off.”
Wow.
“So if I mated with August after all of this is over…”
“You’d probably go back to that cabin and live happily ever after.”
My throat swelled again. “Are you sure he’d be willing to leave? He won’t even abandon the prison to save his life.”
“Leaving now would put him in exile,” Jasper said, taking the seat next to mine. He set a plate down in front of me, holding on to his too. “If anything ever happened to you and he needed the thunder’s assistance, tradition would require us not to answer him. He would be alone. If he makes it through his six months, he’ll regain his standing with us, and be free to live his life with you without losing us.”
“You’re his brothers, but you’d walk away if he chose not to keep suffering in jail?” My voice was incredulous.
“It’s not us he’d lose, it’s everyone else.” Jasper gestured around the room, which was full of dragons eating and talking. Many of them were looking at us while they did one or both of those things.
I couldn’t claim to understand completely, but it did make more sense to me after their explanation.
And after everything I’d seen of August, had he ever put anyone else’s safety and well-being above mine?
No.
