AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Humans were so callous.
I don’t think Owein meant to hurt you, Seren said.
It stings as if someone shoved me across gritty sod in a sparring match.
“Your Highness!” With too many Highnesses present, I clarified. “Prince Kelyn!” I turned to him and started across the lawn to their mini tournament, picking up my skirts as I went. Kelyn must have sensed my urgency because he dropped his mallet and headed my way. I stomped my initial displeasure over Owein’s ill-timed goodbye before Kelyn drew up, but impatience danced under my skin.
“Niawen, what can I do for you?” Kelyn’s gentle touch on my wrist electrified my urgency.
“Your Highness—”
“Please, just Kelyn.”
I swallowed, and my head bobbed. “Kelyn, I haven’t been honest with you. I’m not the only one who came into this realm from Gorlassar. My home is also called the dragon realm and for good reason.”
Kenrik reached us, with Brenin trailing beside him, carrying an armful of croquet balls. “I remember the scrolls the scribes copied. Your ancestor—she wasn’t alone either, was she?” Kenrik studied my face with his deep-set eyes.
The moment of truth. My ears burned from his intensity. I gnawed my bottom lip as I returned his brown-eyed stare. Kenrik would welcome Seren. His face—his light—told me I didn’t have to fear. I exhaled a held breath. “The sorceress you speak of was Siana. She’s the only other emrys to leave Gorlassar. Her dragon was Nimue—a pinkish flesh-colored dragon. Is that whom you remember from the scrolls?”
Kenrik nodded. “The creature was the color of pale skin. Yes. With talons and scales. Kelyn, you remember the picture. A giant, fearsome beast with wings like a bat’s. The sorceress sat upon her back.”
Bat wings? Seren grumbled. We aren’t related to bats, even in the slightest way.
I know. I’m sorry. “Yes, Kenrik, that’s her!” I nearly jumped with relief. Siana and Nimue had once come this way.
Kelyn inclined his chin slowly, as if considering all the ramifications. How did the ancient scribes portray Nimue? Did flames shoot from her mouth? Were her lips curled back, revealing her pointed teeth? They might think she was a monster, yet Kelyn still sought Siana out to heal his mother. He obviously didn’t think she was a danger. Even so, his apprehension waved like a leaf trapped in the wind.
I needed to crumple that uncertainty. “I came with a dragon—my dragon sister, Seren. She seems imposing, even dangerous, but she wouldn’t hurt a mouse. And I’d say she’s more like a flying lizard.”
Silence while I squeezed my fingers into the fabric at my side.
My eyes darted to each brother. Both as different in mind as in stature. Kelyn, tall and wiry, while Kenrik was my height and solid. He accepted the impossible while Kelyn wanted so much to believe me.
Kelyn’s blue crystalline eyes swirled with the questions Kenrik’s did not. Kenrik’s acceptance was almost the same attitude Owein carried for Seren. No otherworldly beast seemed to shock them.
“Where is she?” Kenrik asked.
“She’s been hiding,” I said. “We didn’t want to scare anyone. This is such a new world, and we were waiting for the right opportunity to show her. I was going to tell you about her later today.”
“But…?” Kelyn shifted his weight, as if settling in for an explanation.
“She’s on her way here, with Owein. He left.” Without a goodbye. “I told her to bring him back.”
Kenrik snapped his fingers. A guard emerged from behind a shrub. It was then I realized the royal family was always watched. We appeared to be enjoying an afternoon to ourselves, but servants and guards were just a command away.
“Your Highness?” the guard asked.
“Sound the alert,” Kenrik said.
The man nodded.
I grabbed Kenrik’s firm arm. “She won’t harm anyone. She’s my sister. I’m her guardian. She’s everything to me.”
His fingers dropped over mine, and my heart sped faster than a gallop. “I know. You misunderstood. I’m making sure no one will harm her.” Before Kenrik took off to the courtyard, the guard, who had started on his way, blew two short bursts into a horn.
“Come.” Kelyn turned me toward himself, tearing my gaze away from Kenrik’s shrinking figure, and as he did, a wash of his understanding bathed me. That’s when all the tension left. That’s when my body gave way to the peace of my spirit. Kelyn had seen the rigidness in me, and with a touch—fingertips on my shoulder—he let me know he was on my side. I was forever grateful.
“Let’s meet this dragon of yours,” he said. “Any sister of yours is welcome, even if she is a beast.”
