Jalisa didn’t seem to care. She never seemed impressed or taken with me when we were in the same vicinity. Even when Iwas instructing her class. Her eyes looked serious then, as if she were really listening. Not distracted at all. I found it…annoying. I would place myself in her presence time and time again, but she rarely seemed to notice or care.
But then I stopped focusing on her noticing me and began to really notice her. And what I saw was magnetic. She was strong, intelligent, sophisticated, helpful, and not a follower, despite being a soldier. She took orders, but she sought to understand the reason for such orders. She asked questions others were too scared, bored, or simple-minded to ask. I enjoyed when she asked me questions in training that pushed me to think further. It made me better. She would have been an amazing leader had her family not finally succeeded in forcing her to leave the military. However, by then, we were already in love.
Lila placed a plate filled with pancakes, sausages, and scrambled eggs in front of me. I looked around their dining area in their large house as if just now recognizing where I was. “You okay? Want to talk about anything?” she asked with a concerned look.
She looked over to Luca, sitting across from me, and they exchanged knowing glances. Guess he told her about my run in with my ex. This is why I hated telling those with partners anything. Nothing stayed secret.
I rolled my eyes in annoyance and scooted closer to the table. “No, I’m fine. This looks delicious. So, where was I?” I picked up my knife and fork and began to cut into my pancakes. “I’m sure Luca told you there are four different types of dragons. The most common and boring are fire dragons like Luca.”
Luca grumbled something intelligible as he bit into a sausage. I wondered if he ate like this all of the time. I was a little jealous. I didn’t always enjoy cooking, but that was mostly because it was just me, and cooking for one got boring and cumbersome with figuring out how to lessen the ingredients or overbuying.
I took a bite of the pancake and nearly floated to the heavens. It was sweet, not too sugary, with a mixture of cinnamon and caramel and a hint of coffee. A flavor that was unique to the realm but that I’d tasted before from having visited Lila’s bakery in the past. “I’d like to put in an order for these at least once a month.”
Lila sat down between us at the kitchen table. “Not a problem. So, you were saying fire dragons were the best?” She rubbed Luca’s arm, who practically preened like a cat.
I rolled my eyes. “Actually, no. The next common dragons are water. Dragons are rare to begin with, but if you want to get really rare then you have your wind dragons and finally ice dragons. Ice dragons are most superior. So welcome to the best group.”
Luca snorted. “If I knew you were going to tell her lies then I wouldn’t have invited you.”
I shrugged. “I can’t help if it’s the truth. Anyway, ice dragons are not common in this part of the realm at all. They like colder climates, of course, and many have gone to the human realm and have assimilated. So, it’s unsurprising you would be part ice dragon.”
She picked up her glass of water. “Besides the weather, why would the ice dragons run off?”
“It’s easier. Dragons aren’t treated the best here. I know Luca told you.”
He nodded as he chewed. “We get treated like objects. We do more labor jobs, are forced into the military, and put in the front lines and often overworked. And despite us being an asset, we rarely have the access that the fae have. Most of us can barely get out of working-class status. Prinath is better with how they treat dragons, though.”
I sighed, stabbing the cheesy scrambled eggs with my fork. My displeasure at talking about how dragons are treating mounting.“Yeah. Nodoor was not so great. Better since the end of the war. But when the war ended, I jumped at the chance to leave. I might have told Aaron it was to be a supportive best friend, but I had other reasons. Anyway, that’s why I don’t advertise that I’m a dragon. I want people to see me more than just a tool to be used. And now I’m here as an instructor with the military, living pretty well.”
Lila balanced an elbow on the table, scrunching her face in thought. “So do you think my kind are in the human realm and not here?”
“That or somewhere they can have portal access to the human realm. Prinath controls all the portals in the unseelie realm so if they are over here, they are from a kingdom that had Prinath permission to get to a portal. There aren’t too many of those and even less ice dragons that I know of. More of them are in the seelie side, and because the seelie actually don’t mind humans, I’d find it more probable that your kind came from the seelie side, but there is no way to know. I’m sorry. I’ll make some inquiries through my network. And since we’re both ice dragons, you can consider me family.”
She smiled, her hazel eyes softening, and reached over to pat my hand. “Well, thank you, Cousin Ivan.”
I popped a piece of sausage in my mouth. “Since we’re family, I’m hoping you’ll invite me over to dinner more often.”
She chuckled. “Definitely.”
Luca reached over and rubbed her back, grinning between us. “Just don’t eat up all our food.”
I tilted my head from side to side. “No promises.”
Lila leaned back and clapped her hands. “And since we’re family now, do you really not want to talk about running into your ex? I understand you’re helping her get out of an arranged marriage, but we all know that won’t be simple.”
I tossed my head back, a rush of overwhelming feelings overtaking me. I was going to see Jalisa that night, and while I was looking forward to the reconnection, I was anxious. It’d been over three years, and the last time I saw her, she’d looked at me with such devastation, I thought I’d die on the spot. And it plagued me that all these years she believed a version of me that I despised.
I went back to cutting my pancakes again having no clue how or if I wanted to get into this conversation. “I know it won’t be simple, but I’m willing to do whatever she needs to get her out of a forced marriage. I met him, and he seemed like an ass. I don’t want that for her.”
Lila gave me a wistful look. “Do you still love her?”
“I don’t know.” I did know. She still filled my dreams. Dragons didn’t let go easily.
“Did she break it off with you?”
“Yes.”
“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”
