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“Your refusal lacks conviction. There’s no use lying to yourself.”
“I’d prefer if we just didn’t speak of Julian at all. Would you mind answering some questions? I could use an Ancient’s insight.”
She nodded her head, and it was then I noticed her ears were slightly pointed at the tips.
“Is it possible for the Prophecy to be wrong? Or, I don’t know—” I shrugged, “—maybe even possible to change the outcome of the Prophecy?”
“The first thing you must realize about prophecies is that they are female in nature, which means they are reliable to a certain extent. The goddesses are fickle creatures and can stab you in the back just as they hold out their arms to catch you when you fall. Prophecies also hold a vagueness about them that could allow free will to interfere if necessary.”
That sounded just crazy enough to be something the goddesses would do. I’d always secretly wondered if our lives were so long because it took an eternity for the gods and goddesses to decide what they wanted to do with us.
Esmerelda chuckled, a high-pitched laugh that sounded like bells ringing. “You know the story of how the gods Banished the five warriors to this Realm because they couldn’t decide which of them would be king.”
I nodded in agreement.
“I can see from your memories that the new archives of your clan are lacking some of the knowledge of the original archives that were stolen. Allow me to illuminate you a few things that were missed. The goddess gave each warrior—Niklos, Gregori, Dimitris, Lucian, and Thelos—a scroll containing the Prophecy after the Banishment. These five were the last pure bloods our race has known, and they each did their best to create as many offspring as possible. Once the clans were plentiful in number, the five Archos set out to discover each other’s lairs so they could kidnap the female Drakán and try to mate with them. It was the only way to ensure The Promised Child would be born since both parents had to have Drakán blood.”
“But the five pure bloods didn’t succeed in creating The Promised Child,” I said. “You’d think it would only be their power that was strong enough to ensure the salvation of our race.”
“The Prophecy says The Promised Child shares the blood of two Descendents. It could be anyone. Anywhere. The five pure bloods had their chance, but they all met with untimely deaths before they could breed with other Drakán females.”
“You were alive when this happened?” I asked. If this was true than Esmerelda could very well be the oldest Drakán in existence.
“Yes, though I was still a newling. As you know, Niklos was beheaded by his wife and torched. But the others shared a similar fate. Lucian was poisoned by an enemy and then turned to ash. Dimitris was killed in a terrible battle. Gregori was killed by another Drakán in a duel over a woman. And Thelos was captured by the Faeries and tortured before he was burned. The Faeries’ magic was powerful enough that they could emulate the heat of dragon fire and turn a Drakán to ash.”
“I didn’t know that.” I filed the information away. It gave me a new respect for Esmerelda’s powers.
“I wouldn’t expect you to know, but it’s not a secret. Just as it’s not a secret that Thelos was my father. But my mother was Faerie and her people didn’t care to have their royal princess stolen and impregnated by a dragon.”
“I can imagine. What about Julian’s parents? They were both Drakán. This is one of the things that led me here. You have to admit that there are aspects of Julian’s powers, combined with his parentage, that give me good reason to suspect him of being The Destroyer,” I said.
“Maybe you should ask yourself ifyouthink he is The Destroyer. Mates should know each other better than themselves. What does your heart tell you?”
“To stay away. And I’ve already told you, I have no plans of becoming Julian’s mate. No matter what he says.”
Esmerelda sat there and stared at me patiently until I felt I had to explain.
“I know that there’s an attraction between us. A need comes over me whenever he’s near. I won’t belong to anyone, and I’d never let him have that much control over me. It’s best I leave before things get too far out of hand.”
I realized I was moving the cooling eggs around on my plate instead of eating them, and I set my fork down deliberately on the table. I needed to get back in control and not let Esmerelda distract me from my goal.
“I also don’t trust Julian,” I said. “His psychic power makes mine look inconsequential.”
“Julian is unique in many ways, but he is not who you are seeking,” she said. “The human world is vast, and the Drakán are not the only race to have lost their homeland. It would benefit you to remember that in your search for The Destroyer.”
“What is that supposed to mean? Does that mean The Destroyer isn’t Drakán? I couldn’t care less about any other creatures or what has happened to them at this point. No offense.”
“None taken,” she said, her smile genuine. “And yes, The Destroyer is most definitely Drakán. Julian’s parentage has never been a secret among our own clan, or a secret from the other Archos. I can’t say that is always the case for other Drakán who share similar parentage. Many of them relish their privacy.
“You know that Julian’s father was Dimitris. But did you know that Dimitris was the most feared of the five warriors? He was of royal blood, a prince of the Realm, and the true heir to the throne. He was the cruelest of all the Drakán, and he was very angry the gods didn’t choose him as king just because he was the next in line.”
“Then Julian should have the right to call himself king until The Promised Child is found,” I said, surprised by this information.
“I agree, but Julian is not his father and he wouldn’t presume to second-guess the gods as Dimitris would. Julian knows well how cruel his father was. Dimitris was a warrior so fierce it was said no woman would bed him voluntarily for fear of being torn in two with his ferocity. He saw all things in terms of battle, and he constantly schemed to eliminate the offspring of the other Archos so they could not produce The Promised Child.”
“What happened?”
“Dimitris set out to find Gregori’s clan first. This was long after he created his plan to kill your own grandfather. It took Dimitris more than two hundred years to track them down, and by then Gregori had hundreds of children and human mates in his clan. I was a newling when this happened, barely a hundred myself, but I remember the stories of destruction as if it were yesterday.
