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Aiden
Seeing the excitement in Valentia’s face when he meets Brooke is at once rewarding and frightening. Rewarding because I love knowing that Brooke can garner such admiration from one so aged. Frightening because the more I learn about being the Chosen One—little as it is—the more I begin to understand what a responsibility it is.
“Tell me,” Valentia says to Brooke, “What do you admire the most about Aiden?”
Brooke blushes a little, and I attempt to rescue her from an awkward conversation. “She admires much about dragons and feels that dragon kind and humanity have an excellent future together.”
“Of course, they do,” Valentia says. “That’s not in question. What’s in question is how we get there. Do we arrive via the path of fire, the path of ash or the path of blood?”
Once more, Valentia speaks in riddles. I admire him perhaps more than any other dragon in history, but it frustrates me sometimes when he speaks like this. I wish he would just be clear.
Miraculously, Brooke seems to understand immediately what Valentia is saying. “I think we would all prefer the path of fire, but perhaps the path of ash is necessary to avoid the path of blood.”
Valentia laughs, a deep, booming sound that resonates throughout the caverns. “I like you,” he says to Brooke. “Oh, you truly are wonderful. Tell me, has Aiden read his poem to you?”
I cast a warning glance at Valentia, who pointedly ignores me.
“He wrote a poem?” Brooke asks.
Valentia laughs again. “No, he is the subject of a poem written long before my great-grandfather was born.”
He recites the poem from memory, and when he finishes, I ask, “If you knew this poem all along, why didn’t you tell me when I asked you about being the Chosen One?”
“I didn’t know it all along,” he said, “Petyr made a copy for me.”
I smile wryly. I should have known Valentia would ask for any information on the Chosen One.
“Tell me, Brooke,” Valentia asks. “What do you think the poem means?”
Brooke considers a moment. “I don’t know about the entire poem, but that last part, the part about rising from the ashes of darkness and pain, I don’t think it’s talking about Aiden’s pain. Not specifically his pain, anyway.”
Valentia shakes his head in an expression of interest that a human probably wouldn’t recognize. “No? Who’s pain?”
“Everyone’s,” she replied. “Dragons and humans. I think that the prophecy means that he will rescue both humanity and dragon kind from the ashes of darkness and pain.”
“And what do you think this darkness and pain is?” he asks.
“There’s no need to get into that,” I say, “Ancient One, please. We know that it’s a mystery if there’s any substance to this prophecy.
“We know nothing of the sort, Your Highness,” Valentia counters. “In fact, I believe very much that there’s truth to it.”
“I believe it’s some sort of conflict,” Brooke says. “The poem talks about rescuing dragon kind from the iron hand. It talks of how humanity will be blessed by the Chosen One’s arrival, so I think that there will be a conflict between humans and dragons and the Chosen One will save the world from that conflict.”
“Interesting,” Valentia says.
I have other words for it. The idea of a conflict between dragons and humans is terrifying. Dragons can do devastating damage early on in a conflict between us, but I am under no illusion that we could survive a long fight with humanity. There’s a reason why dragons have remained hidden from humans for so long, a reason that Lord Brantley doesn’t understand or can’t accept.
There are billions of humans. There are a few thousand dragons. In an all-out conflict with humanity, we will be wiped out. Those are the ashes of darkness and pain that I fear.
“I think it’s a happy poem,” Brooke says, still discussing it with Valentia. “Darkness and pain are unavoidable, but this prophecy focuses on how darkness and pain are impermanent and the Chosen One will lead us to a brighter future.”
“I agree with you, Brooke,” Valentia says, “You have wisdom far beyond your years. You truly are the fated mate of our Chosen One.”
We talk for a few more minutes. The conversation turns away from the prophecy to basic questions about dragon kind that Valentia is all too happy to answer. When he tires, we bid him farewell with a promise to see him soon.
I take Brooke back to her estate. She invites me to join her, but I have a lot of royal work to complete tonight, so I promise to visit her tomorrow instead.
