Betrayal Foretold: Descended of Dragons, Book 3

by Jen Crane

  But how? There was something I was supposed to do. But what?

  “Put your hands in the pot.” Gaspare’s voice whispered through my mind like a feather on a gossamer gale. It was almost never there at all.

  What pot? I wondered in my blighted state.

  Ohhhh. Realization came to me slowly, but I did as the voice instructed. When I submerged my incandescent hands in the thick mixture, the counter-spell concoction steamed and hissed and radiated into hundreds of tiny cracks before drying up completely.

  It worked. We had done it.

  Chapter 30

  “How will we know if it worked?” Gaspare’s hollow voice echoed and bounced down the hall of my brain. He was so far away. I couldn’t see him. Couldn’t see anyone. I could only faintly hear their conversation, and even then, it didn’t stick.

  “If Stella’s little light display wasn’t healing magic, then I don’t know if we can ever succeed.” Abia was distant, too, but confident.

  “So, you think it worked?” Gaspare’s tone was so careful, tinged with desperation, and something more: hope.

  “I think it worked.”

  “What about Stella?” Ewan asked impatiently. “She’s still in some sort of trance.”

  “I’d be more worried if she wasn’t,” Abia said. “My guess is her conscious mind couldn’t deal with the raw power she channeled and it shut down for a bit. I’ve never heard of anything like that in my life. Let’s give her a moment to recover before we start worrying.”

  “Why didn’t Gaspare light up like she did?” he asked. “He was the one we decided would channel the stars. It’s as if they shot straight down into her. I could see the white light glowing beneath her skin. It’s still there, but faint.”

  “Yes,” Abia agreed. “We chose Gaspare, but it appears the stars themselves chose our Stella.” Her hands were gentle and warm as she cupped the back of my head and ran her hands over my wild hair. “I always knew she was special.”

  “Rowan, how do you feel?” she asked after a beat. “Can you tell if anything’s different?”

  “I feel…I feel,” Gresham let out a shaky breath. “I feel free; lighter than I remember ever feeling. I don’t know how to explain it…other than…I feel…free.”

  “You probably feel that way because you’ve been released from the tie to Malu.” She grated her teeth in disgust. “I knew Talbot Gresham was evil, but I never dreamed he would burden his own son with that darkness. I’m so sorry, Rowan. At least you’re free now.”

  “So you think it worked.” Gaspare’s words weren’t a question that time.

  “I think it worked,” Abia said again.

  Gaspare’s whoop of laughter and Emelie’s squeal of joy pulled me into the present. I blinked slowly at first, and then faster as the white light faded from my vision. The vivid colors of Abia’s home and my friends and family came back into focus.

  “There she is,” Ewan breathed and touched my face. “I’m glad you’re back. You had me scared for a minute.”

  “Did I really glow?” I asked, unable to stop my smile.

  Ewan nodded, and when I twisted my lips dubiously he added, “Don’t believe me? Ask around.”

  My gaze shot to Abia, then Gaspare, Emelie, and finally Gresham. Each one nodded, their expressions solemn.

  I turned to Abia. “What do you think that means?”

  “Hell if I know.”

  Exasperated, I made a noise in the back of my throat. “Well, how will we know—for sure—that it worked?”

  “Listen,” she huffed. “I came up with the theory, did the majority of the research—no offense, Emelie—I gathered the ingredients, and I performed the counter-spell. This is where I get off. You think you people might have any brilliant ideas?”

  Gaspare looked to the sky, like he was thinking hard for an answer, or trying not to laugh. Emelie stood wide-eyed and clenched her jaws, apparently willing a way forward to reveal itself. Gresham nodded his head, his big body moving to its beat. He seemed looser, somehow. Less pent-up.

  “Ah, I might have an idea,” Ewan said.

  “Do tell, sugar lips,” Abia said, and that time I was unable to prevent my snort of laughter. I knew her wink was coming before she did it. She loved flustering Ewan. It didn’t take much.

  He cleared his throat. “We have some friends who, ah, might be willing to volunteer as test subjects.” He put his hands out in front of him in a ‘hear me out’ gesture. “In the interest of science.”

  “It could work,” Emelie said, her tone less sure than I would have liked. “We can’t know for sure that the curse was lifted without definitive proof that two people of varying species can conceive. Would these test subjects be willing to do the required research? Is a family, a baby, something they’re ready for?”

  “Nooo,” I drew out dramatically. “They’re far too young. The wouldn’t want to start a family right now. Not yet.” A low moan of disappointment echoed through the room.

  “Any other suggestions?”Abia asked.

  “I think you’re wrong, Stell,” Ewan whispered to me. “Boone and Timbra have something special. I think they’d jump at a chance like this. A chance to find a way to be together. To know their love isn’t wrong or unnatural, but something to be celebrated. Something that at one time resulted in not just perfect, but exceptional children. I think they wouldn’t pass up a chance like this. Not to savor a few years to party or travel. Not for anything.”

  He was right, of course. At the very least, Boone and Timbra deserved the chance to decide for themselves.

  “Okay,” I agreed. “You’re right, sugar lips.”

  Ewan laughed and kissed me solidly on the mouth. “We’ll do it,” he announced. “We’ll talk to our friends about reversing the curse.”

  Chapter 31

  The fact remained I couldn’t return to Thayer. But with Gaspare on board, there was nothing preventing Boone and Timbra from coming to Pearl. Ewan, thrilled to finally have a pivotal role, was charged with tracing them to my place. The plan was that Ewan and I would tell the two everything we had learned—up to the last effort in which I lit up like a roman candle—and monitor their reactions.

  If they seemed excited about and open to the chance to have their own children someday, we would reveal the full story: that we suspected we had already ended the curse.

  I stood in the back garden pulling weeds, a compulsion I could never seem to overcome. A light tremor across the soil, a soft exhale. They had arrived.

  “Stella Rose Stonewall!” Timbra leaned toward me with both hands on her hips. “I thought you were dead, you asshole. You have no idea what you put me through; what you put all of us through.”

  I ran to my friend and held her as she exhaled with relief. “I hate you right now. Do you know that?”

  “I know, sweetie,” I said and continued to hold her. “I know.”

  “Is Rose even your middle name?” she whined.

  “Not even close,” I said. We shook with laughter, then, and I held on tighter. “I missed you,” I whispered into her honey-colored hair.

  She squeezed me until I groaned. “Boone’s mad at you, too. You have some serious explaining to do.”

  As soon as Timbra and I stepped apart, I was swept up in a bear-sized hug. “I thought you were mad at me,” I mumbled into his thick shoulder.

  “I am,” he barked and shook me. “This is tough love.”

  After catching up for a bit, I invited everyone into the kitchen for coffee.

  “I’m happy to see you, don’t get me wrong,” Timbra said, holding her steaming mug between both hands. “But what’s changed? First we can’t know you’re alive, then we can’t act like we know you’re alive, and now we’re here with you. Something’s up. What?”

  Ewan turned toward me, and when our eyes met, we knew it was time. We told them our story.

  “So, you’re saying at one point in history interspecies marriages weren’t uncommon?” Boone’s round eyes glassed over
as he took it all in.

  “No,” I said and his shoulders slumped. “I’m saying they were typical. I’m saying they weren’t just common, but revered. Such unions produced omnies, the most powerful of Thayer’s beings. Hell, omnies were favored by the stars themselves, for that’s where they derived their power.”

  My hand flew to my mouth. How do I know that? Was it true? Yes, it was true. I knew it absolutely, and many more things I hadn’t the day before.

  “What is it, Stell?” Ewan noted my sudden anxiety and rubbed my back.

  I shook my head. I couldn’t get into it. We had a mission to complete.

  Timbra’s deer-like ears twitched furiously from…nerves?

  “Boone,” she said sweetly. “Do you see what this means? If they’re right, if they could end the curse…we could have our babies. Our babies, Boone.” Timbra’s voice rose with each word until her lover’s name was a reed-thin appeal.

  The big man’s blond head hung between his shoulders, hiding his face. His shoulders began to shake, his entire body pulsing in time. When he looked up at Timbra, tears streamed down his smooth cheeks and pure, unfiltered love shone in his eyes. Timbra ran to him, sat on a big knee, and held onto his neck. “We thought…” Boone cleared his throat. “We thought we’d never have that chance. Even this small one is…it gives us hope, at least.”

  I walked behind Ewan and put my hands on his shoulders. He squeezed them in encouragement and held on.

  “The thing is, guys…well, we did it.” I shrugged and watched as their mouths formed perfect little “O’s” in unison. “After a lot of research, much trial and error, and—I suspect—divine intervention, we broke Talbot’s curse. Gresham’s blood is no longer tied to the dark force of Malu. We think—”

  “We’re pretty certain,” Ewan interrupted, and I nodded my agreement.

  “We’re pretty certain the curse is lifted and people like you can once again create beautiful, special children.”

  They didn’t say anything. They didn’t move for what seemed an eternity. They both sat there, stunned. Boone looked to Timbra first, and when she met his gaze, they both burst into tears of riotous joy. They held on to one another like we’d take it back. Like it wasn’t real but they wanted to live the fantasy for just a little bit longer.

  “Where—?” Timbra said and hiccupped a breath. “Where do we sign up?”

  I bent to kiss Ewan high on the cheek, but he met my mouth and kissed me like I’d take it back. Like it wasn’t real and he wanted to live the fantasy for just a little bit longer.

  Chapter 32

  Timbra was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen. Her light hair was pulled away from her face and hung loosely down her back in romantic curls. The space between Timbra’s fawny ears was a perfect place for a tiara, and the veil snuck past them to form a flowing halo of organza.

  “Married,” she said for the hundredth time. “I’m getting married. To Boone.”

  “You don’t have to, you know.” I laid my hand on her arm. “You don’t have to do this. With all the hooking up going on at The Root, sooner or later someone’s sure to get knocked up. Then we’ll know.”

  She threw her head back in a throaty laugh. “Oh, no they don’t. If anyone’s getting knocked up around here, it’s me. I think I’ll start after the party. Shoot, if you can’t find me after the ceremony, don’t come a knockin’.”

  We laughed together again, and with the audible sigh that accompanies the end of all belly laughs, we celebrated our last day as two single girls.

  “Gaspare did a wonderful job as officiant,” Abia said as we sat together beneath the shade of an ancient oak.

  With Rowan’s blood determined as the key to Talbot’s “eternal” curses, we were soon able to release Abia from her tether to Topaz, though she would never leave for long. The sea called to her, she said. It was where she did her best thinking.

  “I think there are very few things your son cannot do,” I said in wonder.

  “My granddaughter has the same quality,” she said without hesitation. “And many more that remain to be seen.” She eyed me expectantly, and I looked away before she could ask too many questions.

  “There you are!” Ewan called as he approached us, but he didn’t look at me. He only had eyes for Abia. “Ms. Pike, thank the gods you’re this far from the group. You’re in serious danger of outshining the bride.” She opened and closed her mouth, blinking double time. “Ah. Thank you, Ewan,” she finally said.

  He bowed dramatically and then faced me, holding his hand out, palm-up. “May I have this dance?”

  “That’ll be us someday,” Ewan said, nodding to a radiantly happy Boone and Timbra Adder.

  I pressed my cheek to his chest. “How can you be so sure? How can you say that with such confidence?”

  Ewan held me closer, one hand around my shoulders and the other behind my waist.

  “Did I ever tell you my mother was a clairvoyant?” His voice was a whisper, the breath of a ghost on the wind.

  “No.” I shook my head against his chest. “You’ve never told me much about her.”

  “She was so much fun,” he said with a tinge of sadness. “Always laughing. Always teasing me about my “flamethrower.” She said she couldn’t wait until my world was turned upside down by a girl with wild red hair and eyes like emeralds in the tropic sun.

  “I knew, Stell. From the first moment I saw you in class, I knew. At first, it was just the hair and eyes, but when I suspected your dragon…well, that confirmed it. I knew you were my flamethrower.”

  Epilogue

  “Well, this is a delightful side effect,” Emelie said as she inspected her increasingly-robust bosom in the full-length mirror.

  “Enjoy it while you can,” Timbra warned. “Pretty soon your stomach will get so huge it’ll dwarf even those bad girls.”

  My bark of laughter caused the baby to stir, and Timbra shot me a dark look. “You wake my son, you lose a limb.”

  I held up my hands in apology and mouthed, “Sorry.”

  “The new school’s coming along nicely.” Emelie said, turning from side to side in awe of her changing body.

  “I still can’t believe Rowan Gresham is going to be the new chancellor,” Timbra’s eyes were wide as she shook her head.

  “I think it’s a good fit,” Emelie argued. “He’s in a better mood since being freed of Talbot’s curses. Wants to do some good to reverse all of the bad his father did. The kids in Pearl needed a better school, and with all of the new families moving in, there’s a real need for it.”

  “I just hate how things have turned out,” I said. “I guess I hoped the people of Thayer would accept couples like Boone and Timbra once they learned the truth, once they learned it’s the way the world should be.”

  “Nobody likes change, Stella,” Emelie said sadly. “Whether it’s right or not.”

  Timbra stood and held her tiny, perfect child who found yawning too great an exertion and fell back asleep in her arms. “I hold out faith people will come around. Someday.” Her eyes held sadness when she looked at her sleeping miracle and said, “Maybe even my father.”

  “Do you guys see much of Ewan’s family?” she asked, changing the subject.

  “We do. They’re building a house not far from ours on Jade. Wolves love their wilderness, you know. And I’ve grown to love it out there, too. At night, with no lights to distract from them, I spread my wings and fly amid the stars. Sometimes I meet Bay and Forster and the others. Sometimes I fly alone.”

  “And Ewan has no plans to catch his star?” Emelie asked with a sly grin.

  “Oh, he has a plan. Ewan Bristol always uses a road map.” I shot my friends my own sly grin. “But we’re taking the scenic route.”

  Thank You for Reading!

  Dear Reader,

  I hope you enjoyed Book Three in the Descended of Dragons series, Betrayal Foretold. Thank you for your support, and for following Stella’s journey.

  Be sure to s
ign up for sneak peeks, news, and giveaways for more from this series, and others in the future.

  While Betrayal Foretold offered many answers, you may still be left with questions, and that’s okay. Isn’t one great aspect of reading those lingering thoughts in the back of your mind, like recalling old friends? So many times I’ve wondered what my favorite characters were up to, now that they’d found their happily ever after. I hope these books gave you a little happy, and a little food for thought.

  I love hearing from readers. You can write me anytime at authorjencrane@gmail.com or visit my site at www.JenCraneBooks.com. I can be found on most social media sites at @JenCraneBooks.

  If you feel so inclined, I’d love to read your review of Betrayal Foretold. Reviews help other readers find books they might enjoy. Word of mouth is still the best marketing tool, after all. Please consider leaving a review of Betrayal Foretold by using this link to visit your bookstore.

  Thanks so much for reading.

  Sincerely,

  Jen Crane

  About the Author

  Though she grew up on a working cattle ranch, Jen Crane has been into fantasy and sci-fi since seeing a bootleg tape of The Princess Bride.

  She has a master's degree and solid work histories in government and non-profit administration. But just in the nick of time, Jen pronounced life too real for nonfiction. She now creates endearing characters and alternate realms filled with adventure, magic, and love.

  Jen is happily living out her dream in The South with her husband and three children, striking that delicate balance between inspiration and frustration.