“I’m indecisive most of the time. Right now, I just want to finish with high school, and maybe I’ll have an idea when I go through university.” He risked a glance over at her and reached over for her hand once more. “The only thing I’ve ever been sure about is you.”
A small blush spread across her cheeks. “You’re so crazy.” This time when she said it however, she was giggling.
Chapter Twenty-Four
It must have been obvious Darien was glowing, because when he came home from his date that night, he was teased continuously by his brothers. Tai had gone straight to bed. As always, her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. She seemed happy enough. He felt like it had been successful.
“Lover boy,” Tony said with a snicker. “Dad wants to see you before you go off to bed, or do anything else.” He winked at Darien a couple of times.
Darien threw a pen from his pocket at his brother. “It wasn’t that good of a date!”
“I’m not going to go any further with this,” Tony teased, dodging the object flying towards him. “Just go see Dad soon? He’s been pacing around constantly, and it’s making me worried. He hasn’t done that in years.”
Darien understood. The last time his father had paced around the building was when he was contemplating how to explain to Darien what had happened with his mother. The time before was when he had to explain to his entire family some sort of political dealing. At the time, Darien had been too young to understand. The only thing he remembered about it was sitting on his father’s lap, and listening to him speak of treachery. The fact that it was him who was making his father pace was enough to bring him down from his high.
“I’ll go see him now,” Darien mumbled.
“Hey, don’t look so sad. I’m sure it’s fine!” Tony insisted with a smile. It was far from reassuring to him. “You worry way too much,” he added quickly. “Did I say pacing? I meant, walking impatiently!”
“You don’t need to lie,” Darien mumbled. He forced a smile for his brother. With a sigh, he went to the hallways to see if he could find his father, feeling worried.
The way Orion usually went about his walks was by making laps through every hallway of the building. He began on the bottom floor and walked through every room, every corridor, and went up the stairs to ‘visit’ with the family. They all knew what he was really doing. He hardly ever made visits to all of his sons in one night.
Darien went to the stairwell, and paused to listen. It was quiet for a few minutes, and then he heard a door open and close somewhere below him. There was an echo of slow footsteps moving closer to him. “Dad?” he called down. “It’s Darien!” The footsteps stopped. Darien ran down a few flights, barreling into his father.
“There’s no rush,” Orion said gently and put his hands on Darien’s shoulders to steady him. “But I am glad you found me. Let’s go for a walk.”
“Okay.” Darien motioned for his father to lead, but Orion shook his head. With a sigh, Darien moved to go back down the stairs. He felt odd going to invade on his brothers. “Can we go outside?”
“Yes, that would be fine.” Orion put an arm around his son.
“So what’s all this about?” Darien asked as they walked. He spoke quickly, wanting his father to get to the point. He didn’t want to go for a walk with his father. He wanted to go to bed, so he could snuggle next to Tai. She might actually let him tonight. “Tony said you’ve been pacing, and you wanted to see me.”
His father laughed. “Do you ever think about destiny?”
“Destiny? I’ve never thought of it as something to be concerned about. It’s either real, or it’s not, and if it’s real I have no control over what happens to me right? If it’s not, I don’t know if I have control over that either. All I can do is my best, right?”
“Right, so you don’t worry about the future?”
“Not a whole lot,” Darien shrugged. Where was this going? What was he getting at? “What’s got you obsessed with fate lately? You brought it up on the way to the council too.”
“I’ve been praying, a lot, and I feel as though God is trying to make me more conscious of the future. Mine, yours, our people. Do you pray, Darien?”
That was an odd question. His father had always been a spiritual man, but was also very private with that area of his life. Darien preferred it that way. He didn’t like discussing his faith. His faith was personal, and no one else's business but his own. “Sometimes, yeah.”
“So then you might understand a little of what I am going to say.” He smiled at Darien gently. “I have been praying for a bit of guidance. No, a lot of guidance, these past few years. I don’t want to worry you, but at the same time it’s important for you to know things aren’t anywhere near as peaceful as they seem for our people. You remember my suspicions of the Inero, yes?”
“Yeah,” Darien said with a small nod. “You think they’re purposefully hurting their nation, and I agree. I glanced at the report you showed me, and we talked about this at the council. I don’t know why they’re doing it, but I’m sure you’ll tell me? I have a feeling all of this is going to tie together right? You’re going to present the package all nice and wrapped up for me instead of teasing me.”
Orion laughed quietly. “Yes. Spies have confirmed these suspicions. They are planning something against us.”
“Why?”
“This is the only thing I don’t know. From what I understand, Lord Inero has been meeting with a rather strange youth who is planting ideas into his head. They spend a lot of time together. This boy may soon be Lord Inero’s first council even. The great lord puts a lot of faith in his ideas. What I do know of these ideas is they aren’t favorable towards our people.” He ran a hand over his face slowly. “My spies were never able to find out more details while they were there, but I have been ready for anything - waiting for anything. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to convince anyone else of this. Your Uncle Arthur didn’t believe me until the spies came back with their proof.”
“So why not just show everyone this proof?” Darien asked. “Wouldn’t that make things better? Wouldn’t that stop them before they start?”
“It’s at the point where I don’t think it would make a difference. His plan is already in action. No one will believe it until something drastic and terrible happens. We have never had a conflict between the tribes to something of this scale. A few small land spats in the past, but nothing like what he has prepared for. It looks like a battle of massive proportions.”
Darien frowned, and couldn’t help but wonder why his father was telling this to him of all people? “And you can’t prepare to fight back because Uncle Terrance won’t support any kind of military formation, and the military answers to him. And we don’t function like the Inero.” He sighed, opening the door so they could go outside. They stepped into the cool night air, and he stayed close to the wall so no passersby would plow him over on the sidewalk. The nightlife of Oceina City was just starting to begin. Young people a little older than him were beginning to mingle so they could enjoy the clubs and bars of downtown.
If the rest of the Oceina council did not agree with his father, little could be done. The Oceina people were democratic. There’d have to be a vote, and even though Orion was the leader of all the dragons, to force action could start a civil war. The Aero were similar, but a monarchy. The Terran claimed to be democratic, but their government system was far from solid, and the Inero was similar to a dictatorship.
“Yes,” Orion nodded. “I would never get the votes to go through with this. Your uncles and cousins do not see what’s going on, and I have tried in the past to persuade them of this. This issue first came to my attention when you were about thirteen.”
Thirteen. That explained a lot. It weighed heavily on his father, and Darien couldn’t wrap his mind around how no one else could believe him. The papers the Inero presented, the story, none of it added up. Lord Inero had not expressed any desperation. His body had been cold and stiff. He kne
w and he had been counting on all of this to happen.
“So what do you want me to do about it? I’m just a kid Dad. One nobody likes. They aren’t going to listen to anything I have to say.” He stated bluntly. He rolled his eyes at his father’s sympathetic look. He didn’t want any pity.
“They fear you. I want you to know the truth. Darien, and I want you to pray, but not just for me. I want you to pray for yourself as well.”
Darien closed his eyes. He felt so confused. “All right Dad, but I wish you would tell me what’s going on.”
“Something is going to happen, and there will be nothing you can do to stop it. I want you to be prepared to accept this like I have accepted my fate, and like your mother accepted hers. Your destiny, I believe, is just starting to unfold and blossom.” Orion looked over at him. “No matter what happens, I want you to know that I love you.”
“I love you too, Dad. I wish you wouldn’t be so cryptic with me.”
Orion then took Darien into his arms, and gave him a suffocating hug. “Please, just pray. Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. I have faith in that. You should too.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Their dates were frequent. Tai enjoyed the time spent talking with him and just being in his company. These get-togethers were simple, but he put so much of himself into them it touched her heart. The two currently sat in the sunning room right next to the pool. Tai lay on her stomach on the large, squishy, blue mat spread across the floor, and Darien lay next to her on his back with his feet sticking in the pool.
“I hardly ever got to do anything interesting during the summertime back home.” Tai said as she watched him. If she didn’t know better, she’d say he was falling asleep. “Bored?”
“No!” He slowly sat up and faced her. “You know how when you come inside after a cold day, and you put on your sweatpants when they’re fresh from the dryer, and you feel warm and cozy?” She nodded at him. “That’s how laying in the sun makes me feel. I swear I’m listening. Do you want to do something interesting for the summer?”
“More interesting than getting married to a dragon?” She asked and flicked some water onto his face playfully. It’d help perk him up again.
Darien laughed, “I could show you outside of the city if you wanted. There’s the harbor to the north, and the countryside to the south. Both are gorgeous this time of year.”
“The country could be nice. I saw a lot of ocean back home, seeing as how my island isn’t that big.” She gave him a wink.
“I know, but the harbor is different than the beaches at your island.” He explained. “Did you spend a lot of time on the beach?”
“No, my Mom is afraid of the water. She didn’t like me spending time there.” Tai said quietly. She’d been trying hard to not talk about her family, but every so often he’d find a way to get her to open up about them. It was frustrating. She’d been trying hard to not think about home, because she wanted to go back every time she did. In order to give him a fair chance, she’d been trying to focus her attention on getting to know him, and pushing all her circumstances aside.
Darien’s jaw dropped in disbelief. “Afraid of the water? How can anyone be afraid of water?”
Tai shrugged, “She never told me why.”
“Is that normal?” He asked, lying back down.
“Is what normal?” She rolled to her back, and stared up at the sky through the windows overhead. A few clouds floated by, but beyond that the sky was clear and blue.
“Not talking about things.” He said. “I notice you do this a lot. I just wanted to know if there was a reason why. If this was something you picked up from your mother because of habit, or if something happened to make you not want to tell me things.”
She sighed. “It’s not just you.” She’d had the same problem with her friends back home too.
“Did something happen?” He asked.
Tai didn’t say anything for a while. If she was going to work on trusting him more, this would be a good place to start. “When I was around two years old, my father left and he never came back. My mom never fully recovered from it.” She stopped, not wanting to continue. Hopefully he’d understand. I don’t want you to hurt me like he did.
“She never fell in love again?”
“If she did, she kept that from me. I’ve seen her be interested in other men, but she never did anything with it. I didn’t let her.”
“Why?” He asked softly.
She sighed deeply, running her hands over her face as she thought about the reasons. “Because I didn’t believe a man could ever really love a woman the way she deserves.” I didn’t believe it was possible until I met you. She couldn’t admit it verbally. Her pride wouldn’t let her.
Darien’s hand reached for hers, and for a moment her heart beat faster from fear that he heard her confession. When she rolled to her side to look at him, she saw him still on his back with his feet in the pool. He couldn’t hear her thoughts. The water broke their telepathic connection. She silently thanked God.
“I’m not going to go anywhere,” he said. His hand wrapped around hers gently. “I promise I won’t make you regret letting me in.”
If she became attached to him and lost him, she didn’t know what she’d do. So much of her would go with him. “I know you’re not like most men.”
“But you’re worried I’m going to let you down.” He said as he moved closer to her, also turning to his side now so he could face her. “Believe me when I say, I’m going to do everything I can to not allow that to happen.”
She nodded. He pulled her hand towards him and kissed it gently. His blue eyes sparkled when they met her own, and after a moment of hesitation he touched her face gently with his fingers. She closed her eyes, taking his tender touch in, and let him comfort her. Darien’s fingers brushed down her jaw line and cupped her chin. Then he pulled her lips to his own, kissing her slowly. She found herself kissing him back.
“I love you.” He said confidently, and this time she believed him.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Darien slowly came to. His head throbbed like no other. What happened? The last thing he remembered was going for a walk with his father. This had become a nightly tradition for them since his date with Tai, and those nights for the past two weeks were by far the most special and satisfying time they’d ever spent together. They were talking.
For the first time, Darien not only felt respected by his father, but also needed. His father was recognizing him as an adult, which made him feel more like an adult, and this filled him with a new kind of confidence and purpose. Things felt like they were falling into place.
He had every intention of standing, but he found his arms tied behind his back binding him to a tree in a park he and his father started to frequently visit. Why am I tied up? Why does my head hurt so much?
His vision was just beginning to come around and return to normal, and he really wished it hadn’t, because the first thing he saw was his father being held down by an Inero in his dragon form.
The Inero were small in size, but they made up for it in speed and agility. Their claws were razor sharp and they had several large teeth for tearing. Darien thought they looked cruder in person than they were in any pictures he had seen. He’d never actually seen one in this form in person.
“Let him go,” Darien managed to grunt, but it was too quiet. They didn’t even notice he was awake. “Let him go!”
That got their attention. One turned to face him, and smiled in the strange way only dragons could smile. His mouth opened slightly showing more of those large sharp teeth, and his eyes glistened. Then in one quick gesture, those razor claws were thrust through Orion’s chest. Blood and gore spilled out at his feet.
“D-Dad?” Darien was in complete shock. This couldn’t be happening. This was impossible. It was all just some sort of a dream. He’d wake up any moment and he’d be back at home, in his bed, lying next to Tai, and everything would be exactly as it should. It was
n’t a dream, and as that reality started to settle inside of him, he began to struggle against the ropes holding him to the tree. If he could get there, he could do something to save his father, or at least try. The ropes were too strong for him to break.
There was five seconds of life left for Orion. Five seconds, and there was no shock or expression of pain. He knew; he had to have known, because he looked far too peaceful. Tired, but peaceful. Darien just didn’t understand.
“Dad!” Darien cried out again as hot tears of sadness and anger filled his eyes. He was still far too shocked to spill any, and as the shock passed he started to shake from his rage that was now slowly building inside of him. They murdered his father. They were not going to get away with it. They would be dead.
“What should we do with this one?” One of the dragons asked loudly. It was as if he were trying to intimidate Darien.
“As far as I’m concerned, he can be an example as well.” This one looked like he was the leader of the group. He was the one whose claws were through Orion’s chest. He stared at Darien coldly then tossed Orion, the great dragon lord of the Oceina people, to the ground.
The others all watched Darien.
They’re going to kill me too. Darien realized. His eyes became wide, and once more he struggled to get free. The nearer they came to him, the more afraid he grew, and the more his magic began to flare up. With each thrust, and kick, and squirm, a blue glow surrounded him. With each of those movements, it intensified in size, potency, and light.
It did this until it became a flame that began to engulf every thing he touched. They burned through the ropes binding him, but this was the only thing actually destroyed by his magic. While this flame surrounded the tree, and the grass, and even himself, they did not burn. The fire obeyed his will, and as soon as he was free, his will wanted him to destroy the Inero who killed his father. Standing slowly, Darien glared across the park with a determined vengeance. The flames intensified around him and licked out towards the Inero, dancing eagerly.
Legend of the Oceina Dragon (The Dragons Saga) Page 11
