by Donna Grant
One side of V’s mouth lifted in a smile. “I didna think you’d mind. I’ve already asked Arian for some help.”
Roman looked up at the clear, blue sky but dark clouds were fast approaching Dreagan from off in the distance. “Con’s no’ going to be happy.”
“No human will see us,” V stated. “Arian will make sure of that.”
After a brief period where no dragon was allowed to fly around the sixty thousand acres of Dreagan, Con had finally lifted the ban. The magic barrier around Dreagan kept most mortals away, and anytime someone crossed it, the Kings were immediately alerted.
Years of being private had been shattered in one night when the Dark Fae released a video showing the Dragon Kings in battle, shifting in and out of dragon form while battling the Dark. Now, everyone wanted to know if real dragons existed on Dreagan.
A part of Roman wanted the humans to know the truth. Though there was little doubt that history would repeat itself and there would be another war between humans and dragons. Except this time, the Kings wouldn’t turn the other cheek. If there were another war, the outcome wouldn’t be the Dragon Kings hiding in their mountains for centuries.
A whistle above them had Roman and V turning toward the manor to see Arian leaning out the window of his chamber with his mate, Grace, by his side.
“Well?” Arian asked.
V gave a nod. But Roman watched as Arian’s champagne-colored gaze shifted to him. After a brief hesitation, Roman also gave a nod.
“Where are you two headed?” Arian asked.
V swiveled his head to Roman and waited.
Roman looked at the sky, already itching to shift and spread his wings to fly. “Romania.”
His advanced hearing caught the sound of Grace’s gasp, but he paid no attention. Arian would fill her in on all the details.
“We own homes in every major city around the world,” Roman told V. “There’s one in Bucharest, but we also have another in Timisoara, which is nearer the mountains.”
“Of course you do,” V said with a shake of his head while wearing a smile. “And I suppose there is a closet full of clothes for each of us.”
Roman grinned. “Con doesna do anything halfway.”
“He has always looked out for us, thinking of details few of us ever would.”
The clouds were nearly upon them, rolling into each other and growing darker by the second. Excitement rushed through Roman. He wanted to fly, yes, but it was more than that. Almost as if he awaited something.
Or something awaited him.
With every second the clouds took to reach them, Roman’s skin grew tighter. He yearned to be in his true form, to inhale and feel the fire rumbling in his chest.
To soar into the sky until the ground below was nothing more than a speck.
“And I thought I was the one with secrets.”
V’s words caused Roman to look his way. But he didn’t deny anything. What good would it do?
With a sad smile, V nodded and took off his black boots. Roman waited for him to remove the rest of his clothes, but V casually set the boots aside away from him.
Roman raised a brow. “Just the boots?”
“I like them. Shara bought them for me,” V explained.
Roman hid his smile. Shara was not only a Light Fae, but also mated to Kiril. She’d been one of the first mates to approach V, and she did it with the designer boots.
“What about you?” V asked.
Roman looked down at his clothes. He shrugged and quickly removed them. Unlike V, he tossed his boots toward the manor before wadding up his jeans and shirt and lobbing them near his shoes.
V rolled his eyes with an irritated shake of his head. “You couldna fold them?”
“Why?” Roman asked as a crack of thunder pierced the air.
Roman shot V a smile before he shifted and immediately launched himself into the air. The moment his wings spread and he caught a current, he drew in an easy breath. This was where he was meant to be, not stuck on the ground in a form not his own.
Shifting had made it easy to talk to the humans when they arrived, but he would always prefer being in dragon form. Everything felt … right.
The air smelled sweeter. He could feel the electricity from the lightning crackling in the atmosphere. And the rain … ah, the scent was divine. He loved how the drops hit his scales and rolled down his body toward his tail.
He glanced down as V came alongside him and spotted Con standing at the backside of Dreagan Mountain.
“Well,” V said via the mental link all dragons shared. “He’s no’ yelling at us.”
Roman studied Constantine for a long minute. “He’s different now that Ulrik is back.”
“Ulrik is where he was always meant to be,” V said. “Everyone knew that. Even Con.”
Roman flew higher into the clouds and shifted his direction southeast toward Romania. He glanced over and caught the sight of copper scales meandering through the clouds.
They might be on an important mission, but V was enjoying himself. It was such a change from the other instances when V had woken from sleep and left his mountain. Perhaps this time would end differently than the others, as well.
Maybe this time when V returned to Dreagan, he would have his sword with him.
Roman glided upon the air currents and, for just a moment, he allowed himself to believe that the mortals had never come to the realm to settle. That at any moment, his pale blue dragons would join him.
It was a dream he only allowed himself once every few days. And, frankly, it was getting harder and harder to remember what his old life had been like.
“Perhaps you should’ve slept more,” V said.
Roman glanced to his right to find his friend. “Meaning?”
“I see the far-off look in your gaze, but more than that, I see the misery.”
“I feel like memories of our other life are fading. I can no’ hold onto something I can no’ remember.”
“Maybe it’s better if you doona,” V said.
Roman’s head snapped to him. “You doona think the dragons will ever return.”
“Nay.”
Roman searched his mind and realized that he didn’t either. “We will be hiding for eternity.”
“Give the humans long enough, and they’ll destroy themselves. Look what they’re doing to this planet. I give them another two hundred years.”
“Before they die out?”
V chuckled. “Before they leave. They’re looking for another planet. I’m ready to point them in the right direction to hasten their departure.”
“No’ all will leave.”
V’s lips peeled back to show his long teeth. “Then we help them.”
Roman had to admit, he liked the idea. If only the Dragon Kings hadn’t sworn to protect the mortals. On a realm filled with magic, the humans didn’t fit in.
The Kings had felt sorry for them and gave them a place to live. After a couple of generations, a select few mortals were born with magic. They weren’t nearly as powerful as the dragons or even the Fae, but they could still do magic.
There was a time when some humans revered the Druids, but those without magic, who wanted a taste of that kind of power, grew jealous and soured the others until the Druids finally gathered in a safe place.
Roman hadn’t been to the Isle of Skye in ages, but the Druids survived there even now. Their numbers were dwindling, but they clung to the old ways and their magic.
Just as the Dragon Kings did.
CHAPTER TWO
Romania
Something kept pulling her gaze out the window, an unknown, inescapable force. Sabina slowly set aside the jewelry she was making and rose from the chair. A strange, puzzling feeling churned in her stomach as she made her way outside.
Standing in the sunlight, her gaze moved upward. She frowned at the dark clouds in the distance. There was something at work here, of that she was sure. She didn’t know how she knew it, only that she did.
/> Your Sight.
She inwardly snorted to herself. She hadn’t tried to use her gift for years, nor had she felt anything that would give her any impression that it was the Sight.
So why now?
More importantly, why did she get the feeling that the storm she watched was heralding something?
A shiver raced through her. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms to warm herself, but it didn’t dispel the tumultuous thoughts rushing through her head as fast as river currents.
“Bina?”
She turned at her brother’s voice and gave him a reassuring smile as he stood in the doorway of the back door. She didn’t want him to know that anything was wrong. “Everything’s fine.”
“No,” Camlo said, frowning. Wind ruffled his too-long, dark hair into his eyes. He wiped the strands away, his dark brown gaze never leaving her. “I saw your face.”
She walked to her brother and tilted her head back to look up at him. He was a big man, tall and muscular, but he had the mind of a child. Yet, no kinder, sweeter individual lived on Earth than Camlo.
Sabina put her hands on his arms and pulled him down to kiss his cheek. “I was just looking at the weather.”
“It turned. It wasn’t supposed to.” His eyes lifted to the storm.
“The weather is fickle. You know that.” She raised her brows until he looked at her and reluctantly nodded. “How are the animals?”
If there was one thing she could always count on, it was Camlo’s love of animals. He cared for them like a mother would her own children.
His face split into a smile as he named off each cow, sheep, chicken, duck, goose, pig, and rabbit they had, telling her if they’d slept well and how they were eating.
She didn’t really want such an in-depth update, but because it mattered to him, she stood and listened to it all, nodding and asking questions. Her world revolved around Camlo. It had ever since their parents died.
While there might be some who would resent their brother for keeping them tied to the farm, that wasn’t her. She didn’t particularly like people, and people didn’t like being around Camlo. It was a situation that suited her perfectly.
No one was there to bother her while she made the jewelry that supported them. Thank goodness so many people bought things online now. She had orders from all over the world. Since every piece was handmade, she charged extra, and customers still bought it. It kept her busy. In fact, she had nearly ten orders waiting to be filled.
The only downside was when she had to go into town to mail the packages.
Camlo, still talking, turned and wandered back to the barn. Sabina watched him for a few minutes. From the moment he came into the world, she had wanted to protect him. Camlo was a gentle soul, but many were fearful of his height.
And the men … well, Camlo’s size and mental handicap made him a target. The men of the village mercilessly teased him or tried to get him to fight.
After finding her brother beaten and bloody a few years ago, Sabina had nearly packed their belongings and gone off to find their Romani family. The only thing that kept her from doing it was that she had no idea where they were.
When her mother took her from the Romani, it was the last Sabina had seen of them. If the family ever came close to Brasov, she didn’t know it.
Sabina couldn’t say she’d had a bad life. Within a year of moving to the area, her mother had met and fallen in love with Petre Negru. Nine months later, Camlo was born. Petre was good to Sabina and loved her mother dearly. Perhaps it was because of the happiness in the home that Sabina had been able to adjust so easily to remaining in one place after a childhood of wandering.
Most likely, it was because the house was situated in a valley next to the mountains that offered a willful child an overabundance of places to play.
Sabina looked over at her brother. Camlo lifted a rabbit from the pen and held it in his arms, stroking the fur as he began to sing to it. Sabina smiled while watching him, but in the back of her mind was always the nagging worry about the future.
What would become of her brother when she died? Part of all proceeds she made on her jewelry went into a fund set up specifically for just such an incident. She’d even found a home that took in those like Camlo.
She hoped she wouldn’t have to worry about such things for many years, but it was on her mind more often than not of late. It was a sign. One that she couldn’t ignore. Whether it was her early years living as a Romani or the Sight she had snubbed for so long, she knew that something was about to happen.
Sabina shut the door and turned in time to see a bolt of lightning far in the distance. It was too far away to hear any thunder, but it still felt as if the storm harkened an arrival of some kind. And she really didn’t want to know what it was.
Her life was good. She didn’t want anything to complicate things or upend what she had with Camlo. Both of them were happy, and that’s how she wanted to keep it.
Sabina reached her computer and pulled up the online will she’d begun months ago. It was time to complete it. An hour later, she sent it off to the attorney in Bucharest, along with the payment.
One more thing off her to-do list. She closed the laptop and turned on music from her phone as she crossed her legs in the chair and focused her attention on the earring.
All of her designs were on the whimsical side. Ranging from earrings, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and even rings, Sabina was always looking to expand her business.
Anything that caught her eye, she drew in her notebook as consideration for future jewelry. She often got requests for items, and she rarely turned down a job.
The sky grew so dark that she had to turn on the lights. So much for the beautiful day. The storm was bigger than she realized. None of the weather forecasts that morning had mentioned anything about a storm. It was supposed to be clear.
She lowered her hands and thought of her grandmother. No doubt Gran would have said that magic was at work. And no doubt she’d be right.
There wasn’t a day that went by where Sabina didn’t think about the story her grandmother told her the last night they’d been together. For years after that, Sabina searched the face of every man to see if he was a Dragon King.
Sabina never told her mom what her grandmother had shared with her. When Tereza left the Romani, she left that entire way of life behind. It’s what her mom had needed.
But for Sabina, she didn’t want to let go of that part of her life. Or the things she’d learned in the six years she’d grown up as part of the Romani.
If only she knew how to get ahold of them. Camlo might not be full-blooded Romani, but he was half, and that counted. They would take him in if anything were to happen to her. No one would ever hurt him again with the Romani there.
Unable to keep her mind focused on the earrings she was working on, she picked up her sketchpad and a pencil to take to the sofa. She curled up with a mug of tea and started to draw. She rarely knew what would take shape when her pencil first touched the paper, but it was always whatever her soul was trying to tell her.
She became absorbed in the drawing, pausing only long enough to take sips of the tea. Sometime later, she lifted her head and gasped when she saw the head of a dragon staring at her.
Her head swung to the windows and the rain that fell in thick sheets outside. But even as she watched, the clouds moved away. Within ten minutes, the storm had passed, and the sun was out once again.
“Magic,” she whispered.
She looked down at her pad. She couldn’t think of a dragon without wondering about the Dragon Kings. Her grandmother had said they were still here, walking among them. They could transform themselves from dragon to man and back again, which meant they could be anyone among the billions out there.
Sabina reached for her phone and did a search on dragons. Most of the links were about dragon facts, the top mythological dragons, and such.
Then she found a message board that caught her interest when she spott
ed a double dragon logo. She recognized it from somewhere. A few messages down, someone said Dreagan.
“The scotch,” she said as it dawned on her how she knew the logo.
She kept reading about “the video on Dreagan,” but no matter how she searched for a dragon video, she found nothing. A few messages later, she read that the video could no longer be found.
What had been on it that caused such an uproar? It made her wish that she had been able to see it.
A ding from her email about another order made her put aside the computer and get back to work on the earrings. She finished one before she needed to start dinner.
With a yawn, she rose and got everything out to cook. She glanced out the back window and saw Camlo coaxing a starving dog to him. There was no use telling her brother they couldn’t take in any more animals because he refused to accept that.
His argument was always the same.
“If they didn’t need us, they wouldn’t find their way here, Bina.”
And she didn’t have the heart to do anything but smile.
She stayed at the window until the dog finally leaned out far enough to snatch the food from Camlo’s fingers. Her brother’s triumphant smile made her heart feel light.
When she finished cooking, she didn’t even bother trying to get him to come inside to eat. Instead, she took a plate to him. As soon as the dog saw her, it scurried off, but the starving animal didn’t go far.
“Here,” she said, handing Camlo the plate. She then gave him a few pieces of stale bread. “Something for our new guest.”
“She’s pretty, isn’t she?” Camlo asked.
Sabina glanced at the brown, matted fur of the dog. The animal didn’t look away. Instead, she found herself gazing into the dog’s sad, dark eyes. “She’s very pretty. And wait until you’re able to clean her up.”
“She likes you,” Camlo stated.
Sabina never questioned her brother. Half Romani or not, he had the Sight, just as others in her family did. “Tell her not to chase the chickens. Did you ask her name?”
“She won’t give it yet.” Camlo never took his eyes from the dog as he sat on the ground and began eating.
