Chapter 25: Chapter 25

STORM

“You will roast three deer carcasses and instruct the musicians to play and the children to stay up and watch. Tonight, we celebrate,” I say to three of the leading figures in the Horde.

They disperse to start preparations while I look at the Dragon Slayer chained to the pole with his Rogue pet. They are both unconscious and awaiting their fates.

~“Any luck finding Rawk and Zoraul?”~ I contact Silver, who departed not long ago to search with others to find our baby Twin Leading Breeds.

~“I can feel them sleeping, poisoned, very close by…but I cannot see them,”~ Silver replies with panic, and I know instantly why she cannot see them.

~“Risen, go to Silver now and help her lift the cloaking spell hiding our babes—”~

~“I am busy helping prepare some of the food!”~

~“What did I say, Risen?”~ I am shocked by her lack of obedience, but my instant scolding changes her mind.

~“I am on my way,”~ she replies tensely while my eyes scan the camp to find her angrily throwing some fish she had been helping scale and gut back into a bucket.

~“Why the attitude, Risen?”~ I ask her straightforwardly, because I am intensely curious about the reason for her lack of control and the need for justice flowing from her aura in golden and red waves.

~“I will help Silver,”~ Risen snaps back. ~“And just so you understand, since you clearly don’t, let me remind you, Drax is my mate, and we are unclaimed.~

~“Drax constantly fools around, just as he did seven centuries past. Why do you think I’m angry, Storm?~

~“I suppose you wouldn’t understand. I’ve actually lived in this time and age, which is far more lenient than the time we once came from.~

~“You’ve lived for seven whole damn centuries, yet you haven’t moved forward. Women don’t like being trampled on or controlled anymore.~

~“We are still oppressed, but we gain power every day from people like females who are in leading positions. I’m not trying to attack you, my Lord, I’m trying to give you a piece of advice.~

~“Yes, Silver betrayed my trust, but you betray hers all the time…so I wonder where she learned that from… She used to be sweet, O great Master of Feelings.”~

Risen’s tone has a sarcasm I do not appreciate, and it runs deeper the further she taunts me, provoking me to react.

I pause and decide to change tactic.

~“I will consider your words…carefully.”~ I am truthful, but I hold a warning in my tone.

~“Now I will come with you, and you will speak to Silver of your concerns while I listen. If what you say is true, maybe you can teach me something.”~

I see the shock in Risen’s eyes as she roams the camp and finds me staring at her.

~“Oh...yes.”~ Risen can’t quite believe I have agreed to listen further. ~“Well, come on, then; let’s find your mate and your babes.”~

SILVER

“Rawk?” I call out. “Zoraul?” I trudge my way through the fresh mud, my dress now ruined at the hem as I look around the one clearing that holds my babies. They are here, yet I cannot see them.

Connecting with their minds, I know they are clearly unconscious, and it is making me anxious.

I replied to Storm, but he has not replied to me. I assume that is because he would be on his way instantly when I mentioned that they were poisoned.

I just think he would have appeared by now, which is making me more upset—until I hear a crunch of boots behind me.

I spin toward the direction of the camp to see Risen appear out of the leaves, pushing some vines to the side as she sighs and looks me up and down.

“I thought Storm was coming,” I say tensely while feeling extreme guilt. I know she can see it gushing out of my emotional aura just from the way she rolls her eyes.

“Storm is…in camp.” Risen is strangely hesitant answering, but I see her eyes scan the surroundings before she looks ~up~. “They are above you.”

“Where?” I glance up, and Risen murmurs under her breath until a fog of magic lifts, and a cage weaved with sticks and a red flower—Dragon’s Bane—hangs above us.

Two silver Dragons are collapsed on top of each other, asleep, without their usual cute snorts because they are not breathing properly.

A lump fills my throat, and I raise my hand, blasting the cage with fire. As the cage breaks, Rawk and Zoraul tumble out and hit the ground, bouncing back into consciousness.

They both tremble, and their eyes look frightened as they dance around each other, looking for enemies.

When they see that it’s just Risen and me, they slink to my sides and slump into me, resting their heads on my shoulders and snorting with relief into my ears.

I stand still and smile as they cuddle into me, while Risen just rolls her eyes again.

“We can go back now,” I tell her awkwardly. “And I’m…sorry…about Drax.”

Just hearing his name makes both babes growl low in their throats.

~“Mother, bad…”~ Rawk says to me. ~“But love, Mother.”~

~“But father, bad too, hiding,”~ Zoraul says. ~“But love, Father.”~

“Oh, they can baby talk now, ~great~,” Risen says sarcastically after hearing their words, while my eyes scan the surroundings at Zoraul’s mention of Storm.

“Is Storm here?” I ask, but Risen gets in too quickly.

“I was actually sent here to speak with you about…mating,” Risen cuts me off and suspiciously doesn’t answer what I just asked.

“Storm and you have a turbulent relationship, and after what happened with Drax, I need to let out what ~I’m~ feeling. But telling you I was hurt and betrayed doesn’t fix anything.

“So I want to fix you and Storm.”

“O—oh… Um, I think we’re getting better?” I smile timidly under Risen’s impatient glare.

“No, you’ve had a lapse of ‘normal’ and survived death. You’re both happy with each other because our greatest threat is now dead, and you helped. Thank you.

“But I can’t keep living in this Horde with Storm and you bickering to death, so I’m going to fix it…”

Risen trails off, while my eyes scan the surroundings, convinced Storm is watching on from the shadows.

Rawk and Zoraul slowly stop leaning on me and stalk away to sit on their haunches before me, both watching Risen like a hawk.

“What?” Risen snaps at them for protecting me for no reason. “What are you going to do? I’m twenty times your size in Dragon form.”

I can’t see Storm, so my eyes rest upon Risen as my babies growl.

“Storm and I will be okay; he’s teaching me, and I’m teaching him,” I explain.

“Your mate, their father, has spent centuries killing, murdering, and torturing for ~fun~,” Risen continues bravely in front of my babies, who are now slowly lowering their heads as if they want to strike out at her.

“Don’t even try it, Rawk…Zoraul… This is a lesson for you too. Silver, you need to get it in your head that Storm is extremely stubborn, so resisting him is completely understandable…but stupid.

“Having sex with him is completely understandable…but stupid. It’s too soon. You’re both on opposite ends of the spectrum. He’s hurt you too young, and you’re too young to know of his troubles.”

“Skip to the part you explain how you fix things.” Storm suddenly steps into the clearing, looking red-faced and flustered as he avoids my gaze and turns to Risen. “Right now, we’re doing very well—”