Treasure Of Dragons, Royal Dragons Book 1 Chapter 103

Ria

We’d been here for 2 days and I already loved the people of this village. They were just so genuine, helpful, and friendly. I was so glad that Elizabeth had them surrounding her. Today we were all preparing for a big feast, and it was technically a celebration for our arrival.

Elizabeth laughed and said, “Ha, they use any excuse to get together, eat, and have fun with each other, so you are a good one.” 

I smiled at that, because with these people I could definitely see that. I had met the veterinarian that Eli worked with helping the village dogs and then the animals of the surrounding villages as well. There were 2 that were technically “close enough” to travel to about once every 2 weeks. 

Eli had been regaling me with tales of her best friend Isho, who is the phoenix shifter she had told us about. She is also married to a dragon, a woman named Pyre, so that is not only a new dynamic between dragons than what I have seen, although Drago had told me that it does happen. The odd thing is for there to be no male in the pairing as well, but apparently, it’s nothing new around here. They will both be coming this afternoon to join in the celebrations, and for all of us to meet.

“Oh, Mom, did I tell you that Pyre’s brother is going to be here today?” She looked at me and I frowned.

“No, I don’t remember us talking about that, but that’s no big deal. Is he a dragon like her?”

“Yes, he is actually one who visits fairly often, so Kaskae knows him. He was another of the dragons that he had been thinking of when he told me that he had met several, but had no idea if any of them were royal or not, as he had never heard that distinction given. So, I guess we’ll see. I haven’t had the chance to meet him yet. Isho told me that he has been on some kind of project, he is an archeologist, so he goes all over the world.”

“Does he have a mate or family?” I hadn’t met any male dragons yet that weren’t all about the females and babies.

“No, Isho told me that Pyre told her about a dragon he was mated to several years ago, but something happened to her, and she died. She said it was a huge tragic thing, his mate died, and their child, a girl, was lost, but they were never sure if she was killed in whatever killed the mom, or if something else had happened, as apparently whatever happened was nefarious in nature.” 

“Wow, okay, so that sounds incredibly painful, so I won’t bring anything up, and I will tell the guys to not ask questions about mates.” Elizabeth smiled at me.

“That would probably be a good idea, as I said I haven’t met him yet, his name is David O’Clerge.”

I nodded, determined to let the guys know any questions about mates should be avoided due to tragic and probably very painful circumstances. We kept visiting, and she and I fed our respective babies, then passed them off to their fathers so that we could help Ahnah with any food preparations or whatnot before the celebration started in a couple of hours.

I was back at the guest cabin we were all staying in, helping to get kids ready, and took a shower, and put on some fresh clothes. Nothing fancy, the people here were too down-to-earth for anything fancy. They were a very Earth-conscious, spiritual people, who very well represented the First Nations tribes. 

I had made a cobbler that Eli had begged me to make, as it was her favorite, and no one here, “Can make it like you mom.” So I had laughed and promised her I would. Drago was carrying Hope, Ash had Sarah, Cinder had Jeremy, and Cole had Dillion as we walked through the snow across to the meeting lodge. It was actually a big open floor plan cabin that was big enough for all of the village to fit in comfortably. 

As soon as we walked in I saw Elizabeth standing next to Kaskae, and there were several other people around her, but I was just glancing around. I heard her call to me, and I looked up smiling. She came over and was gushing that I had indeed made her favorite cobbler. She was holding Denali, so I leaned over and kissed his little head.

“Where should I put this?” I asked her holding up the dish in my hand.

She pointed to a large table laden with all kinds of food, and I carried it over there. Just before I sat it down, as I was looking for the best place to put it, she called me and I turned around. Standing next to her was a stunning woman with dark skin, and very kinky, curly hair, no doubt Isho from her description. Next to her was a tall woman with a tanned complexion, with long brown hair with red highlights. Then my eyes landed on the man next to her and my heart stopped. 

I blinked my eyes several times trying to make them work correctly because there was no way I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. This was not right. Something was very wrong. I heard a crash and didn’t know what it was, but I couldn’t concentrate on that right then. My brain refused to pull in the information about what was right in front of me.

Drago was suddenly right beside me, “What’s wrong sweetheart?” I looked up at him rather stupidly.

He turned me to look at him and cupped my face with his hands, I could tell he was panicked as he looked at me but my brain was misfiring, “What’s wrong Ria, baby, talk to me, what’s happening?” 

I turned back to look once again at the man now standing staring along with all of the others. People were casting me curious and concerned glances, but again, my brain was just not clicking with what I was seeing.

I looked back to Drago, then looked over again, then once again back to Drago, “He’s my dad.”