Treasure Of Dragons, Royal Dragons Book 1 Chapter 134

Drego

Well to say that this has been a roller coaster ride from hell the last several days would be a giant understatement. We knew some of it was coming, and frankly, we should have known the rest was coming as well. We knew that David would want to know what had happened from Ria, and we purposefully stayed away, and out of it, so she would be able to just talk and say whatever she needed to. This was part of us making up for all of the bullshit we had done to her. Owning that we had fucked up beyond all measure.

I actually was surprised when David stopped at 2 punches. I would have let him kick my ass until I was a bloody broken mess, and I know I would have deserved it. So, then, finding out about the small kids being able to shift, so many more powers and abilities than we could have possibly thought there would be. I feel like I have known absolutely nothing for my whole entire life. 

I very much meant what I said this afternoon to Officer Roman and Mayor Nutru, and anyone at the cafe, that I was willing to completely leave here, walk away from our ancestral home, because she was vastly more important. We had all discussed what our options were. Obviously, we were not working for legitimate government agencies, so that would never happen again. We had ownership of businesses, and vast stock portfolios that supplied us more than enough money to take care of our family, as well as all that we had in savings in various places. So, that would not be an issue. Perhaps finding a big enough house would be, but we could work with that. 

If by some miracle, we can work through things with Ria, I will thank whatever gods there are that she was able to do that for us. I do love that woman with every breath I have in me. I realize I have been completely and utterly shit at showing her that. The 4 of us are planning something with her tonight. I talked to David and he agreed to let us have some alone time to do this. 

“Hey Ria, can you go with us out to the fire pit? I know you like being outside, and we had some things we wanted to talk to you about if that is okay.” She looks up from the nursery floor and smiles.

“Sure, Hope is almost done, and Isobel can put her to sleep tonight. So, how about 20 minutes, will that work?”

“Yeah, that’s perfect, we’ll get the fire going.” She nodded and I went out to the firepit.

The others were all there already, “She’ll be here in about 20 minutes.” They all nodded.

We sat and stared at the fire, it wasn’t dark yet, but that sunset time was right before full dark. The sun was behind the horizon, but the light still blazed up across the sky in deepening colors. 

We heard her approach and looked at her. She was so beautiful my heart actually hurt, to see that deepening golden light reflecting off of her red hair set it on fire, and her green eyes shining bright reflecting the sunset. She sat with us and looked at the fire.

“So, what’s up guys? I know we definitely need to talk about what you said in the cafe earlier today.”

We all nodded. Then I took her hand and looked at it. I saw that cuff reflecting the light of the fire. Then I reached down and took it off. I threw it into the flames. “When I put that on you, I was so terrified I would lose you and the girls. I didn’t know what to do. I should have taken it off so long ago, and I’m so sorry I didn’t. I know that there are no words to describe the level we have fucked up. I hope that you know we are dedicated to working on all of this with you. We are dedicated to listening to you. Your Dad was right. You need to have the cage gone. 

I looked at her face, and I watched as the tears ran in rivers down her cheeks as she looked at me, my brothers, and the wrist that had no cuff anymore. There was a line, it showed where the cuff had blocked the sun from touching her skin, and it would fade, but the memories wouldn’t I was sure. There would always be the memory of that cuff and me putting it on her. 

She smiled, just a bit, and she was still crying, “Thank you.” That was all she said for right now. 

We all just sat with that for a while. Not speaking, not trying to fill in the silence, just sitting together, watching the fire, and feeling each other’s presence. 

“This, tonight, it means there is a chance. A chance that we can make something work out of all of this shit. I guess we consider it compost or some shit, I don’t know. We are mated, that can’t be undone. We have a lot of kids, and they need you guys, so there is no undoing that either. So, that means we have to figure shit out. I don’t know what that looks like honestly, but we’ll find out. So, now, what was this about us not staying here?”

“You hate it here. So, if it will make you happy, and make it easier for you, we will find a new home. We will decide together where that should be. So, there will be no village of people, there will of course never be the rogue missions, we have companies, but they are already run remotely by us, so that would continue the way it is. We have portfolios, and Ash still takes care of that. So, everything can be relocated. It just depends on what you want. You didn’t get to choose what you wanted before, so this is what we have that we can give you. You chose where you think you would like to go, and we’ll make it happen.”

“Well, I guess, I need to think about that a lot, and then I will let you know.” 

I nodded to her, and she took my hand, and she took Cinder’s hand who was on her other side. Then we just stayed and watched the fire for a while longer. Tomorrow we have work to do.