Treasure Of Dragons, Royal Dragons Book 1 Chapter 64

Ria

I’m sitting in the garden enjoying a rare moment of quiet and alone time. I really needed it today. I am pregnant again. I took a test this morning, which I don’t really need to do, as the change in my smell that I can now detect tells me. I just seem to need to see those two lines before it can really sink in. So, the shots most definitely did not work, and it all starts again. 

Suddenly Drago is sitting on the other end of my bench out here next to the fountain. I look over at him knowing why he’s here. I just shake my head and let out a big sigh.

“I wish you could be happy about being pregnant again and having another child.” He says honestly.

“So do I Drago, but with the dynamic the way that it is right now, that’s just not possible, so it is what it is, that’s it.” 

A rogue tear slips out and I hurry and turn my face away as I wipe it away and will all the other traitorous bastards to stay put. I hear him sigh this time and I just close my eyes. 

“I hope you know we do love you, Ria.” I hear him whisper sadly. 

For some reason that just hits me wrong today, “No Drago, I know say that, but really, you love your people, your position, your job, your power and control, fuck you love the damn house, but you don’t really, honestly love me. If you truly did my happiness would have come before all of the flimsy excuses you gave about having Natalia drug me, dragging me onto that plane, and everything that happened there. When you truly love someone then their happiness and well-being are your top priority. I have always come behind everything else, because taking care of all of that was always more important than what you mating me the way that you did would do to me.” 

I chuckled a dark sound, “I keep trying to explain all this to you guys. It’s the same damn thing with the girls. You say you love them and you want them to be happy. However, when you needed leverage to get what you wanted you didn’t hesitate to hand them out like party favors to secure it. Now, you have condemned them to the same fate as me, and you are willing to sit back and watch that happen, all so you can make the other families happy, even if condemning your daughters to misery. I would choose the girls, every damn time. Fuck the families, fuck what they needed, fuck everything because those girls are more important than all of that bullshit. I choose them, I will always choose them, and I will always choose the children over absolutely anything like all of this crap. So, ask yourself, do you love me like that? Do you love your girls like that? If you can’t say yes, then in my opinion you don’t love us.” 

Damn, I hadn’t actually meant to lay all of that out there and just word vomit everywhere, but it seems my mouth isn’t done yet, “Besides, the whole concept you give me about why you had to do shit, is a lie. Anthony Escarra would never have actually started a war. His people are in the same boat as you, so he wouldn’t have risked their lives by declaring war on you. What he did was drop a word, blow smoke up your asses, and you guys ran with it. Ask him about it the next time you talk to him, just make sure you are prepared for the truths he might reveal.”

Drago

We have been working on a joint operation with the other Royal Dragon families. Today we were comparing notes with the Escarras and Diamanis about a specific group we are going after on a joint mission in a couple of days. 

After the meeting and right before we disconnected the video call I bit the bullet, “Hey Anthony, I need to ask you a question.”

He paused but then just nodded to me, “When you sent that letter stating you were aware of a found Royal Female Dragon, and if we didn’t present her before all of the families you would declare war, were you actually going to attack us?”

Anthony just freezes looking at me seriously, and I can see the wheels turning in his head. There had been enough shit thrown around and enough said that the other families pretty much knew about the strain in our relationship with Ria and somewhat why it was there. I saw guilt written all over his face.

He let out a big sigh, “No, I honestly hadn’t even known for sure that she existed. We had been told about a rumor floating around, and as we were getting desperate, just as all the other families are and have been, I took a gamble and ran with a bluff. Then we found out she was real after you brought her home.” 

It took me a moment to actually be able to say, “Ah, okay, thanks for your honesty.” 

He nodded and disconnected the video. At that moment, for the first time in many, many years, I laid my head on the table and just cried. 

I walked upstairs and saw Ria in the nursery with our 5-month-old baby boy, Drako, nursing. He was reaching his hand up to her and smiling around her breast. She’d grab his hand and kiss it then pretend to try to eat it, he’d laugh, and then they’d do it again. I didn’t interrupt.

I ended up in the living room where Ash and Cinder were currently watching something on the big TV. I just went to the bar and poured a very large, very strong drink. 

Ash looked at me, “What happened Drago?”

“When I spoke to Ria the other day about being pregnant, she said something about Anthony Escarra, and that the whole war he threatened us with was all bullshit and he wouldn’t have actually done it. So, today, I asked him.”

They looked at me and lost all color in their faces looking at mine, “Yep, he didn’t even know for sure she was real, he bluffed his ass off and we fell for it.”

Ash got up and got both of them large classes of alcohol as well, then the three of us just sat there sipping our drinks. Ria walked by where we were just a few minutes later.

She took in my demeanor and the looks on all of our faces, she just nodded and went on, she never brought it up, ever. After all, there wasn’t a way to fix it.

Could we make her happy? Were we setting our girls up for heartbreak?