Treasure Of Dragons, Royal Dragons Book 1 Chapter 94

Ria

Mari has been here for 4 months now. Nicholas and his brothers have had to repeatedly fly home to take care of things there, but they never fail to return to Mari. It is partly their dedication to her, despite not being able to physically be with her, that has softened my heart towards them.

“Mom, do you think they are telling the truth about being sorry for what they did to me?” Mari has asked me this several times, and she has also asked Brand.

“Mari, if they weren’t serious, I would think that after 4 months of abstinence, they would be pushing the physical part of your relationship if they weren’t really sorry. I know what they did is reprehensible, but I truly think that they had convinced themselves that they could make up for a possible bad beginning later, and they were being stupid about the timeline of everything. I understand your worry baby, but I think maybe it is time to start taking some baby steps and see what happens. Do it here, where you know you are safe, and let them treat you the way they always should have in the beginning. See if perhaps you can work around what happened in the past. I know all too well that you never get over what they did, but perhaps you can work beyond it. Build something good despite the shit show they created. Men are sometimes excessively stupid love.”

She actually laughed softly at that, she had actually started to laugh some again, and it warmed my heart to hear it. 

I heard a throat clear and turned to look. Speaking of the devil, Nicholas was just a little ways away, he wanted to come closer, but they had learned to announce themselves to be absolutely sure she could see them coming. After a few instances of severe panic attacks, they have done well with adapting to what she needs.

“Are you okay if he approaches? I will be around very close to make sure you are safe. This is, however, a good time to let them start to treat you as the special woman you are.” She nods

I walk close to him, “She has agreed to allow you guys to start to build something with her. My suggestion is to woo her and let her get to know you aside from what the beginning of your relationship was like. I applaud your patience and perseverance. Her being able to see that, has gotten us here. Now, don’t be stupid and fuck it up again. Get to know each other, let this be the “dating” section of your whole thing. Show her you can treat her the way she should be, show her she can actually trust you not to hurt her again.”

He looks at me closely and I can see so many things in his eyes. There are tons of regret, sadness, but now also hope, and the beginnings of possible joy in his face.

“Thank you. I will not let you down again, and neither shall my brothers.” he smiled and he walked close to her. 

I was actually smiling because behind his back he was holding a cupcake. Mari had a big sweet tooth, and he had learned her weakness for a certain type of cupcake. Now, he liked to bring her one when he could convince the cooks to make them. It seems he had been successful today. 

I watched my daughter’s eyes light, although a bit hesitantly, at his surprise. They sat on the bench and just started to talk. It was at times stilted, but he just sat with her when no words were being exchanged. I sat on a nearby bench and just watched where she could look up and see me, but their conversation was their own. I hoped this would work. They were in fact mated, and nothing would sever that. It was a permanent state, so the only hope for my daughter was for them to make this work correctly with her. 

The Escarras had been coming about once every other month. Apparently, they were attempting to do some much-needed upgrades to many of the buildings in their nearby village. So, they weren’t able to do more than that at present. I was watching them, not yet sure how to process everything with them. 

Several of my children, especially the older ones, who understood more about the loss of Desi, were very hesitant to form any kind of relationship with them, and remained very standoffish. The younger ones had no such hesitation. So, I just watched and waited, and we will see what the future holds with that. 

My mates have been much more repentant about dismissing my previous warnings regarding the agreed-upon matings. It doesn’t make me feel any better about the outcome, but I still am just taking it one day at a time. We have talked about some other aspects of our relationship, and are trying to find some ways to middle ground. 

We are mated, just like Mari and the Diamanis, so there is no reversing that. Not to mention, I am due any day to give birth to this new little girl who will bring our total to 20 children. After that, I will have a hysterectomy, and pray it is successful. That is another reason I will never leave here, I can’t leave my children obviously, and the idea of trying to care for a huge number of dragon shifter children, on my own, is not one I will ever entertain. 

I know the guys love their children as well, they are just so mired in the idea of how it has always been, sometimes they can’t find their own ass. So, now, my job is to try to break through some of those “this is the way it is” things they think. 

I know our dragons will not allow us to completely abandon all physical aspects of our relationship. We are trying to find ways to work with and around certain things. Right now, I can’t shift and allow the dragons to be with each other, so I have to realize that I can’t just cut them off and have that be it. I am trying to find ways that don’t gut me completely with everything, but it is a hard dance to pull off, and at times it feels like trying to dance on broken glass. They have been patient with me and tried not to push, so I will give them credit for this.

Now, we wait and see how my daughter does with her mates, we wait and see what happens with my mates and me, we wait and see how our dynamic changes when our newest daughter is born. Then we keep trying to find Elizabeth somewhere in the Canadian wilderness.