Chapter 34

~Kamari~

"What are you doing?" I ask as Nye puts his ear on my lower abdomen. Lately, I couldn't say "ouch" in front of him without being checked over. I pick up a fruit that Aneth picked for me, and before I can bite it, Nye snatches it away from me, "Hey!"

"What is this?" Nye asks disgustingly, "Aneth gave it to me—Oh!" I gasp as Nye throws it back at Aneth, hitting him in the head. "Think before you try to poison my whelp!" Nye shouts.

My eyes widen, and my face flushes. Aneth rubs his neck. I say sorry to him, and he shakes his head. I sigh, "Nye, we don't know if I am. I mean, wouldn't I be showing by now?" I showed with Ryuu quickly, but I'm starting to think different elements had different processes. 

"Do you think he's weak?" Nye crosses his arms.

"Huh? No. I'm just saying we don't know for sure." I rub my neck, giving him a pinched-eye smile. Nye crouches and crawls to me, looking like a predator in his eyes, and starts to lean back. "I never miss when I attack. Do you think the process is different in breeding?" he says in a husky tone. 

Ugh. His voice could haunt my dreams, and I'd still react the same way. 

I bite my lip and whisper, "You missed last night on purpose…" 

Nye smirks, "There's nothing wrong with experimenting," he says as he dips his head down and gently kisses my lips. I make sure I care for Nye the way he cares for me. I never want to make him feel that way again, but I can't help but notice the tension between Nye and Koa; it bothered me. As he pulls away, I hear the sloshing of water.

I lean up on my arms, and Nye stands up, "Koa must be back from fishing–"

"I'm right here." When Koa speaks, my heart nearly jumps into my throat. My head snaps back towards the water. Those waves were way too big…

Nye starts to growl low in his throat as he walks up the shoreline, but Koa rushes in front of him and snarls at him. "Move, or I'll break your other arm." Nye threatens. 

Koa digs his feet into the sand. "This has nothing to do with you and me." Koa says, his eyes locked with Nye, "You give him the same treatment you have given us. You judge the kill." 

My lips part as I realize what they're talking about. I gaze out to the water, where the waves churned. I get up and walk towards the water. A familiar feeling comes over me, one that I had felt when I first held him to my chest, his little heartbeat pounding against my own. "Ryuu," I say softly.

 As I hear the two bickering behind me, I see something shimmering below the waves, but it isn't white. I can listen to my heart pounding in my ears for a few moments before a massive red dragon's head lunges out at me.

"Ah!" I scream and race up the shore, but as I look behind me, I notice the dragon head has nobody. 

"Oh, good goddess. " My mouth starts to salivate, preparing to puke. Nye and Koa also seemed stunned, their eyes wide with confusion, and for good reason. The head could be compared to Koa's, and now that I think about it, I realize that this head came from one of his kind. Koa's face blanches; he looks more unsettled than Nye's.

From behind the Dragon's head came a man breathing heavily. His white hair and aurora borealis eyes made me want to fall apart. My bottom lip trembled. "Ryuu!" I started to run towards him, but Aneth caught my arm and pulled me back. "Hey! Get off me!" 

"Stop." Aneth pins my hands behind my back. Nye needs to accept him. If not, he goes back to sea and tries again."

Goes back to the sea? No. No, I can't go for months without seeing him again. This wasn't fair! I screamed to myself. "Ryuu is smart," Aneth whispers in my ear, "He made his kill a serpent for a reason," Aneth says, and then it dawns on me. Nye had spoken about his distaste for Serpents before, but now Ryuu has taken advantage of it. I smile, admiring my young whelp. But what perplexed me was that Ryuu didn't look like a child; he was more of a lengthy teenager/adult. 

My attention draws to Nye and Koa again. Nye locks eyes with Ryuu, and my stomach clenches. I notice Koa gives Ryuu a sort of instruction, Koa hiss softly, then dips his head down. Ryuu mimics Koa and keeps his head down. Nye walks up to Ryuu, and compared to Nye, my whelp looks like a child. Nye seemed to asses Ryuu circling him; then, he turned his attention to the kill. 

Please, dear Kadea, let it be enough…

Nye grabs hold of one of its thick horns and snaps it off like it's nothing but a twig. He throws it in front of Ryuu. "Break it," Nye commands. Koa's lip curls, but he doesn't say anything. "What are they doing now?" I ask, my nerves making me breathe hard. 

"Testing if Ryuu killed it," Aneth says, his gaze just as unwavering as Koa.

"What? Nye thinks he's faking?"

Aneth explains, "It happens. Corpses of Dragons wash up on the shore, and because it's a serpent, it would be easy for Ryuu to get his hands on it." I sigh heavily, not knowing if my whelp has screwed himself over. 

Ryuu looks at the horn but doesn't touch it. Nye lunges at him, snarling. Ryuu keeps his head down, "Weak." Nye says harshly. I swallow hard, feeling the ache in my chest. I see Ryuu's upper lip twitch. His face contours in anger, he snatches the horn, stands and breaks it in half on his knee. He looks at Nye this time and throws it to the ground, "I am not weak." Hearing his voice for the first time makes my heart melt. I jump for joy internally.

Nye closes the distance between them, and Ryuu holds his ground. "Throw it back," Nye commands.

 "He already snapped the horn off." Why is Nye making him do more? I ask myself, but maybe it's because the head lunged at me. 

Ryuu gives Nye a sharp hiss, then stands in front of the Dragon's head. I watch as his eyes glow, the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. He digs his claws into the dragon's flesh and lifts it up. My jaw drops as I watch him throw it yards away from the shore. I look at Nye, who seems unimpressed. Ryuu walks up to him, and with a slightly tilted head, he asks, "Enough?"

I smile like an idiot. My baby had an attitude! Seeing the slight curve on Nye's lips, I knew Ryuu had been accepted. Nye turns to Koa, nods, and walks up the shore. Koa dashes up to Ryuu, grabs the back of his neck, and places his forehead against him. I race up to him, and when he sees me, it's instant recognition. 

I pulled my son into a bear hug, even though he was taller than me. "Oh, I've been dying to see you again." My eyes burned, and I let the tears fall. When I parted from Ryuu, his eyes held nothing but admiration for me. I had his face in between my hands. Koa stood by him like a proud daddy. 

"Why one of your kind, Ryuu?" Koa asks him. Ryuu glances at Nye, leaning against a tree and talking to Aneth. "Nye doesn't like our kind," Ryuu says, then smirks, "I killed one to gain his favor." I meekly smile as Koa sighs heavily. "You did what you had to," I say as I caress for Ryuu's cheek.

"Father is upset?" Ryuu asks; Koa turns to him, "No. It has nothing to do with you." He says, then kisses Ryuu on the forehead, but he only glances at me and leaves. My heart sinks knowing the way Koa feels for me. But my rash actions had to stop for the pride to co-exist happily. I just decided when they switch off, the little harlot in me can come out full force. I could give them all of me as long as they stayed the Alpha of the pride. But the shaded part of me was hard to fight.

"Mother, " Ryuu says as he places his forehead against mine, " There are paintings of you. Would you like one?"

My heart spikes, and I pull away from him. "Paintings? What paintings?" Ryuu tilts his head. "In the Castle. Paintings, books, he pauses, trying to remember something. Calea?" He says, and his words shake me to my core. 

"Oh, Ryuu, no. Tell me you haven't been there?" Ryuu nods, "Yes. I have. It calls to me."

"Calls to you?"

"Not a voice. A feeling," he makes a fist over his heart and opens and closes his fist like a heartbeat. I inhale, realizing what Ryuu is feeling. Veldon. "He's trying to call you home…" I say under my breath. "You said Calea?"

"Yes."

I swallow hard, "Is she well?"

Ryuu tilts his head. I assume he doesn't understand, so I gesture it to him. If there's one thing I learned, Dragons have gestures and body language that could translate into words they don't know. "Strong," I brace my arm against my chest with a tight fist.

"Yes," Ryuu says, then looks down distastefully. "She pushed me away."

A bittersweet feeling takes over me. Even though I wasn't there, Calea tried to do what she thought would help us. "She did what was right, Ryuu. You could have gotten yourself killed."

Ryuu becomes defensive, "I am stronger. Nye says this."

"I know. But there are people there that want you dead." Ryuu locks eyes with me, "Then I'll kill them. Before they kill me." I admired my young ones' vigor, but it wasn't easy. Javall had magic on his side, and only Aneth could face him without getting hurt. "You can't fight magic." Ryuu gives me a sharp hiss and turns his head away, "We will figure it out." I take my head between my hands, "You belong there. I will get you there, I swear." I promise him.

I had a bone to pick with Browen and wanted to see him burned alive. He took my Kingdom away from me, but he wasn't going to take it from my son. I will get my Kingdom back, and my son will be where he belongs, the rightful heir to Nivillia.