Once upon a Dragon Gift (Once Upon a Dragon Series Book 4)

I still searched at nights.

I found Jako time and time again. He was living in the forests now with a search party, searching for his daughter.

I stayed, and around the campfire, I told him about all the things George had seen. He listened with intent and the look on his face, that regret that happened to the previous Elementals, sprawled in every wrinkle. “No one knew.”

“So there always were four Dents?” he asked.

“It has nothing to do with danger. It has something to do with protecting our world. Become the protectors. Live until we die and four new Dents come. They just never had four live Dents. There was always a snag with one or two. Like in the Great War. Tanya told me that there were at least three, meaning that somewhere a rider or a dragon had died before they could perform the bond.”

Jako nodded.

“And before that, riders and dragons seemed so taboo still. It’s still so new. I mean, the others didn’t even think of the possibility of co-existing as one.”

“True.”

“You found any leads?”

“Do you think I would still be here if I had? I tried to think like him, and then I realized he’s changed so much that I don’t know who he is anymore.”

“Lucian struggles with the fact that it’s his uncle.”

“You will too, Blake. None of us thought Goran would become this.”

“There must have been one or two people who had an inkling.”

“Tanya hated him because he had a knack for lying his ass off and the way he obsessed over Kate. Still, she deemed him a liar, not a murderer.”

“She really is a Thunderlight?”

Jako nodded. “She did not know who I was, or who your father was.”

“Shows you how powerful Goran is.”

“It scares me. I wish I could take her place.”

“Me too.”

He looked at me. “Blake, he wants you. You are one of the key ingredients with the Saadedine and the sword. We have all three. He can’t get you, too. I know you would take her place, but for Paegeia and its future, stay strong.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“I know. It’s just not in me to leave her there while I’m stuck here. I feel off-balance.”

“I can imagine. I feel off-balance, and I only raised her.”

I squeezed his shoulder. “We will get her back. It’s one thing I know.”

Silence lingered as we looked at the embers from the fire pit. The dark circles under his eyes told me he lacked sleep.

“You need your rest.”

“I’ll rest when I find her.”

“You won’t find her if you are tired.”

He growled.

“I know how it feels. I wanted to rip my aunt’s head off when she told me that.”

A chuckle escaped his lips as I got up from the log. “As much as I want to stay, I have to go as I’m apparently the key ingredient of this Garrison dude, too.”

“You go become him. Maybe then we will bring Elena back.”

We said good night, and I flew back to the castle.

When my paws touched the roof of the palace, voices caressed my ears. The tone of them tightened the coils in my muscles. I tuned in, didn’t matter if there were soundproof walls or not. Adolph was here. And he was in a gritty discussion with the king.

I transformed back, opened the door, grabbed a robe from the hook, and flung it over my naked form. My feet skidded down the steps as King Albert refused to listen to what Adolph had to say.

I entered the library.

“Blake…” He stood up. There was no sign of Micha or Jose.

I reached out for his hand and shook it.

“You heard the exciting news?” I questioned.

“I could never imagine it. I told King Albert that there is no spell, but I’m going to work with George and Becky, guiding them how to discover what it is they have to discover.”

“Nobody ever had visions of the use of the Saadedine?”

“There were some, showing us how to merge the Saadedine with their host, but merging six other individuals into one dragon, there is no spell like that, Blake.”

“So I take it you don’t have one lying around?”

He laughed. “No, none.”

I sighed, and he tapped me on my cheek. “I have faith in your Moon-Bolt, Blake. Maybe even you will see it. I mean, it has to be time.”

“It’s the one thing that Goran struggled to open. He gave me my lightning, but the sight is tricky.”

“He is more powerful than I expected, Blake. To put a Dent in a spell like that and misplace his love for his Dent.” Adolph sighed. “We learned more with the four of you than we have in all of Paegeia’s history, combined with Dents.”

“Still makes you wonder why.”

“Because Goran is powerful. Probably the greatest oppressor we’ve ever faced.”

“Well, he fears something. I just don’t know what,” I said.

“You?” Dad questioned.

“It’s not me, Dad.”

“Not on his side, Blake. You can kill him with one breath of your fire.”

“He can dodge my blow with his magic.”

“He fears the one thing he can’t do,” Adolph remarked.

“Which is?”

He looked at me. “Think about it, Blake. Just go back in the past fifteen years. It will come to you.”

“I hate it when you do that. You have all the knowledge, but don’t want to share.”

Everyone laughed. “How are you going to become wise if I tell you everything that I know?” He tapped his head.

My lips curved as my mind was already going back over the past fifteen years and trying to put myself in Goran’s shoes.

My gaze flickered to King Albert. He was using this to his advantage, staring at nothing as his mind worked overtime.

King Albert. No, Goran didn’t fear the king. I looked at Adolph, and he laughed. “You figured it out quite fast.”

“It doesn’t make sense.”

“He can’t kill him. Not because of some invisible force that is around him, or some magical spell that he was born with. He fears him because deep down inside, Goran knows what he is doing is wrong. It’s his best friend that became his worst enemy. That meaning love to hate and hate to love is a great example of his love for Albert.”

“So he can’t kill the king because he loves him.”

“His love is twisted and weaved around the darkness that became him. He fears what this world will become without Albert and fears what will become of him if he kills the king eventually.”

“He was ready to do it when I found him.”

“I doubt he would’ve killed him. He would’ve hurt him maybe, taken out all that anger inside of him, but then he would’ve healed him back, like he always has.”

King Albert huffed. “How did you know?”

Dad’s jaw muscle pumped again as he shook his head.

“You are still alive, and he is still very much angry at you, Albert,” Adolph explained.

“I don’t understand where it all went wrong,” the king replied.

“You can’t save him,” Adolph remarked. “He’s showed you that many times. He loved the same woman who loved you. You sired the woman who came out of her. He envies you with everything he has. Especially the creepers. I think it put the most fear in him. If that is what you can conjure out of love, what can you conjure out of hate? He fears you in so many ways, as he couldn’t break you for the past fifteen years. And he couldn’t kill you either.”

We all sat there and thought about Adolph’s words. It was deep, really deep, and it made no sense while at the same time made all the sense.

“He won’t kill Elena. Micha has also been searching for the past two weeks.”

“Micha is searching?” I asked.

“She is fond of Elena, Blake. She trained her and taught her how to claim you. You are not the only creature that has a bond with her.”

Chuckles poured from Dad and the king.

The tip of my ears burned slightly. “I know.”

“I fear she could side with Goran because of Elena, to keep her safe. I can’t imagine what he would do to someone like Micha.”

“Stop, Adolph. She possesses magic that I doubt Goran even has. I feel sorry for him if Micha finds her,” the king stated.

“She leads with her heart, and I fear it’s going to be the end of her.” Adolph got up. “Albert, if you could be so kind as to show me where George and Becky are, I would like to discuss something with them before I retire.”

“You’re staying?” I asked.

“Paegeia needs me again for something other than petty things. You bet I’m staying.”

King Albert stood and escorted Adolph to the elevator that would take him to the second level where our rooms were situated.

“You believe what he said?” I questioned my father.

“He speaks sense, and Goran’s actions put the truth behind his words. But Al doesn’t have any type of hate in anyone. He hates situations, not the people who created them as everything was created, Blake. Nothing is born the way they are. Albert fears he created the monster in Goran for always being too lenient with him, for trusting him with his life.”

“Dad, he was his best friend. If you can’t trust your best friend, then who can you trust?”

“True, but he missed all the signs. We all did because of that trust, Blake.”

Everything was so confusing. I guessed it was one reason I didn’t like people’s relations that much. The reason my circle was so small.