Chapter 81

Irina
“Keep her safe, Irina,” my human said.
I looked around my temporary new home. It was dark, uninviting. I began to walk around breathing fire out to light my way. I followed the sounds of soft snoring to the back of the new human’s mind. Lily, my human had called her. I paused at the sight of another dragon in this small space. I curiously walked around her, before nuzzling into her.
“Sister, wake up.”
My sister continued to sleep. I sat down next to her. Why wouldn’t she wake up? I know my human had said something about her. What was it? I studied her. She was alive. She was here, so why did my human pass me onto the little human? Oh, yes. She was dormant. I looked around wondering if I could wake her.
“Aja, what did you do?”
The sound of our little sister’s voice rang louder than ever before. What was going on? I pushed forward to watch from my new eyes. I was instantly stunned by my human’s beauty. Her red hair almost glittered in the dim artificial light. Her eyes shone with a fiery passion to protect everyone that mattered to her.
“I gave Irina to Lily. It’s the only way to protect her,” she said.
Lily whimpered and I felt the overwhelming need to comfort her. I wrapped my wings around the little her inside of her brain. In her mind, she was perfect, just the way we had always seen her.
“Why? Mother will kill you for sure now.”
My human sighed and reached through the bars to take Lily’s hands. “But Lily will be safe.”
“But you will die,” our little sister whispered.
My human brushed her hair back and gave her a sad smile.
“I did my job. I can safely pass on and not leave you guys without a mother of dragons.”
“What do you mean, Aja?”
My human looked past Lily at Kalani. “My egg. I have dreamed it is a beautiful little girl with red hair and grey eyes like her father. My only job is to preserve life and provide the next mother of dragons.” My human raised her hand to put it against Lily’s face. “I have done both. Just please, tell Aiden when she hatches that her name is to be Roselynn. She will save all of you.”
“Aja, please. We will figure out another way.”
“No. I will not take Irina back.”
“Lani, did the Goddess come to you?”
“Yes. She showed me our births. She said I was being tested. She asked me what I saw that was important about our births.”
“What did you see?”
“I saw our mother’s hatred for us. Especially you. She tried to abort you, but dad wouldn’t let her. After you were born and she saw the way the queen hated you, mom wanted to provide more children. She wanted to torment the queen more. She wanted to hurt her and I don’t understand why.” She sighed. “Babies are not supposed to be used as pawns, Aja. That’s exactly what mom did to us. After Lukas was born, she asked Dad to stop sleeping with his chosen mate. After I was born, she threatened to leave if he didn’t leave her altogether.”
My human started crying and I longed to comfort her. I hated having to watch from a place that I couldn’t get to her. She was all alone. I paced frustratedly.
“Daddy loved mama so much, Lani. From the minute he saw her, he would have done anything to make her happy. He was going to let her go. All he wanted was a chance to convince her that she belonged with him.”
“What happened to them?,” Lily asked softly.
My human took her hands in her hands. “Her chosen mate was spelled and he attacked her. Dad killed him to protect her. She was so happy before Dad saw her. When the queen spelled him, she became the bitch she is now.”
I pushed forward to make Lily wipe my human’s face. She pressed Lily’s hand flat to her cheek and met her eyes.
“Irina, you have to promise me that no matter what happens to me, you will protect Lily.”
I force her to nod her head. “I will.”
We heard the door open and my human backed away to lay on her cot. Anastasia appeared, smirking. She peered at my human and I wanted to rip her throat. She needed to keep her eyes off of my human before I ripped her throat out. I wondered if she would taste as vile as she was.
“Still no shift? I had expected more from you.” She shrugged. “Oh, well. Guess your brother’s little whore will pay for your mistakes.”
Confusion swamped me and I hated the woman even more. Lily was so young and our brother had gone to great lengths to not tell her she was his mate.
‘Ignore her,’ I whispered in her mind as I watched her approach.
She reached for Lily and I heated her skin. Anastasia pulled back in shock. She turned to glare at my human.
“What did you do?”
My human shrugged. “I gave her my dragon. You can’t hurt her now. She will never shift and neither will I. Sorry about your luck, ‘Mother’.”
She stormed out of the cell, slamming the gate closed. She entered my human’s cell and I forced Lily to move closer to the bars. My human didn’t move as her mother walked over to her. It always amazed me how fearless she had become, but this was a mistake. Anastasia put her hands close together and a ball of light grew between her hands.
“Well, now you have no defense.”
My human met her mother’s eyes. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that. I am your daughter after all, too.”
Before she could throw it at my human, a thud shook the ceiling above us. Soil and rock particles rained down on us. My human finally sat up, smirking.
“Oh, now you’re dead.”
I inhaled and purred as his walnut, cedar scent hit me. ‘Mate.’
Anastasia wiggled her hands at my human and her hands were forced behind her back, bound by a leather restraint. She grabbed my human by her hair and began to drag her out of the room.
“ANASTASIA!”
His yell rocked the dungeon and I met Anastasia’s eyes. “You are so dead.”
She smirked and put a knife to my human’s throat. “We’ll see who’s dead at the end of this.”