Chapter 99

Anila’s POV

“Dragons?” I asked, my eyes wide as I stared up at Jaxon.

He cocked his head at me.

“This is Dragon Valley,” he reminded me. “Of course, there are dragons here.”

“Well, yeah. I guess I kind of assumed you allowed them to go free,” I confessed, biting my lower lip in embarrassment. But it was strange that they’d keep dragons locked away in stables like horses.

His eyes lowered and he stared intently at my mouth for a moment; I wondered what he was thinking about until his eyes raised, and he met my gaze.

“We do have some order here, Anila,” he told me. “They are like animals. I can’t just let them wander around without structure.”

“I get that,” I said. “Are they safe?”

“They are dragons,” he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Come and find out.”

Without another word, he was dragging me toward the stables. Once we bypassed the fenced-in area, there was a woman who was leaving one of the many stables that were set up. She looked older and oddly enough, she looked kind. I imagined that the dragon masters weren’t kind based on what everyone was saying about them. But this woman didn’t look any different than anyone else I had met. Her hair was long and braided down her back. She wore waist-high jeans and a tight blouse that hugged her curves perfectly. She had wrinkles around her mouth and eyes to show her age and her eyes themselves were warm brown and made me feel immediately comfortable in her presence before even speaking to her.

She reminded me of a typical cowgirl, except with dragons instead of horses.

“Anila, this is Emily, our dragon keeper,” Jaxon introduced.

The woman, Emily, wiped the dirt off her hands with her jeans and stuck her hand back out to shake mine. I took it and offered her a smile.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said to her, genuinely meaning it.

“Likewise,” she said, just as sweetly as she looked. “You aren’t from around here.”

It wasn’t a question, but I shook my head in response anyway.

“No, I’m not,” I answered.

“Anila is my mate, and we are to be married next week,” Jaxon told her casually, once again startling me.

I gawked at him, but he paid me no attention. Emily’s eyes widened when she looked back at me.

“So, you are to be our queen then?” She asked, that smile never leaving her lips. “It’s an honor to meet you, Queen Anila.”

My cheeks flushed from her words, and I looked back at Jaxon, wanting him to help me out of this. But of course, he didn’t.

“How is Ember adapting?”

Emily frowned.

“She won’t eat still,” Emily said, shaking her head. “I’m not sure what’s wrong with her. Maybe depression? Sapphire is a mess over it.”

“Ember?” I asked, looking between the two of them. “That baby dragon that I found?”

“Oh, you’re the one who found her?” Emily asked. “I did hear about you. I heard you took good care of our girl for us. Thank you for that.”

I blushed at her compliment.

“I’m glad I could be there for her,” I said honestly. “Can I see her?”

Emily looked at Jaxon who gave her a head nod. She looked back at me, and her smile widened.

“Of course,” she said, walking toward one of the stable doors and unlatching it. She pushed the doors open and walked inside, motioning for me to follow. I went with her, Jaxon hot on my trail and I stepped into the stable. I immediately saw the giant dragon that lay on a bed of hay in the back of the stables. She was the biggest thing I had ever seen in my life; her purple and blue scales practically shined under the illuminating light of the stables. Her bright purple eyes were watching me with open curiosity as I stood at the entryway, staring back at her.

Her long scaly tail was wrapped around her body and when she breathed heavily through her nose, light smoke could be seen leaving through her nostrils.

It was strange because I wasn’t afraid of it; at least not like I should be. She was a beautiful creature, and my breath was immediately taken away by the sight.

“This is Sapphire,” Emily introduced. “Ember’s mother.”

“She’s beautiful,” I whispered.

Emily nodded and then walked around the giant beast, kneeling to the ground. I wondered what she was doing, but soon a much smaller dragon appeared, walking toward her hesitantly. My breath caught in my throat as I watched the baby dragon… my baby dragon… pause and look up at her mother with questions clear in her eyes.

I’m not sure how I knew that, but I could tell the baby dragon had a lot of fear within her and didn’t want to do much of anything without her mother’s permission first. I swear, I saw Sapphire close her eyes tightly and then give a curt nod to Ember before her eyes opened once again.

Ember walked toward Emily and sat in the palm of her hand.

“I have someone who wants to see you, sweet girl,” Emily purred as she faced the baby dragon in my direction.

I remained stagnant against the doorway, watching as Ember looked over at me, curiosity in her small and colorful gaze. Then, recognition flashed in her eyes, and she lit up like the moon. She started to chirp wildly like a baby bird and wiggle free from Emily’s hands. Emily lost her footing and fell over trying to catch the baby dragon, but the dragon was much quicker. She flapped her little wings and practically flew towards me.

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I knelt on the ground, opening my arms for Ember to fly into me. Once she reached me, she sniffed me a couple of times, like she couldn’t believe I was actually standing in front of her. She nuzzled against my hand, and I brought her up to my face to get a better look at her. She was a bit bigger than the last time I saw her, but she was also thinner, so I knew she wasn’t eating properly, just like Emily had previously stated.

Ember nuzzled her long snout against my cheek, and I chuckled at the sensation. Her scales tickled my soft skin. I ran my fingers down her back and tail, allowing her long tail to wrap around my finger and keep me in place. She did not want me to let her go.

I was shocked to find images of our time together flashing through my mind like a slide show. I had never seen straight pictures in my head before. These were more than memories.

“Pictures,” I whispered, more to myself than to anyone else, but I was also aware of Jaxon’s nearby presence. “ I can see pictures in my head.”

“What are the pictures?” Jaxon asked, watching me closely.

“They are of my time with Ember before I brought her back to the tree,” I explained, watching the slide show of every moment I had with her flash through my head.

“Dragons communicate by flashing images in the brain,” Jaxon explained. “That’s how I knew what Sapphire wanted to name her. She flashed the word Ember into my mind. They can’t speak with words, but they can plant words and pictures in your head. Right now, Ember is young, so she doesn’t know many words. Images are how she mainly communicates.”

“That’s incredible,” Keeping my eyes on Ember.

Then, an image of me saying goodbye to Ember that final time flashed through my head, and I saw how sad Ember truly was. My heart ached from that memory, but what I didn’t see was Ember watching me walk away and feeling as if she had done something wrong like I didn’t want her. She was so sad, and I hated that she went through that.

“Oh, sweet girl…” I whispered as tears pricked my eyes. “I didn’t leave you in the tree because I didn’t want you. I left you because I knew your mom would be looking for you. I knew she’d be worried if I didn’t return you soon. It was the hardest decision I’ve had to make though… I’m so sorry I hurt you.”

I hugged her close to me and she nuzzled against my neck.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Emily put her hand over her heart, touched by our moment. Then she went toward the back corner of the stables and rummaged through a sack that was placed on the ground. She grabbed a large carrot stick and walked back.

“Do you want to try feeding her? She’s hardly eaten in days, no matter what I do,” Emily said, shaking her head sadly.

I nodded and took the carrot from her. I presented it to the baby dragon. I wasn’t really expecting her to eat if she hadn’t bothered eating in the last couple of days. But then Ember surprised me by grabbing the carrot from my hands and eating it quickly, leaving no morsels.

Emily’s mouth dropped open, but she quickly recovered as she grabbed Ember another carrot. Ember ate it just as quickly, burping and releasing some fire through her snout.

“I can’t believe she’s actually eating,” Emily cooed, happily.

I looked at Sapphire who was also watching us and her eyes shined with happiness as well. Then I looked up at Jaxon and he had a look on his face that I couldn’t quite read and then the corner of his lips tipped up into a smile.