Once upon a Dragon Gift (Once Upon a Dragon Series Book 4)
Once upon a Dragon Gift: Chapter 1

I’ve searched non-stop for the last two weeks for Elena. I couldn’t find Goran’s camp anywhere or tell King Albert what Goran planned with Elena. King Caleb would skin Arianna alive if he discovered she had helped us by performing another scrying spell.

A heavy, dull ache of not discovering anything new weighed down my spirit. Why couldn’t I find her? Worse, how could I allow her to get pulled into Goran’s spell? If it wasn’t for that, Elena would still be here with me, safe.

The third week, one of King Albert’s men tracked me down. My father wanted me to come to the castle. He didn’t say why; I knew they had discovered something.

Images of a drowned body by the lake filled my mind. I knew what I saw through the scrying spell, but Goran could change his mind. Just one step wrong and he would snuff out the life from her lungs.

When I reached the castle, they wanted me to take a rest.

My fury sprouted from my core.

They called me back just for that!

“Blake, enough!” my aunt yelled.

My nostrils flared, staring at her. She knew what Elena meant to me. I needed to find her. Yet, at the same time, she had no fucking clue. She wasn’t part of a Dent.

I shook my head, turned around, and walked back to the window.

Emanual came out of nowhere. I paused. My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to assess what he was trying to do.

“You need your rest,” he spoke. A prick burned inside my neck, and a warmth spread from the prick to my shoulder. I covered it with my hand.

My aunt retreated, clutching a needle in her fingers.

Everything became heavy, even my steps. My balance was gone, and I fell to the ground.

When I woke up, I just wanted to get out of the castle and find Elena.

“Blake…” It was the king this time.

I looked over my shoulder; I thought that he would’ve understood.

“You need to eat.”

It was all he said, and I nodded. I was hungry. I needed food and so I followed him in the direction of the dining room.

A delicious scent of gravy and roast beef, mixed with wild herbs and garlic greeted my nostrils as we neared. When I entered, a feast of dishes covered the oblong table. My dad sat in one chair, my mom in another. Constance stood against the sideboard with her arms folded.

“Please…” The king motioned with his hand toward a seat. Noises came from my stomach, and I knew fighting this would be impossible.

It took three strides to kill the distance between me and the table, and I plunged into the seat, grab a plate, and started dishing up.

My hunger pangs grew as another waft of the delicious food caressed my nostrils.

I wolfed down a plate as my father started telling me what they had discovered the past three days.

I’d been asleep for three days?

The food on my plate disappeared, and I dished up a second plate. Dad kept prattling about nothing. They couldn’t find her. Same as me.

The third helping seemed to do the trick.

Satisfied with my full stomach, the vortex in my body returned. My head seemed to be the worst, and I pressed the bridge of my nose.

“Blake?” My mother sounded concerned. My aunt’s hands were already touching my neck.

“I’m okay. I’m just off-balance.”

“If you take care of yourself like a dragon should, I wouldn’t have had to do that.”

“It’s not the drug, Constance.” I glared at her. “I need Elena.”

“When you find her, Blake,” King Albert said, “I think she needs to claim you.”

“I second that,” Dad agreed.

“I’m not dark anymore. There is no way that Goran will put another spell on me.” I sounded sincere, but deep down, I couldn’t promise them that 100 percent.

“I know you are not dark, Blake,” Dad sounded as frustrated as I felt, “but she needs to claim you. It’s because of you not yielding that Goran has found a loop hole to do this to you.”

I shook my head.

“Fine, maybe the Sigil of Marcus,” King Albert said.

Dad stared at the king as if he had grown two heads. “Have you lost it completely?”

“Bob, we are not dealing with the old Goran.”

“I know—

“I’m not done! He is sinister, and he wouldn’t think twice about putting another spell on that boy.” The king pointed his finger at me. “If that sigil can save Blake from falling under Goran’s spell again, yes, you are damn sure I would suggest it. I wish I’d put it on my daughter, then she wouldn’t be in this mess now.”

Silence fell around us, and Dad’s sigh broke it. His gaze landed on mine. “It’s your choice.”

I never thought about the Sigil of Marcus. It was a protection sigil, or one of the twelve we had. The strongest by far, but it wasn’t an easy or light decision to make to put one on your skin. It was usually plastered on buildings that protected objects of high value so that magic couldn’t be used to retrieve it. Putting it on something with a heartbeat needed approval. Royal approval.

“My healing ability doesn’t allow tattoos on my body. It disappears after twenty-four hours.”

The lines on King Albert’s face pulled downward as he got what I was saying, and Dad sighed out of relief.

“But if you brand it into my skin, it will stick.”

“Brand!” Mom yelled.

Dad’s eyes grew in horror. “You are not some bull, Blake.”

“It’s the only way. I do not want to think that Goran could be my rider again, Dad. You do not know the guilt and the hatred I’m left with knowing the things I’ve done under his command.”

“You were under a spell,” King Albert spoke louder.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m the alpha of the dragons; I caved just like that.” I snapped my fingers.

“Blake, it’s Goran. He is dark and powerful. Believe me when I say, the power that is coursing through that man is the only power that would’ve been able to claim you if my wife didn’t give birth to our daughter. You had no choice. It wasn’t you.”

As much as I tried to believe it, I struggled.

I looked at my father. “I don’t want to feel that way ever again.”

Dad didn’t look at me.

Mom stared at him, mouth open. “Please tell me you are not considering this, Bob.”

“Dad,” I said, and his gaze flickered to mine. “It’s not a bad idea. If I’d listened to King Albert earlier, none of us would be in this predicament. Elena would still be here next to my side.”

Dad nodded.

Mom jumped from her chair, smacked her hands on the table. “No!”

“Mom, I love you, but this is not your decision. In fact, it’s not any of your decisions. I ask out of respect. I’m getting that sigil on me, and I do not care what it takes.”

I turned around and walked away. My parents started to quarrel. I tuned out. I needed to find Elena, and I had to be me in order to pull her out of his spell.

That afternoon, a magister that worked with sigils came to the palace. He greeted King Albert and Dad like an old friend.

We had to do it at the royal stables, as that was where King Albert kept his branding equipment.

Dad held me down with the help of King Albert and a few of his men.

I bit on a belt as I got branded on the chest with the Sigil of Marcus. A brilliant spell caster.

Pain like I’d never felt before tore through me. The fire seeped into my bones, and the growl felt as if it came from my soul. My arms changed into scales and only then did he lift the rod. Burned skin reached my nostrils as I grunted and growled, still biting on the belt.

Darkness consumed me, and everything became quiet.

That evening, my chest was still sensitive as my healing ability worked overtime. I had a fever, but it was manageable. The king had begged me so many times to just go and rest. But I was hardheaded. Got that from my father, or that was what Mom always said.

We sat in the office as Dad spoke to the leaders of the fleet members. Jako wasn’t here. He searched for Elena non-stop, and yet nobody hauled his ass back and made him sleep and eat.

My dad didn’t want me to go with him. Scared that the Copper-Horn might blame me for the disappearance of his daughter.

My scales were on fire, wanting to take flight. I couldn’t stand just listening to what they planned for the next few months.

The doors barged opened, and one of the search party men fell on the floor.

I rushed to his side and saw the hole in his chest. Blood seeped through it.

I tried to heal it, but with my wound still using up most of my healing ability, it was a helpless cause. The king yelled for Constance.

This guy wasn’t going to make it.

“Speak,” King Albert urged, and the man grabbed his shirt to bring him closer.

The king bent over his body, closer to his mouth. He whispered, “Goran has a Thunderlight.”

King Albert squinted. “That can’t be…”

“They are at the River of Phoenix.” He blew out his last breath. I jumped up as my feet carried me out of the room.

“Blake,” my father yelled as I pulled off clothes while making my way to the nearest open window.

My dragon pushed out of me. The wind scooped me up the second my wings burst from my shoulder blades, and I charged for the River of Phoenix.

It was a stretch, but if I was fast, I might pick up some noise or scent of where they were hiding.

Dad screeched a few miles behind me.

I knew he wanted me to be responsible, to wait, but there was no waiting with Goran. Not when he had Elena with him.

A Thunderlight? Cara was a Thunderlight. She gave her life to Elena when she was little, and Elena became her form. Cara died. What if Cara didn’t die?

New possibilities seeped through my mind. The spell required a dragon. That spell woke Cara.

My scales whistled with the wind pushing through them. It burned as my speed became faster.

Dad was nowhere to be seen or heard when I landed closer to the river.

They had left in a hurry. Burned the last few things they wouldn’t be able to take.

Goosebumps flushed my skin. Someone was here, cloaked and close.

“Clarortis Focueris!” A strong, copper rush of small spikes ran up the tree and revealed his hiding place. I reached out, grabbing the weasel around his throat and pulled him out behind the clocking spell.

He gulped for air as I smacked him hard against the tree.

“Where are they, Lumis?” I growled.

The asshole laughed as wisps of bad breath murdered my nostrils. I breathed through my lips.

“Long live the rebellion.” I heard him crushing his teeth, breaking the poison capsule that was planted in his canine. He immediately foamed at the mouth.

“No, no, no.” I worked fast, trying to save his life, but the poison worked faster.

I did not know why they agreed to the implant. The poison was horrible. You would die a painful death as all your organs pulverized.

He begged me with his eyes for my fire. This asshole was once a friend. I unleashed it. He didn’t even scream as the orange glowing veins spread toward his head and down the rest of his body. My fire was underneath his skin, spreading like a virus. Then his skin turned darker and black before it became ash.

Dad landed out of breath as Lumis’ ashes fluttered away in the wind.

“Blake, what did you do? He could’ve given us intel.”

“He poisoned himself when he knew there was no way out. What don’t you get? The wyverns are not afraid to die. We won’t get our hands on a live one to ask fucking questions.”

“So you gave him an easy way out? He deserves all the pain for what they did to you.”

“I’ve seen and caused enough monstrous things that will last me a lifetime. I don’t need more.”

I looked away and felt my father’s eyes on me. Burned spots scattered throughout the area. Goran got smart. He knew someone must have been scrying.

“They were here,” Dad confirmed, as if it was a great thing.

“They left, burned the last few things they couldn’t take with them.”

“How can he have a Thunderlight, Blake?”

“Time to ask your rider.”

His eyebrows knitted as he stared at me. “Does it have to do with Elena?”

“Don’t. You promised—”

Dad closed his eyes. “Sorry.”

We took the trek back and passed two fleets. “Find anything that is remotely in a condition we can use. It might lead to something.”

The rider on top of the Copper-Horn nodded as they darted toward River Phoenix.

Dad struggled to catch up, but eventually, his presence was behind me again.

When we landed, we immediately went to King Albert’s office and found him in thought, sitting behind his desk.

“Albert?” Dad spoke.

The king pulled himself out of his daydream as his gaze landed on the table.

“How is it possible that Goran has a Thunderlight?” Dad questioned.

“The guy was just delusional. There are no Thunderlights—”

I smack against the table. “Stop lying! We both know how Elena got out of here when she got sick as a baby. Tell my dad the truth.”

Dad frowned as the king looked at me with furrowed eyebrows.

“How do you know that?” King Albert asked. “Jako told you?”

I chuckled and walked to the window, shaking my head and grabbing the rail, pushing the anger back down to my core.

“Blake, calm down,” Dad spoke softly.

“She will not shake off the spell, Dad. Goran’s spell woke Cara. She is the fucking Thunderlight.”

King Albert stared at me.

“What?” Dad asked.

My gaze fluttered to my dad and back to King Albert. “Tell him the truth of what you and your wife did.”

“Blake?” my dad warned.

Tears welled up in the king’s eyes. “Don’t, Bob. He is right. What we did was unspeakable.”

Dad looked at his rider as King Albert sniffed.

“Tanya got a foretelling before Elena was born. One wouldn’t make it, but two might. She did not know what it meant. Then Kate gave birth to Elena. The first few weeks were wonderful, but on the third week we discovered something was horribly wrong with her. We got Swallow Annexes to look at her. Tanya took the memory away after. All of them said the same thing: Elena would not make it.”

“Al,” my dad breathed.

“I’ve seen it in their eyes, Bob. Tears don’t lie. They knew if they tried to heal her, she would’ve died. There wasn’t a potion out there to save my daughter, and that was when Tanya told us about her foretelling. She said that she knew it was what Irene had meant. One wouldn’t make it, but two might. Cara soaked up Elena’s essence and when Cara got her human form, it was a one-year-old little girl.”

Silence lingered.

“How do you know—”

“Jako told me,” King Albert said.

“The calypso potion?” Dad asked.

“I didn’t want to, but you remember how Kate and Tanya were. She didn’t think twice, said it was her duty to pay for the cause.”

“It was a life, Al. An innocent life.”

“I know! What was I supposed to do, Bob? My daughter was dying. Your son’s only chance was dying.”

“So Elena is a dragon?” Dad asked.

“She wasn’t supposed to be one. Tanya said that she would die when Elena’s human figure emerged.”

“Well, she clearly didn’t. Your daughter will not shake off the spell. She didn’t kill Goran. She is his new puppet,” Dad roared.

“So we are back to square one, just with a different dragon,” I stated. My tone sounded as if I’d lost all hope.

All of them looked at me. Defeat washed over their bodies.

“How am I going to break this fucking spell?” I begged.

Dad shook his head.

“I’ll find a way,” King Albert replied.

“Al!”

“I’m not giving up on my daughter. I will take her place if that is what it takes, Bob. He wants me. He needs me to become the Saadedine.”

“It will not do a damn bit of difference if Elena is under his spell. We won’t be able to hold her or reach her if she thinks Goran is her fucking rider,” Dad remarked.

“Then I’ll trade the Elementals.”

“You are not listening to what my father is saying,” I yelled back. “She will just go back to him, and then he has everything to start the fucking apocalypse.”

“Blake!”

“No, he needs to listen, Dad.”

“Then what do you think we do? Leave her with Goran?” King Albert roared.

“No. You call Jako back and get Tanya to come. They may want to know that their daughter has emerged. Maybe Tanya knows what we have to do.”

King Albert nodded as tears still laid thick in his eyes.

“It wasn’t the way to do things, Al.”

“What was I supposed to do?” The king’s frustration was showing. A tear glided over his cheek.

“You should’ve told more people than just Tanya and Jako about your daughter.”

“We got the best of the Swallow Annexes. None of them had good news, said the same thing. She was just too weak.”

“Blake could’ve saved her. She would’ve lived,” Dad commented. His eyes glistened with tears. “You should’ve told me. But you didn’t. For fifteen years—”

“I know!”

“No, I don’t think you truly do.” Dad turned around and left.

We both stared at nothing, just thinking about what my father had said. I could’ve saved her. An innocent dragon didn’t have to die.

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