Blood-tied Lies

~Chapter 20~

I'd woken up to an empty house this morning. The silence was unnerving and a little disappointing as I spent a solid ten minutes looking for Ananta and my mother. Neither of them had left a trace of where they'd gone and I only hoped Ananta hadn't done anything stupid enough to wind up in a potion. Today of all days I wanted Ananta and my mother to get along, for Rivit to be here, and for my one wish to come true. I had always assumed that I'd finally get answers when I turned sixteen but my hopes were quickly fading away like the early morning fog that was rare in the Flaming Forest.

The sun had only been up for an hour when I left the house. The cool autumn air blew through my hair as leaves crunched beneath my boots. Golden light streamed through the red and orange leaves that danced in the wind. Fall fell upon the forest quickly over the last couple of weeks and despite the constantly burning trees that worsened in the pre-winter season, it was still a little chilly. I fastened the clasps on my cloak and savored its warmth. Dragon scales would really be preferable right about now.

Down on four legs, the breeze wasn't nearly as cold when the smoke cleared. The scales acted like a shield against the wind and glittered in the sun. After my epic failure at the Eastern Shore, I'd made sure I learned how to walk, run, and fly. Of course, practicing didn't come without a heaping dose of humiliation. Ananta had made fun of me first, pretending to stumble around and walk into things. The next day, she'd brought a couple dozen dragons to watch me helplessly trip over my feet. Sometimes, I really thought Ananta wanted to end up in several jars and vials of liquid. Nonetheless, she was still my best friend and I considered her part of the family.

Family, people who were supposed to be there for you on your special day. Not mine apparently. Spending my birthday wondering where my family went was far from ideal but I remembered that I was spending the morning with Rose.

Every year, this day became more and more complicated. I had a human friend who would never step foot in the forest, a few dragon friends who normally didn't leave the forest and a mother who'd never met my human friend. It had been decided after I told my mother about Rose several years ago that I would spend the morning with Rose and come home for lunch and celebrate the rest of my birthday with my mother and Ananta. The only difference this year was that my mother wasn't baking a cake when I woke up and Ananta wasn't leaving pyrafish juice on my floor.

I came upon a few trees that had minimal char marks and decided to give fire breathing another go. Fire breathing. That was another embarrassing story and worst of all, it had happened in front of my mother. I had shown her that I'd learned to transform into a dragon during another lesson and she'd prompted me to try breathing fire. She had told me it was easier than relying on a spell when I gave her a look of uncertainty. Nevertheless, I tried and choked on the smoke when I took a second breath, and now I'll never live it down. She'd given me the most pathetic, pitiful look before telling me to try again the next day.

Shoving the mortifying memory out of my mind, I concentrated on the boiling heat at my core. Taking deep breaths to build up the fire, I made sure I was extra careful not to inhale smoke. I could feel the heat growing hotter as I took one final deep breath and blew out scorching red-orange flames.

***

"Novia," Rose started. "I know I said I'd do whatever you wanted because it's your birthday, but can we not do anything dangerous?"

I laughed and shook my head. "Of course, Rose, I'd never make you do anything that would put you in danger," I said in my most sincere voice, putting a hand over my heart as we came around another hill. I had honestly forgotten how long it took to walk from the forest to Antaham and back.

"Last month, you made me ride a dragon." Rose pointed at me and then at herself. "You and I have very different definitions of the word dangerous."