Crowning Glory (In Bloom Book 2)

24: Dream Hijack

With every step, Lilia resisted against the forceful current of magic pushing against him. He even got hit several times. Still, he kept going up the steps towards Malleus.

"Meleanor! Revan! Are you watching this right now?!" he shouted towards the ceiling. "I'm sure you're having a ball up there! Well, I'm not letting Malleus join you up there! Not just yet!"

Lilia told me Malleus possessed a great amount of magic since he was a baby. I never thought the case would apply even before he came out into the world. Even though we were bystanders, whose words and actions would be futile against this story, a faint static brushed against me.

Finally, Lilia managed to wrap his arms around the egg and hug it close.

The shell brightly glowed as it spun all of the threads of magic at its disposal.  From the air. From Lilia.

"Go on! Take it!" Lilia gritted. "Take my magic, my lifespan, as much as you want! Just please...come out already!"

Lilia fell to his knees, heaving. The cracks running along the egg's surface allowed the muffled chitters to become more profound. The shell broke into pieces. Now, in Lilia's arms was a baby dragon. It coughed out a tiny fireball, nearby singing his bangs.

The scene brought a relieved smile to all our faces. Maybe even some tears in mine and Sebek's eyes. It all made sense. All the heartache, all the loss, all the pain Lilia went through brought him to this one moment. To when Malleus was born.

"Sometimes you can't escape fate. Mine was decided a long time ago."

Now I understood what he meant the day he informed me of his dropout from Night Raven College.

Grim whispered to me, "Between you and Malleus, you were cuter as a toddler."

Tears streamed down Lilia's cheeks as he admired the baby prince, "Two hundred years later and I finally get to meet you, Malleus. Wow...you have the same eyes and fire as Meleanor."

The Senate's voices came through again.

"Vanrouge! You did an incredible job hatching His Highness!"

"It's a miracle! You're a hero to us all!"

"We must bring the prince to Her Majesty as soon as possible!"

"She will be overjoyed!"

Lilia's joyous expression was replaced with pain. He pressed the back of his palm to his forehead. Our surroundings blurred.

Now, cries of anger from the Senate broke through.

"You have defiled the noble blood of the Draconia clan!"

"Do you realize the gravity of your sin?! For a dragon egg to be hatched with a bat's magic! This is a scandal upon scandals!"
"We need to ensure His Highness doesn't suffer from any ailments! Call a doctor!"

The baby dragon disappeared from Lilia's arms.

"What the heck's goin' on?!" Grim exclaimed. "Those crotchety senators were happy one second ago!"

Silver considered, "Father must be starting to realize we're in his dream."

"You mean to say that Sir Lilia was subject to this sort of abuse?!" Sebek exclaimed. "After everything he did?!"

The magic within the Darkness rapidly began to fade. My hand brushed against the pillar beside us. I let out a small pulse of magic and watched as poison ivy wrapped around it. Goosebumps spread down my arms at the suddenly icy air.

Silver and Sebek noticed too. We each hid behind a pillar.

From a tiny spark, a tower of fire rose from the earth and an overblotted Malleus made his grand entrance. He smiled as he strode towards Lilia. He gave a satisfied chuckle, "So this is where you were."