Dragon Blood (Completed)

The Heir of Bluescale

Chapter 4

He looked at the girl who was now inches away, still securely in the circle of his arms. He felt excited, alive, and full of hope. This girl was a Bluescale! Because of her, he was alive. Because of her, there was hope for the realm. He beamed down at her as water dripped off their faces. For a moment, he couldn't think of anything to say as she stared back at him with a strange focus he was not used to experiencing from a girl so young.

"By all that burns, thank you," he said, forgetting that she spoke a different language. In his excitement, he pulled her into a tight hug.

Almost immediately, she gasped and struggled against him, as if his hold on her was too tight. As soon as he loosened his grip, she pushed against him, and this time he let her go. She turned away, seeming uninterested in him. It was annoying how she so quickly disregarded his presence. She looked around wildly as she called out, then Zane understood. He'd forgotten all about the boy while in the tunnel. Not until the boy poked his head out from under a small table did Zane even remember his existence.

In an instant, she was out of the water, while the boy scrambled out of his hiding place, running across the room to throw his arms around her neck.

Zane exited the pool to light a few lights, then he blew some fire into the fireplace. He didn't plan on staying here long, but he wanted to make the children more comfortable. He also wanted to keep an eye on them, which would be easier with light.

The girl was still holding the boy tightly, but when the room lit up, her eyes roamed around. The tunnel had deposited them into one of the royal estate rooms. Zane was used to this sort of opulence. The enormous mantle over the fireplace, and the ornate furnishings in the sitting room, were done up with soft blues and creams. Unlike most of the BluescaleCastle, this room actually had a lot of gold trim painted on the walls, light fixtures, and accents on the furnishings. There was more gold in this room than in his father's, which he'd always envied.

Zane suspected these rooms had been uninhabited for a long time, which was not a shock considering the diminished population in the Bluescale line.

She stared for a long moment at a huge painting above the fireplace, and Zane followed her gaze, wondering what held her interest. It was a portrait with members of the royal family—Kaison, the oldest son of King Theo. Kaison's companion, Aminah, with their young son, Aranzo. It looked like it was painted just before they were sent to the Earth realm. Zane looked back at her, and thought she looked sad.

She must have felt his eyes on her because she spared him a fleeting look where her features turned hard again, then turned her focus back to the boy. At least now, he'd given her a reason to dislike him. He wanted to apologize for trying to kill her, to make her understand that he thought he was going to die. He didn't know she could breathe underwater, but they didn't speak the same language so there was no point in trying.

She started taking off some of the boy's wet clothes since his teeth were already chattering. The room was a bit cool, and the fire Zane started hadn't had the chance to warm the area yet. She grabbed a blanket off the velvet sofa to wrap around him.

Her actions vexed Zane. The more he observed the girl, the more he started to doubt she was a member of the royal line. Could humans breathe underwater? Maybe it was natural for them? What did he really know about humans?

He had already used the heat that radiated from the fire burning inside his body to dry and warm himself. His clothes were dry now too. If the girl was truly a Bluescale dragon like he thought, then why wasn't she doing the same? Nothing made sense. She breathed underwater like a Bluescale, but she couldn't use her inner fire to warm herself, and she had round eyes.