Draygon Inferno | Book 2 | ✔️

Chapter Eighteen

             Siobhan sat with her back to the side of the Dragons glass. She stared up at the bright rocky dome ceiling to the cave. One hand twirled a dagger by her side as she exerted some of her ice magic into the blade. Scream, plunge the dagger into someone's heart, run and hide—all of those thoughts filled her mind.

All anyone ever told her of her mother was that she'd died. Siobhan always assumed it happened when she was born, that her mother had pushed her into this world and gave her life force in the process. Of course that was a lie. So many things were a lie. Worst of all, the bitch that called herself Siobhan's stepmother was at the center of all the death in Siobhan's life. Her father, mother, brother—Kaylis took them all.

"Siobhan?" Wren knelt beside her, one hand touching her shoulder. It was a gentle touch, the kind Elias would give her in those early days when he caught her crying in the middle of the night. "What do you need?"

She sighed and touched his hand. "I need to kill her. I owe it to everything and everyone she's taken from me."

Wren squeezed her hand. "Then that's what we'll do. We'll go to Draygon and stop Kaylis."

Siobhan rolled her head against the Dragons glass to stare at Wren. She didn't care she was crying in front of him. For the first time in a long time, she just didn't care who saw the real her. Saw the woman who was a shattered shell of her former self going through life as if she didn't care. Truth was, she did care. Her heart ached for the family she'd lost and that ache grew stronger now that she knew the truth.

Cion nudged his wet nose against her cheek, nibbling on her side braid. Though it wasn't in the way she wanted, her brother was alive. He was standing beside her in the form of the horse she'd called Wyx. And her mother . . . her mother was there in the form of Nyka. It was impossible to process or understand, yet it still gave her a comfort. They loved her unconditionally enough to take on a second form just to be there for her.

She looked at Cion. "I swear to the Goddess, if I find out Zelick or Bob are my father, I'm going to scream."

Cion reared on his hind legs, shaking his head. The shaggy strands of his mane shifted and bounced against his long, beautiful neck. Siobhan pushed herself to her feet, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Wren stood beside her, keeping his hand on her shoulder as if he were afraid to let go. She didn't mind. If he'd let go she might crumple to a ball of weeping nothing. That simple touch fed strength into her.

"What about you?" Siobhan asked.

"What do you mean?"

"We can't go to Draygon until we understand what's going on with your magic and the voice in your head."

"I'm fine."

"No you're not."

Wren grinned. "Okay no I'm not, but we're going to Draygon." He turned to look at Korix. "Think we can hitch a ride on your back or something."

The dragon shook its massive head. "We cannot leave Esa'Dragon yet. Though we are awake, our power is still returning. Much like Garrith, it will take time for it to return. This battle for Draygon will have to be without our aid."

Wren frowned when he looked at Siobhan. "How long will it take to ride from here to there?"

"That won't be necessary either. Jaeda?" Korix looked beside him to where Jadea sat after having taken the potion provided by Cion.

"So you are a girl dragon." Wren averted his gaze as the very naked Jaeda jumped to their feet. Siobhan covered her laugh. Even with a scraggly beard covering his face, she could see his ears turning red which meant the rest of his face matched. Always the bashful one, even after all these months of traveling with Siobhan who paid no care when or how she stripped in front of him, she loved that about him.