Remnants - The Dragons of Dragonvale - Book One

Chapter 13

Jaessa rushed into the dragons' cave, cheeks rosy from the running she had done. Azir had stayed behind today and the servant who came with her was too terrified to follow her inside, so she went alone, excited to talk to Kotai and get some of her questions answered.

"Kotai!" Jaessa tripped into the largest area of the cave, smiling at the new nest she and Azir had helped create a few weeks ago. It had held up well and the draglets had quickly taken to it, treating it as if it was the same nest they had lost.

"Princess!" Kotai greeted his guest with enthusiasm, looking behind her to see if her normal companion was present. "But where is Azir?"

"He had to stay back today. The head houseman is making them clean every nook and cranny of the royal grounds today." Jaessa flopped down onto her designated fur and clapped her hands together quietly, smiling when seven dragons popped their heads up out of the nest and scrambled to reach her.

Kotai laughed at his sons, who were almost all the size of small bunnies. They had grown much over the past weeks and were starting to fully scale out. Their legs were more stable and their wings were more controlled. He loved watching them play and wrestle, knowing this time of innocence and youth would be long gone all too soon.

Jaessa giggled as each dragon climbed to his normal place. Namjoon perched on her shoulder, Jimin in her pocket, Yoongi on her ankle, Jungkook under the hem of her skirt, Hoseok under her hair, Jin on top of her head, and Taehyung snuggled up under her hand, her first finger gripped in his forelegs as was his custom. "They're so predictable," she laughed.

Kotai nodded and came to lay down in front of the princess, crossing his forelegs and studying the behavior of his sons. "They are quite taken with you. I expected you to be a bit more skittish around them, but you've come to manage them quite well, Princess."

"I just think they're cute and precious," she giggled sweetly. As she relaxed against the cave wall, she continued to caress Taehyung's head, feeling him almost purring against her hand. "Kotai?"

"Yes, Princess?"

"I was reading a book in the palace library yesterday. It was about your kind, the dragons."

"Oh? I didn't know such a book existed." Kotai looked at Jaessa curiously, anxious to hear what kind of radical and absurd theories and ideas would be present in a human book.

"Oh, yes, it does. But I wanted to ask you some things I read about in there. Would that be okay?" Jaessa felt Namjoon bob back and forth before finally leaning against her ear as he fell asleep.

"Certainly. I'm always willing to answer your questions."

"Okay. Well, I read about the bonded ones." Jaessa's innocent eyes looked up at Kotai, not even remotely understanding why a flash of sadness passed over his eyes. "Can you tell me what a bonded one is, Kotai?"

Kotai swallowed the sad lump in his throat as his memories of his own bonded one, Deryan, flittered across his memory. "Ah...I suppose you should know about that."

Kotai stretched his neck forward and turned his head so Jaessa could see his bond mark. "Do you see the handprint behind my ear, Princess?"

Jaessa squinted and leaned closer, studying the seemingly melted part of Kotai's tough, thick skin. It was indeed in the shape of a handprint and Jaessa gasped when she finally saw it. "Yes! What is that?"

"It's the mark of a bonded one. When a dragon and a human know they are to be bonded, the dragon will flick their tongue onto the human's palm, then the human reaches out and places their hand on the dragon's head, just behind the ears. It hurts very much for the dragon and the human, but it is a mark that cannot be removed. It shows loyalty, friendship, and a deep bond that cannot be broken except by death."