Broken Gates (6 page)

I responded while still staring at the note. “Where did you get this?”

“So, I’m guessing you saved her . . . again.” Bryn’s irritated voice caused me to whip around just in time to see him pull himself out of bed and stagger a bit before righting himself.

“I’m stronger than you are . . . older,” Khol stated with irritation of his own. And I guess I couldn’t really blame him, we’d been down this road one too many times lately.

Bryn’s face darkened as he gazed at me. “Maybe we should skip this whole waiting to see who the father is and you should just go ahead and mate with him.” He punched the wall in frustration. “Who was I kidding, anyways? He’d keep the both of you safer even if it is mine.”

“Bryn—” I started, but he was already stalking toward the door. His moodiness and childishness directed at Khol had gone way beyond ridiculous. I was tired of having to worry about how he would react to everything. Anger short-circuited my brain and I yelled at him without thinking. “Fine, just walk away! If you were half as good at the dragon stuff as you are at doing that then you’d be the most powerful dragon of all time!” Bryn stopped where he was without turning toward me and I could see that every muscle in his body had gone rigid. I should have stopped there, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. “I hope it’s not yours!” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wished that I could stuff them back in somehow. I didn’t mean it; in fact, I wanted nothing more than for Bryn to be the father of my child. Having a child with Khol and therefore being mated to him would seem just too wrong for words. No matter how upset at Bryn I got, I knew he was truly the only one for me. He was my home, and I wanted my baby to belong there too.

Bryn made some kind of indecipherable noise that didn’t even sound human before continuing on his way. I jumped to my feet to give him chase, but then Khol grabbed my arm, stopping me short. “Let him go.”

I tried frantically to free myself from Khol’s iron grip but to no avail. “You have no right to tell me what to do,” I snarled at him.

“Not me, it’s what the note told you to do.”

I dropped my tear filled eyes down to the tiny piece of white paper that I was still clutching in my hand and sucked in a shaky breath. “That’s not possible.” How the hell had someone known to leave a note for me about something that hadn’t even happened yet?

“You’re not thinking clearly. You of all people know how possible such a thing is . . . you being a Seer.” Khol dropped his voice to a low cajoling tone as if not to spook me.

Right.
I wasn’t thinking clearly. The whole pregnancy thing coupled with Bryn being an utter idiot had fried my brain.
Of course
I knew the dragon Queen was some kind of Seer, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. “But I can’t just let him go. Who knows what he’ll do when he’s like this.” I bit my lip and unleashed my imploring eyes on Khol. “Will you—”

“No. I won’t—” he started, already knowing what I was going to ask.

“Please.” I whispered as I let my tears finally spill down my cheeks, leaving salty trails in their wake. “Please go talk to him.”

Khol reached out to cup my face tenderly, even as he gritted his teeth in aggravation. “Your tears are my biggest weakness.” He said gruffly before he turned to seek out Bryn.

Satisfied in knowing that Khol would bring Bryn back to me, in a manner of speaking, I sunk back down on the bed and studied the note that had to be from the dragon Queen. The first part of
let him go
had already come to pass, but what about the second part? How long would I have to remain in this cabin? I had a sinking feeling I wasn’t going to like the answer.

And what about the whole Bryn and Khol situation? By letting fate decide the outcome of who I would mate with, was I really being cruel to both of them? I was determined not to need either one of them, but I was kidding myself if I thought I wouldn’t
want
either one of them.

I sat on the bed and stared out the window until the sun dipped below the horizon and the stars crested the night sky. Where the hell were Bryn and Khol?

6

“Paige Joplin Stone, awake now . . . for we have much to talk about and a very short time to do it in.”

“Huh?” I mumbled as I reached up to groggily rub my eyes with the backs of my hands. Then realization hit me. “The Queen!” I blurted as I tumbled out of bed focusing in on her. But there was something not quite right. She stood before me, exactly as she had looked in my visions, except she seemed almost transparent.

“Be careful. You wouldn’t want to injure the little one growing inside of you,” she said with tenderness in her voice.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked without thinking, and then flushed with embarrassment. One simply shouldn’t ask a queen what was wrong with her, at least I would imagine because I’d never met one before, human or otherwise. “I’m sorry. I—”

She brushed my comment aside with a wave of her dainty, yet almost transparent hand. “Surprisingly, you remind me much of myself at your age. Or rather I should say it might surprise you, because of course it’s no surprise to me.” She smiled at me and I found myself studying her more closely. It was the first time I’d seen her smile, and there was something very familiar about it. If only I could put my finger on what it was. She stepped toward me, distracting me from my current train of thought, and focused down on my stomach. Her gaze glazed over for a moment before she looked back up to meet my eyes. “He will be beautiful.”

My heart skipped a beat. “You can see him? Can you also see who the father is?” If she could tell me—

“Yes, I can see who the father is, but I won’t tell you.”

“Why not?” I demanded in a shrill voice. “If you know—”

“Because it will change the path for all of you and I cannot let that happen. Too much is at risk already. Just know he will be perfectly healthy.”

Then her words truly sunk in.
A boy
. I was having a boy. An image of Bryn when he was a child flashed in my mind, his black hair tousled and hanging in his bright blue eyes that always seemed to glitter with mischief, his patented smile complete with dimples inviting me to join in on the fun. My heart clenched. I wanted it to be his so desperately. “Why am I here?” I asked trying to dislodge the image of the Bryn that had first captured my attention when I was still a child myself.

“First I will answer your question of what is wrong with me.” Amusement twinkled in her eyes. “I’m not really here. At least my body isn’t. This is the only way I could come to you.”

“But if you could leave your body, then why make me travel to you? Why not come to me if it’s so important?” I was about to bombard her with more questions but then I stopped myself. She was the friggin’ dragon Queen after all, not just some random dragon. I could at least
try
to show her some respect.

“I want you to be at ease with me,” she said in a very Khol-like manner, in which I mean it was as if she had plucked the thoughts right out of my mind and answered them. But then again if Khol could do it, then I’m sure the dragon Queen could do it as well. I exhaled a huge breath as she continued on. “I’m very near death—I have been for some time now, and I only linger to finish the tasks I have set into motion.” I nodded my head unable to find a response. She was dying, or near death . . . the same thing in my book. What is someone supposed to say to that? “My body is near here, protected by Dragos, who awaits my death to follow me into the afterlife.”

That got a response out of me. “My biological father is near here? Does he want to meet me?” The real question was . . . did I want to meet him? And what did she mean by follow her into the afterlife?

The Queen’s face tensed and she turned away from me so I couldn’t see her eyes. “No, he has no interest in meeting you. Although he would never harm you—he blames you for the deterioration of our relationship and ultimately my death, and therefore his death as well.”

After seeing what I had in my visions I could understand why he blamed me for the deterioration of their relationship, I suppose, but her death? And his? “I don’t understand.”

“Dragos knows the outcome of my visit here, but not the reasons. As for his death . . . he is my mate and he does not wish to go on without me. It’s even doubtful if he could. Mates such as us sometimes follow each other into death because our bond is so tight.” I inhaled sharply at her words. Was she implying something that would happen today—with me—would ultimately cause her to meet her demise? And my biological father too? He was my birth father and even though I was unsure about my feelings for him, I didn’t want him to die. “I couldn’t let him know the truth. It would have ruined everything.” She began pacing the small area in front of the huge window. “There were so many pieces and one wrong step could have meant the end of this world. It still can. I looked at it from every angle, fought to find another way . . . There just wasn’t . . . isn’t. I sacrificed so much, letting him be with another, it ruined us despite our love, and I still have one thing left to do.” She brought her illuminated golden eyes up to mine abruptly. “I must give my powers, and therefore my life, to you . . . my daughter.”

“What?” I backed up until my knees caught the edge of the bed and I tumbled back onto it before sitting up so I could look at her again. “You’re not my mother.” But her smile, her face . . . “Everyone always said how much I looked like my mom,” I whispered.

“That’s why she was chosen.”

“What? No.” My mind was reeling. And yet her words, deep down, felt right to me somehow.

“Dragos impregnated who you thought was your mother so that the switch would be believable. No one, not even him, knew what I planned to do. He still believes you to be his half-human daughter—if he knew . . .” She shook her head as if trying to dislodge some thought from her mind before continuing on. “He must never be allowed to know differently. Not that he has much time left, but I foresaw that my child . . . you . . . if I kept you . . . you would have been killed in your tiny crib when you were only five days old. Instead, the other child was, and you were left to grow up untargeted by those who wished to strip the dragons of their future queen.” I felt all the blood drain from my face. I had just learned that I had a half sister and she had been murdered in my place, and that I was apparently the future dragon Queen. Can you say brain overload? “I gave you up so I could protect you.”

Tears had begun to track down my face and I sucked in one shaky breath after another. “Why are you telling all of this to me now?” I managed to choke out.

“Did you really think that you could be so strong as a half breed? Your powers took longer to develop as a dragon, that’s why you received your first vision so late. It’s also why your powers call so strongly to ones such as Khol. He only believes you to be half human because of your emotions, he does not understand that being raised by humans, even a full-blooded dragon would not see the world as most dragons do. The way we are is more nurture than nature, but he does not believe that. Most dragons don’t. You’ve only just begun to experience what you can do. You need to know these things because it is time.”

“And Bryn? How is it that another dragon grew up so close to me?”

“I made sure he was there. He needed to be. I can’t tell you anymore about him without risking a change in the future.”

“But if I’m full-blooded dragon then why can’t Bryn and I mate bond completely? And—”
Holy Shit!
“And does that mean I’ll be able to shift into a dragon?” The thought actually scared me to death. I had been relieved back when Khol had explained to me that half-breeds couldn’t take on the second form of a dragon. In fact, it hadn’t gone unnoticed by me that Khol and the others had never shown me their other form. Khol must have picked up on my fear of seeing it. Maybe I was afraid because deep down I had known what I really was and didn’t want to accept it.

“You’re not strong enough to mate bond with someone like Bryn yet.”

“
Yet
—that means one day I could. That means one day I could fully be mated with Bryn.” My heart leapt in my chest with joy. There had always been the question about if Bryn and I would ever be able to fully bond with each other, even after we’d both come into our full set of powers. Now the question was answered, and it felt like I had just won the lottery.

“If he’s the father of your child, you mean,” the Queen stated matter of factly. “Because isn’t that what you decided?”

I dropped my head to study my feet.
Huh. I kind of need a pedicure
. “Yeah, it is.” But could I really go through with mating with Khol when I could truly and completely bond with Bryn? Maybe I would never have to answer that.

“With my powers added to yours, you will be the ultimate weapon to extinguish those dirty little creatures that have been threatening our world.” She hissed with disdain. “I’m just sorry I never got to know you, my daughter . . . or my future grandson. And I’m sorry that so much will rest on your shoulders alone. Things will get worse before they get better.”

It suddenly occurred to me. “If I’m full-blooded dragon, then the child could possibly be full-blooded as well—if Khol is the father.”

“Yes, but that information still won’t reveal the father to you any sooner than it’s meant to be revealed.” Her face hardened into stone. “Now focus, daughter. Khol and Bryn will be back soon and there are still a few things left we need to deal with.”

“Okay,” I squeaked, hating how young I sounded.

“You must know that these creatures can only get a hold in people that already have a darkness in them. There are very few that are pure enough to fight them off. Once inside, after a time, they bond so completely with the human that the human no longer remembers it being any other way. They don’t know the alien is in them, but the alien has full awareness. The human rationalizes the actions the alien forces it to make. I tell you this because there is a way to remove the aliens from the humans, but they will still target you when they are gone, the fake motives for their actions will still be firmly planted in their minds. You’ll never be able to go back to your normal life if that’s the course of action you wish to take. Or . . .” She paused and began to study my face intently. “You could just continue to kill them like your friends have been doing.”

“No,” I gasped. “Killing them isn’t an option at least as far as I’m concerned.”

A slight smile tugged at her lips and she nodded once with approval. Apparently I had passed the test. “Good. Then there is only one thing left for me to do.” She strode over to stand in front of me and then pushed her palms against my temples. A sudden burning heat began to spread through me.

“Wait!” I cried out. “I still have so many questions. You can’t do this yet!”

“The answers will be shown to you when the time is right. You will have the guidance to take control of all of your powers new and old when you need to.” I began to feel light headed as the heat emanating from her palms began coursing through my body. “I am sorry about your hair,” I bewilderingly heard her say. “Of course I am partial to the new color, but I know how much you’ll hate it.”

“What are you talking about?” I mumbled with distress. “What about my hair?”

But then a bright warm light engulfed me and I suddenly felt like a nice nap was in order as I felt my eyes flutter shut.

So many questions . . . I had so many questions. They were all swirling around in my mind as I regained consciousness. Was I really a full-blooded dragon? Then why couldn’t I do the whole disappearing act that even Bryn had already managed to master? How could I have grown up with the people I thought were my parents, and never known I wasn’t human? Why when I had been behind the boundaries of Khol’s lair had I not been able to have visions? We’d thought it was because my Seer magic was blocked and my dragon magic had taken control . . . but if I was truly full-blooded dragon that would mean my visions came from my dragon magic. So why had I been effected the same way that Bryn had? Maybe the magic my people possessed and the dragons possessed weren’t as different as we had all originally thought. But I guess I couldn’t really say they were my people anymore. My people . . . or species to be more specific . . . was dragon. How was I supposed to ever get used to that—to knowing I wasn’t even human? I certainly still
felt
human.

“Peej!” I heard Bryn’s voice call out with alarm. “What the hell happened to her?” I felt warm strong arms scoop me up and press me into a rock hard chest . . . Bryn’s chest. His enticing scent washed over me and I snuggled into him and inhaled with delight. I was home . . . finally.

“Amazing,” I heard Khol murmur. “I didn’t know. She hid it from all of us.” It was in that moment I knew Khol understood it all . . . who I was . . . what had happened . . . all of it.

“Don’t just stand there, heal her. That’s what you’re good for after all,” Bryn growled, ignoring Khol’s words.

“She doesn’t need healing. She’s perfect,” Khol said with reverence.

“Peej? Can you hear me? Peej?”

I was completely conscious and fully capable of responding to Bryn, but I didn’t want to open my eyes and deal with reality just yet. I simply wanted to remain burrowed in his arms, where I felt so safe and content. There, pressed up against him, I could pretend that nothing had changed between us. I didn’t want to open my eyes and face the very real reality that I could still lose him forever.

“There’s no reason to keep clutching her to you like a rag doll,” Khol ground out. “Place her back down on the bed. She’s fine.” Uh-oh . . . the jig was up, Khol must have sensed I just wanted Bryn to hold me and obviously he wasn’t a fan of my plan.

“Bryn?” I murmured, pretending that I was just waking up.

“But then again, maybe I should give her some of my healing energy, just to be on the safe side,” Khol spoke up, not letting Bryn get a chance to respond to me. “Give her to me,” Khol ordered, and surprisingly Bryn obeyed.

I opened my eyes just in time to meet Khol’s deep green gaze instead of the sea storm eyes I’d been hoping for. “What are you doing?” I hissed between clenched teeth.

Khol’s eyes twinkled. “Why, healing you, of course, since you didn’t seem able to regain consciousness quickly enough, pointing at the fact that you might indeed be injured.”