Legend of the Touched (19 page)

"I doubt you'll only ask me once, but you win
tonight. Sleeping in would be nice for a change. I'm sure you'll be
more tired than I am, once your rush wears off."

He shrugged, because it didn't matter much if he was
or not. Lying in bed, holding her, being near her, immediately put
his body at ease and it started to feel heavy.
I could sleep for
a week after what happened there.

A gentle kiss was placed on his forehead, and she
roamed her hands through his hair. "You can tell me all about it in
the morning."

This is what he'd missed for so long, and he couldn't
help but smile at the small hurdle they'd cleared together.

"Now I can go to the shop with Katelyn, so I can find
something to wear when we go to the Festival Dance," she added.

"What about me asking you more nicely?"

"I thought I told you it wasn't necessary? Besides,
I'm asking you. We might not have a lot of time with each other,
but it's important we take the opportunities we have. It's stupid
to waste time getting upset over small details. The only thing that
matters is we're going to be together, right? We need to force time
for each other when we get it."

He nodded, agreeing with her completely. The new
attitude was a surprise. Mood swing? Hormones?

"Okay, fine." He was a little disappointed though
because he wanted to do a grand sweet gesture to make up for all of
the time he'd spent away from her. It was back to the drawing
board.

"You're frowning," she whispered. "Why?"

"The rush, it's fading, and so am I. So long as
you're sure you don't want to be asked?"

She nodded. "Yes. If you want to surprise me, do it
for something that will really be a surprise." Their lips met, and
he let out a soft, contented sigh.

"I love you."

Chapter Forty-Three

The Inero

Jason was exploring the caves to the north with Gwen.
She had run off to look at some large shells she'd found on the
beach, getting slightly distracted from their goal. He had pressed
on ahead. Fine by him. The past few days had been wonderful,
relaxing, and he was excited for the new adventure. Staring into
the mouth of the cave, he had a hard time walking inside. It was so
dark, and wide. Everyone he spoke with in town said it was a good
place to go and visit. He didn't understand why. What was so
special about a hole in the ground?

"I thought it was creepy at first too when I first
got here," a male voice said from behind him.

Jason spun on his heel and came face to face with a
man in his early forties. What made him more interesting however
was he smelled like a dragon. Upon further inspection, Jason
noticed the trimmed, black, claws he had for nails as well as a
tattoo on his neck showing him as a member of the Inero Royal Guard
member. Definitely a dragon.

"So what's the big secret about its specialness?"
Jason asked, hoping he wasn't recognized.

"I can't spoil it. It would ruin everything." The man
smiled. "You're far from the city my Lord."

"How did you know I was from there?"

"You still smell like it. The grease leaves your hair
eventually, but I also deduced it from the fact that you aren't
from around here. I know all of the dragon families in the area.
None of them have any long lost sons. At first I thought you were
only here for a romantic vacation, but you've been here for a lot
longer than that. So I have to wonder what you're running
from."

Jason swallowed and rubbed at the back of his head.
"Why would I be running?"

"Because nobody leaves the city unless they are."

"Do you have a name?"

"Oliver, and you?" The man offered his hand for a
shake.

He took it. "Jason."

"I thought you looked familiar. Three years ago you
taught me how to create a shield of magma. Still hard to do, but it
was useful one time."

Seconds passed, and all Jason could do was stare at
the man, his eyes narrowed, as he tried to remember where they had
met before. Obviously some kind of training exercise, but he hadn't
done one of those in a long time. "I'm sorry, I can't quite recall
this."

"You were young, I was still old, and I'm sure you've
seen so many people that you don't remember everyone who passes
your way."

Jason nodded. "So what are you doing out here?"

"I guess you could say I needed a change of scenery.
My family and I live just over the hill. You should come by some
time with your wife. I'm sure it would be nice to mingle with
another of your kind some time?" Oliver said with a smile.

"Yeah, that would be nice," Jason admitted, because
he did miss interacting with other dragons. He liked not having to
keep everything a well-kept secret. The humans were refreshing, but
he'd been starting to feel alone in a whole different kind of
way.

"Let's plan for the weekend then," he smiled. "Your
lady is coming back this way. Oh, and if you want to see the cave
in all its beauty? Come back on the night of a full moon. It's
amazing."

Jason glanced over at his shoulder and saw Gwen
approaching. She had a small collection of seashells in her arms.
She stopped to stare at him for a moment when she noticed he was
talking to someone new. He waved at her to encourage her to keep
coming over, smiling. When he turned to speak with Oliver once
more, the man was already walking away.

"Who was that?" she asked once she was next to
him.

"Apparently his name is Oliver." Jason shrugged.

Her hand wrapped around his and she peered into the
dark cave. "Looks creepy. Maybe this is some kind of a prank the
locals give to all the new people."

"Scared?" he asked, kind of hoping she might be too
afraid to go in.

"I'm curious." She pulled him inside. It took a
moment for his eyes to adjust to the light as it grew darker. Gwen
moved closer to him and pulled out a flashlight from her bag. He
was glad she came prepared for the trip. The cave narrowed the
deeper in they went and then expanded into a large open cavern. A
stream flowed across the middle, and there was a bridge to the
other side. Crystals lined the far walls and there was a hole in
the roof where he could see the sunlight pouring in. The whole
place lit up as the light bounced across the gems.

"Wow," Gwen whispered.

"Yeah," he agreed, breathless as he took the sight
in. "I was told to see it on a full moon. I wonder how that would
make things different."

"We'll just have to come back sometime and find out."
She faced him, her fingers playing with the nape of his neck. Then
she leaned up to kiss him. His eyes closed and he gladly
reciprocated.

I'll let this adventure slide because you're
wooing your woman, but don't ever come back here again or I'll kill
you both.
The voice inside of him threatened. Whatever this
place was, it scared the demon. Jason would make sure to not forget
it.

Chapter Forty-Four

The Oceina

"So, this is my shop," Katelyn said, leading Tai into
a boutique. They were downtown. Tai was skipping school for the day
for a girl date with her sister-in-law. Everything about Katelyn's
shop, Lady Oceina, was high end. All of the latest styles were on
display in the windows, and the materials of the clothes were
expensive. A lot of it looked like it had been hand sewn.

Katelyn checked in with a few of her workers before
taking Tai back towards the dress section of the shop. "Feel free
to let me know if there's anything else you like. I have no
problems with giving it to you. Making clothes is a passion of
mine, and I love sharing it with others. For now, these are the
semi-formal dresses."

She watched Katelyn grab her sewing tape measure and
groaned, not wanting to go through the process of getting her
measurements again. "I don't want to know what my size is."

"I won't tell you then, but I'll need to know for
when I make the alterations." Katelyn then proceeded to put the
tape measure under Tai's arms to measure her bust, then her waist,
and finally her hips. "How tall are you?"

"About five-foot-four? Five-foot-five? Somewhere in
there."

Katelyn nodded. "I don't know what you're complaining
about. You have a great figure. I know it's easy to feel fat
because you notice the bloating of being pregnant. I promise
though, no one else can see it yet."

"Then why didn't anything I try on at the mall fit
right?" Tai asked with a raised eyebrow, her lips pursed a
little.

"Mind over matter, plus those dresses are never
uniform to begin with. Some things about you are different. From
experience, I understand what you're feeling. The great news is,
you're a common size and the only thing I'll probably have to do is
a little hemming. I could probably tighten the bust some too so
you'll really pop, so to speak. If that was something you were
interested in, I mean."

"I don't think that's necessary. My chest seems to be
doing enough of that on its own lately," Tai mumbled. Granted, she
liked that aspect of pregnancy. At least for a little while she'd
be getting something a little good out of it.

Katelyn laughed and wrote a few notes. "I think I
know what kind of dress would be perfect for you. I'll get it so
you can try it on, tell me what you think, and be honest, and then
we can figure out how you'd like it jazzed up."

"Thanks, for everything," Tai said, moving her eyes
off of her reflection in the mirror and to Katelyn.

"Of course, any time. Despite what anyone else may
tell you, I was once in your shoes too you know. Things haven't
always been bliss since I met Lance." She brought a few different
dress selections for her to try on. All of them were similar in
style in that they all had spaghetti straps and empire waists, but
they came in different colors with different decorations on them.
Tai grabbed a red one first and went to go try it on in the
dressing room.

She sighed, as she put it on, admiring the dress but
not sure if she liked the color. Red was a sexy color, but it also
reminded her of fire and passion. Passion was a good thing, but
fire not so much. She didn't want Darien to think about the Inero
at all that night. The whole point was to drag him away from
work.

"That's not what Ashley had told me," Tai said
quietly as she took the dress off. "Can I try on the yellow one
please?"

Katelyn handed her a soft, pale, yellow dress with
several jewels sew onto the bust like stars. "She and I didn't get
along much, but she didn't like anyone. Maybe you, but she's kind
of a sneak. I don't know how many times I caught her lying to poor
Tony. He deserved a lot better than her. It was his blind devotion
that pushed me to keep trying with Lance."

"Oh?" Tai tried on the dress, wishing the color did
better things for her skin tone. She looked pale as a ghost in it.
She let out a frustrated huff. "The green one?"

The next dress was handed to her, and Katelyn
continued. "Yeah. When we first met, we both were kind of on cloud
nine. Everything seemed too good to be true you know? But Lance has
a few moments where I want to throttle him. He's not exactly good
at being sensitive to others' emotions. Very straight up, this is
how things are, so deal with it kind of attitude. It rubbed me the
wrong way for a long time. Years. I put up with it because I felt
like I had to. Tony told me once, that sometimes people will change
easier without a big fight, but instead through kindness and
patience. I gave it a try. One day Lance came home and said
something along the lines of: I haven't been nice to you lately.
Which, he hadn't. From there we had a long talk, and ever since
then he's been doing a better job at making an effort to be more
understanding. I think being a father put things into perspective
too. Now that the boys are older, he's matured, changed. We kept
our problems behind closed doors which is probably why Ashley
didn't think we ever had them. She had a tendency to make a show of
things, and had no problem with telling Tony how worthless she
thought he was. I'm surprised they had two children. I suppose she
let him be with her because she liked the attention. That was
always her biggest complaint, not having enough of it even though
he worshiped the ground she walked on."

Tai tried on the green dress, listening to Katelyn's
story, taking it all in. "I never wanted to get married."

"Never?"

"Never ever. It didn't seem worth all of the effort.
Now I am, and I'm desperate to make it work. I've never felt so
hungry for something before in my life. The companionship we have
is one of a kind."

"I know he agrees with you."

"He does."

"Just try to hold on." Katelyn paused. "How's that
one?"

Tai studied the green dress and smiled softly. "I
like the color. We'll put this one as a maybe. Can I see the purple
one next?"

Chapter Forty-Five

The Oceina

"Do you want the good news, or the not so good news?"
Lance asked, coming into the kitchen where Darien was busy
preparing some tea for another long night. Lance sat at the table
and watched his brother move about the room.

"Why ask? You're going to tell me both anyway."
Darien pointed out as he put some sugar into the bottom of a
mug.

"I meant, what do you want to hear first?"

"It doesn't matter. Surprise me."

"Okay, good news. There's lots of great stuff about
the Touched in the Holy Book. The not so good news? There's
a
lot
of stuff about the Touched in the Holy Book. Most of it is
cryptic as all get out, and even I'm having a hard time trying to
figure out what it's all supposed to mean. Part of it has to do
with the coming of the Great Dragon, duh, we already knew
that."

Darien almost pointed out that he didn't know
anything about what Lance was referring to, but decided to nod and
just let his brother keep talking instead. Lance was the brain of
the family, and he had a tendency to get carried away. In the end,
he always came back around and explained himself.