Once upon a Dragon Gift (Once Upon a Dragon Series Book 4)

I knew what I had to do in order to beat Goran, but knowing that they would be merged with me, inside of me, was scarier than facing Goran.

I consulted with my mother. Told her about Garrison, and she just stared at me in awe.

“They are your friends, Blake. It wouldn’t surprise me if they already know this. Besides, you don’t know what it will be like.” She smiled and touched my face softly. “You always prepare yourself for the worst. Have been like that since you were little.”

“I do that for a reason, Mom.”

“Yes, to protect yourself. It’s not a way to live, Blake. You need to trust others. This life is too lonely if you do not have people to share it with.”

I got what she was saying. It wasn’t like I didn’t trust them. I’d done so many bad things in my life, things I could never take back.

“It’s definitely going to be a mind link, Mom. How else are we going to communicate? I still don’t know if we’ll be able to break away.”

“I’m sure you will be able to. Four dragons and three humans, it’s a tight spot to live.”

I chuckled as tears blurred my sight. “I don’t know how to break this new spell he put on her.”

“It will come to you.”

“What if it doesn’t? He’s threatened to take her hearing. Probably already has, and we can’t find him.”

She rubbed my arm. “You will. I know you will.”

I nodded and gave her a hug. Our time was almost over. I had to get back to the castle. “I don’t like you being all alone here.”

“I’ve never had a problem with being alone. Besides, Constance checks in almost every day.”

I should’ve known. My aunt has been like that since they were little. Couldn’t give her a proper time to breathe if you asked me.

“Tell your sister she can come and visit. That would be nice.”

My lips curved upward. “I will.”

She came with me outside, and I gave her one last hug before transforming into my dragon and flying back.

I was ready to search inside more books, try to find something for how to break this spell. So far there was nothing, and I was trying to think of other ways, how to save her from that asshole.

“I have no choice, Lucian.”

“No, you are a dragon, Blake. You are not going back to that narcissist. There has to be another way to get her back.”

“We’ve been searching nonstop for days. There is nothing. I’ll make the trade, me for her.”

“No,” King Albert said as he walked into the library. “Lucian is right.”

I stared at him. He’d heard what I’d heard at that wyvern city. “She is your daughter, and he took away her hearing.”

“I know, but she isn’t the main key he needs.”

“I’ll do it,” Lu said. “Stick to the original plan.”

“Lucian. Your uncle will kill you. The man doesn’t want your dad. He wants to hurt King Albert and my father. He has no reason to keep you. Besides, we don’t know what that spell will even do to you. What if it transforms you into something that he needs? Remember what Irene spoke about? The rock dragon? What if it wasn’t summoned, but you, Lu? I will not kill you.”

“Then we are back to square one,” Lu replied.

“We can’t break a spell that we know nothing about.”

“There has to be something, other than you going back,” Lu stated, talking with his hands.

“There isn’t, Lu. Reason I think it’s best for me to go back. He can’t put me under a spell again.”

“He can if he cuts off your sigil, Blake.”

“I’m the Rubicon. I’ll burn him before he gets a chance.”

“I don’t like this. Without you, the Elementals are vulnerable again. There has to be another way. I won’t give up, and neither should you. Going back to him isn’t the answer because then Elena will just carry on and find you, and it will go on like that forever.”

“He is taking away her hearing, Lu.”

“And you will give it back, like you did with Tabitha’s eye sight, Blake. It’s only temporary. She will be fine.” There was a lot of pleading in his tone.

I wasn’t even hungry that evening and hit the library to find out if there wasn’t anything else that might help.

Micha’s cane tapping on the floor reached my ears. Goran really did a number on her. She was seeing Leo daily, but she was strong.

“Blake,” her voice sounded in the library.

“Here!” I took the book I was scanning through to the table and sat down on the chair as my eyes read through the sentences.

Micha pulled out the chair opposite me, and she sat down.

My gaze flickered to her. “How are you?”

“Better. Not that I think I deserve it.”

“Micha, you found her when nobody else could. It would’ve had a different outcome if you weren’t alone, but that is something we have in common.”

“I wasn’t strong enough.”

I chuckled and shook my head. This woman was more like me than I wanted to admit. “You really thought you were going to fight off an entire city of wyverns just by yourself?”

“You would do it if you could.”

“I would, but I have a gift that turns them to ashes on the spot. You don’t.”

“I have abilities.”

“How long did it take them?”

“A while. It was Goran that hit me with the corruptus spell. My sigils saved my ass that day.”

“I’m sorry for the ones you have lost.”

“They are never lost, Blake. I still feel their power inside of me.”

“Still. I’m sorry, Micha.”

“It’s okay. I’m alive. I should’ve—”

“Stop. You were tired and hurt.”

She slammed her fist on the table. “It’s not a reason, Blake!”

My eyes grew larger. “So glad I’m not an Ancient guard.”

She huffed, and the corner of her lips threatened to tweak but didn’t.

“I think he put her under the same spell again,” I remarked.

“She had to be a dragon or that.”

“Then something similar?”

“Why do you think that?” she asked.

“Something one little boy at that colony said.”

“Which is?”

“That he is taking away her hearing because she believes all the lies.”

Micha frowned.

“Dimmi and him were working on something private.”

“That is his asshole dragonian, right? They call him Mage.”

“Yeah, I don’t think he ever owned a dragon, but he is really good with potions and spells.”

“So, you think she is back to not knowing who we are?”

I nodded. “Without her, he has nothing. He doesn’t have King Albert or me, not the Elementals. He will not kill her, so he has to have put another spell on her that makes her think she is his daughter again, right?”

She nodded. “All I got was that whatever he’s planned for her, it was more than what she was on, Blake.”

I didn’t like that. “How the fuck am I going to break that, Micha?”

“I don’t know.”

“You think it’s a lost cause?”

She leaned over the table and grabbed my hand. My gaze zeroed in to hers. “Fuck no! That is your Dent. She is more than your Dent, Blake. You can’t give up. Not on her. Never on her. There might not be a spell to break whatever he is putting on her, but there is a bond. Your bond. Figure it out.”

“You think I should go back?”

“Hell no. He will cut off your sigil and feed it to the wyverns.”

“I’ll burn him first.”

“Not if Elena is in his possession.”

I didn’t think about that.

“In fact, I think you will cut it off if it means saving her life.”

Or that. “Then what? ‘Cause I can’t leave her there longer than she already has been. It’s driving me insane.”

“I can imagine.”

“What did he do to you, Micha?”

“He tried to put me under his spells. It hurt like crap, and my sigils lit up like Christmas lights. It was the best feeling when he didn’t succeed. Then the asshole Mage gave me something to drink, said a spell that they had to recite when they cut off my sigils. That hurt twenty thousand times more, and it drained me physically. Knowing it was them that protected me. Elena came to my rescue on the fourth one. She remembered you. Wanted to see you so badly. I could see it in her eyes.”

Silence lingered.

“I thought nothing could become between a Dent.”

“They didn’t know Goran back then. His spells are tapping into the Dent, into the bond, and he twists it to his pleasure. Your bond with her is not broken. I feel sorry for him when Albert finally gets his hands on him.”

“I feel so useless not being able to find her.”

“I can imagine, Blake. When he discovered that you had someone that could scry for him, he changed his entire way of thinking.”

“He uses scrying spells on us. So I was glad he didn’t see you.”

“There are way too many people that are looking for her. He keeps on underestimating the love the people have for this family.”

My lips quirked.

“I wish there was something to bring her back, Blake. I found her by luck; to be honest, I almost died. Not that I wouldn’t give my life for her.”

“I’m glad you didn’t. We will find her again when you are better, and this time, I’m going with you. I have a sigil too, and I’ll burn all of them.”

“Oh, great plan, showing the princess just how barbaric we are.”

I laughed. “I’ll deal with that afterward.”

A giggle escaped her lips. “It’s so hard to be the good guys sometimes.”

“Agreed. There is something free from being dark.”

“Don’t. Please. Losing yourself like that, you might as well die.” She stood up. “Goodnight, Blake. I have a good feeling something is going to pop-up around the corner.”

I smiled. Her cane tapped on the floor toward her room.

I carried on paging through the book, begging that something would be on the next page. Micha had put a different perspective on going back to Goran.

He would tell me to cut off my sigil while holding a knife under Elena’s throat. I would do it. I had to find a way to break this bloody spell.

I didn’t stop looking, and every day after class I would hit the library till six. After dinner, we would all search for any sign of the wyverns.

We did everything as a team. Even King Albert and Dad helped to search with us in the private vault where all his grimoires were kept together with their most prized possessions.

I kept staring at the sword behind a glass case. To think I would’ve done anything to get into this vault four months ago.

Tabitha sat in front of me at the table that was right in the middle of the vault. One would never say that we were inside the vault, as it was some sort of panic room, too. She pounded the keys on the computer.

“Here is one,” she said.

I didn’t even jump up out of joy anymore because there was always some flaw.

She sighed. “Or not. Not recommended for humans. What does Elena fall under, anyway?”

“Human,” I responded and was glad that King Albert was probably nose-deep into a book, not hearing what Tabitha had said.

“Blake,” Lu yelled and came running out of the aisles with a book. He plopped it on the table.

“Lu, there isn’t a spell out there—”

“Shut up. When you spoke your vows, were there lights? Did the threads light up?”

“Vows?” Tabitha asked as I froze and stared at Lu.

He closed his eyes and flinched, knowing that he’d overstepped. “Fuck.”

“What vows?” King Albert asked.

Of course, he would hear that.

“Shit,” Lu said, and he wanted to walk away, but King Albert pulled him back by his hoodie, almost choking him.

“Blake, what vows?” he questioned.

My gaze flickered to the king. “It wasn’t my idea. It was your daughter’s brilliant plan.”

He closed his eyes, and his jaw muscles pumped.

“Al, calm down,” Dad warned.

“You knew about this?”

Dad’s eyebrows raised. “Are you mad? You think I would know about this and not tell you?”

“She is sixteen, Bob.”

“They are Dents.” Dad motioned toward me with his hand.

“Yeah, I didn’t think they would get married.”

“Who is married?” Becky asked, and George quieted her as he pulled her back into the aisle where they were searching.

“Was it the Vastech?” King Albert asked as his nostrils flared.

“Yes.”

“Who performed it, Blake?”

Tabitha’s gaze flickered between me and King Albert from behind her computer.

I didn’t say as Adolph had told me when this day came to leave his name out.

The king huffed and got out his Cammy and dialed. “It’s annulled.”

Adolph’s figure popped into the hologram.

“The Vastech?” the king yelled. “She is sixteen years old!”

“Albert, calm down,” Adolph spoke in a soft tone.

“Don’t tell me to calm down. I’m expecting you in the next minute.”

He put the Cammy down and yelled many things as he paced the library.

Dad shook his head as I tried to say something.

“How long, Blake?” King Albert asked.

“Two days before we rescued you.”

He huffed. “Does Jako know?”

“Nobody knows, except Tanya.”

“Tanya knows!”

“She found out. I think Elena told her.”

“Jako is going to have a field day,” King Albert said.

“Jako is not her father. He raised her,” I said.

“I don’t care. She isn’t yours to do with as you please.”

“Excuse me?”

“She is my daughter.” King Albert tapped both hands on his chest.

“And she is my rider, the love of my life. The woman that I can’t function probably without.”

“She isn’t a woman yet; she is not even of age,” the king roared.

“It wasn’t my idea!”

“Then you should’ve said no.”

I stared at him. “It’s not in me to say no to her, just like it isn’t in George to say no to Becky, or Tabitha saying no to Lucian. She is my Dent. I love her the same way you love her, if not deeper, as you are not a dragon.”

King Albert pointed his finger at me. “Don’t start with that crap. If you love her so much, why isn’t she here, Blake?”

Silence lingered, and I shook my head and stormed out.

“Son!” Dad yelled. “Was that necessary?”

“Don’t,” King Albert warned.

“No, you don’t. He is trying everything to find her.” Dad’s footsteps followed as I went to my room.

“Blake?”

“Don’t, he’s right.”

“He isn’t right. He is not perfect, even if everyone is putting him on a pedestal. Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

“Dad, it’s the Vastech. It’s supposed to be a secret.”

“Then how does Lucian know?”

“Because he found out about it.”

George rushed into the room.

“Adolph is here. He wants you to come back, Blake.”

I walked back into the library.

“It’s annulled!” the king yelled.

“Albert?” Adolph cautioned.

“Don’t Albert me. She is barely seventeen.”

“You are emotional.”

“She is my daughter. Of course, I’m emotional. I just got her back only to find out she already belongs to someone else through a fucking Vastech.”

Silence lingered.

“It’s annulled.”

“Oh, like your father annulled yours,” Adolph spoke.

“It was a different time then.”

“Love never changes, Albert. What you felt for Katie, I can promise you, Blake feels twenty times stronger for Elena.”

“Enough. Both of you. The mission is to find Elena,” Lucian shouted. “I know you are upset, my king, but be glad they did, as there is something in here that might save her.”

He stood over the book that was open on the table.

Lucian looked at Adolph. “Did the threads light up?”

“Yes, they did. It was a magical one as I have all the artifacts to perform one.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” King Albert muttered.

“She knew what she wanted, Albert, just like our Katie,” Adolph insisted.

“Kate was seventeen.”

“A year older. Believe me, it doesn’t make a difference.”

“I said, enough,” Lu stated again. “I take it they spoke the original words?”

“They did,” Adolph replied.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

“And that thing at the end, it makes little sense, but did that happen?”

He nodded.

“Yes,” Lucian yelled and pumped the air.

“What?” I asked as King Albert and everyone stared at him. He looked into the book and started reading about the magic that comes from a magical ceremony that bonds two souls together. It didn’t say Vastech, but it sounded like whatever had happened that night.

“Does Goran know about this, Blake?” Lucian questioned.

“I didn’t even know who the hell she was. How would I know I married her?”

“Awesome. We can get Elena back.” Lu looked at King Albert.

The king plopped into a chair, folding his arms.

“You still want to annul it, Albert?” Adolph asked.

“You know there is nothing I can do with the Vastech. Not with a magical one, anyway.”

“Be glad that they did this, as Elena would’ve been lost if they didn’t do this.”

He grunted, and I knew that he was pissed off about it.

“Okay, so what is this magic?” I inquired.

“It’s in the words, Blake. She is part of you. Or a part of her is in your possession according to this,” Lu explained. “He didn’t think about the Vastech when he created this spell. It’s our loop hole. You might connect with her under the protection of the Vastech. Does that sound right?”

Adolph nodded.

“You knew about this, and you didn’t tell us?”

“I’m old, and I tend to not remember that well, Blake. Forgive me that the magic behind the Vastech didn’t pop up.”

“What is going on here? You’re bickering like little kids.” Micha appeared in the doorway.

“Sorry that we woke you.” Adolph came over and planted a kiss on his guard’s head. “How do you feel?”

“What are you doing here, and where is Jose?”

“He is still looking for Elena.”

“Who is with you?”

“I can take care of myself. They found out about the Vastech.”

“Oh, crap.”

“No, no, it’s good. Lucian found something about the magic that happened that night.”

She looked at me and back at Lucian. “Please tell me it can bring Elena back to us.”

“We think it can,” Lu remarked.

She looked at the ceiling. “Thank heavens.”

“Thank heavens! She is sixteen,” King Albert said again.

Micha looked at him. “And as I remember, you weren’t that much older when you did this, my king.”

“Times were different.”

“Love isn’t.”

“Stop saying that.”

“Go on your knees, or thank that boy that there is something to save your daughter.” She pointed at me, and the king growled at her.

“Don’t growl at me, my king. I would do it again if I’m presented the chance. Hell, I would let Adolph marry all of them if it meant saving their lives.”

“Don’t give them ideas,” King Albert yelled.

“Why are you so against this? You did this yourself. Screw the times.”

“It’s my daughter.” Tears lingered his eyes.

“And Kate was someone else’s daughter. Her parents weren’t part of your ritual, either.”

“It’s not the same. She is a princess.”

“You were a prince.”

“Micha,” King Albert roared in exasperation.

“No, she is part of a Dent, and not just any Dent, but the Rubicon. You knew this would happen seventeen years ago when they laid that baby in your arms. Okay, maybe not at seventeen, but you gave her away in order to save him. Now you want to take that back? She is his, whether you like it or not. They are the best parts of each other, and what I saw that night was nothing but pure love. I doubt that the threads would’ve lit up if it wasn’t anything but pure.”

King Albert simply stared at her.

“Be angry. No one is saying not to be, but be grateful too. There is a way to save your daughter, my king.”

A tear rolled down his cheek, and his gaze connected with mine. “I’m grateful that there is a way, but I’m still not happy.”

I nodded as the king walked out of the room. I wasn’t looking forward to Jako’s wrath.