Page 20 of Maleen

“Son? Is that you?” he croaks, but I stay leaned back in the chair, merely observing. “What happened? How much time passed? What…?” His gaze bounces around as if he’s trying to understand his memories and sort through whatever that stone did to him.

“Amethyst? Aemon, is that you? How can you be grown? Fates, what have I done?” His voice breaks as he tries and fails to sit up.

“What do you remember?” I ask, and there’s a hardness to my voice that gets his attention, but I don’t care.

He swallows. “I had a meeting with the other Lords ahead of the Winter Solstice festivities at the castle…” He rubs his head. “Craven was talking about some grand scheme; the others agreed, but I didn’t. Fates, he wanted to kill the Pendroko’s! I didn’t, but I couldn’t… There was a stone… a vial of blood… I swear, son, I don’t know what happened after that. My memories are so foggy.”

My gut clenches and I feel as if I’m going to be sick. My mother was right. “He used an ancient magick artifact to make you do his bidding. What happened wasn’t your fault; I’ll let mother explain.” I get up, needing to get out.

Evisdor pushes at our bond. “Let’s fly. A little air will do you some good,” he states.

“Aemon,” my father pleads. “Son. How long has it been?”

My hand grips the frame of the door. I can’t even look at him. “Twenty-two years since you and the other Lords killed the Pendroko Royals, with only Princess Maeven alive to tell the tale.”

I feel the shadows pressing in, my grip on my magick tremulous as I make my way through the castle to my mother’s offices. I don’t knock as I enter, and she stares up at me in shock.

“Aemon. What’s wrong?” she asks, rising from her chair and running over to me.

I grip her tightly. “You were right, mother. Father was under the influence of the Stone.”

She gasps.

“Ravina fixed him. He’s awake; you may want to go to him and call the healers. They will want to check on him.”

Tears form in her eyes as she hugs me tightly and rushes out of the room. I need to talk to Killian before I take off for a few hours. My shadows wrap around me and I appear inside Ravina’s room with Killian wrapped up beside her, growling at Jesper who’s currently looking amused sitting in the chair next to her bed.

“I need guards posted at my father’s room,” I state.

Jesper jumps. “Fucking Fates, Aemon! You need bells or something. And Killian already sent word while he growled at everyone we passed on the way back here. You probably passed them without noticing while you escaped your father… Did it work?”

Killian’s grumbles stop and I feel his gaze on me.

“It seems so. I’m going to take Evisdor out for a flight… Get my thoughts in order. I’ll be back in a few hours.” I rub my hand up my face and through my hair.

Jesper jumps up and kisses Rav on the head despite Killian’s protests. “I’ll come with you. The grump won’t let me get any cuddle time right now. Might as well keep you company since we aren’t supposed to go off alone, per your orders, and Tisur could use some air time too. He’s antsy.”

“Fine, let’s go.” I pull him into the shadows without warning and pop out at the Dragon’s Keep.

Evisdor’s enormous, sleek white scales glisten in the afternoon light as he moves toward me. “Get on, Aemon—let the sky take your worries and turn them into solutions and motivation to protect what’s yours.”

I do as he tells me and hop on, waiting for Jesper to mount his beast before moving out of the Keep. Evisdor’s wings snap open and within moments we are airborne.

The skies are clear, the coastal air is warm and the wind feels amazing on my face. Evisdor lets me ride in silence for a bit before setting his seemingly endless knowledge on me—knowledge he gets from where? I couldn’t tell you, considering I found him as an egg all those years ago and hatched him under my watchful eye. To say my mother was shocked I hid a dragon from her, let alone one being alone in the Elskan Mountains, was an understatement. When Evisdor hatched and instantly bonded to me, it was almost like it was fate.

“It’s not your fault. I know you spoke the words to your father, but you need to heed your own advice. If you don’t learn to let go of that guilt, it will eat you alive,” he states.

“Wow, you’re not pulling your punches today, are you,” I grumble.

He snorts and dives toward the ground before leveling out again. “You need to hear the words. For your mate and all the bonds that will be shared. You need to find it within yourself to forgive yourself. You did what was best for you and yours at the time with the knowledge you had. Things are beginning to righten but there’s still a long path. Otherwise, the Fates would not be guiding the little fae queen.”

My brows rise. “What do you mean guiding her?”

“We dragons sensed the Fates within the bonds. They helped guide her to use the stone, and showed us the true potential of shadowflame. You are on the right path.”

“How long have you known?” He ignores me. “Evisdor!”

He sighs. “We know what we must, when we must. Now, work on forgiving yourself. A few hours will be up before you know it. And if I know you at all, you’re stubborn enough that a few hours will be barely enough.”