Deception

28 ¦ The True Dragon Awakes

Dahroth wrapped his arms around me to comfort me but I shrugged away from his touch. At a loss for words, I looked back and forth between both of our ceramic pods, baffled and bemused.

"I asked you a question," I said, my voice eerily calm as I barely contained the growing fire within. "What ... the fuck ... is this?"

He sighed. "It's a long story."

"I bet it is," I said with a scoff. "How long have both of us been locked up like rats in a cage? This time, I want the whole truth."

"You were in danger, Helena," he said, his voice half-frantic, half-angry. "The Gatál King wanted to use you ... to use both of us. Fire and ice. He could have subjugated the planet for eternity!"

"Why do I have your name?"

"Why do you think, you stupid girl?" he roared back as he clenched his fists. "You really aren't as clever as your draconic self, and it's not just youthful ignorance!"

"How ... long ... have I been here?"

"The Khatanese are coming," he shouted. "We don't have time for your human temper tantrums."

"If you keep stalling, we'll never return!"

"Why in Hades did you want to be thrown into this world as a Gatál child?" Dahlroth asked as he clenched his fists. "Your ignorance, your naivete, and your human stubbornness kill me."

"I can't answer that question because I don't know."

"Every day I have to stare at you and not ... touch you!"

He threw some device against the wall, and it smashed. I jumped away from him and put my hands on my hips.

"No one knows you're really here except me, your father, and your mother," he growled with impatience. "No one should have been able to open that door. I don't know how you did it."

"How long?"

Dahlroth sighed. "Ten years, like me."

"Ten years?" I exclaimed. "Prove it."

"What did you do for your twelfth birthday?" he asked. "How did you learn the Dragonborn dialect? When did you first meet Lena? How did you learn about your father's experiments?"

With a gasp, I realized I couldn't answer a single one of his rapid-fire questions.

Running back to the capsule, I stared at my true self. My beautiful reddish-black draconic skin was stretched over a slender and lithe frame. Angular and other, I was resting in perfect repose.

"You have the most beautiful yellow-green draconic eyes," Dahlroth murmured as he wrapped his arm around me. "I miss you ... your laugh, your mind, your touch. I never broke my draconic oath to you. No one ever touched me, not friend or foe, until you returned to me."

"I'm your mate," I breathed. "How long have we been together?"

"Eons," he whispered in my ear. "After the age of eighteen, dragons don't age--neither in their humanoid forms nor their draconic forms. We live forever unless someone rips out our hearts."

I turned to face him. "Eons?"

"I was desperate to save you, Khrysakh." He cupped my cheek in his palm. "Andreas and Moravia worked together to save us all. You can't hate us for trying to keep you from that mad king!"

My heart clenched at his words.

"Lord Darius serves the King so that I can protect you," he hissed, "One day Darius will kill him. My avatar guards you and Aurora night and day until it is safe to live as dragons once more."