Draygon Inferno | Book 2 | ✔️

Chapter Eighteen

Jaeda shook their head. "I'm not a woman. Nor am I a man. We have no gender." They glanced down at their chest, poking their right breast. "Though I suppose these lumps do give the false illusion of my being a woman." They turned around, shaking their bottom. A tail sifted gracefully back and forth above the top of their crack. "But most human women don't have one of these."

"I have a cloak you can borrow that will cover you until we can get you some proper clothes that can work around that tail," Siobhan said.

Jaeda knitted their eyebrows. Their eyes still had the unmistakable gold of their true dragon form. "Is nakedness bad among humans?"

Siobhan snorted and slapped Wrens back. "It is when you're around this half-human." She pulled a cloak out of the saddlebags still sitting on the floor where Cion left them. Jaeda didn't move as Siobhan laid the cloak over their narrow, gray-scaled shoulders. The potion did very little to make Jaeda appear human. From the scales coating their skin, to the pointed ears sticking out from the side of their head, Jaeda was still very dragon-like. Siobhan hoped that wouldn't be a problem. There was no species or creature that came even close to looking like Jaeda.

"I do have one question. How is this potion different from a Changeling potion? I mean they both change an appearance, yet this one has more permanency to it," Wren asked.

"I honestly didn't even know this potion existed until now." Siobhan shrugged, laughing as Jaeda stared at Wren, their eyes blinking far too rapid for a human. "Dare I ask why you're staring at him?"

"How do human boys differ from human girls?"

Wren's eyes widened, his hands covering his crotch. "I am not talking anatomy with a dragon."

Siobhan bent forward, her laughter echoing off the cold, mostly frozen walls of the cavern. Both sides ached as she struggled to contain her laughs. "Oh Goddess, I need that."

"Jaeda, please focus," Korix said.

Jaeda snapped their fingers. "Right! There is a faster route to reach Draygon, though we'll need Wren to uncover it."

"If it'll keep the conversation off my boy parts, then let's do it." His ears still hadn't returned to normal, they burned with the color of his embarrassment.

Siobhan pinched his cheeks. "Awe, but maybe your boy parts are special. Jaeda might enjoy the show."

"You're still not funny."

Siobhan shrugged. "And you're still a moron. So it's good to know some things never change." She followed Jaeda toward the far wall of the cavern were a couple of young dragons rolled over each other, attacking each other tails. They stopped playing to stare at her. She held out a hand, allowing them to sniff her scent. Even at their smaller size, they still towered above her like a building. One of their tongues slithered over her hand, tickling and leaving behind thin mucus. Siobhan laughed and scratched a hand behind the dragons massive horn jutting out of the side of its head. A rumble vibrated in its throat, tail twittering.

"Wren if you could please touch your hand to this ice and melt it." Jaeda pat the ice reflecting multiple versions of them.

Wren raised an eyebrow when he looked to Siobhan. She shrugged. There were no answers left for her to give him. Both of them were on equal footing and they'd discover the truth together, even if it led to both their deaths. He sighed and pressed a hand to the ice, closing his eyes. His veins reddened, pushing toward his fingers until flames spread outward from his touch. Water dripped along the block of ice, rolling harmlessly to the ground. At first it was slow, increasing in speed the longer he held his hand firm against the ice. Siobhan gasped when the ice melted away to reveal a massive arch rising to the ceiling.

"Is that . . . one of the mages gateways?" She brushed her fingers over the familiar symbol of the infinity dragons for Draygon.

"It is the gate in which all gates were created. We worked with the mages many generations ago to create these for each kingdom and realm of this world."

"I don't recognize some of these symbols." Her fingers traced over the blazing sun rising between two mountain peaks.

"This is the only gate in which all gates can be accessed. The others were designed strictly for their specific realms. The symbols you recognize are the realms and kingdoms you're familiar with." Jaeda touched the infinity dragons. "Draygon." Their hand moved to the bare tree reaching up like a claw.

"The witches," Siobhan said.

Their hand moved to another symbol. "Ardorn is the rolling dunes, Aquantis and the waiving lines of their sea currents that converge within their realm, Raiven with their all seeing eye. And finally . . ." They touched the symbol Siobhan's hand still sat on. Their eyes moved to Wren. "Vulcana, birthplace of the Wyverns."

Wren swallowed. "That's where Garrith is from?"

Jaeda nodded. "It is a place of volcanos and fire and where the sun never seems to set though it is still of this planet. It is the most unholy of places, but it is where you will find your truth."

He shook his head and stepped closer to Siobhan. "Help Siobhan first, worry about me later."

Jaeda's lips curled upward, their golden eyes seemed to spark under the rise of their sharp cheeks. "A most encouraging answer."

"So we can go straight to Draygon with the gate?" Wren asked.

Siobhan shook her head. "If we couldn't do it from Raiven, we won't be able to from here. The owners of the gates can lock them from use by simply removing their symbol from their gate. Best we can hope for is returning to the Drakewood Forest. We're supposed to meet Ayla there anyway. My step mother might be a murderer but she's no fool. I'm guessing she locked Draygon's gate the second I left." She turned away from the gate and returned to the saddle bags. Carefully, she loaded the saddle and her gear on Cions back and mounted him. Her hand stroked the side of his head. "We're going back to Drakewood. I have some questions I need to ask Lady Lenore."

"Oh goody. I was missing the dead trees looking like they want to murder me in my sleep," Wren mumbled. He fetched Bob from the corner of the room and led the horse toward the gate. Jaeda touched the symbol for the Witches and the gate sprang to life.

Siobhan looked over her shoulder to where Korix sat silently watching them. "Is there anything else I should know before I step through that gate?"

The dragon stepped forward and tilted it's head. Siobhan narrowed her eyes as a tear rolled along the dragons cheek. "Take my tears and have the Witches aid Jaeda to forge you a Dragons glass small enough you can take with you. It will be the proof you need to clear your name with those who still fear you."

Siobhan dug through her bags until she found the vial that once held the potion which turned Jaeda into a human-like being. She held it to Korix's cheek and allowed the liquid to fill it half way before Korix pulled its head back.

"Dragon tears create the Dragons Glass?" Siobhan pushed the cork back into the bottle and examined the liquid.

"Our tears can create many things. It is a valuable material for alchemy. Jaeda will know what else is needed. And remember, Siobhan of Draygon, if Wren turns—"

"I know. Jaeda will end him and I won't stand in their way. A deal is a deal." She sighed and clicked her heals together. As the Goddess was her witness, Wren would avoid his fate and Siobhan would have Kaylis' head on a pike.