Page 12 of The Dragon's Distraction

“One day, humans came in the night and attacked us. They killed my father. I couldn’t stop them. I was still very small. Not much bigger than the humans. They tied me down. I didn’t even have my fire yet.”

Without his fire, at such a small size, he would have been defenseless. My stomach clenched with pain for him.

“They tied me down and taunted me. Then they took all the gold and left. I guess they didn’t see me as enough of a threat to kill. I eventually chewed my way through the ropes. But I was still helpless. I couldn’t do anything with the body of the father. He was too big. So, I left and found another small cave. I hid in that cave full of fear and anger. I seethed. There was nothing but rage and a thirst for blood. After a few months, my fire came in and I could finally go back and burn my father’s body as he would have wanted.”

Tears were running down my face now. My dearest love had been hurt so much. I wanted to reach for him, but I had to let him say what he needed to without making it about my feelings. He swallowed before continuing.

“Of course I wanted revenge.”

“Of course.”

“Well, I went out there, fires blazing, and I got it. Finding the ones who’d killed and stolen aboard a ship.”

He swallowed again, as though he didn’t want to continue. I stayed quiet and gave him his space to speak on his own terms.

“Afterwards, I didn’t feel any better. I knew they would come for me, but I didn’t care. Luckily for me, Bounty Hunters found me before the villagers did. They tranquilised me and took me in. And do you know what had never occurred to me until the trial?”

I shook my head.

“Where that gold came from. It was never my father’s to begin with. He’d been stealing it himself for centuries. The humans were taking back what had been theirs to begin with. Or their ancestors, at least.”

My heart was pounding. But I knew one thing. Nothing that he had said made any difference to how I felt about him.

“Falkon, I see a great deal of regret and pain in you about this.”

He nodded, not meeting my eyes.

“That is who you are. And that is who I love. The dragon capable of such deep feelings and who changes his beliefs when confronted with the truth. That is who you are.”

The words shot of out of me so passionately that he looked up, shocked.

“Falkon, I love you. The fates knew I would love you and brought us together.”

A suspicion tingled in my mind.

“The bounty hunter who found you. What was his name?”

His face scrumpled with confusion for a moment before he answered.

“Sable. Sable Argent. He was…”

“A mothman.”

His head tilted like a dog waiting for something. I laughed.

“Sable is my brother.”

Falkon looked even more confused.

“Adopted,” I supplied.

A moment of silence hung between us as he processed this.

“So, Sunbeam. The fates really have been working for us all along.”

“Yes, they have. Because we are perfect for each other. We fit together in ways that we haven’t even figured out yet. But we have all of that in front of us.”

He waggled a scaly eyebrow suggestively.

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