Page 106 of A Kingdom Restored

“Neither did I.” Heath glanced around at the dragons, all of whom were still considering the memories. “And by their reactions, I don’t think they did either.”

“Will it satisfy them?” Merletta asked anxiously. “Will it be enough to convince them they don’t need to destroy us?”

“Oh, yes.” Elddreki’s voice rumbled from closer beside them than Heath had expected. “The account is conclusive. There is no longer any doubt.”

Merletta’s whole form slumped, her relief palpable. Looking over, Heath saw that there were actually tears brimming over from her eyes. He drew her against him, his arms wrapped reassuringly around the warm skin of her back.

“It’s over,” he murmured into her hair. “You’re safe. They’re all safe.”

“Yes,” she whispered, leaning her head for a moment into the crook of his neck. Then she straightened, her tone a little grim. “From the dragons, at any rate.” She frowned over at the stone, as if willing it to speak to her as well. “But where did they all go?” she demanded. “If they lived here so harmoniously?”

“They were primarily harmonious,” Heath corrected. “Tension did grow between the two kingdoms. Mainly because the one on land dwindled as the undersea one grew.”

“Why?” Merletta asked.

Heath gave her a wry smile. “Because of troublemakers like you and me, that’s why.”

She cocked her head to the side in confusion, and he let out a throaty laugh.

“They continued to intermingle freely, and many fell in love across the divide,” he explained. “Even if only one parent had the ability to transform, it invariably passed to their children.”

Merletta stilled slightly as her eyes searched his face. Heath met her gaze evenly, knowing her thoughts were going the same direction as his. If they ever found a way to be together—impossible as it still seemed—that would be the future of their family. The thought of having children with Merletta, of raising a family of dark-haired, stubborn-willed little people who were human on land and merkind in water, was almost too poignant to bear.

Longing rose up in Heath, so powerful it scared him. For a moment everything else melted away, and he was hit with the urge to once again pull her into his arms and kiss her, not like the world was ending, but like it had been reborn, and they could write whatever future they wanted.

But they weren’t alone this time, and their futures were still dictated by too many forces outside their control. He mastered the impulse, taking a deep breath.

“The tension between the two crowns—not the actual brothers, but their descendants—grew to the point that the dragons began to wonder if they’d made a mistake. It was then they formed the intention of continuing the journey that had been interrupted by a stop on Vazula spanning many human generations.”

“So when they left these memories, they didn’t know what happened to the two kingdoms?” Merletta asked, sounding disappointed.

“They had a pretty good idea,” Heath said with a smile. “The time between deciding to leave and actually leaving was significant. The situation had progressed by then. There were some hold outs, some humans whose lines had never mixed with the merfolk, most notably the royal line. But they were few…the two groups had ultimately become one, and the center of power had shifted to the underwater world. I imagine the few humans eventually died off, leaving the island vacant.”

Merletta had looked up sharply at the phrasecenter of power, no doubt thinking of the hierarchy of control in the triple kingdoms. “Why did the merpeople stop coming here if they used to move so freely between?” she mused. “Why don’t we know any of this history?”

“That the dragons’ memories don’t answer,” Heath told her. “I suspect the truth of that lies in the records of your own kind. It seems it was only after the dragons left that your ancestors fully submerged themselves and were deceived as to their origins.” His voice turned dry. “Believe it or not, the role of record holders existed even in the time of the dragons. They were guardians who were supposed to live between both worlds, charged with the duty to ensure neither forgot the history of the other, and the common origins. As with the rest of the culture, it seems that role shifted to be fully underwater in time.”

“Where they did the opposite of their intended duty,” Merletta growled. “Instead of protecting our origins from being forgotten, they went out of their way to ensure theywere. Somewhere along the way they became so obsessed with keeping control that they even began culling the population in order to keep the triple kingdoms contained and within their power.” Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “If this history had been freely taught, as it was intended to be, merpeople would never have been mistaken for abominations, and no one would have had to die.”

There was an unnatural hush at the end of her words, and Heath looked up abruptly to see that all the dragons had their eyes on Merletta. She flushed, clearly also not having realized they were listening.

“Is that an accurate account of the situation in your world?” one of the dragons asked her. “Has this history been purposefully hidden by those in power?”

Merletta nodded. “That’s exactly what’s happened.”

“That is an offense which has impacted more than just the civilization over which these leaders have responsibility,” said another dragon, his tone dark. “Through their deception, our kind have been implicated in a slaughter which has now become repugnant to us.”

“We did try to warn you,” Merletta muttered.

Heath gave her hand a warning squeeze. She was absolutely right, of course, but these dragons weren’t like Reka and his father. They were much less likely to listen to humans, and much less predictable in their responses.

“The crime should not go unpunished,” a large, deep green dragon agreed. “So it is these record holders who are accountable?”

“What?” Merletta’s face went ashen, and Heath knew she was thinking of her friends. “No, of course not! Most of them don’t know about all this. The initial crime occurred centuries ago.”

“That may seem a long time to you, but it does not exonerate in our eyes,” the dragon said dismissively.

“The record holders aren’t to blame,” Merletta said fiercely. “It’s the Record Masters, both those of the past and the one in power today, who have orchestrated this deception. The current Record Master even carried his attacks all the way to Valoria.”

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