Page 18 of Emergence of Fire

“This is my sister’s doing. Making those who help us bow down and cower. This is not the palace I left, Cordelia, believe me.” She sighs and walks over to Silva and holds out her hand. Silva looks up, her hands tremble, hesitantly, before she accepts Aunt Twyla’s hand. She keeps her eyes trained on the ground as she is helped to her feet.

“New rule. You don’t bow to me or anyone else in this room,” she says to Silva. Silva smiles and nods slowly in understanding. She rushes back to the trolley and starts to set the food on the desk.

“So, this is Celestia,” I say to her as I make my way over to the serving dish full of sausages with my name on it.

“Eat. Delia. There’s lots I want to tell you.” She waves me over to the desk and Silva hands me a plate. I don’t sit, I just stand with a sausage in my hand and begin to shovel food into my mouth.

“You talk. I’ll eat.” Damn, this food is good. Well, I won’t go hungry here that’s for sure.

“Delia.” Aunt Twyla lifts her brow and shakes her head at my lack of manners. “Use your fork, that’s what it’s for.”

Yep, although so much is changing, some things still remain the same.

“Yes, ma’am.” I am thirty and I still do what I am told.

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

TORIN

Cordelia hasn’t woken up yet from passing out in her kitchen the day before. We all sat by her bed for hours watching over her but she remains unconscious. She is breathing evenly, Adrian leans over her every so often to make sure her chest is rising and falling. Any opportunity to be near her is what I can gather considering he feels for her just the way I do. Gale has long abandoned his chair to pace the floor. Stopping to do exactly what Adrian did, then he would start walking again. I get it, they’re worried but so am I. Someone has to be level headed about all of this though.

“She will wake, brother,” I whisper to him across the room. His shoulders sag and he stretches his neck from side to side, bones cracking as he tries to ease his tension.

“What if all of this is too much for her? What if it caused her permanent harm to her Dragon to try to force her way out while she was on Earth?” Running his hands through his hair, he steps to the foot of the bed, and touches her foot lost in thought.

“What do you feel, Gale? Does she feel like she’s been harmed? This woman is strong. When we shift as children there is normally a bit of discomfort but then it happens naturally after that. Our shifts are an afterthought to us, it just happens. For days she’s had to endure excruciating pain, her Dragon trying to force its way out of her only to be blocked by the Realm she’s been in, and the fact that we weren’t there to bring her Emergence forth.” Adrian’s gaze never leaves Cordelia’s sleeping form while he speaks. He leans over her again and brushes the hair from her face tenderly. Gale looks at me, we both look at Adrian. Our surly brother speaking so passionately and showing so much affection is bizarre to say the least.

“Why are the both of you staring at me like that?” Adrian finally looks over at us and his face instantly morphs into his normal scowl.

“You love her.” Gale taunts, his mood changing as he pokes fun. “You are besotted with our mate, Adrian, and I love this look on you.” Gale croons and I can’t help but laugh. He was right, of course, but Adrian shot me a look daring me to agree. I cough, hiding my smile.

“I kissed her. I kissed her, and I knew in that moment she is mine. That she is ours.” Adrian says in awe of his own feelings. I don’t have to look at Gale to know he is smirking. He is jealous. I feel a tiny bit of jealousy that he has kissed her before me, but he is right, she is ours. If this is what helps my brother with his demons, then I welcome this newfound love and affection for Cordelia.

“I’m loving this softer side,” Gale says, letting out a sigh.

Adrian growls, “Don’t push me, Gale, I am not the only one who feels this strongly for her. You two idiots feel it too. Jealous assholes. I need to go for a fly, a swim would be better but flying will do.” Adrian turns quickly and heads for the door.

“I definitely won’t say no to that.” Gale begins to follow but stops. “Will she be ok here? Should we trust them to look after her?” Gale looks to me to reassure him as I get to my feet. Both of my brother's behaviors are changing. Gale was never a worrier but our mate made him overly cautious. I search myself inwardly. Am I changing as well?

“No one will harm her here. Twyla would burn her own Realm down to the ground.” I laugh as I force him out the door. I make my way over to the desk where a pen and a stack of paper lay conveniently for letter writing. I love writing letters even though with modern technology the art is all but lost to most people. I scribble a quick note to Cordelia, so she knows where we’ve gone and I turn to leave. Just as I reach the door a tiny little Druid woman stops in front of me. Adrian growls at her and the poor woman cowers before us. It seems his pleasant demeanor only extends to our mate. I look over at him and shake my head in disbelief. It’s blatantly obvious this woman is a maid.

“Who are you?” He growls again and she whimpers. The last thing we need for her to do is fear us. I hold my arm in front of him to stop him from advancing further.

“Please, pardon my brother.” I walk over to her as she hugs the wall with her back, and I extend my hand. “I’m Torin, and these are my brothers Gale and Adrian. We are the queen's mates.” She tentatively shakes my hand.

“I’m Silva, I was sent to attend the princess.” The poor woman’s voice wavers from fear. I politely move out of her way, pushing Gale away from the door to allow her entry.

“Please look after our mate for us. We are going to stretch our wings for a while.” I smile, hoping to help ease the fear in her eyes. I watch her sigh in relief as she turns to walk away.

“Adrian, you’ve got to do better. You can’t scare everyone you come in contact with,” I tell him as we make our way out of the palace.

“He can’t help himself. He’s a mean bastard.” Gale rushes past; his Dragon is eager to take to the skies.

“Yes, I am. Don’t you forget it. Soft my ass.” Adrian huffs but there is no real anger to his words. My brothers are changing and our mate is the cause. If she only knew how broken we actually were living a half-life without her. Since we found her our bond is already stronger. I glance back down the hall wanting to turn around and wait for her to wake but my Dragon gives me the push I need. I can feel him near the surface, the need to shift and protect our mate is making him antsy as well.

“Torin, hurry your ass up before you shift and bring this building down.” Adrian nudges me and starts jogging to the nearest exit.

I stop and look back at the way we came. This is harder than I expected. I mentally will myself to put one foot in front of the other until I make my way outside.

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