Page 81 of Taloned Heart

Lore needed time to think about that. She needed time, but... Damn, it was tempting.

Finally, she nodded and swept her arm toward the entrance. “Why don’t you join us at our table, magician? Though you may have lost your magic, that does not mean you have lost your use just yet.”

CHAPTER31

Abraxas allowed his children and companions a few days of rest. They’d traveled farther than any of them ever had before, and though his children’s boundless energy was beautiful to behold, he also knew that Tanis must be tired.

The amethyst dragon had carried both Rowan and Draven far longer than she should have. All while keeping an eye on Abraxas’s children and her own. The female dragon had proven herself on this journey, and now it was time for him to make sure that she was taken care of as well.

And so their children explored the island together. His heart melted in his chest as he watched Nyx and Hyperion with the other little ones. Though his children were much larger and significantly older than the others, they were still soft and kind with them. They played with them in the water, watched them with keen eyes, and seemed to not mind in the slightest that this task had been given to them while the adults rested and hunted.

Lumbering toward the sea cliff where he knew Tanis was resting, he laid his giant bulk down next to her and huffed out a long breath. “I have not been in this form for this long since I left the dragon isles.”

“And why should you be confined in such a large form?” Tanis laughed at him, her throat vibrating with the sound. “The mortals would quake with fear every time the ground shook as you walked. You know they are far too sensitive.”

“They fear what they do not know.”

“As they always have.” Her eyes saw far across the distance, and he realized where she was looking.

Umbra.

The island was out there, somewhere. Just beyond their sight, and it held all unknowns for them. The dragonlings couldn’t change, so Tanis and Rowan would have to keep them hidden. They’d have to keep them safe.

Sighing, he shook his massive head and lifted it to stare out past the sea smoke. “Tanis, I thought you would stay. I didn’t think that all of you would come, and that was never my intent. You have to know the dragonlings, your little ones, are...”

He let the words trail off, because she knew what he was going to say. Of course she knew. They were more important than anything else in this world to him and the thought that he might be the cause of their death?

His fear overwhelmed him. If he was the reason the dragons died out this time, he would never forgive himself. They had a chance right now. As they always should have. They had a chance to rebuild and if they were wasting it to save this kingdom that couldn’t care less if they lived or died? It would be the greatest waste.

“You thought I would send your children to battle without coming with them?” Tanis asked, though there was more mirth in her tones than his. “Abraxas, I look at them as though they are my own. All the dragon children are and will be. Do you not look at mine and feel the same?”

Of course he did. All dragons looked at their small ones and thought they were their own. It would be impossible for him to see that crimson dragon and not see a piece of himself in the little boy. And it would be impossible not to see their future in all the others.

Sighing, he nodded. “I see them as my own as well, Tanis. And thus I want to risk their safety even less. The things I did to keep my own eggs alive, when they were not even...”

“I know,” she whispered. “I have seen much in my years and I know exactly the lengths a dragon will go to in keeping their own well and healthy. I trust that both of us know the truth in this matter. I am not risking my children without knowing the potential cost. But I am here because I remember what you said about Lore and her dreams for this kingdom. The dragons will no longer turn their back on their neighbors and not expect that to return to us tenfold. The downfall of the dragons was that we ignored this the last time it happened.”

Ah, she was right. But it burned through his chest to know that he was going to bring them all back to Umbra. He needed a safe place for them, a place where no one would find them.

An invisible place no one but the elves could find, and even then, they would have a hard time when one of their ancient elves perhaps fiddled with the spells.

Abraxas sat straight up, his long neck craning to find Rowan, who had just sat down next to Draven at the fire. “Elf,” he barked.

Both of them looked over at him.

He shook his head in exasperation. “Not you. Rowan, come here for a moment.”

The old man groaned and got to his feet slowly, his hand pressed against the small of his back as though he was in pain. “What is it? I just sat down, Abraxas, and I’ve been running after those little ones all day. They keep insisting on being thrown into the air, but you know I can’t do that endlessly. I’m not one of you.”

He had to try very hard to control the eye roll that threatened to have him seeing the back of his skull. “How familiar are you with the old magic? The spells that elves used to cast on their citadels?”

“Well enough.” Rowan’s back straightened immediately, his hands clenched at his sides in excitement as though the pain was all for show. “Do you know of such a place? I was under the impression they were all torn down or destroyed years ago.”

“I do, actually.”

Draven meandered over to them, his hands tucked behind his back as he nodded. “Ah, the one up in the mountains? Cold for the little ones, but a good place to hide them.”

“Hide them?” Tanis sat up as well, joining the conversation with a gracefully stretched wing. “And this place is safe enough? You think the elves cannot sense the old magic?”

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