The ground was rough as it was cold. He crawled forward but it hurt his hands. Sharp jagged knives of rock tore through his skin. Bloodied he pulled himself forward trying to reorient himself. The grey dust coupled with the black skies hurt his eyes and he couldn’t focus.
There was a roar so powerful that it shook the ground. He could feel it in his ears and felt it under his legs. He felt a boom of thunder, followed by another roar along with the air and ducked his head down, covering it with his arm. The air rushed over him, picking him off the ground and throwing him dozens of feet away like a doll. His back arched when he crashed down and his scream was drowned in acrid smoke.
Taking his sword, he shoved it into the ground and forced himself to a shaky standing position. From there he could see everything. He watched a woman whose purple hair gleamed even here, get engulfed in flames. He felt her skin bubble and boil as the flames took her.
He watched a woman glow like a white star become surrounded by shadow. And then he watched the black scaled hand crush her entirely. He felt her bones break and her scream ripped through his mind like a blow.
He sank to his knees and let his arms hang at his sides. He looked up and watched a bright silver body falling from the sky. It spun in the air and he could see the massive red gash running across the belly of the beast. He watched her fall, becoming all he could see and her roar echo his own scream.
Screaming as he jolted upright in bed, the covers shifted off him. His bare chest was covered in sweat. He huffed and looked around him slowly. He saw the low light in the bedroom, dawn slowly creeping in with the rise of the sun. A breeze wafted over his skin and it chilled.
Shuddering slowly his teeth ground together as pain exploded at his shoulder. He grabbed it and squeezed tightly trying to push the pain away. Lowering his arm, he felt the shift from his scarred brown skin to something smooth and hard. Looking down he stared at the gleaming silver scales covering his arm that ended in a clawed hand. The scales traveled from his shoulder, up the back of his neck, and covered his eye.
A pair of pale white hands covered his hand, slipping through the claws and rubbing against his scales. It was always weird to feel hands against his scales. Both a numbing sensation and yet very sensitive. The blankets shifted beside him and he turned to look at her.
Her skin was white, so white that in the half light of the morning she was glowing like a luminescent butterfly. Her hair matched, usually a cascading waterfall down her back, now it was ruffled across her face in an unkempt wave. She had a thin nose, almost flat against her face, lips full, and eyes round. They were half opened but focused on him, her eyes a steady orange color. She was wearing a pale blue nightgown.
She reached up and touched his face, felt the smoothness of his jaw, and then stroked her hand up to his cheek. She brushed the slick silver hair from his face and stroked her thumb just under his eye. He closed his eyes slowing down his breathing and took her hand in his, squeezing it.
“Another nightmare Nero?”
“Yeah. It’s been years. I thought it would stop finally.”
She was a head shorter than him but sat up to be on eye level. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him and then kissed his eyes gently. She stared into his eyes the color in her own shifting from orange to pink and stared into his one blue eye and his yellow draconic eye.
“It could have been years ago or yesterday. That day will stay with you forever luzo.”
He looked away from her but she made him look at her again, “I wish I could forget it all Dawn.”
“No, you don’t,” she replied and laid her head against his chest. “You just want the pain to go away. We mourn with you, you know that. But it’s okay. We’re all safe.”
Sighing softly, he nodded and wrapped both his arms around her shoulders. “You’re right princess. As always.”
She yawned against his chest and shook her head, “I’m not always right. Our children are proof of that.”
“Speaking of,” he looked at the other side of the bed and saw the empty space there. The tangle of blankets definitely had the indention of a body. “I’m assuming Lily has them both?”
“Mmhm. Silva woke up an hour ago. She set something on fire which woke up her brother. He brought her here. It was Lily’s turn so she took care of them. Knowing our luza, she took them outside. Silva is definitely your lela though”
“You sound exhausted,” Nero whispered brushing his fingers through her hair.
“Sefirin woke up in the middle of the night. Like you know, he’s energetic. Took a long time for him to settle down.”
“Why didn’t either of you wake me up?” Nero pouted hard looking down at her.
“I was in meetings with una and Lily was on nil patrol. So, you had them all day. You needed your sleep luzo.”
“Mm. Perhaps. But I don’t think I’m going to be able to get much more sleep right now. Or even sit still.”
She groaned hitting his chest lightly and then rolled over in the bed and curled up. “Go relieve Lily of child duty then. I want to enjoy what little sleep is left. I have no plans today so we can spend it together.”
He smiled at her, kissing the back of her head, “Get your sleep princess. We’ll see you soon okay?”
“Mmhm,” she waved her hand at him, absently hitting his chest again. She grasped the blankets and pulled them closer around herself. Climbing out of the bed slowly, Nero sat on the edge of the bed. Their room was an interesting design. It was a circle, their bed also circular but against one of the walls.
Across from their bed was a trio of massive windows that opened onto a balcony while opposite that was a door that went out into the hall. And opposite their bed was another door, leading into the room of their children’s shared bedroom. Crossing the room slowly he made sure to navigate the floor for toys and discarded clothes.
He found the rack on the wall and pulled his robe off, sliding his arms through the sleeves. Tying it around his waist he yawned and approached the open window. A breeze wafted through blowing the curtains back and forth. Pushing the window open fully and closing it behind him he went and leaned against the railing.
The sky was pink turning into orange with tinges of blue on the horizon. There were thick grey clouds rolling across the sky as well. It was going to be a cloudy day but he hoped at the very least the sun would have its time. He didn’t want it to be grey. Looking down he saw the sharp drop off from their balcony.
Sheer rocks going straight down into the massive forest below. He could spot the clearings, the ponds, and the valleys from here. With a dragon eye, he could see even down to the blades of grass, the individual rocks, the families of dear that traveled through the trees, and the birds that nested within them.
But looking above the trees he stared into the clouds and could make out the shadows darting in and out of them. He smiled watching the pair of shapes flutter, dash, dip, and dive. Taking a step back he spread his hands and felt the gust of airflow from his arms. A memory of his nightmare flashed in his mind, a distorted remembrance of the dream and he shook. But the memory slid away like water off his back and he focused on staying aloft.
Sighing he took a step forward, jumped the railing, and then flew into the clouds. There was something freeing about flying. Ever since he’d gone riding the first time as a teenager, he’d loved being in the air infinitely more than being on the ground. He could run, jump and climb, but nothing cleared his mind like leaving the ground behind entirely.
He narrowed his eyes, staring at the cloud where the shadows had darted into and he sped up aiming right at it. Shutting his eyes, he burst through the cloud soaking himself in condensation. Shaking his head back and forth he turned and spread his arms greeted by a tired smile and two eager shrieks.
Lily was a tall woman, definitely taller than Nero himself. She had high cheekbones, thin brown eyes, soft brown skin, and thick curly purple hair hastily tied behind her head with a red ribbon. She was wearing a robe much like his own except hers was red unlike his silver. She floated on the air, a near invisible tornado swirling beneath her feet.
But in her arms was a wide-eyed little girl. She had a small rounded block of face, surrounded by long pure white hair. Her skin was almost like sand colored porcelain. Her nose was flat as well but wide. She was clinging to Lily’s arms and Nero knew for certain that just moments before she had been looking down terrified of being dropped. But as she looked at him her eyes turned to bright pink.
Nero floated forward and kissed Lily lightly but immediately felt the little girl between them squirm. Laughing he crouched and rubbed his nose against hers. That made her smile and giggle, her pudgy hands reaching out to touch Nero’s cheeks.
“She’s such a daddy’s girl,” Lily said chuckling.
“I heard that you volunteered for parent duty this morning.”
“With both of you being wiped out it was my turn babe. Plus, Silva was getting fussy. And she loves being out here as much as her brother and father do,” Lily smiled readjusting Silva and tickling her foot lightly turning her face into one of joy immediately. “Isn’t that right little girl? You were getting fussy this morning. Getting fussy and causing trouble.”
Silva clapped her hands, kicking her feet lightly, and mumbled, “Cause trouble.”
“You are not supposed to admit you’re causing trouble. But I heard you set something on fire little one,” Nero said bending over and getting on eye level with Silva.
“Fire!” Her smiling face turned to Nero and she did something he wasn’t at all prepared for. She blinked, her lids moving sideways and when they opened, they revealed bright yellow eyes with a single slit down the center. She stared at Nero, specifically his own eye and he smiled ruefully.
“So that’s what she meant by definitely my daughter.”
“She showed it off to you too then?”
Nero nodded, “She’s barely a year and a half old.”
Lily ruffled her hair lightly getting another gurgling laugh. When she blinked her eyes returned to their pink shades, “If Sefirin hadn’t done it around her age it would have scared the hell out of me.”
Lily started to say more but her mouth hung open and then she had to cover it to fight a laugh. Nero didn’t have to guess hard at what was going on. He could feel the light buffeting of his hair from air that didn’t match the direction of the wind and the giggles. The giggles that were being contained by sheer force of will but didn’t contain the muted sputtering. Even Silva was getting in on the joke.
“Well you’re right. Sefirin definitely showed that off when he was young. I wonder how much smarter, and faster, and bigger he’s gotten since then!”
Nero turned around and it was an easy spell to cast. Simple telekinesis that grabbed the little boy by the waist and pulled him into his father’s arms. He barely had time to register as his father hugged him and he struggled to get out of his grip shrieking with laughter. Despite Nero’s best attempts he wriggled free and clung to Nero’s arm tightly.
Sefirin was a thin weasel of a child, just barely three feet tall and getting taller every day. His skin was a shade or two darker than his sister’s but he had his mother’s brown eyes and his father’s wide toothy grin. His hair was covered in pale purple curls that refused to grow in any controlled direction. But the newer thing were the wings sticking up out of his back. They were silver and scaled along the limbs with thin leathery skin between the bones. They were much bigger than him in every direction and were bigger than Nero remembered last.
“You’re growing so fast little one,” he mumbled then shook his arm back and forth as if to fling him off. However, those tiny limbs were holding on strong. “Lily I seem to have a child on my arm. How do I get rid of it?”
“You can’t get rid of me!” he shouted as the shaking got more aggressive.
“I can’t?”
“No!”
“Can I have my arm back then?”
“No. I like daddy’s scaley arm,” he said and pulled at the robe to reveal the scales. Catching the light up here they sparkled sending lights all across his son’s face. His eyes went wide and he preceded to bite and gnaw on the scales. He wasn’t strong enough nor teeth sharp enough to cause any harm but Nero still took his arm back.
“Please don’t bite daddy,” he said gently and his son turned around and blinked his eyes sideways revealing his own draconic eyes. Nero sighed more than used to his son doing this and pulled him up onto his shoulder. He could feel his son’s tiny hands digging into his hair messing it up and pulling at the silver strands but at least he was gentle.
“So, you been out here with mommy little one?” Nero asked looking up at him.
“Yeah! I can fly real good. Tell daddy mommy! You saw right!”
“Yes Seffy I saw. And you were impressive,” Lily floated over smoothing his hair back. She leaned forward and whispered in Nero’s ear, “With some wind under his wings he’s very impressive.”
“Fly! Fly!” Silva shouted reaching for her brother. Lily took her hands and lifted her up. She kicked swinging forward her nightshirt swaying in the open sky. She was wearing one of Nero’s old shirts and it was like a cloak on her but good luck taking it away from her.
No longer in her mother’s arms Nero could see the scaled, spiny, tail swaying back in forth as she swung. Lily was careful to swing her so that it wouldn’t hit her in the face. Another thing they’d learn to avoid through experience
She swung back and forth a little harder and then her eyes crossed. She screwed up her face and then belched out a tiny ball of fire. Lily’s eyes were wide and so were Nero’s. She belched again sans fire and then her stomach rumbled. It was much louder than the size of the little girl before them.
Lifting her up, Lily turned her daughter around and smiled, “Are you hungry sweetie?”
“Hungry!” she repeated.
“What about you little one?” Nero asked glancing up at Sefirin. “What do you want for breakfast?”
“Tarts!”
“Guess it’s time for breakfast,” Lily replied. “Was Dawn awake when you left?”
“Nope. Said she wanted to get as much sleep as she could.”
“Sounds right considering these two. Alright sweetie, let’s go wake una up and get breakfast. Does that sound good?”
Silva nodded quickly, bouncing in her arms to which Sefirin gave his own cheer of agreement. Lily glanced at her husband and motioned for him to lead the way, “Let’s go see what the kitchens are making this morning.”
The Harlequin Library 