Shane: Dragon’s Savior – Ménage Erotic Fantasy (Dragon's Savior Book 4) (11 page)

“The dragons won’t hurt me because they know that I’m their king.” She just cocked a brow at him, and he realized how arrogant that sounded. “What I mean is, you’ll have to find someone else to do your bidding…the dragons won’t touch me.”

“Yeah? Maybe so. But do you think that’s all that I can call on? Did you know that faeries and brownies will do whatever I tell them? You should remember that.” He shifted his daughter in his arms when she fussed at him. For some reason Asher thought little Sally Anne knew that he was being bested by her aunt and thought him foolish. He looked over at Essie to see if there was going to be help there, and Lindsey handed him her little girl and stood up. “I need to stretch for a moment. And to walk. Will you watch her for me? I’ll only be a moment.”

All thoughts of anger and brownies left his head. The little girls, born on the same day just moments apart, looked up at him. His daughter, named for his mom, Sally Anne, yawned, then stared at him as if to ask him why all the bother. Eve Marie, Jed’s little girl, just looked at him with pursed lips. She looked so much like her mother he wanted to laugh. Instead, he thought about why he was angry. And speaking to Lelani in a calm voice so as not to piss her or the girls off, he put a smile on his face so she could hear he wasn’t upset any longer.

“Please, the next time you do something like this, whether you’re there or not, I’d like it if you were to let one of us know. That way, should it come to it, we can help you. I’m not sure how we could, but we might.” Asher looked up at her and she nodded once. “Thank you.”

His dad came to sit by him then and took Eve from him. He’d never seen his dad as happy as he was lately. As he held his granddaughter, Dad told her all about her grandma and how much she wanted to see them. When he asked when they could take them, Asher stood up.

“Now. We should take them there now.” The message, the one that was brought to them in the form of a mate, ran through his head. The love of Sally would bring forth the love of a mother. As they made their way there, his heart pounding in his chest, all he could think about was his mom.

“It might not work.” He looked over at Jed when he spoke. “It’s all I thought about too, that love would bring forth a mother since we found out that we were having a baby. You’re thinking, as I have, that maybe one of the girls will wake Mom up. I want that to work in the worst kind of way.”

“I do too. I guess...I guess with Dad here, all I can think about is Mom being here as well. She’d love all this going on. And I can see her now with the babies, can’t you?” Jed nodded and looked ahead. Asher was hesitant now to see if it would work. He knew, deep in his heart, that it wouldn’t. “We can only see. And if nothing else, she’ll be able to be near them for a time. Right?”

As they all gathered around the small cemetery, he looked at his dad’s stone that was covered by a worn tattered quilt. It had been carved, as his mother’s had, from the very castle walls. When they’d passed on, it had only seemed fitting that they have a part of it marking their passing. Their lives had been the biggest part of it, the people there bringing them together to create them. He thought of the other graves, ones not far from here, and decided that they should go there as well. See the king and queen and take the babes.

His dad had taken Sally Anne this time. And when he sat near the grave of his one true love, Asher and the others stepped back when Lindsey handed Eve to his dad as well. He had no idea, but he thought that Dad should introduce them to their grandmother, and apparently the others did as well. Listening to him now, Asher felt his heart twist in his chest as he pulled Essie to him. His dad really had loved their mom.

“Here they are. Did I not tell you that they were the most beautiful creatures on this earth?” Dad laughed, his head cocked to the side as if listening to some unheard voice. “Yes, I know that you told me all along that they’d be beautiful. But to see them now, it’s hard to imagine that we helped in a way to create them. They’re so tiny, Sally mine, that I sometimes think I’m to break one of them. You’d be in your glory to see them.”

Asher thought again of his mom. She’d been so wonderful. They’d never wanted for anything growing up. She was there for them, teaching them to read and write. There wasn’t a time in his life that he ever saw her without a book in her hands when everything was done for the day. Or a blanket she was putting together out of their old clothing. He remembered asking her once why she made so many blankets.

“I won’t be around forever, you know. I’m going to live a good long time, yes that’s true, but unlike you boys, I’m not an immortal. I can get sick and die.” Even then Asher had a feeling that she knew not just that she was surely going to leave them, but the date and time too. “You boys, you grow so much. What should I be doing with all these scraps of material but to keep you warm at night?”

He’d watched out for her for several days after that, having a feeling that she was as close to death as anyone could be. But finally she told him to leave her be, that she’d be there until he was ready to leave on his own. After that, he couldn’t remember thinking about it again until she’d gotten sick.

She and Dad had been out picking berries. It was their time, they’d told them, to be by themselves as a couple. He’d never understood that until he was older and a little less full of himself, why anyone would not want to spend time with him.

Asher had been nearly three hundred by that time, bored with life and getting antsy to get out on his own. The rules that they’d learned, all the ones that would keep their family safe, had been there, and he’d never had any idea to ever not keep his family safe. But the need to get out on his own was making him itchy. Then Mom had come back from their outing and he could see that she was ill.

“I’ll be all right now. You just go on now and set the table.” He hadn’t wanted her to make dinner, insisting instead that they all do it. “And what will we be having then? Pork chops again? Those too greasy potatoes? I’m fine, Asher. Go on now and do as I said, please.”

She’d taken to her bed about three days later. Dad never left her side, even laying down himself when he’d been beyond exhausted. Asher and the others had taken turns being with them, his dad falling ill too. He knew that it was time; his parents had lived their lives and they wanted to rest.

His mom had taken his hand one morning, the morning that she had passed, and smiled at him. She just held his much larger one in her small worn one. When he kissed the back of it, careful of not hurting her, she smiled at him more brightly. Dad was asleep, and Asher was glad for those few moments alone with his mom.

“I’m ready.” His heart broke and he couldn’t even tell her he wasn’t. “You’re a good man, Asher. Better than I hoped for all my life for a son. All my boys, all of you, a mother could not have asked for anything better. But I’m tired and old. Very old, as a matter of fact, and I’m ready to rest. You’ll be fine, trust me, Asher. You’re going to be just fine.”

“I don’t want you to leave me.” She smiled again, closing her eyes. “Mom, I can’t let you go. I need you in my life now more than ever. Please, just stay with us a little longer. Until we’re ready.”

“You’ll be fine.” Her breaths were slower then, her body closing down, turning off so that she could go in peace. “Someday you’ll meet a woman and she’ll knock you on the bottom that I never once had to switch. That’s quite an accomplishment when you think of all the trouble you’ve been in.”

He laughed, the sound bursting from him so surprisingly that he kissed her again. Asher had never considered himself a momma’s boy, but he knew then that he had been. When she coughed once, he moved closer to her to hear her words.

“I’ve talked to the others, told them that I love them. I’m so glad that you’re here for your father.” Yes, he said, he was glad as well, but he’d be happier with her there. “He’ll join me soon. His heart and mine are forever tied to each other. You’ll have that as well. But I don’t want you to mourn us, Asher. Life, our life, was full, so full that I wondered at times how I’d been so lucky. I love you, son. With all my heart.”

His dad woke then, just sat up in the bed and pulled Mom to him. And when she took her last breath, Dad had held her, tears flowing unchecked down his face. Four days later, his dad’s heart broken, as he told Asher, he went to bed, the same one that he’d shared with his wife, and didn’t wake. Asher had left home soon after, too many memories for him to feel happy there any longer. But he came back and found his own love, his own life, and now had a little girl too.

Asher looked around. He knew this land like he did the back of his hand…the castle grounds as well. As he stood there, holding Essie as his dad talked to their mom, he saw the tree he’d fallen out of as a young child. The creek bank that he’d caught his first fish from. The apple tree and other fruit trees he’d helped pick from for his mom to make jams and jellies. He thought that there was no better place in the world to have a family than right here.

“We should visit the king and queen. Take the babies to see them as well. No one can hear them, so I’m not sure they can communicate with us, but I’d like to do that.” He told Gideon that he’d thought that as well. “I can’t wait for you to see the tomb room that we built for them. Onimia and I worked hard on it, and it’s finished now.”

“I’m sure that it’s perfect. You had a plan and I’m sure you stuck to it. That’s one of the many wonderful things about you, Gideon…you think things out completely better than anyone I know.” He did have many qualities that the rest of them didn’t. The drawings had been made weeks ago, just after it was decided that the couple should be near where their children had been safe. Parts of the castle would be used, he’d told them, as well as some of the items they’d unearthed at the site. And after drawing names to see who would decide where the resting place was—Gideon and Onimia winning the draw—it was decided that it would be a surprise for them as well.

The mountain was as giving to them as the soil was as they made their way to the tomb. Lights lined the path to the lower levels of the cave, and the further down they went, Asher could see that they’d taken their time there as well. There were benches along the way, rocks with deep crevices in them that were filled with gems and stones that lit up when they were close to them. And when they reached the room, a place so extraordinary to them all, Asher could only stare. It was far better than he’d thought it would be. He hugged Gideon when he asked him how he liked it.

“Just as I had thought it would be. Beautiful, and so peaceful here. There is nothing at all that I’d change, and I’m sure the others think so as well.” Asher looked around more and saw all the small touches that they’d brought to the place, and was prouder in that moment than he’d ever been.

The bodies of both the king and the queen were laid on a large stone. Asher would bet that it was the same stone that had felled the king that night. They lay side by side, their hands just touching. One of Asher’s mother’s own blankets covered their bodies, as if they’d only laid there to rest. Some of the treasures that they’d found when excavating the castle were there too, lain about the room and on the dais, and Asher walked closer so he could see them better.

A bit of lace that had been unearthed was over her face. A gem that had a dragon carved into its surface lay upon the king’s heart. A bracelet that had been found, which Daniel had said was his sister’s, was now encircling the queen’s wrist. The sword that they’d found beside the body of the king lay at his side, and the knives that had been with the body of the queen were at hers. They were as beautiful in death as he’d bet they had been in life.

Around the room there were other such things. Two place settings of the pattern that they’d been told was picked by them. A basket, ill formed and not well made, was there too. One of the smaller dragons had told them that the queen had tried to help one day, and that was what she got for her efforts. The year had been carved in a small flat stone and put beside it.

Asher walked more around the room and saw that there was a stone at the foot of the dais that had both their names on it, a pair of dragons, as well as the year that they had died. Beneath the date, their names had been inscribed, and the year that they’d been born as well. He ran his finger over the names of his family, including the dragons that were as much his brothers as the others were.

There were pieces of tapestry, bits of cloth framed and set upon a stone shelf. Some other items, like a hair brush and a trencher that they’d found, were there as well. All the parts, all the pieces of their life, lay around the couple that had given them as much life as their own parents had.

“What do you think?” He looked over at his brother and wondered why he’d even ask. “You have the strangest look on your face. I can’t tell if you’re angry, shocked, or pleased.”

“Not angry. Pleased? Yes, very much so. Shocked? Oh yes. I don’t think I thought about what you’d do, but knew that you’d do very well. But surely even you’re surprised as to how well it turned out.” Gideon smiled, then nodded. “You did something very wonderful here. And for generations now, we can come here and talk to them in both comfort and peace. And our children, as well as theirs, can come here to talk to the people who made it all possible for us.”

“Thank you, Asher. Coming from you, that means so much more to me. We had hoped that you’d like it, maybe even be a little in awe of us, but your words, they have special meaning because I know that they come from your heart.” He hugged his brother again. “Now, let’s show off those beautiful baby girls. By the way, have you thought of their own mates? And what they’re going to be like?”