Ash 1917
"What I tell you is what I was told, so I can't tell you every detail," Darius warns me before he gets started. "There are questions to which I don't have the answers, and trust me, I want them as well."
"I understand," I sigh. "So, let's begin."
"You know the story they told us about how Halona was from one of the native tribes killed off by another?" Darius asks me, and I nod. "Well, that's true to an extent. She did come from a tribe but not from the natives who lived here before. She was from one of the dragon tribes that shared the land with those people."
"Tribes?" I frown, unfamiliar with the concept. Dragons didn't live in tribes, at least. That's not what we called them. At most, we lived in hordes.
"Yes," Darius confirms. "The same way we've adapted to our environment, every Entit'a in the world has done the same. The dragons who lived in this country before it was overtaken didn't follow the king's decree of secrecy. Instead, they lived side by side with the natives and weren't the only ones to do so."
"Isn't that dangerous?" I can't imagine someone so blatantly disobeying the law of secrecy. Humans weren't supposed to know about us.
"Incredibly, but you need to realize something. Not everyone sees Shakka as the rightful king of the Entit'a. Many see him as a thief and defy him at every opportunity."
I didn't hate Shakka, mostly because I didn't know much about him as a dragon or ruler. His influence in Alaska wasn't that significant to me. My father dealt with him, and the royal court had little to do with us. I didn't have love or patriotic feelings for him for the same reasons.
"What happened?"
"The same thing happens to anyone who defies the law," Darius sighs sadly. "Shakka and the courts hunted them all down and killed them. At least as many as they could find."
"How long ago was this?" I cock my head curiously.
"About fifty years after dade and mal'e were arranged," Darius shrugs. "So quite some time ago."
"So, Halona raised all of us?" I scowl, checking off one lie. "What about father's mate? I overheard him saying something to them about Shakka killing her in front of him."
"She was human," Darius makes a thin line with his lips. "And I don't know the details of how she died. Only that Shakka did it himself for some reason."
"Which is why Nerva hates humans now," I mutter, and Elena places a comforting hand on mine.
"Don't judge your father so much for that," she smiles sadly. "His hatred isn't from feeling superior. It's from pain."
"Of all people, how can you say that?" I demand of her. "He disowned Darius because he refused to reject you!"
"That's... well, we'll get to that," Elena winces slightly. "It's a story on its own."
I blink, utterly baffled now.
"Alright," I huff, glancing back at my brother. "So, how did Halona come to find our mother and father?"
"She was one of the rare ones who escaped the massacre," Darius continues. "she traveled up north and eventually met mal'e. Dade didn't mark her then. I think it was too painful for him to do that after losing his true mate, but they were still bound by magic."
"What sort of magic binds two people like that?" I declare worriedly.
"The same kind that binds all your siblings to their partners," Elena explains. "Very dark magic. Forbidden by most sorcerers and witches."
"How do you know that?" I point to her. "I didn't think you were a witch."
"I'm not," she laughs softly. "But I've lived a long time and helped your brother piece certain things together."
"So, none of our siblings are mated to their mates?"
"Unfortunately, some are," Darius points out.
"Halona said that father would rather kill us than let us know the truth," I remember what I heard. "So, how can some of you know all this?"
"Very carefully," my brother grins. "We didn't learn this information the same way, Ashari. I learned the most direct way, but the others found out through other means."
"Meaning that Nerva, Daliah, and Halona don't know they're aware?"
"As far as I know, that's how it works."
"So, why didn't mal'e leave with Halona?" I ask, still not seeing enough of the truth to understand. "Why didn't they run away?"
"They couldn't," Elena takes over. "The magic that binds your parents is still a form of a mate bond. They're not soulmates, but they're bound to each other."
"How does that even work?" I protest. "How can you... trick the bond?"
"It's not a trick," she sighs. "If it were, the spell would eventually break when you met your true soulmate. But, the spell doesn't destroy your connection to your mate. On the contrary, it adds another to it."
"That isn't right," I growl.
"It isn't," Darius agrees. "And it has... some side effects you may never have realized."
"Like what?"
"Like the fact, father's twice the size of a typical northern dragon," Darius lifts his hand. "Mal'e's ability with nature. Haven't you ever wondered why we were able to grow the vegetation we did during the middle of the ice season?"
"I knew it was her magic. I thought that was what she could do,"
"Mel'e's a northern dragon," Darius reminds me. "Yes, she could harness nature, but to force prosperity when it's supposed to be silent is a rare gift. One she didn't have before Halona came to them."
"So, the magic changed them," I assume. "What else did it do?"
"When Daliah and Halona mated, it included Nerva," Elena struggles to find the right words. "He is not technically their mate, but he is at the same time."
"There is another side effect," Darius holds up a finger. "Us."
Now, that has my attention. Halona had reminded Nerva that he wouldn't have his children without her. What had she meant by that?
"Well, without getting overly detailed. Nerva is our father," Darius looks slightly uncomfortable. "And Halona and Daliah are our mothers. Not just because one or the other birthed us, but because we share their blood."
"Excuse me?" I look at both of them. "That's... impossible."
"No, it isn't," Elena shakes her head. "It's, again, ancient magic. You see, your father couldn't have children with Halona or Daliah alone. The magic wouldn't allow for any offspring to survive."
"Which... did happen," Darius says darkly. "Several times."
"But how?"
"That's one of the questions we don't have an answer for," Elena gives me an apologetic look. "I've searched for what sort of spell can do that, but I've been unable to find anything."
"Don't think about it too much, Ashari," Darius suggests. "It will hurt your mind otherwise."
That's easier said than done. I have millions of questions, and the curiosity in me wants to understand all of them. For example, how could three parents have children with two females? I might accept two males and one female, but that wouldn't work the same way!
"How did they keep this a secret for so long?" I demand after a while of silence. "How could no one know?"
"That's the easiest part," Darius smirks. "No one knows Halona is mal'es mate."
"Because father protects them," I mutter. "Why?"
"As strange as this might seem to you. Your father loves them," Elena smiles softly at me again. "The thought of losing his mates again would break him."
Love? My father?
That brings up a new question.
"Father called Halona princess. Why?"
Darius frowns at me.
"That I've never heard before," He admits. "What did you hear?"
"Father asked her if she wanted to find herself and all of us on the obelisk," I scratch my head in confusion. "Then he called her princess when he um, well, they were going to rut."
Elena sits up in her seat.
"Darius, that would mean your family is royal from three separate lines!" she declares, almost excitedly.
"Wait, what?" I demand sitting up as well.
"We don't know that for sure," Darius looks at his mate. "We can't assume anything."
"But it would explain so much!" She insists, and I think they've forgotten I'm still here. "Why your father made you leave!"
"Elena, my father, banished me to protect you," Darius declares and looks down at the table. "I doubt it was for any other reason."
"Father did what?" My voice raises at what I just heard. "No, he said he disowned you because you wouldn't reject Elena!"
"And to an extent, that's true," Darius sighs. "I chose to stay with Elena, and that was dangerous. So, the night he disowned me before what everyone saw. He came to my cave. He gave me a bag of gold, and Elena, his mother's diamond bracelet, hugged me and told me never to return."