Once upon a Dragon Gift (Once Upon a Dragon Series Book 4)

I sat in my room, busy with homework, still looking at the piece of paper that had the spell on it.

Since the night Elena was here, Garrison was all I could think about. What if he was the key to breaking the spell?

I’ve been thinking about it a lot.

Sparkles, flickering mid-air, caught my attention. They sputtered and died out.

I put down the book that was open on my lap, and the sparkles fluttered again. They burned brighter.

“Help,” I heard Micha’s tired voice, and then it disappeared.

“Micha!” I yelled, as everything died away. “Micha!” I yelled again, but no answer came.

The shift in my scales below my skin appeared. I knew my heart was beating faster even if I couldn’t feel it. She was in danger, which only meant one thing. She must have found Goran.

I got up, ran to the door, yanked it open, and rushed down the hallway to King Albert’s door. I didn’t stop knocking until he opened the door.

“It’s Micha. She is trying to reach out for me. I need your help.”

He ran the few steps to Dad’s door and knocked twice.

The door opened as I entered my room.

“Al?” Dad’s tired voice sounded.

“Come!” he yelled as he entered my room. “Tell me, how do you know?”

“The way they travel.”

“The portal?”

I nodded. “The sparkles started here.” I showed him. “And I heard her voice. She is tired, asked for help, and then it disappeared.”

Dad stood just outside my room, in the hallway, busy pulling a shirt on his body.

“Bob, get Adolph here now. His guards are protected by spells only Ancients know. There might be a way that he can reach her.”

Dad left as King Albert stared at me.

“You think that Goran has her?” I asked.

“She is brilliant, one of the best Dragonians in Paegeia. If there is anyone that can find Elena, it’s her,” King Albert replied.

I heard the sparkles in my room again.

“Micha,” I shouted, but it wasn’t Micha. It was Jose with Adolph.

Adolph walked closer and grabbed my arm. “You heard her, Blake?”

“It was weak, but she tried to conjure the portal.”

Worry embedded in every wrinkle on his face.

“If Goran puts a spell on her…” King Albert started.

“He can’t. One of the first things they bestowed the guards with were sigils not to get bewitched.”

“Like mine?”

“A few more,” Adolph said. “He’d have to cut them off her skin in order to put her under a spell, but I doubt it’s something he knows.”

“He is advanced. I can promise you he does,” the king replied.

“Did you see where she is, Blake?” Jose asked. There was a slight Spanish accent still evident in his voice.

“No, I didn’t.”

Adolph touched his face as Lu and Tabitha entered my room. George and Becky traipsed behind them.

“We can’t really do anything,” Adolph said. “We might be able to pull her out and find out where Elena is. I can try to do a scrying spell. It’s the only way to connect with her,” Adolph added.

“Don’t, you are too old. It could take your life,” Jose responded.

Adolph touched Jose’s face again. “I made a promise to protect you as you promised to protect me. She is in life-threatening danger. If you know where she is, Jose, we can pull her out.”

“Jose is right; you won’t make it,” I interjected. “I doubt Elena is going to be happy to know that her papi had died. Let us help.”

“How, Blake?”

I stared at Lu, and he nodded.

Adolph turned his eyes to Lu.

“We know of someone who can do a scrying spell. She is brilliant, but her father doesn’t know that she can do them, and he won’t be happy if he finds out she can.”

“Who, Blake?” Adolph urged.

“It’s how Lucian and Elena found me, knew where I was going to be, and the reason George’s sight has awakened.”

“Who?” King Albert wanted to know too. The tone in their voices told me that they weren’t happy. Scrying wasn’t seen as good.

“The Princess of Tith.”

The king stared at me. “Bob, call the academy. I’ll deal with Caleb. Goran can’t get a hold of an Ancient guard. We won’t stand a chance against her. We need to work fast.”

ELENA

I didn’t feel so great. Dad kept giving me potions that tasted like ass, and I’d thrown up the last four.

Something was busy happening to me. I drifted in and out.

“Is there nothing we can do?” Bane asked.

“No, the potion is not resonating with her anymore. I had to give it to him; he is relentless, he will never stop looking for her.”

“He is the Rubicon and her dragon.”

“Stop,” Dad demanded. “The problem is he killed the one lingering inside of her. It’s a matter of days.”

Her dragon?

The darkness consumed me again.

Every time I sneaked a peek from my dark hole, I felt not like myself. Things were changing. My past was changing, and it was so confusing, not aligning with who I was.

Then a scream woke me. I jumped straight up in my bed. I remembered everything. The lies. I felt sick the second it dawned on me what Goran had done.

Altering my past to fit the way he wanted it to fit. He was so sadistic, evil and twisted.

No wonder Blake wanted to be with him.

Another scream. Micha.

I threw my legs off the bed, stepped into my shoes, and had to get to her. We needed to get out of this hell hole.

How could a spell do that to me?

But Micha first. I could only imagine what that sadistic asshole had done to her.

I pulled on my jacket and tied it closed in front of me. Goran, my dad? Stupid, Elena, just stupid.

Who was the dragon? Who was Cara?

I rushed out, making sure that nobody was there, and hid in the shadows.

As I neared the dungeons, I had to hide as there were two guards. I couldn’t see who, but by the sounds of their voices, Liam and Stefano. They were both idiots.

These people knew that I wasn’t Goran’s daughter, that King Albert was my father. Tears welled up, and my heart beat faster as I’d almost killed him, not once but a few times.

I’d killed some of his men. Blake, the way he’d tried to claim me. It was how Cara had died, but it didn’t make sense to me who she was. How could a dragon hide inside of me all this time? Was I a dragon?

None of it made any sense.

The two idiots stopped speaking, and I wiped my face. The one was saying goodnight, and I tried to make out who I was left with.

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Tonight would be his last night.

He walked back to his post. I could still hear Micha’s whimpering. I paused as Goran’s voice came and huddled deeper in my hiding place.

I didn’t think I had it in me to pretend to be his daughter right now.

I understood what he meant now that it was only going to be a couple of days. He didn’t have a dragon and that spell was created for a dragon.

It wouldn’t work on me anymore.

“She will be ready tomorrow. I only have a few more sigils to destroy and then she will be on our side. The Elementals will be ours, and it’s a matter of time before the host will join us too.”

“Yes, my king,” Liam said in reply.

“You guard her with your life. You hear?”

“She is in a dungeon, my king, and she is tired.”

“Just do what I tell you. She is an Ancient guard. She is much stronger than you think. Guard her with your life.”

“Yes, my king.” The fear in Liam’s response was evident.

Goran walked away cussing, and I gave it another few minutes before I rushed after Liam.

When the time was up and there was no sound of Goran’s presence anywhere close to the dungeon, I left my hiding post.

She trained me, and there was no way Liam would see me coming.

I entered fast, stayed close to the wall. The smell of water and forest and moss lingered on the walls.

There was another sharp smell lingering here too.

Liam was whistling. Good, it would hide any sounds that I made.

“An Ancient guard, huh? There is nothing powerful about you. You are just like any of us out here. Sure, he is infatuated with you now, but once he has you under his grasp, you won’t even remember your name.”

She didn’t say a word, and Liam laughed.

“You think today was a hard day; tomorrow is going to be even worse.”

The distance between Liam and me was growing shorter now. I was sure Micha could see me, but she gave me no attention at all.

“He said that tomorrow, you were going to be his little bitch.”

I grabbed his hair and smashed it against the beams as hard as I could. He crashed like a rag doll to the floor.

“Idiot always had the tendency to talk too much.” I reached down and grabbed the keys.

“Elena,” Micha sounded tired.

I unlocked the door. “He needed a dragon. Blake claimed the one that was lingering inside of me. She died. I woke up tonight and remembered everything. We need to get out of here, and fast. So whatever strength you have left, master it.”

I struggled to find the right key.

“Just use your magic,” Micha hissed.

“Fuck.” The word left my lips, and the gate smashed open. I rushed to Micha. I grabbed her around her arm; she was really tired and banged up. Blood soaked her clothes. “What the fuck did he do to you?”

“He cut off my sigils. I’ll be okay.”

“Micha?”

“I’ll be okay. Time to get you home to your real dad.”

“I can’t wait. Work your mojo and get us out of here.”

“Hold on.” I tried to help her as much as I could as her hands twirled in the air.

“Mufflinius Lighteos,” Goran yelled, and Micha disappeared.

Sorry, Blake, I growled, and my arms lit up with the pink kiss.

“Obliterulsis Banego,” Goran yelled again, and I froze. It wasn’t like the freezing that Tabitha did that time. There was no cold or anything. I just froze. Even my fire froze. I couldn’t move; I couldn’t break out of this.

“Elena!” Blake’s voice sounded in my head.

I tried to answer him, but I couldn’t.

Tears welled up as he questioned, “Where are you?”

I couldn’t answer him. I just grunted in response. Whatever Goran’s spell was doing now, it refused to allow this connection with Blake. Whatever this connection was.

I grunted some more.

“Elena, location, now!”

“Conjuulsis Dracenim,” Goran said a third spell.

“No!” I heard Blake yell in the back of my head and then nothing. Just silence.

“I knew the spell would wash away any day now. You look a lot like your father, but you are feisty like your mother.”

I growled again, grunted.

“It’s okay. I’ll make it right. You won’t remember the truth for very long, sweetheart.”

I didn’t like the way he said sweetheart.

He came closer. He was still very careful of my fire. Then he whispered in my ear, “I need a dragon for this spell, and a dragon I will get, even if I have to conjure you one.”

He said a string of words in Latin. I didn’t like the origin of it. It had a lot to do with stone and metal.

It was so fast that I could hardly made out a word.

Pain came. So much pain, and I couldn’t hold on to my fire. I tried. More grunts came from me as Goran muttered the spell. He glared at the fire in my palm. I glared at him, trying to hold on to my fire with every ounce of strength I had.

It was a fight, not a fair one as he had more than two hundred years on me.

I’m sorry.

My fire disappeared as a jab of hot glistening fire seared through me. My grunts turned into a howl and then became a growl. No, the dragon in me was dead.

Rock protruded from my hands, and the gravity of the earth pulled me over.

Goran laughed as whatever he’d put on me now, took over. I felt every second of the pain, of his magic, and my tears streamed down my face as I tried to hold on to Blake.

I should’ve claimed him, then maybe none of this would’ve been possible.

I love you. Till infinity.

A scream tore through me and then I crashed back into oblivion.