Origin Exposed: Descended of Dragons, Book 2 (4 page)

“That’s news?” Bex feigned a yawn before sliding her feline eyes in my direction. “Stella, is it true you tore out Brandubh’s throat? Your form’s a wolf, then?”

And there it was.

I knew everyone had questions. Hell, I still had a lot of questions. Yes, I was going to have to talk about the night of the Brandubh attack eventually, but I had been avoiding it. Most people, even my close friends like Timbra, knew only the highlights. Gresham and I were led into a trap where we were attacked by Brandubh. Three dragons were present. I severely injured Brandubh by turning into my wolf. Brandubh and the three dragons escaped, though not together. The dragons were no longer under Brandubh’s command.

That I had a form besides my wolf was
not
common knowledge.

If only I could escape the inevitable and avoid the entire conversation. But I knew the best course of action, since asked directly in a room full of people, was to be forthcoming. No sense hiding, especially considering how unfair human nature can be. In the absence of the truth, people are more than happy to speculate. Problem was, I wasn’t prepared to admit the whole truth. Not yet. Not in a restaurant full of people. Not even to my closest friends.

I would have to evade Bex’s question. As luck would have it, I’d had some recent experience with tactical evasion. Gresham was a master, but I was learning to read him and catch his subtle hedging. And learning how to employ the maneuver myself.

“I turned into a wolf, yes.” There. That was true.

“And were there really dragons there?” she asked.

“Yes.”

Her golden eyes were wide with excitement. She leaned toward me, her shoulders bunched. “What was that like? Were they demented? Did they try to scorch you? I heard you ripped Brandubh’s throat out, but how did you escape the dragons?” Bex was the one asking the questions, but the entire table hung on our every word. The tables around us probably listened in, too. Senses in Thayer were heightened, hearing definitely included.
Careful, Stella
, I thought. The details of that day had been kept close to my chest for a reason.

It was necessary to keep the secret, but I felt compelled to defend the Drakontos dragons. While on the surface their actions were indefensible, what wasn’t common knowledge was that Brandubh forced them to do those horrific things. He literally controlled them with metal torques, stealing their free will and bidding them to hunt and kill. I knew from my long experience with my mother that the kindest, most innocent soul could be forged into an indiscriminate weapon. But I wasn’t certain that people like my friends, who’d feared and hated dragons their entire lives, could ever see them in another, more blameless light.

Still I had to try.

“Actually, the dragons were prisoners there. They didn’t want to hurt me.”
Well, maybe Stryde did
. “When I defeated Brandubh their torques…shorted out…and the dragons traced away, leaving the metal bands behind. I don’t know where they went, but it wasn’t with Brandubh. They were eager to escape him. For centuries they suffered and were tortured in their cratered prison, forced to stay in their dragon forms so long that they grew madder with each passing day.”

I glanced up to gauge their reactions to my statement. Nearly every head in the group had turned so that an ear faced me—as if they hadn’t quite heard right. Ewan’s brow held deep grooves of confusion and Boone cleared his throat conspicuously.

“One more reason to eradicate their scaly asses,” Bex jeered, her full lips pulled back in disgust.

Her comment received far more support than I liked from our table. Yes, Gresham and I had been right to withhold my relation to the dragons. Fair or not, they were the face of the Massacre.

S
ome days seem
to evaporate in a matter of minutes while others drag on interminably.

Before coming to Thayer and enrolling at The Root my life was damned tedious. Days ran into each other; none bearing any real distinction from the one before it. There was no purpose or substance. Oh, sure, one day I might take a physics test and paint my toenails purple. The next I would study for biology and opt for a margarita instead of Mich Ultra. But in life’s grand design mine had no real meaning. My reality sucked.

Then Rowan Gresham introduced me to another world, the one of my parents, and my reality changed. Not only did I discover that my life had purpose, I discovered what I knew of myself was woefully insufficient. I wasn’t just a regular girl with regular problems. I was born of a dragon mother and a omni father—a rare species capable of changing into any animal form.

Here in Thayer people are derived of many species, not just apes. Some of my best friends turn furry on the regular. Having an alternate form is normal. Not so normal? Having two alternate forms…or more. So far, when faced with immediate physical danger, I’ve changed into both a massive red wolf and a fearsome dragon with scales of auburn.

My mother recently abandoned me rather than reveal information about her past. This affects my present. A lot. The pain of her betrayal haunts me every day, but I’m learning how to navigate life with an emotional handicap. And it’s a good thing, too, because I just suffered another sickening treachery.

I have three living relatives: a grandma, an uncle, and a male cousin. They’re my mother’s people, the Drakontos, and are believed to be the last of the dragons.

Though at first I was thrilled to find living relatives, the Drakontos and I will not be playing horseshoes at the family picnic anytime soon. They betrayed me to Brandubh, who had imprisoned them for hundreds of years. He forced them to carry out savage attacks throughout Thayer. It was violent retaliation for one of these attacks, the Steward Massacre, that led to the near-eradication of all dragon lines.

And they set me up to be captured by this guy! They claimed not to know the familial connection until it was too late. I know they’d been tortured for centuries, but how could they want for anyone what they’d suffered, relative or not?

Both Gresham and I nearly died when Brandubh tried to enslave me, too. The sicko had planned an incestuous breeding program in order to repopulate the dragon lines. I was to be a brood mare, or vibria, as fertile female dragons are apparently called. Blech. Still gives me the heebie-jeebies to think about it.

A vision may have alerted Brandubh to my existence, but it didn’t reveal all of my secrets. He didn’t know that my father was an omni, and he sure as hell didn’t know that I had inherited the trait. When he least expected it I changed to wolf form and nearly ripped his throat out. He narrowly escaped. Now I fear his return every day, though Gresham says that we have taken the precautions necessary to thwart a future attack. My surroundings, and even my body are heavily warded against him with powerful magic.

And if all else fails, I am still a badass wolf/dragon girl that can fight like a
boss.

“
S
tella
, a physical communication has been accepted for you at Sabre Hall’s front desk.”

I knew that voice.

“Pia, is it so hard for you to say ‘letter?’ I know you have a thesaurus function somewhere in that big brain of yours.”

“Stella, a letter has been accepted for you at Sabre Hall’s front desk.”

“There. Isn’t that better to you?” I asked.

“No. To me, ‘physical communication’ has a certain
je ne sais quoi.
But I am programmed to discover the method that will best assist you. If you require a less complex language format, I will simplify for you in the future.”

I grunted at her insult. “Speaking of a thesaurus, Pia, you got any synonyms for ‘smartass computers?”’

“Will ‘insolent intelligence’ do, or shall I keep searching, Stella?”

“No, that’ll do, Pia. That’ll do.”

T
he letter was
short and cryptic, but I understood the message. More importantly, I knew who had sent it. Bay, my…grandmother. The one I’d recently discovered. The one responsible for god knew how many horrific deaths during the Steward Massacre. Also, the one who’d attacked me and betrayed me to Brandubh.

To say I had low expectations for the meeting was the understatement of the century.

Gresham didn’t know where I was going. I didn’t tell anyone. Was that stupid? Probably. I never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer. That old adage ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me’ replayed over and over in my mind like a foreboding soundtrack to my certain demise.

But folded into Bay’s letter had been a picture of my mother as a girl. The photo wasn’t labeled, but I knew right away who the splotchy redhead was. Radiant green eyes stared out at me. They were eager eyes, innocent. I’d never known my mother when her eyes expressed anything besides regret. Bay had obviously meant the photo as an olive branch. She probably knew I couldn’t refuse an offering of information on my mom. And so I was going to meet her.

Radix was so heavily warded that the campus wasn’t an option for the meeting. I traced just outside of the designated meeting point, which was within hearing distance of The Root, but still outside its warded boundaries.

I didn’t see Bay right away and walked toward the rough-hewn stone bridge and sat on a deteriorating wooden bench to wait.

Watching the Basel River flow by proved too peaceful an endeavor for my mood, so I stood. Sat back down. Stood again, and then began to pace. The sting of a cuticle bit to the quick snapped me back into the present. She was late.
Is she coming? Is this another trap?
I didn’t think so, but I’d already proven myself naive where my family was concerned.
I should leave
. No amount of information was worth being set up again. I turned toward the bridge, back toward The Root, and that’s when I saw her.

Bay Drakontos’ dull-gray hair only held an occasional auburn streak. She wore it down. It was curly, like mine. Like my mother’s. But I wouldn’t have known her if it weren’t for those eyes. They were the same dead green, like trodden moss, that revealed such shame when I discovered she’d betrayed me. I could never forget those eyes.

At the moment they held sorrow and…hope. I nodded acknowledgment, uncertain what to say. She had requested the meeting. I intended to let her start.

“Stella, dear,” she began. If she saw my jolt and ensuing smirk at the endearment she ignored it. “I know no apology can ever be enough for the wrongs I’ve done you. But I want you to know I’m sorry. I can never make you understand the hold he had on us, and I will’na even try. I’ll just say…I wish I’d allowed him to kill me before setting that trap for you. Now I know you’re one of us, that you’re my Edina’s, I would rather ha’ died than allow him to own you, too.”

She left the words there on the riverbank. Left them to sink into the viscous mud of my mind. Neither of us said a word. I swallowed hard and turned to face the river as I thought about my mother, about the fear that gripped her so acutely she couldn’t be reasoned with to help me in such a desperate time. And then I thought, maybe there was a way I could get the answers I needed after all.

Can I forgive Bay?
I wondered. If I truly believed the dragons weren’t culpable in the Steward Massacre, that they were only weapons that Brandubh had used, then I had to.
Didn’t I?
But there are varying degrees of forgiveness, and forgiving doesn’t have to mean forgetting.

I settled for cordiality and the pursuit of information about my mother.

I intended to be cordial. I did. But my mouth had another idea. “You knew who I was,” I accused. “You said you recognized me at the attack on Gresham’s house, and still you helped Brandubh trap me. If he’d been successful I’d be with you in that crater right now.”

“We didn’t send the letter, dear—”

“Don’t you dare call me ‘dear’ again,” I seethed.

“All right,” she nodded. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Brandubh sent the letter. He lured you to the crater. We were just there, once again pieces to be maneuvered in his endless games.”

“But you called us into the crater, out into the open from our cover in the passageway. You could have warned us. We could have gotten away if you’d told us what Brandubh planned.”

“You were stuck inside with us the moment you entered the crater, Stella. He planned it all so tediously. Once you arrived you couldn’t trace home. You know that. I saw you try. You were stuck like the rest of us.”

“We could have run back through the tunnel and outside. Traced from there. You could’ve warned me, Bay.” My voice had risen in pitch, in tension, in volume. I neared screeching at her and forced an inhale so as not to lose it completely.

“There was no way out.” She shook her head sadly. “We’ve been under his control for centuries, dea—Stella. When Brandubh sets a trap, it’s exhaustive. He’s powerful and thorough.”

“Yeah, and you’re a traitorous bitch.” I hadn’t thought the thought before it flew from my mouth. I had a lot of pent-up resentment. Obviously.

“You’re right, of course,” Bay mumbled. The set of her shoulders and her overall downtrodden demeanor was so much like my mother’s at that moment my heart lurched in my chest. Bay had been beaten down. Belittled and tortured just like my mother. Another strong, powerful woman reduced to a cowering shell.

I hated Brandubh. I wanted to kill that motherfucker; to break him like he’d broken my family. At the thought of tearing his throat out a redolent memory saturated my senses. I smelled the rusty vitality, tasted the tinny lava of his life force. I wished like hell I’d taken more. I wished I’d taken it all.

We were both silent for a time. Me, as I tried to check my vengeful rage and Bay, as she no doubt battled her own inner demons.

“Where is Eiven?” I asked. “And Stryde. Are you in hiding? Where did you go that day?”

She nodded, glad to change the subject. “We’ve a place to hide for now. It’s not much, but we’re happy to have it. To be free. We’re grateful to you for that, Stella. We can never repay you for helping us finally escape Brandubh.”

My shoulders shrugged under the weight she put behind her words.

I did wonder, though, not just for them but for myself. “Are you afraid he’ll find you? Do you think he can?”

“Aye, I don’t think we’ll ever stop fearing that.”

“What will you do?” I asked.
What should I do
, I wondered.

“We’re working on wards to camouflage ourselves. Brandubh shielded us for so long we have a good idea how he did it. We still have some old friends left, some powerful friends. We’re close to finding a way.”

“Oh, good,” I said. “Good.” I ran a narrow leaf from a nearby bush through my fingers.

“Eiven and Stryde would like to see you again,” Bay said and darted a nervous glance at me. “We’d like to hear about your life, about you, your mother.”

My mother.
Every time I thought about her my teeth snapped together. I breathed hard through my nose, trying to rid myself of the disgust and disappointment and loss I felt at the mention of her. I looked down to discover I’d ripped the leaf in my fingers to shreds.

“I need to get back,” I said. “I…I’m glad you contacted me.”

She smiled then—a real smile that reached her dull eyes. She released a breath I imagine she’d been holding for the length of our meeting.

“Would you come for dinner tomorrow?” She darted another glance at me. “To see Eiven and Stryde. To get to know each other. I never dreamed I had a granddaughter. I’d love to know you, Stella.”

There is very little else she could have said to affect me more. I’d never had a family. Only my mother. I had desperately wanted a father, a granny, an aunt, cousins. Family, like all of the other kids I knew. The little girl inside me jumped and clapped “Yay!” at the idea.

“Yes,” I dared whisper. “Yes.”