Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75457 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75457 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Who were the other family lines?
“Kaden?” Shiloh turned around and gestured toward the nervous mage who always looked like he was one boo away from jumping in fright. “One of the girls married a mage and they generally all married that way, so his immediate family sees themselves as just mages.”
Kaden was just blinking but he managed to step forward so Baldron could see him. The old dragon smiled, not bothered by the mage versus dragon thing. “Emala’s line, correct? She was always the most interested in magic.”
Huh?
Shiloh had finally realized something was odd, but just swallowed hard again and nodded. “Yes. Her line produced strong mages.”
But weird ones because Kaden was one of the mages from Florida.
Oh.
“Is he related to Kenzie or Lorne?” My question was probably rude but I ignored the way Wren started to choke.
Shiloh gave a shy smile. “Both.”
I knew it.
Wren was going to die if he didn’t get more air soon.
Oops.
Baldron was focused on me and I could see the question on his face. “They’re all…interesting.”
And that set Wren off again.
The old man actually laughed.
What the fuck?
“She liked what you would call pranks. I think she would have enjoyed her descendants.” If the old man realized how odd his statements were, he was ignoring it and so were the rest of the locals. “Come let me see you better, Kaden of Earth.”
My questions had questions, but I watched in silence as Kaden crossed the final few feet to stand in front of Baldron. I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get anything out, but he managed it. “My family passed down a story about how our first ancestor coming through the gate snuck out to come when she shouldn’t have. I don’t know the details. Those were lost over the years, but do you know the story?”
Yep.
He probably shouldn’t…but he did.
“She had pulled a prank the night before leaving for the trip and was what you would call grounded. The story won’t make sense at this point but she…I think describing it as spray painting would be accurate if my knowledge of English is correct. She was supposed to stay home and fix the mess she made.”
But she hadn’t…and then she was gone.
“From everything I know she had a happy life.” Kaden turned to Shiloh who seemed to be the one who knew the most. “Right?”
Shiloh immediately nodded. “Yes. There were some struggles, but overall, they all had wonderful lives…traveling and having big families.”
Baldron smiled again and let out a long sigh. “I have waited a very long time to hear that.”
Yeah, I bet.
“I would like to talk to all of you, but first, I will ask to sit with Shiloh and Kaden for a time.” Looking a bit like his mischievous descendants, he smiled again. “Then I will answer questions about other families.”
Because he’d been there?
“My family has always done their best to remember their stories and it’s time I pass that down to a new generation.” Baldron acted like that would make everything else seem reasonable, and the locals looked like his explanation made perfect sense.
But the chaos-loving drama queens who’d come through the gate had questions…I just wasn’t sure any of us would get answers.
If Lorne had bargained his soul to stay alive until his kids came home, would he tell anyone what he’d done?
Chapter 23
Klynn
“That old man left us with more questions than answers.” My mate did not like admitting that, but he had waited until the privacy shield was in place around my rooms to complain about it because he was very professional. “He kept changing the subject and always had a story to distract everyone.”
“I hadn’t thought about it that way, but from what I’ve heard he’s always done that.” He was seen as a local legend, but I couldn’t remember when I’d first heard about him. “He was able to explain things well, though.”
Hadn’t he?
My mate huffed before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “Yes. He gave us a lot of new information and meeting Kaden made him very happy.”
I thought I understood why and was slightly disturbed by it.
“I liked seeing him happy.” That was good. He was funny. He even had funny relatives. “I liked the stories too.”
Everything else…I didn’t have to like that.
Daddy would handle that.
“He had good stories about all the original families.” Daddy smiled and kissed my head as I snuggled against him. “My favorite part was figuring out why Kenzie and Lorne seem like they’d fit in with the Florida crowd.”
Daddy thought they were Florida men.
He was so naughty he made me giggle.
“I heard that laugh.” Daddy’s smile got even bigger because he liked me happy. “And I’m not even going to talk about how weird it was to see that old dragon chuckle.”
Nope.
We didn’t have to talk about it…but we could if we wanted…so I whispered to Daddy. “We didn’t do that before we met the Earth people. We can but we didn’t.”