Legend of the Inero Dragon (24 page)

"My lord," Jason said politely, standing up
from the bench to bow as soon as he saw the young man approaching
with two of his council members. He'd hoped Darien would have come
alone, but given the circumstances he shouldn't have been so
surprised. If the situations were reversed, he wouldn't come to
meet a member of the enemy alone either. He tried to not let his
intimidation show, wanting to appear a lot stronger than he
felt.

"And you are?" Darien asked. Jason's heart
sank at the dark tone of Darien's voice. This meeting would not go
as nicely as he had hoped. The Lord clearly held a great deal of
bitterness toward the Inero people.

"My name is Jason," he said, motioning for
Darien to sit. He pulled out some food he had prepared for them to
share in hopes of it coming across as a peaceful gesture. All of
the Oceina stared at him. He regretted the decision. The food
provided him with something to stay occupied with, though, so that
was a plus.

"Yes, I am of the Inero," he continued,
meaning for the conversation to be light and show he did have
understanding and sympathy for the lord. "I know you aren't exactly
pleased with my people—with good reason. We are responsible for
your father's death."

"Thanks for the reminder," Darien said, his
tone still dark. Jason winced.

"I, um…" Jason stammered, swallowing hard.
"If you'd rather sit and belittle me, be my guest. But I won't feel
motivated to tell you what you want to know. My people, my kin
even, may be responsible for what happened. But I wasn't. I'm on
your
side."

"Why?"

"Good question. I don't agree with what my
father is doing. My father is the Great Lord of the Inero, Lynx. He
doesn't have a high opinion of you. You should keep playing dumb
because it'll work to your advantage. He pities you. He doesn't
want to kill you. Yet." He straightened his posture, hoping that
would help with his confidence level. He needed to be knowledgeable
and strong or they wouldn't trust him.

"Kill me like he did my father?" Darien
asked, raising an eyebrow.

The two made eye contact. "Right. My father
seems to believe that..." He swallowed and closed his eyes. "That
your kind was a mistake. And it is his divine purpose to correct
this."

The three Oceina men all gaped at one
another, all with slack jaws of horror and frowns of confusion. One
gasped. The Great Lord must have been stunned into silence because
another young man, who Jason recognized as the Oceina Lord's First
Council, spoke next.

"How can we be a 'mistake'? That's like
saying God himself made a mistake. Unless he was told this by God,
I don't really believe it's possible!" He was a bold young man.
Under other circumstances, Jason and he might have gotten along
well.

Jason drew in a breath then responded. "He
believes it because he was told this by a boy who thinks he's God's
prophet. He's not. My father says it is his duty to claim your land
and reeducate your people by teaching them
our
ways. He
thinks all of your kind should be killed or enslaved. That your
creation was some kind of a mistake, and God wants him to fix it.
The problem is your magic is a lot stronger than ours. My father,
for the last twenty-some years, has been finding a way to work
around our weaknesses and expose yours. The production logs your
father noticed was my father trying to multiply his army and get
them motivated to develop new weapons—weapons which won't fail
against your kind and will enhance our strengths."

No one spoke for several minutes. The only
sound to be heard was the occasional bird chirping. Jason decided
to let them have a moment to process all of this information. A lot
of it was hard for even him to comprehend. He wouldn't have
believed any of it possible if he hadn't witnessed the entire plan
play out through his brother. Repeating it out loud made it feel
even more real. With that came the realization that getting away
was the best decision he'd made for a long time. He didn't want to
be at home when all of this blew up.

"This is ridiculous, not to mention
blasphemous. Claiming God made a mistake is…" the First Council
responded, his face flushed with anger.

Jason nodded. "I agree. It's stupid. I only
know all of this because my twin brother Matt is on the inside of
the operation. He does not share my sympathies or beliefs, however.
I catch a lot of this through his thoughts. We're connected the
same way we connect with our wives. I think it's because we're
identical twins."

"And you would know this, how? Are you
married? You certainly don't smell like you are."

Jason's face flushed as he tried containing
his anger. He clenched his fists tightly. He smiled, lowering his
head, hoping to play off his frustration as embarrassment.
I
must not pick fights.

He thought about Gwen, channeling his love
for her in an effort to feel something positive. "I am. We're
supposed to be honeymooning right now. It's why I didn't return
back with my family. It's complicated. I would hope you understand
since your kind actually believes in love, right? I want that…love.
I don't want to be miserable like everyone else in my family. And I
definitely don't like the direction they're going in. No good can
come from this."

The other council Darien had brought stepped
forward and knelt down beside Jason, placing a comforting hand on
his knee. "You're right in your instincts. Your father's bitterness
has turned the entire nation into one of selfishness. Do you know
when we can expect these attacks?"

"No," Jason said. "I've told you everything I
know. If I hear anything more, I'll find a way to tell you, but it
could get dangerous. I can't risk that kind of consequence just
yet."

"Thank you," the man said, giving Jason's
knee one last squeeze before standing. "My lord, what would you
have us do?"

The three began to talk politics while Jason
only half paid attention to them. The Oceina did things so
differently from the Inero. It was confusing and fascinating at the
same time. If this had been his father, orders would be barked out
at all of the people, and he wouldn't bother listening to much
council. All he'd want to know was the best way to attack. Jason
debated expanding on the details he did know. Anything could have
been considered crucial. There was so much he didn't understand,
and he didn't want to give them a hypothetical answer that could
end up hurting more than helping.

Besides, why would you want
to help them anyway? They don't respect you,
a voice within him said.

It's the right thing to
do,
he decided. He'd stick by his decision
to do what he could.

He ate his lunch, trying not look at them
while they spoke. He'd done his part. Whether or not it helped was
another story. At least he could sleep knowing he'd done everything
he thought possible.

Chapter
Forty-Eight

Kat waited for the men to return at the
landing pad along with Lenora. The Terran dragon would be there
soon with Matt. It was early in the morning, much like the last
time he had returned, and her body urged her to go back to sleep.
She knew she wouldn't be able to without him.

The great, dark brown beast of a dragon
slowly descended to the platform just outside of the castle. She
stared up at it in awe, having never seen anything quite like it
before. She'd seen the Inero dragons, but they were nothing like
the Terran. The enormous scaly beast let out a small groan, causing
the ground to shake as its feet touched down. Hidden amongst its
large spikes was Matt. He looked so pale compared to the dark
colors of the dragon, almost sickly. When his eyes met hers,
however, she saw him light up.

Matt stood, walked a few feet toward the edge
of the ten-foot-tall beast's back, then jumped. He ran to her and
scooped her up into his arms so he could kiss her.

"Miss me?" she said with a coy smile.

"A lot."

"Things didn't go well?"

"No, they went exactly as I thought they
would," he said, kissing her again. "Please, let's not talk about
business. Our time for pleasure is short and I want to make the
most of it while we still can."

She didn't fully understand what he meant
but she didn't argue. If something was going to take him away from
her again, then they would need the time together to keep their
relationship strong.

Chapter
Forty-Nine

Everything was going according to plan. As
soon as Jason's meeting with the Oceina Lord ended, he took a boat
to the islands of Inero. They were around half a day's journey from
the Council Island. One of the Oceina Lord's council members was
kind enough to take him to the port to ensure he got there on time.
The boat ride calmed his nerves a lot more than he had anticipated.
He didn't like the water, so being stranded over it hadn't been
appealing to him. There was a nice, relaxing quality about watching
the waves, though.

He'd finally done it. Jason had broken away
from his father and brother. The plan was to honeymoon on the
island for a week or so, then move on to find another home,
preferably out of the country. He wasn't sure if he and Gwen were
feeling that courageous yet. The island was their safe haven. It
was away from the war, away from the problems, and they could find
the peace they needed to move forward with their lives.

Seeing Gwen made everything feel better
again. Her smile lifted his spirits. The first thing he did when he
saw her was give her a passionate kiss. She didn't reciprocate it
right away. He attributed that to not being prepared because soon
enough, she snaked her arms around his neck and entangled her
fingers into his hair.

"I was worried you weren't going to make it
here," she said, once they pulled away.

"Nothing could keep me from you."

I
could, but I won't because I need her too,
the strange voice said.

If I ignore it, it will go
away,
Jason said, shaking his head. Gwen
raised an eyebrow, and he said, "Thinking about something. It's
nothing." He didn't want to elaborate on how his subconscious was
playing tricks on him.

They aren't tricks, boy.

"Been keeping busy without me?" Jason asked.
He kept his arms around her, leaning his face in close to her neck.
He'd missed her a lot more than he had anticipated. He didn't wait
for her to answer. Instead, he placed kisses along her jaw and
moved his hands to touch the bare skin of her stomach just
underneath the hem of her shirt.

Gwen's eyes closed. "I did a little
exploring, but other than that I've been waiting here for you."

"For me?" he said with a coy smile.
He kissed her some more, getting lost in her scent
and the feeling of her skin against his. This was new for him. He'd
been attracted to her for a long time, but never before did he have
such a strong desire to be
one
with her.

Gwen's hand grazed against his and their
fingers intertwined. She tilted her head to kiss his lips, and he
moved in closer to her—until she pushed him away. He bit his lip,
trying to hold back his disappointment. The feeling heightened as
she moved across the room from him, seemingly wanting to be
apart.

"I see," he said in a soft voice.

"I'm not ready yet," she
said. He noticed she was on the edge of tears. "I was thinking
about it the whole time you were gone. How much I want it to be
you, how much I
do
want you, but I'm not quite ready either."

"All you have to do is say so, then."

"I could talk myself into it easily if you
keep being so amazing. It wouldn't be the right time, though." She
gave him a smile, and as much as he wanted to fight it, he returned
the gesture. She was too beautiful to resist and stay angry at for
long. Besides, it wasn't her he was angry with; it was his pride.
He should have known better.

He wanted to go over and kiss her again.
Instead, he settled on blowing her one from across the room. "I
love you."

She blew a kiss back at him. "I love you too.
Soon, I promise. Once all of my inner demons have passed."

Jason almost offered to help her fight them,
but he didn't know how that would have come across. Instead, he
only nodded. "We're free now, so we have all of the time in the
world."

Free, a concept he had never known before and
now he'd finally get to find out. They'd get to together. As he
stared across the room at her, he couldn't have been anymore
excited about it. It was terrifying and beautiful all at once.

About the Author

J.F. Jenkins lives in Minneapolis Minnesota
with her husband, son, and two cats. She graduated from Bethel
University in 2006 with a degree in Media Communication with minors
in both writing and film. When she is not busy writing, she spends
her free time playing games, reading, and spending time with her
family.

Also by J.F. Jenkins