Legend of the Inero Dragon (12 page)

He bit his lip. "It
shouldn't take this long either," he said, wondering what else
could be wrong. Unless his magic was so strong it would take longer
for her than it did for most? Anything was possible at this point.
He was about to get up and hold her in his arms when he felt his
cell phone vibrate in his pocket. On it was a message from his
father.
'We can talk now.'

"Bad timing, Dad," he mumbled. He stood up
and walked over to her, giving her a small kiss on her forehead. "I
have one more meeting. I won't let it take long. I'll be back soon,
promise. Please remember that I love you. I'll do better at telling
you things. Don't give up on me if it doesn't happen right away. We
can't give up on each other or this will never work. I don't want
to be like everyone else any more than you do."

She sighed, closing her eyes. He watched as
tears fell down her cheeks again. "Try not to be gone for too long.
I'm terrified. You're right, I'm not myself."

"We'll figure this out," he
said, kissing her on the lips. His anger faded into worry. She
clung to his shirt as he pulled away. He trailed a hand through her
hair.
I promise I won't be longer than a
couple of hours.
She only nodded. He hated
walking out the door with her in such a state, but he couldn't say
no to his father. Besides, his father might know what was wrong
with her.

He ran through the halls, thankful no one
else was around to see him as he went. Matt didn't want to be the
center of the gossip again. That happened more often than he would
like.

Knocking on his father's door, he leaned
against the frame to catch his breath. Navi greeted him at the door
just as he finished smoothing his hair. She wore a slinky, silk
robe and silently waved him into the suite before disappearing into
another room. Lynx sat on the couch in the den, spinning a pen in
his fingers and wearing sleep clothes. Matt shifted in discomfort.
He'd seen his father in informal settings before but not quite like
this.

"You wanted to talk?" Matt asked, sitting
down on a nearby chair.

"I figured now would be as good of a time as
any, especially since I need to prepare you for your next mission,"
Lynx said.

"All right, please share what you can. I need
your advice anyway."

"Tell me your problems first, then we can
focus on our business easier."

"Kat is still sick from the transition and
she's acting not like herself. I'm worried. I—"

His father waved a hand and laughed rather
hard. "Because you don't understand women. There is no such thing
as normal when it comes to them. They have as many moods as there
are days in the year. Each one is different. I've seen a lot of
transitions. The first time is always frightening, but it will end
and she will be fine. Now if you don't want to deal with all of
this—"

"I meant it when I told you I loved her,"
Matt said, narrowing his eyes.

"Yes, I'm sure you did. My point is you are
worrying over nothing. She's fine. Despite how well you thought you
knew her, she will always be a mystery, capable of things you will
never understand."

Matt held his tongue, knowing full well what
his father was referring to. He wanted to say the love of his life
wasn't like his father's first wife, but saying anything bad about
the woman could put him on his father's bad side for life. Instead
he whispered, "Tell me about this mission."

"I don't think I need to rehash everything we
had already discussed with the prophet," Lynx said. Matt shook his
head. "For a few months I have been corresponding with the Terran
Lord about the matter of the Oceina and their mistakes against God.
He sympathizes with us, though the prophet had said he would.
They've agreed to help us with our cause, but they will not do so
for free."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Of course not."

"Do not be disrespectful. In politics it is
normal to put the needs of the country before doing things simply
out of goodness."

"My apologies." Matt bit his lip, deciding to
only listen from then on. No more side comments.

"They have two conditions. One of which
cannot be negotiated until the future, once the second condition
has been met."

"What are those?"

"The first is not something you need to
concern yourself with. The second however is where your mission
comes into play. The Oceina must be given a message. They must know
their place. Their Lord is in the way of our plans, and the Terran
will not help us until he is no longer in the picture. You will be
delivering the message to the Great Lord himself, then you will
kill him."

Chapter
Twenty-Three

Time flew by. Nearly two months passed, and
the answers Jason so desperately sought were still nowhere to be
found. If anything, his leads were more dead than ever. Whatever
Matt knew, he didn't hint at it in the slightest. If anything, he
was creating even more distance between them than ever. Even the
gossip amongst the women was minimal. It worried and frustrated
Jason.

He missed his brother—a lot. They hardly
spoke now. Matt was too busy talking business with his father and
uncles. He snuck off to meetings at random points during the day.
Jason was starting to wonder if the two would ever be close again.
Which is why, when Matt rushed through the city street to talk to
him one afternoon, he just about died from shock.

"Where are you going?" Matt asked. His body
twitched with an over abundance of energy. It didn't take much to
know. He was asking simply to be polite.

"Home, so what's going on? Skip the
pleasantries, it's all right. Spill." Jason gave him a smile. It
felt good to talk again, to know he was still trusted in some way
by his twin.

"Right, I keep forgetting you don't live at
the castle anymore," Matt said as they walked through the bustling
streets of Inero City. He then took in a deep breath. "Kat is
pregnant!"

Jason stopped. "She's what?"

"Pregnant!" Matt put an arm around his
brother, beaming with the widest grin Jason had ever seen.
"Apparently it's a 'honeymoon baby.' Kat is nearly halfway through
the gestational period. I'm so excited."

"I couldn't tell," Jason teased with a smirk.
"Congratulations."

Having sons, and lots of them, was always
something dragons of all species prided themselves in. He had lots
of nephews, but hearing that one of them would be fathered by his
twin felt surreal.

"I haven't told Father yet," Matt said. All
the joy faded from his face, and his brow furrowed. "I wanted you
to be the first to know, and to ask you..."

"What's wrong?" The sudden change of
enthusiasm worried Jason.

"Nothing's wrong. I wanted to make sure that
if something happened to me…you'd take care of them, right?"

"Of course, I would. Why would anything
happen?" he said, nudging his brother and laughing. "And you tell
me I worry too much?" Matt only shrugged. Now Jason frowned as
well. "Something is going on. What is it?"

"I'm going away for a little while. It's just
a hypothetical question."

"You're lying. It's not a hypothetical
question. Where are you going?"

"Father wants me to go on a dangerous
mission," Matt said, waving his hand. He was trying to be
nonchalant about the whole thing but Jason knew better. His brother
was anything but calm about the matter. He could see Matt's hand
shaking.

Jason scratched his chin. He couldn't help
but wonder what the mission was. If he could help, then he could
ensure his brother's safety as well as get some more answers. "Do
you want me to come with you? I could protect you."

"No, if something were to go wrong, then we'd
both be lost. I don't want Kat to get passed to someone else or be
completely alone. And what about Gwen?" He shook his head.

"Can you at least tell me more about what's
going on?"

"I'm delivering a message to the enemy."

"Enemy?"

"The Oceina."

Jason swallowed hard. "I wasn't aware we were
enemies now. I'd heard rumors but nothing official. I don't know as
much as you do about the Oceina, but I always thought they were a
peaceful people."

"Generally, yes, they are,
and weak too. It's pathetic. Still, making assumptions could
be
my
downfall.
I'll have other protection. My main concern is my son and Kat.
Please watch them while I'm gone. I know the women don't get along
but you wouldn't let that stop you, right?" Their eyes
met.

"No, of course not." Jason shook his head.
"Kat is just as important to me as Gwen. I'm sorry they aren't
friends. Maybe if the two of us spent more time together and
brought them along, they could get to know each other better?"

Matt shrugged, acting like he would consider
the possibility, but Jason knew him better. "We'll see how the
pregnancy treats her. Kat's been not well for a long time, and
tired. Her delicate condition might be more delicate than normal.
My magic is strong. I want to make sure she's comfortable."

Jason sighed, nodding with understanding.
The last thing she needed was to be upset or stressed. "It was just
an idea. Perhaps when things are more settled…"

The two walked in silence. When they got to
Jason's house, Matt stopped on the sidewalk. He folded his arms in
front of him, staring at his brother, clearly not wanting to go
inside. "Maybe when I get back, we can revisit the idea. While I'm
gone, please check on her, okay? I don't think I'm going to tell
Father until I get back."

"Of course. Why don't you want to tell him?
I thought you told him everything."

"I don't want him to think I won't be able to
do this task. I want him to know I can focus, no matter what is
going on in my life." Matt paused. "But I know he's been waiting
for this day for a long time. He's greatly interested in our
children. Did you know that? He talks about it a lot, the day his
Touched boys will be fathers."

Interesting...

"I don't understand why it's so
'interesting.' He's our father. You know he loves and adores us.
Why wouldn't he be excited for us?" Matt snapped.

"It's not the excitement that's throwing me
off. Just the way he said it. His 'Touched' boys..."

Matt rolled his eyes. "How else is he
supposed to tell us apart from all of the others? When did you
become so paranoid?"

"The war rumors," he mumbled.

"Father loves us."

Jason nodded, saying
nothing. He wanted to believe his brother. Why would their father
only keep them around to be used? It hurt to think of their father
doing something so terrible.
He loves
us,
he reminded himself one more time. But
he wasn't so sure if the man was as honest as his brother
claimed.

"How does it feel?" Jason asked, after a
long silence passed.

"Strange. I'm going to be a dad." Matt
paused; his eyes grew wide as if for the first time he was
realizing what this meant.

"
I'm
going to be a
dad
."

Jason laughed, clapping Matt
on the back. "Do you need to sit down? You
can
come in."

Matt eyed the house and he rubbed his arms.
"I'm okay. Thank you for doing this for me. Remember not to mention
anything to Father. Don't even say something to Miss Navi. She
might let it slip."

"I won't," Jason promised. He and Navi would
no doubt be talking about other things anyway, like the upcoming
war. Even she had been slow with news. He'd never felt more in the
dark.

"I should get back to Kat. I promised I would
pick something special up for dinner tonight. Relax, brother, or
you'll miss out on life," Matthias said, leaning in and hugged his
brother tightly. He whispered in Jason's ear. "Thank you."

"I'm always here for you," he whispered
back.

Chapter
Twenty-Four

Gwen left the house in the middle of the
afternoon to run some errands. It was her first time doing so on
her own and she couldn't have been more excited. Jason was letting
her leave the house alone. He trusted her enough to not run away.
Although the idea was still tempting, she had become immersed in
the ways of the city. She realized it would be a terrible idea.
Even if the wives didn't talk to her bluntly about their husbands,
she had still heard more than enough to know how cold and uncaring
they could be.

She skipped on the way, breathing in the
fresh air, loving the sunshine. How she wished she could at least
write home and share all of this with her parents. They had always
talked about coming to the city and visiting some day. Her father
always had some kind of an excuse about why they couldn't just yet.
Now she wondered how much they knew about city life. Had it been
his way of protecting her? Out of sight and out of mind, so to
speak. They couldn't take her away if they didn't know she existed,
after all. Gwen noticed she was older than most of the girls who
had been taken the same night she had. Would it have happened
sooner if she had lived in the city? Would it have still happened
if she hadn't gone into town for the cake that afternoon?

I should ask Jason about
writing, at least. He said a visit in the future, but maybe a
letter now.
It would help tide her over.
She wanted to talk to her mom about him. Penning it out by hand
would make her thoughts feel much more solid. Half the time she
wasn't sure she understood what she was thinking. She never hated
him, she knew that much, but she wasn't sure how much she liked him
either. For the most part, he kept to himself as though he wanted
to close himself off. But he was calm and listened to her, taking
an interest in what she said. And he was handsome as well. What
more could she ask for in a man? He was almost perfect.