Greetings all!
I hope all of you have had a fantastic start to your week.
I spent the weekend writing more on Bolx's history and a little more on the Fell Dragon and how this particular one came into being. Things are going well, but I'll likely take a break this weekend to catch up on work.
Please enjoy the following update!
Myla had only coaxed tears and sobs from Saita that night but the next morning the girl was in a better state to speak to her and Pura. Saita was mostly silent through most of the morning as her mother spoke of matters that had happened in the last two years. She completely fell silent when Pura entered the room with her son. Aidan had immediately run forward to grip his mother’s left hand and said softly. “Uncle Lardan spoke to me about the Royal Guard, Mom.”
“Uncle Lardan now, is it?” she chuckled. “What is with that family and this Royal Guard nonsense.”
The boy looked at her palm and asked. “What do you think?”
“I think this is a discussion for another day.” She looked up at Pura. “Your Majesty.”
Pura immediately waved the title away and said. “Cousin.”
Saita could feel the prickling in her eyes again and she bit down hard on her teeth to prevent the sobs from wracking her aching body. Pura smiled sadly and said. “While you slept some decisions were made that you need to be made aware of.”
“As soon as I heal, I am to head back to the human colonies.” Muttered Saita full of venom in her voice.
“Pura, do we have to have this conversation now?” begged Myla.
“We do.” Pura moved past Aidan to place a letter on the bedside table. “You need to read your father’s letter but not now. Right now, you and I need to have a serious talk. Myla, take Aidan for breakfast.”
“I…” started the woman.
“I need to speak to her.” Was all the human said to her as he looked her straight in the eye.
Myla had no idea what Pura was playing at, but she got to her feet and extended a hand to her grandson. Aidan looked to Saita who simply gave one nod of her head. The boy joined his grandmother and the two of them left the room.
“I don’t want to go.” Said Saita softly. “Please don’t make me go.”
Pura took a deep breath and said. “I’m sorry Saita. I am sorry about what I said to you two years ago and I am sorry for what I said a few weeks ago. I should have let you compete and then talked to you like we were two adults instead of a king ordering a subject to do something. However, there is something that you must know before I say anything else.”
Saita shifted painfully to look at her cousin. He looked tired and pale. She wondered if he had been injured in some way and was about to ask him about it when he said. “Saita, I’m ill and have been for a few months. I haven’t told anyone yet because there hasn’t been a diagnosis as to what it is yet. I’ve been keeping it quiet since our race has been in turmoil since…since your father. Having listened to what is going on in the universe I can only assume that it's likely this wasting disease.”
Saita immediately felt nauseous and could feel herself paling. Seeing her pale Pura smiled sadly and said. “The decision to bring you home now was a selfish one on my part as you see, with your mother and father no longer bearing the royal titles the only one to step up in my position is you.”
“I don’t understand. If mother and father,” she struggled to say those words. “Are no longer royals then how…”
“I reinstated your royal ties; I didn’t reinstate them through your parents but rather named you my heir.”
“No! What about Astec?”
“Astec has made it very clear he doesn’t want the throne, and neither does any of my siblings. I can only turn to you.”
Saita was shocked, this was all too much. She could feel her tears welling again. The wasting disease was because the Fell Dragon was after her and now Pura was going to die because of it.
“You are not at fault Saita.” Pura gripped her left hand tightly. “We aren’t even sure what it is yet, but I need to see to the future of our people. They need a strong leader…”
“Me? I can’t lead, I don’t know anything about leading. I can’t even do anything right!”
“Which brings me to the decision that I have made.” Pura released her hand and leaned back in his seat. “I want you to stay here for a year, learn what you can and when you are ready let me teach you what is needed of you.”
“I can’t…”
“You were raised for this.”
“I was thrown away!” she hissed. “And now that you have need of me you want me back.”
“I cannot take back what I did to you Saita and yes, maybe I am using you once again, but I have only you, I can turn to.”
“Name Aleux as your heir!”
“Saita, I named you for a reason. Aleux has his own demons he must face from the war. He is getting the help that he needs, and you need to get what you need. I have asked Doran to remain behind to train you.”
“You can’t do that to him! He has a family.”
“The details have been worked out. He will be able to travel freely from here and your mother’s planet.”
“And me? Am I to stay here like a good little soldier?” she hissed.
“Saita, I know you are angry but please, I am tired.” Begged Pura as he rubbed at his eyes. “You can come home whenever you want to. Your means of travel will just have to be a little different with your augmentation.”
“I can’t,” she whispered.
“You can but it doesn’t have to be now. However, you will sit on that throne one day; it won’t be this year and it likely won’t be the year after that but one day you will…”
“Have a son!”
Pura chuckled. “Even if I have a child before anything happens you won’t get off scot-free. Someone will have to rule in his stead until he is ready.”
Saita stared at her broken leg for a few minutes before leaning back into her pillows to look at the ceiling. Pura couldn’t miss the tears in her eyes. They were from frustration and anger. She was overwhelmed by things that were expected of her and she just didn’t have the mental capacity to deal with everything that had happened in the last few weeks. She needed time, time that was running out.
“I just…” she started as she closed her eyes but then fell silent.
The King gave her time to gather her thoughts before he asked. “What?”
“Just once in my life, I want time to heal and not think of the responsibilities placed on my shoulders. Just once.” She muttered, her voice filled with exhaustion and pain. “I don’t want to think of this now.”
Pura frowned but remained silent as her left hand went to cover her eyes. She was fragile at this point, and he needed to be careful, or she would run. He could feel her need to run but as she was literally tied down at this point, he had no choice but to deal with her emotions.
“I will drop it then.” He said softly after some time as he took the hand from her face. “Heal, get stronger, and then you tell me what it is you want out of your life.”
She turned her head away, but the tears were obvious now. He was not going to reach her like this. She needed time to sort out her head and her emotions.
“You wanted to speak to me?” he queried.
“I did, I wanted to apologise for the trouble I caused, back then. I didn’t know better. I should have known better but…” She clenched her teeth. “I didn’t know what to do. He threatened to kill my mother, I had to do something!”
“Let’s leave that in the past. We both have things we need to apologise for.” He released her hand and got to his feet. “If you want to stay then stay. If you are happy here, then stay. I will not ask you to come home if you are not ready.”
“I miss you.” She blurted as she squeezed her eyes closed. “I miss my family and what I had. It’s not fair!”
“We’re not talking about the last two years anymore, are we?”
“I want my life back!”
“Saita, you need…”
“I can’t have children; do you know that? When I became a fighter to Chaka, I had to undergo a medical and I was told that I would never be able to have children.” she hissed. “Aidan is going to be my only legacy. Edzeeker took everything from me. Even a future with a family.”
The Human king had no idea what to say to her so rather stayed quiet.
“I just want my family back. Can I just have them back without any strings attached?”
Pura bowed his head and said. “I will never allow this to happen again, Saita. You have my word that you are my cousin, and your parents are yours again.”
Saita just inclined her head to the sealed envelope and then whispered. “Could you open that before you leave? I don’t exactly have two functioning hands.”
“Of course.” He picked up the letter and tore the one end open. “And Saita?”
“Hmm?” she finally looked at him.
“Bolx? Is it serious?”
Her pale cheeks suddenly flushed with colour, and she suddenly found her broken leg very interesting again.
Pura chuckled and said. “Well then. Know that you have no responsibilities to the human throne in terms of who to wed or even producing more children. If the giant alien makes you happy and he treats you well then so be it.”
“But…”
“Here, read this and we will talk when you have had time to heal not only your body but your heart. You are still angry, and I accept it. Once your heart is lighter and you are ready, we will talk again.” He removed the letter and opened it for Saita. “I’ll ask Queen Saasha to make sure you are given a communication device so that you can talk to whomever you want whenever you want from the human colonies.”
Saita half grinned and hid behind the letter waving Pura away. “Okay, go away so I can die of embarrassment alone.”
Pura grinned and lightly tapped at the light material wrapped around his cousin’s leg. “Saita, of the family Karesh and Myla, sister to Aleux, Kristen, and Barbara, welcome back to the humans.”
And there we have it. Saita is finally back with her family like she always wanted. However, no matter how much she wants it, there will always be strings attached.
For those of you who have never heard of Fell Dragon you can find Book 1 here, Book 2 here and the start of Book 3 here. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I love discussing my books!
As the series continues, it will combine with another book series I wrote. To avoid confusion about what is happening, introductory chapters will be introduced separately so that you don't have to be lost. However, these chapters will contain spoilers. You can find these chapters here:
Races Explained
Banishment
Royal Guard
Saasha’s Direct Family
Saith Characters Recap
Human Characters Recap
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Part 14>>You are Here>>Part 16
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