Page 30 of Dragon Keeper

“That’s me!” Fredda’s joy rang out, and for a second, Sloan was sure the ocean sang back to her.

They all headed outside, where a sweet little patio looked out over the sea. The sea was not a calm, gentle space, but a deeppurple and blue with infinite crashing waves that bashed against the rocks.

“This is amazing,” Sloan said, eyes wide as he took it all in. “I’m not sure I have words. So beautiful. Are all the ocean homes like this?”

Aleana shrugged, motioning for them to lounge on the low chaises. “I’m not sure. I mean, all of the homes are what we need them to be.”

That didn’t make sense to him at least, and he and his brothers frowned at each other.

“Sloan is learning all about that. We’re working on our house together,” Tyr put in.We can fly about and see other homes on the way back to the hive. There are many variations. Most mer-dragons make their homes in the sea itself, in colonies beneath the water.

He blinked.So they can breathe in the water?

Beloved. We are created from magic itself. We don’thaveto breathe.

“Are you? How exciting.” Aleana shook her head with a huge grin on her face, and the distraction was welcome because Sloan was experiencing yet another vast paradigm shift. “So exciting, I remember that. How marvelous it was when we were first beginning our home, choosing how we wanted it to be. You’re very lucky.”

Sloan agreed, nodding slowly as he processed. “I am. So, all dragons create their own spaces.”

“As far as I know, yes and no. The essence of the dragon—the maguk—creates the homes, but we will the maguk into being.”

“Maguk. That’s the dragon’s presence, do you think?” Brayden asked.

“I’m not sure,” Tyr admitted, perched on the edge of the chaise Sloan settled in. Fredda went to her uncle, playing with the long braids that he wore to control his wild mass of hair.“We honestly don’t have a ton of experience, for instance, in the cities, so I don’t know how the magic works there.”

“I still can’t believe you’ve never gone to the city, Tyr,” Brayden said. “Aren’t you curious?”

“I’ve seen images, and I’ve spoken to people. We have a brother in the city. One of us is enough.”

Hush. It’s dangerous to speak of. No one wants to draw that sort of attention.Aleana stared at Tyr, scales rattling in the tiniest of warning.

Tyr sighed and seemed to kind of shut down a little bit.

“It’s all right, love.” He didn’t like that one bit. “We don’t have to talk about that if you don’t want to.”

Oh, man, I wanna know. Come on! This is family drama!

Riley, be good.

You know I won’t be a dick, but come on, don’t you want to spill the tea?

Tyr will tell us what he wants us to know when it’s time.

“Goddess. There’s not much to tell.” Tyr shook his head at Riley. “We all have different things that are important to us. Simple as that. I have my bees. Aleana has the ocean. He had something else.”

Okay, so is he dangerous though?Sloan sent to Tyr privately.He’s not going to hurt the baby or anything?

Tyr moved his head a bare inch.No, of course not. He’s not a gentle dragon, but he wouldn’t hurt anyone. I truly think so.

That was an immense comfort.

Except it really wasn’t.

Sloan hated the idea that somebody could possibly want to hurt Tyr, this sweet Fredda in his arms, or anyone else in Tyr’s family.

He felt a different calling, one that didn’t involve our family. That’s all. He simply followed our omega parent and we stayed with our alpha.

The more I hear about all this, the more interesting it gets.And worrisome.