Chapter 5
“Are those choppers I hear?” Anna said, rolling over in bed and putting her head on Eli’s bare chest.
“It is,” Eli confirmed. “Kate snuck out of the house this morning just before dawn and met with one of the others. They left shortly after, and the soldiers that were scattered among the houses came out around the same time.”
“Where did they go?”
“I didn’t watch them. I heard Kate talking about taking a video of what was left of Aldeia and reporting back that there were no villagers to save, and the others agreed with her. Then, they sent off the six helicopters that were there to extract villagers, and the other two followed just now.”
“You heard all that without going outside?” Anna shook her head. “Dragon hearing is something else.”
“The air is really still right before first light. If they’d met under that same tree at noon, I wouldn’t have been able to hear as well.”
“I wouldn’t have been able to hear at all,” Anna said.
“I know,” Eli teased, pulling her into his arms and holding her tight. “That’s what I love about you.”
“That I’m not a dragon?”
“No, just everything.”
She giggled softly.
“You love everything about me? That’s oddly specific.”
“I refuse to choose one thing about you that I love the most.”
Anna snuggled closer, and she closed her eyes as Eli stroked her red hair away from her face and down her back.
“And what about our girl?” Anna said after a heavy silence. “What is she going to do now that Kate has left without even saying goodbye? Do you think she’ll get over it?”
“I don’t know. I was checking on her when I caught Kate ‘sneaking’ out, and Lucy was sound asleep. She stayed up so late last night that I doubt she’ll be up before noon.”
Anna chuckled knowingly.
“She doesn’t have to stay up late to sleep until noon. She sleeps more than anyone I’ve ever met.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” Eli agreed. “There’s something about jumping into parenthood right at the preteen stage that doesn’t seem quite fair. Daniel and Eleanor get a ramping up period with Keegan, but we’re thrown right into the fire and with a half-blood dragon no less. At any rate, I didn’t scold her for coming downstairs after I sent her to bed to sit down and talk with Kate some more. I know she was curious, and I didn’t want to risk undoing all the work we’ve done. She’s gotten better about controlling herself when she’s angry, and she was so adamant that she needed to talk with Kate. I knew Kate wouldn’t be around long; I could see it in her eyes. I was glad when Kate finally pretended to go to sleep so that Lucy would head off to bed.”
“How did I miss all of that?” Anna wondered.
“You sleep hard, my Queen. I think an explosion could go off next to you, and you wouldn’t budge.”
“You’re probably right.”
“Lucy definitely got that from you. I don’t know how she sleeps through some of the things she manages to sleep through.”
“Should we wake her up?”
“And spoil this quiet morning alone? No way.”
He pulled her closer, sliding his hand up her shirt and rubbing her back.
“It’s only quiet because we’re not in the palace with a million people telling us what to do. Maybe we should switch houses with Jason.”
Eli chuckled.
“Do you think that anyone would notice?”
“I’m sure that people would notice the difference right away, but maybe he could buy us a few minutes of peace.”
She kissed him, then rested her head on his chest so that she could hear his heartbeat.
“I love everything about this moment,” she whispered. “You, this quiet room, our daughter asleep down the hall. It’s so perfect. I can’t believe that I lived before this.”
“Before staying the night in Jason’s house?” he teased.
“Stop it,” she said, punching him playfully in the arm. “You know what I mean. First you, then Lucy. How did I live without the two of you?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m being serious, Eli. It’s like I was just going through the motions, working day in and day out, and waiting for the end of my life. I didn’t do anything else because I had nothing else to live for.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” Eli said. “Everyone has something to live for, even if you eventually find something better.”
“What I didn’t know wasn’t hurting me,” Anna admitted. “But now that I’ve known happiness, I know I could never go back. You, Lucy, this place…it’s everything to me.”
Eli sat up, looking at Anna with a look of concern.
“What’s going on, Anna?”
“I don’t know,” she sighed. “It’s that woman showing up, then the way she acted when she found out that Lucy was adopted. As if that changed anything. For a minute, I thought that she was going to tell us that she was just taking Lucy. I think that she considered saying just that, but then she changed her mind. But I don’t think she’s convinced. Eli, what if she comes back with some kind of order?”
“Then we’ll run with Lucy. If she’s that important to Kate, then Kate wouldn’t dare hurt us. And dragons can fly places helicopters can’t. I can lose her, and we can hide. I won’t let anyone take our daughter, and that’s a promise.”
Anna relaxed a little, though her stomach was still roiling with the tension and fear that had been building since the choppers had appeared in the distance. She knew without a doubt that Eli would do everything in his power to keep his family safe, but he was only human. Scratch that, she laughed to herself. He was only mortal, but he certainly wasn’t human.
“I guess I’m just afraid that things can’t be this good. Something has to go wrong; it always seems to.”
“Don’t think like that,” Eli said, gathering her closer and inhaling deeply before kissing her on the head. “Everything is going to be alright. I know that woman showing up threw everyone for a loop, but she made it clear that they were going to report back that no one was left in the village. That counts for something, right? She sounds like a good person to me, and she even considered it when her friend mentioned that she might be protecting Lucy from herself. Bringing their kind here and exposing us to outsiders puts us all at risk. So, it stands to reason that the thing that Kate is supposed to protect Lucy from is anything that messes with Aman.”
“I wish I could look at things rationally like you do. I should feel better now that they’re long gone, but I don’t. I feel like something is waiting in the wings, poised and ready to shatter my little world in two.”
Eli sighed.
“Does this mean that we’re not going to go back to bed, or at the very least, quietly make love while the rest of the house sleeps?”
“You know being quiet is impossible when you’re involved,” she said, feeling a little better now that he was looking ready to get up and get moving. “Besides, I’ll feel better once we have Lucy back in the palace where we can keep her safe.”
“Let’s let her sleep some more,” Eli said. “I don’t know about you, but I have no desire to try to drag an angry, tired preteen out of bed.”
Anna giggled. Eli was more than right, and Lucy wouldn’t appreciate being dragged out of bed right after sunrise to go back home when she could sleep.
“Let’s surprise Jason and Lucy with breakfast, then we’ll head home,” Anna said.
She got out of bed, looking out the window to the east as she stretched. Eli joined her, arm around her waist, watching the people who were already awake as they worked in their little gardens or fed their chickens and goats their morning rations.
“I can’t hear the choppers anymore,” Eli said. “I haven’t heard them in a while.”
“Maybe they’re still in Aldeia, videoing the mess. I wonder who burned everything down.”