Firebolt (The Dragonian Series)(56)

“It's history, Elena.”

I frowned when I realized what he meant. “Then why’s mine so boring?”

He roared with laughter. “Don't tell anyone but I agree.”

We both laughed and then he sighed. It was quiet for a while, before he spoke again. “I know you and Lucian have something going on, and don't get me wrong, he's got the makings of a great Dragonian, but I truly don't believe that he'll be able to claim Blake,” he said honestly.

“Why not?” I was intrigued by his statement.

“Easy. The Viden.”

“The Viden sucks things out of her thumb." Just thinking about her made me pissed off all over again. Grabbing a rock that was next to my leg, I threw it as far as I could, pretended it was her crystal ball.

“Yes, most of the time, but when she makes a true foretelling, it always comes true.”

“You mean like when the so-called wind blows and her eyes become silver,” I joked.

He threw a stone over the edge. “Yes, it freaks me out too.”

“It happened when you were with her?” I asked, and he nodded. “What did she say?”

“That's only meant for me, Elena. Foretellings are very personal, and you'll never find anyone that will reveal what the Viden told them.”

“Then how do you know that Blake won't get claimed?”

“Because it's written in the Book of Shadows for everyone to see,” he said.

“Book of Shadows?”

“It’s a book that follows the Viden’s foretelling’s. Nobody knows how it came to exist. Every time she makes a foretelling that is of importance to Paegeia, it will magically appear in the Book of Shadows,” he said.

“What did it say?” I asked, curious. I was always curious when it came to Blake and should have known that his foretellings had reached the Book of Shadows.

“That the only one who will ever claim Blake is his true Dragonian. His egg hatched three years before King Albert and Queen Catherine were murdered. When she said that the Rubicon would be claimed by a royal, it meant them. When she received a foretelling about King Helmut or King Caleb, she would refer to them as the Knights. My mom said that it was the best news she ever gave them,because she was telling them indirectly that they’d get a child. It was the only thing they ever wanted. My mom told me that before the Viden made the prediction, the queen prayed for a child every single day for at least a hundred and fifty years.”

I gasped. “She had the essence of life too?”

“Yes. Their dragons gave them each a piece. King Albert was two hundred and fifty years, and Queen Catherine was about two hundred and forty-five.”

Jeez. It sounded so old to try to have children. “Are you sure it was one of their children? What if the Viden had it wrong just this once?”

He laughed. “Then she wouldn’t be the Viden.”

“Is it true that all Moon-Bolts can see the future?”

“Depends on how old they are.”

“I saw two, before George, I mean.”

“Yes, I know. How did it happen?” he asked.

I couldn’t believe it when my mouth just opened up and my story started spilling out.

“My dad was a Copper-Horn. I never even knew that he was a dragon. We used to flee from our home every three months. He told me a lot about Paegeia when I was little, but I thought it was just bedtime stories.”I didn't tell him that I’d forgotten most of it. Tears started to well up. The pain buried deep inside of me slowly emerged to the surface. I missed Dad so much. I told him everything about that night, and when I was finished, I looked away to wipe off a tear before it rolled down my cheek.

“No wonder you don't cope with classes. You’ve hardly dealt with all of this.”

“I just don't know why it happened. What was so important that they felt his life had to be the price? What if he died thinking that I would never forgive him? I can’t tell you how many nights I’d prayed for a miracle, a normal life. One where we didn’thave to flee anymore. Now that I’ve gotten my wish, I feel like such a nobody. The way some of the students look at me as if I don't belong here, the Viden...”

“You're not a nobody, and your dark mark is why you are in Dragonia, Elena, not who or what your father was.”

“Then why don't I get anything, Cheng?” I said, tossing my hands in the air.

“Give yourself some time, woman. You’ll get there,” he assured me in a very patient tone. It was as if he knew something

I didn't.

“When?”

“Rome wasn't built in a day, or so I’ve heard,” he joked, and it worked, it made me smile. “You put so much pressure on yourself, why do you do that?”