Finally Found

Chapter 48 - Kor

Never have my wings ached as much as they do right now. I can't stop though because Lilas needs me. Emmy needs me. Not even when I first started flying did my wings ache like this nor when I started flying long distances and carrying others on my back. As small as my mates are in comparison to my dragon form I can still feel their added weight or maybe it's just my awareness of them being there and my need to keep them safe. Luckily Hadlau is not far away from us now and then I can rest for a bit while finding out what's happened.

Bel is clinging tightly to my back keeping himself low to my body so that he doesn't fall off at this break neck speed. We've never flown this fast for so long usually this speed is something that I'll only keep up for a few minutes often accompanied by loops and spins for his amusement. Once this is all over I'm taking all of my mates, and our children, to our castle where I can keep them all safe and get some rest myself.

Hadlau soon comes into view and I let out a roar to alert the guards to our arrival as if the sight of a large dragon in the sky isn't enough. But someone was able to take my most vulnerable mate out from under their noses so they deserve the little bit of fear that the roar likely instilled in them. Over the city I'm soon hovering over the palace gardens not caring for what plants I crush under my claws, they can all be replaced and I don't want to waste the time it would take to land outside the city and travel in.

As soon as I land Bel jumps down from my back waiting nearby as I shift back to human form while Lilas comes running out of the palace to meet us. It's been five days since we last spoke to him and it's clear that little has changed since then as it looks like he hasn't slept at all. Seeing the effect this has on him I stride over quickly pulling him into a hug, stretching out an arm Bel joins us, taking what comfort we can in each other.

For so long all we had was each other and while we were always away that there should be four of us not knowing the fourth made the absence easier to bear. Now we know and love Emmy so her not being here upon our return makes her kidnapping real and all the more terrifying. This was in no way how we imagined the reunion we'd be having after the war ended, not that it's truly over until Rhistel is dead. He's made that clear.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Lilas begins muttering only just loud enough for us to hear.

"Not your fault." I tell him firmly holding his face in my hands and making him look at me so he can see how serious I am that nothing that's happened is his fault.

"Kor's right Li. Now lets get inside and you can tell us everything. The introduce us to our son, that'll cheer us up a little bit before we set to work getting his mother back home." Bel states giving us some direction. It doesn't take us long to get inside and make ourselves comfortable in the drawing room, all of us sitting on the same settee not wanting to be far from each other.

"Not long after I spoke with you two the guards I sent to Erika's house reported back. They found half-burnt letters in her room from Rhistel, all along she was a spy for him and abducted Emmy on his orders." Lilas tells us, he's sitting in the middle of both of us holding our hands.

"And her sister Victoria, she didn't know anything?" Bel asks knowing more about the families here in Hadlau than I do. It wouldn't surprise me if he knows all the relations of Emmy's ladies-in-waiting even though we haven't been here.

"Before she left Erika destroyed the rune that allowed Victoria to walk in the day, leaving her own sister to burn. The guards found her alive but badly burned and since then she's been under the care of the best healers in Hadlau. It's only the last two days that she's woken up and been able to tell us what she knows. Which is very little to be honest. Just that in the days leading up to the kidnapping that Erika was different, becoming more secretive and standoffish. She doesn't know how long Erika was in contact with Rhistel for."