Dragon Blood

Thirty: You'll Be Safe There

Her stomach churned, like it had been for the past few hours. 

Her parents. 

The words kept appearing in her head, and she had no idea how she felt about it. Her first instinct was anger. How dare they just show up and throw that on her? Of course she knew that Hal and Violet weren't her birth parents, she felt that she had come to accept that. But it was one thing to know that the people who had raised her hadn't given birth to her and another thing to have the people who had just show up and try to claim her. 

They were already talking about bringing her back to the Eastern Clan. It now made complete and total sense why Leo had requested their presence to help decide her fate. He thought she belonged to them, and he was solving his problem by making her their problem. Kellan and Penelope were happy enough to take her on. The problem was that no one had asked Skylar how she felt about all this.

She didn't like it.

She stared at the plate of food she hadn't touched. She knew that whatever she put into her stomach wouldn't sit well and would likely make a second appearance. The chatter around her was welcome, as it kept her from having to participate in the conversation. Kellan and Penelope sat on either side of her, effectively boxing her in. Jed, her new brother, sat on the other side of the table and a seat down, next to Olly who sat across from Skylar. Her new nemesis, Cassie, sat next to Jed with Orion on her other side. Skylar knew they were holding hands underneath the table, and Orion had his head bent toward Cassie to listen to whatever she was saying. A smile pulled at his mouth and he looked down at her with a playful gleam in his eye. It made Skylar want to vomit, and it enraged her dragon. The beast had a steady growl going on in her head, causing a headache to form.

To sum it up, Skylar was utterly miserable.

A heavy foot landed on top of hers, pulling her attention away from Orion and Cassie, reminding her that she'd been staring. She looked up and saw Olly giving her a sympathetic look. His burnt orange eyes were filled emotion and encouragement. She tried to draw strength from them, but all she really wanted to do was cry. His foot applied a little more pressure to the top of her own, and she nodded slightly. She had to be strong, she knew that. She should be happy; Kellan and Penelope weren't going to send her to her doom. They were going to accept her into their clan and protect her.

But how could she be happy when Orion, the one who had promised to keep her safe from Draco, hadn't spared her any attention since her dragon had nearly escaped and attacked Cassie? As long as her-- Skylar nearly choked-- sister was around, Orion wouldn't be paying her any mind.

"Kia-- Skylar, how did you survive so long in the human world?" Kellan asked, drawing her into whatever conversation they were having. She didn't missed how he almost called her "Kiara" once again. It was driving her insane and she was close to snapping at him about it. She looked up at the man who should have raised her, and longed only for Hal. She missed her dad. 

"My parents helped keep me a secret," she told him, daring him to challenge to word parents. Dragons or not, Hal and Violet were good people and they loved her. She refused to deny that, and she would not forsake them for people she had just met.

If the word "parents" affected him, Kellan didn't show it. "Did they now? They knew what you are?"

They hadn't yet discussed who her parents were, only that Draco was after her. Kellan had taken that in stride, but what would he think if he found out that her father was the king? One could only hope... 

"They do, and they don't hold it against me." Okay, that was sort of a lie, but she wasn't above embellishing to get under his skin. "They'll be looking for me."