Prince of Fire | Dragonfire Book One

Capítulo Treinta Y Uno

Warning: some mature content in the latter half of the chapter.

Love was perhaps the greatest greed of dragons, even more precious than hoards of treasure, and more volatile than fire itself.

~ Draconic Book of Songs

Chapter Thirty One

The first two days after that night included Raquel trying to convince the rest of the Council, aside from the missing traitor General Marcus, to work with dragons to fight against Dracula. Although the members were hesitant with the cooperation part of the agreement, enough to stall the decision for a day, most of them were eventually swayed by the hunting down Dracula part. After all, this would be the hunt of the century, if not in all of dragon-hunting history.

Meanwhile, Adrián was trying to track down the traitor and gather intel on the Society of Slayers, and Elena was working to coordinate strategies with the dragons.

Her parents had reluctantly allowed her to travel back and forth to Finn's house, warning her to be careful. Her father had off-handedly added that he felt that there was something off about Anya, but Elena was already cautious around the princess who had feelings for Dante. And Meihua kept staring at Elena when she thought that Elena wasn't looking. So while she was in the house, Elena more freely interacted with Finn, although she still had to discuss strategy with Anya as well. Finn had to focus to recall any important details in his visions, trying to pinpoint the location of this battle, and Anya searched on the computer to try to get a match.

Overall, it was certainly a new experience to work with dragons, albeit they remained in their human forms. The new growing sense of comfort also somehow made Elena feel a little lost. She kept looking around for Dante, only to remember that he still wasn't back from his trip. If she were being honest with herself, she would admit that she missed him, and she kept flashing back to how they had parted ways. Would there even be enough time for them to speak before the battle? Meihua noticed her occasional slumped shoulders, as she was already observing her, and told her that Dante would return soon.

On the morning of the third day, Elena had to deliver the dragon's plans to the Order of Light so that they could coordinate movements. The new general, Lyra, had thanked her for the plans and compared it to what she had thought of over the previous night. Elena acted as the spokesperson for the dragons when Lyra needed clarification, and was present in a mid-day meeting with the rest of the Council to finalize the plans for the next day. Time had flown by too quickly, and the nerves were starting to fire up in her stomach. She found herself fidgeting more than usual, an action Meihua seemed to pick up when Elena later returned to Finn's house. Elena noticed her quiet observation.

"Why do you keep staring at me?" Elena blurted out when Finn and Anya were both out of the room. Meihua looked startled by the question, with her golden eyes widened slightly and her thin eyebrows raised. When the female realized that the question was being addressed to her, she relaxed and cocked her head.

"He went on his knees for you," Meihua said, sending shivers up Elena's arms. The statement impacted her like an arrow straight to the heart. Meihua's golden eyes searched her more obviously. "I keep trying to determine why he would do so, and understand the power you have over him. He is the prince, and even before he was the prince, he was the general. And he fell to his knees with just your words," she said.

Elena's heart raced. "I'm just a human. I don't have powers like you do," she replied lamely.

Meihua's eyes glinted. "That I do know. He more than just loves you, that's for sure, since I've seen him in love before. So my only guess is that you are his mate," she said, stopping Elena's racing heart.