Chapter 6

Virlane and DeClan quietly entered the bedchamber, both Zara and Kat looked up quickly, DeClan looked at Zara with Tabby cradled in her arms sleeping and just wanted to wrap his arms around his little one and his children and cry, Zara seeing the look on DeClan’s face got up and tucked Tabby in the cradle next to a sleeping Mal and TeeLinn. Zara put her hand on his arm “what happened?” Zara found herself crushed in DeClan’s arms, Kat glanced at Virlane waiting for someone to say something, Rav looked at his father and frowned seeing the strained look in his eye’s. Virlane rubbed his paws over his face “Lexi’s dragoness killed Finbar, it’s been hundreds of years since I last saw such a gruesome sight” Virlane shook his head unable to say another word, DeClan hugged Zara tighter “I need to go take care of Zachary and Finbar’s bodies, Virlane and I have discussed it and think it would be a good idea if you, Tabby and Mal stayed here for the next few days, I’ll bring Bailey and Alana back here” Kat got up and stood by Virlane “where is Lexi? is she safe? was she hurt?” Virlane frowned “she was in her room when we left, I don’t know if she was hurt or not, I should have checked.”

Zara looked up at DeClan “did you check on Lexi?” DeClan sighed “I’m ashamed to say that I honestly couldn’t bring myself to go near her” Zara frowned “ohhh DeClan, this is Lexi we’re talking about not some monster” DeClan could only nod, Zara was right and he felt guilty that he had not even asked if Lexi had been injured.

Lexi sat in the rain outside her house just staring in the direction of Montcliff, as the sun slowly came up Lexi stood up and went inside putting a seal of protection over her house and lair, so no one could enter unless she allowed it through the front door, then silenced any sounds coming from silent messages. She took another long hot bath then curled up under a heavy down comforter feeling so tired, numb and hollow inside, there were no tears, no feelings at all as she lay on the bed, what had happened replaying over and over again in her mind. Allora woke up feeling tiny paws patting her, she smiled down at her two daughters “I bet you two are hungry kiddo’s” as she fed the babies she looked at Connor sitting on the edge of the bed “where is Lexi? did Bitsy help her, some of those cuts were pretty deep, not to mention that gash on her head” Connor frowned “what cuts?” Allora frowned back “the cuts on her paws and arms” Connor looked at his hatchlings “I didn’t see any cuts, I thought all the blood was Finbar’s” Allora switched babies at her breast and looked closely at Connor “I want to see Lexi” Connor frowned “she is in her room, Al, just let it be until later when everyone has had a chance to calm down, it’s early morning, she is probably sleeping.”

Allora handed one of the hatchlings to Connor, a pair of pretty green eye’s stared up at him, with a smile he put a towel over his shoulder, laid her over it and patted her back, she gave a tiny burp and Connor jumped quickly handing her to her mother as he put out the flaming towel “sweet jesus, Kat warned me about that but I didn’t believe her” said Allora, Alex stood laughing in the doorway “ahhhhh payback time” Connor looked at his father with a grin “gee thanks” Alex grinned back walking over to the bed “your welcome, now let me see my new granddaughters” he said looking down at the two little hatchling’s staring back at him with wide eye’s, both were a delicate mint green with big green eye’s, one had a tiny dark green scale in the shape of a heart on her neck, the other had one on her cheek. Allora smiled gently stroking the hatchling with the heart on her neck “this is Holly, her sister is Heather” Alex grinned “hello girls, come say hi to your grandpa” scooping them both up. Laurel came in a moment later and started to smile watching the two little hatchlings purring and nuzzling each side of Alex’s neck and cheeks, she silently said to Connor “do you know where Lexi is? she isn’t in her room” Connor looked at his mother “she should be in her room, I’ll go look for her, where is Con?” Laurel tried not to frown “Riley gave Con a couple shots of brandy and he is out like a light in his room” Alex chuckled seeing Allora half asleep “how about I take these two wide awake hooligans with me so you can get some rest” Allora laughed watching the two wiggling and crawling all over Alex as he and Laurel left the room, Connor tucked the blankets around her “can I get you anything? or do you just want to go to sleep?” Allora gave Connor a look “I’m going to sleep for a while, then I’m going to have several large cups of coffee some breakfast then I want to know exactly what’s been going on” Connor nodded with a sigh, he sat with her until she had fallen asleep then went and checked the house for Lexi. Not finding her in the house or Riley for that matter, he went down to the stables, Connor sighed seeing the coffin in the stable yard “Riley have you seen Lexi?” Riley turned “not since she buried her horse, put the body in the coffin, cleaned the stables, asked me to take good care of her mother and the babies and to tell Master Tommy goodbye and left but then I didn’t expect her to return so have not looked for her.”

DeClan and Virlane walked into the stable yard “I can’t take Finbar back to Salvation, even dead he is still banished from the land, I will find out from Bailey what she would like done with the body” DeClan said to Connor, who was standing frowning at Riley. Connor nodded “I’ll go with you” DeClan shook his head “I think you should stay here with your family, how is Lexi?” Connor sighed “I don’t know, she isn’t here, I’m going to go check her lair in a minute” Virlane sighed “if you need help finding her let me know.” Connor watched them leave then headed for Lexi’s lair.

Natalie sat with Bailey and Alana as they pushed their breakfast around their plates and made a few half hearted attempts to eat, she knew Alana wasn’t quite sure about what was happening, all she knew was Zachary was gone according to what Bailey had told her. Seeing the looks on DeClan and Virlane’s faces Natalie frowned, Bailey said to DeClan trying not to cry “I know they’re both dead, I sensed it when I woke up” DeClan nodded, he poured himself a badly needed cup of coffee then handed one to Virlane “what would you like us to do with the bodies? Bailey” he asked sitting down with a tired sigh. Bailey looked down at her plate “if you could send them back to our old family home in Normandy along with Alana and I, I know Finbar was a horrible person but he should be allowed to lay with the rest of the family, maybe it will finally put his soul at peace” DeClan took a drink of his coffee and let it’s heat sink into his stomach “you and Alana are always welcome here Bailey, if you want too you can both come back and live here, I remember Zachary saying there was nothing left back in Normandy for any of you” Bailey wiped the tears off her cheeks “thank you, we’d like to come back and live here.”

Natalie said silently to Rav “I know Finbar killed Zachary, did DeClan kill Finbar, what on earth happened?” Rav replied “I’ll explain when you get the chance to come to The Kee.”

Wanting to get things over and done with DeClan stood up, he sent Finbar’s coffin to Normandy then went down to the gardener’s cottage and gently laid Zachary in a coffin, closed it and sent it to Normandy, he went back to the house and took Bailey and Alana’s each by a hand. Virlane stood up and went to stand by DeClan “you don’t need to come, but I thank you” DeClan told him, Virlane gave a slight smile “it’s been many years since I’ve been to Normandy, I’ll tag along.”

Once they had left Natalie went to The Keep, she found Zara and Kat asleep on Kat’s bed, Rav sitting in a chair by the fireplace watching over everyone. Seeing Natalie, Rav got up and quietly they left the room and went downstairs, “they’ve taken the bodies back to the family home in Normandy” she said pouring herself a cup of tea and a cup of coffee for Rav, she frowned as Rav explained to her what he had been told had happened at Montcliff, “Lexi must of been driven over the edge to have done something like that Rav, we’ve all seen her with the children, both in her human and her dragon form, she was as gentle as a kitten with them.”

Rav put his finger over his lips motioning his head, Natalie turned to see Mal, TeeLinn next to him, his wing still over her, standing on the dining tabl.

“Tee hungry, her mama sleeping” Natalie smiled “I’ll go tell Harriett to start breakfast, I imagine your hungry too” Mal nodded, Rav went over to the table and sat down smiling at TeeLinn and Mal, Mal didn’t smile back just looked at Rav from eye’s that were suddenly to grown up. Natalie carried out several plates smiling at Mal who was watching to make sure TeeLinn didn’t fall off the table as she padded around. Mal looked over what Harriett had fixed for Tee then nodded “scrambled eggs good for baby, needs juice” he told Natalie as he tied a napkin around Tee’s neck, Natalie set two small cups of orange juice on the table by the plate then picked up Tee, Mal watched closely as he ate his own breakfast and drank his juice. Tabby joined them a few minutes later, she sat down next to Mal nuzzling him with a small purr, TeeLinn waved her tiny paw at Tabby, Rav smiled “ready for your breakfast too? Tab” Tabby nodded, Rav went into the kitchen and came out a few minutes later with a plate of scrambled eggs and juice for Tabby. Rav stood up and walked around the table and picked up Tabby, he had seen the tiny tears dripping down her cheeks into her eggs “awwww sweetheart, everything will be all right” Tabby shook her head “not ever be all right again” Rav snuggled her against his chest as she cried, slowly rocking her back and forth. Seeing Tabby crying Mal moved closer to TeeLinn once again looking her over to make sure she was all right then he flew over to perch on Rav’s shoulder purring and crooning softly to Tabby.

Connor returned to Montcliff angry, hurt, and confused, Laurel handed him a cup of coffee “did you find Lexi?” Connor almost threw himself in a chair and shut his eye’s for a minute “yes, she’s at her lair, it’s locked up tighter then a drum and she isn’t talking to anyone” Laurel sighed “we should of let her see Al and the babies” Alex standing in the doorway frowned “you wouldn’t let Lexi see her Mother or the hatchlings?” Connor nodded “we were afraid that Lexi might hurt them” Alex shook his head “how cruel of you both” and walked out of the room. Connor put his face in his hand and started to cry, Laurel hugged her son tight, tears in her eye’s “go lay down, you haven’t gotten any sleep, then we can talk about getting Lexi out of her lair” Connor stood up with a tired nod and left the room, not wanting to disturb Al or the hatchlings he went into one of the spare bedchambers. Lexi knew her father had tried to get into the lair and the house repeatedly but didn’t care, she knew he had called her name until he was almost horse and didn’t care, when he had tried beating on the front door and been thrown back away from the house as it protected itself she didn’t care. Picking up a small mirror she rubbed her hand over it and saw her mother and the hatchlings sleeping she whispered softly “sleep tight Heather and Holly, I love you Mother” putting down the mirror she crawled back under the down comforter and finally slept. By late afternoon Allora came downstairs carrying two wiggling hatchlings looking around with wide eager eye’s, Con who had been in and out of his mothers room all day checking on her and the hatchlings grinned “there the girls” with a squeal they both held out little arms to Con, laughing Con quickly grabbed them as they almost wiggled out of his mother’s arms. Two pairs of wide eye’s turned and stared at Riley as he came in “would you care for dinner in here tonight Miss Allora or in the dining room?” Riley asked staring back at the girls, “I think in here tonight Riley” Riley nodded, the girls nodded, Riley blinked, the girls blinked, Riley wiggled his nose, the girls wiggled their snouts, Riley sneezed, the girls puffed setting Con on fire.

“Quite impressive” Riley said calmly using a hand towel to put out Con’s smoldering clothes as he jumped around slapping at his pants, Allora holding the girls as they watched avidly started to laugh, Mar standing in the doorway roared with laughter “puffers! good job Al, I’m proud of you” the girls hearing a new dragon roar, started wiggling off their mama’s lap, with wings spread wide they dropped to the floor and went rushing over squealing, Mar grinned widely and lay down resting his head on his paws “a pair of puffers, who could ask for more” Connor walked into the room to find Mar laughing and giggling as the girls climbed all over him.

“Got yourself a handful here” Mar said to Connor with a big grin, Allora frowned finally giving up trying to get the girls from Mar “Breeton, no one told me they were going to come out at a dead run and not stop, their brand new they shouldn’t be bouncing and hopping all over the place” Con laughed at his mother “it looks like these two did and are” Connor reached down and picked up Holly as she started to climb up his pants leg, “Al, can I talk to you privately for a minute” he asked quietly, Allora nodded standing up, Connor handed Holly to Riley, she promptly tried to eat the carnation in his lapel, spitting it out with a hiss, Riley tut tutted, wiping off the shoulder of his jacket “young ladies must never spit, Miss Holly.”

Allora went into the study and sat down, she watched Connor pace across the room his hands clasped behind his back.

“I’m sorry Al, I let all of you down, I should have seen that Lexi was hurt, I should have seen that she was also hurting inside but all I could see and be horrified by was what she did, now I’ve lost my daughter and I don’t know what to do, I made a terrible mistake last night and there is no undoing it.”