Chapter 17

“Hum, Excuse me Queen Fleur, but Ricky thought you would be hibernating?”

‘I should be, but fortunately for you two, Realia’s youngest went missing about three days ago. Skyla is only thirty, and he got a little upset when Silver said he couldn’t mate with her if she came into heat this winter.’

‘It was once most of the others were bedded down that we realised he was missing. He had agreed to be one of the guards this rotation. He does have a deep ardour for Silver, and he was very upset with her refusal. So, I set Silver to go look for him and to sort out her problem.’

‘She contacted me two days ago that she had found him and that your portal had activated, so she was going to take him with her to greet you, Ricky, since Skyla doesn’t know you very well.’

Ricky sniggered and shook his head ruefully. This made Fleurs and Micky look at him questioningly. “I already told her to screw the poor bugger and put him out of his misery.”

‘Yes, I have also told her this. Realia, bless her, even mated with cranky old Dartmoor to produce Skyla. She is but three hundred, and he is our oldest male at over nine hundred years old. She told me that she wanted to produce a genetically compatible mate for Silver to help us strengthen our pride.’

‘I’m still not sure why it took them twelve years and the laying of three eggs before Realia believed she had produced a suitable male and let Skyla hatch. I have sneaky feeling old Dartmoor gave her the treatment. He’d not had a female encourage him for a century, so I’m sure he made damn sure she enjoyed it.’

‘Besides all that, Skyla will make an excellent mate for Silver, and their children will be very strong. We have several dragons who won’t be closely related to them, and some are even producing mates for their children. I don’t know why she hasn’t mated with him before now.’

Fleur and Micky were both surprised when Ricky blushed and looked down. Then Fleur growled. ‘Damn it, Mage! Is no female safe from you? She needs to lay; we are too few as it is. I’ve been trying to get the others to make new joinings and lay, but she has to lead for them to follow.’

Indignantly, Ricky said, “She has. We have set seven viable eggs in the last twenty-four years. She keeps promising to tell you, but she was frighted you would smash the eggs.”

‘They are viable? Truly?’ Fleur asked with shock and surprise.

“Yes. Silver told me that they have all formed into perfect dragon babies, they are conscious and are just waiting for her to release them.”

“If she didn’t tell you this winter, I was going to pull rank and claim them, after all, they are mine too. I didn’t even know until last winter that she had laid any eggs from our times together.”

“She told me she hadn’t laid after the first two seasons that she seduced me to change for her. I assumed that she couldn’t conceive to me, so I didn’t keep asking. It wasn’t until I caught a stray thought from her last year that I knew differently.”

“I wasn’t happy that she did this without talking to me first. I know Dragons don’t fall in love or bond the way that the humanoid races do. But I think it has something to do with our bond as to why she got me to change for her the first time.”

“Incredibly, it seems that after the first two failed attempts, each time we have been together since, we have been rather productive. I get lucky about every fourth year. Which is as often we have been together in the last twenty years.”

“I’m sorry Fleur, but she is hard to resist when she is in heat and near me. I am dominantly male, and I do have Dragon in my blood after all,” Ricky grinned sheepishly.

Fleur shook her head. ‘Tell her to give you the eggs. I expect you to raise them as well as you did Silver. However, this time I think you may need to keep them longer. Once they are ten, you can give them back to us if they wish to come.’

‘I don’t expect you to raise them all at once. I suggest you do it in pairs as you will have your consort to help you. If she doesn’t mind doing this for you,’ Fleur finished as she looked at the surprised Micky.

“Silver may not like that Idea?” Ricky replied.

‘Tough-shit. It will be her punishment for not telling you or me. She will raise the same number of babies to Skyla. Will, it upset you, to not to be with her for some years?’

“My Queen, I only did it to please Silver, and I was enticed because she was in heat at the time. I’ve told her several times that she needs to be with her own kind. You dragons do play a bit rougher than I prefer.”

Queen Fleur chuckled. ‘Male dragons are such wimps.’

“So where are Silver and Skyla?” Ricky asked.

‘Good question. They should be at your caverns by now. Silver said that Skyla was in the old crystal cavern when she found him. Many of the dragons like to go there and bathe under the crystals.’

‘I lost contact a day ago when Silver messaged me that they would be a few days. So, they must have passed through the shield into your area. I decided to stay up a bit longer until they were safely back under our shield since we were effectively down a set of guards.’

“What shield is that?” Micky asked.

“It’s part of the pact to protect the dragons. You know how I have a shield over the crossroad? Well, there is one around this massive cavern system. My dad said it took twelve of the best magicians they could find to help build the shield that covers most of the eastern side of the mountain.’

“The shield isn’t as good as mine, but each year I learn a little more, and I upgrade it as best as I can. The main spells make it so that if you wish to do harm to any of the dragons, you can’t enter their domain. The shield will also alert the dragons if anyone manages to enter this zone, good intentions or not.”

“However, it doesn’t stop a dragon from leaving the shielded area. If they could be enticed away, they have to look after themselves. It is also why I can’t mind-talk with the dragons if the shield is between us. It’s to stop magical people from snooping on them. However, my cameras still work.”

“Fleur, I think we will head to the old crystal cavern first. I want to check and see if any new openings have appeared in the area to let strangers into the mountain. I got some very late visitors to the crossroads this year. I’m quite certain that their intentions are not good,” Ricky told her.