The Dragon Kings Book Twenty-Six

It’s been five years since the dragon kings and the queen fell victim to a spell that left them in a state of slumber.

Five years of chaos and power struggles.

Five years of mourning and wondering what would happen next.

Yet, in six days, the entire world will change.

Buckle up because it’s about to get real.

Join Ruby, Pepper, and Hughie as they navigate this new world and hunt for a way to wake them while fighting new foes.

Ruby wrapped her hands around her cup of coffee and stared at the mountains below. They were near the top of one of the highest mountains in Yellowstone National Park. In her younger years, she never imagined this would be her life. Her home was larger than she really needed, but considering the amount of company they had, it was barely big enough. She always pictured herself in a tiny flat in the city, far away from Yellowstone and all things dragons.

But instead, her whole life was about dragons.

The three-story home built into the side of a mountain had large balconies on each floor. They spent most of their time on the first floor though. Floors two and three were for guests, and Ruby hardly went up there except to dust occasionally. The view was not for the faint of heart. Mountains surrounded the home, and if someone were to fall from a balcony, it was a five-thousand-foot drop. Since all of her visitors—and her children—were dragons, they didn’t worry too much about falling.

Ruby herself never stood too close to the edge since she was the only one here who wasn’t a dragon. But she did love the view in the morning, and her peace and quiet, because this was the only alone time she got. Thirty minutes to drink her coffee, and no one ever interrupted her out here. It was freezing cold, but worth it.

Once the last drop of coffee was drained, she watched the clouds floating around the tips of the mountains for a few more minutes, then entered the house to the chaos that always awaited her. A chaos she adored.

Damon stood in the kitchen, apron on and spatula in hand. He winked at Ruby as the door shut, and her heart fluttered. Fifteen years and he still managed to make her swoon.

The moment passed quickly though because three kids sat at the bar, all shouting at Damon.

“I want a heart.”

“That’s lame. Make a snake.”

“Ewwww. No. A flower.”

“Darth Vader. Come on, Dad. Please.”

Damon caught her eye again and grinned. “Your mom gets first pick.”

Ruby took the stool in the middle of the kids, the one they always left for her.

“Tell him it’s Star Wars day. He has to do the death star.” Mason nudged her.

Brooke rolled her eyes. “Star Wars is dumb. How about Harry Potter?” Mason and Brooke were twins nearing their teenage years, and they bickered more than Ruby appreciated. She wasn’t getting in the middle of that one.

Ruby thought for a moment and found her youngest, Walker, staring at her from across the bar with wide blue eyes. He looked the most like Hughie, and he was the child who got away with the most. Probably because he didn’t fight with his siblings. “I like Walker’s idea. Let’s do animals this morning. Starting with a snake.”

Damon huffed. “That’s way too easy.” But he picked up his squeeze bottle with green pancake batter and drew a squiggle on the skillet. “What’s next?” he asked.

Brooke and Mason argued over a panther or a mountain lion, and Damon got to work, creating a creature that could be both. Ruby just watched him for a moment, still in love with him as she had been fifteen years ago.

After breakfast, Ruby made the kids do the dishes and met Damon at the entrance to the cave, leaving the squabbling behind. Those three were her natural-born children while the rest of what she considered her kids were at the end of the long hall. And there were dozens of them. 

Damon and Ruby had designed their living room with a big hole in the wall that led to the dragon kids’ cave. They’d thought about walling it off and putting in a door, but Ruby rather liked that her living room seemed to disappear into nothingness.

Damon flicked the lights on and took her hand.

Ruby liked their routine. Breakfast with the kids, morning work with the newly hatched dragon babies, and then their afternoon homeschool. She wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world. It was far better than any life she could’ve imagined for herself.

The small hall opened into a wide, brightly lit cavern with several smaller caverns beyond it. Baby dragons were everywhere. Most were orange, but there were a few gold and silver thrown in. Scattered among them were toys and balls, large, heavy-duty sporting equipment types, but the babies loved noise makers, and so there were also a couple of drums and floor-mat pianos. They were constantly buying new toys because the baby dragons were not gentle with them. Especially the floor pianos. They got punctured at least once a week.

The eggs they hatched here were those found five years ago in the cave where Sid, Liam, Isa, and her mom were knocked unconscious and nearly died. Ruby remembered the day well and still held hope that someday they would awaken. She didn’t have much time to dwell on that though. Her job here kept her mind fully focused.

Like on the dragon in front of her who just attacked her sibling for stealing a ball.

You’re just in time, Sequoia said, and Ruby jerked her eyes away from the playing babies. Sequoia sat on the far side of the cave with Murdoch, an orange egg between them. The green and purple eggs stayed in Europe and were being hatched and raised by dragons there, but everything else was here.

She and Damon raced for Sequoia. One of Ruby’s favorite things in the whole world was watching a baby hatch.

The orange egg on the floor rocked back and forth. A few of the kids ran over to watch, and the egg jumped. A crack formed along its side, and smoke hissed out.

A claw wiggled from the crack, and the baby pulled away at the shell. The process was excruciatingly slow. But eventually, it created a large enough hole where its slimy orange head popped out, and it blinked in the light.

The baby wiggled and squirmed until his wings were free of the shell, and he spread them and shook off the remains. When the first babies had hatched, Ruby wanted to help, but Sequoia told her that they had to do it on their own to build their strength. At least until they opened their wings.

No one said anything as he hopped up and down, testing his wings.

Everyone stepped back, and Sequoia let out a jet of purple flames, destroying all evidence of the shell and drying the baby dragon. The bright orange baby was all tail and neck. He took a moment and looked at everyone around him, and then he wobbled to Sequoia, curled up by her flank, and fell asleep.

Damon squeezed Ruby’s side. “I never get tired of seeing that.”

“Me neither.”

“I’m ready for new colors though,” he said.

“Me too.”

When they brought the eggs from Europe, the council wanted them stored at King’s Cave, where they met, but Grace wouldn’t let the eggs leave Europe unless Ruby was the caretaker.

The council relented but then decided it was only safe to hatch canyon, fire, and royal dragons. Arctic were dangerous because they were the ones who started the first war, and the other colors were new and unpredictable.

“I try, but they shoot me down every time. They said they’re not risking new dragons until Sid is back on the throne.”

A lump formed in Ruby’s throat. She didn’t know if that would ever happen. It’d been five years, and nothing had changed. Her kids didn’t really get to experience Skye as a grandma. Her dad did okay, but it was different. Plus, she had no one to turn to when she had parenting questions. Yes, technically she had Aspen and Hazel, but it wasn’t the same as having her mom.

One thing she knew for sure.

She wanted her mom back.