Betrayal Foretold: Descended of Dragons, Book 3 (21 page)

T
imbra was
the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen. Her light hair was pulled away from her face and hung loosely down her back in romantic curls. The space between Timbra’s fawny ears was a perfect place for a tiara, and the veil snuck past them to form a flowing halo of organza.

“Married,” she said for the hundredth time. “I’m getting
married
. To
Boone
.”

“You don’t have to, you know.” I laid my hand on her arm. “You don’t have to do this. With all the hooking up going on at The Root, sooner or later someone’s sure to get knocked up. Then we’ll know.”

She threw her head back in a throaty laugh. “Oh, no they don’t. If anyone’s getting knocked up around here, it’s me. I think I’ll start after the party. Shoot, if you can’t find me after the ceremony, don’t come a knockin’.”

We laughed together again, and with the audible sigh that accompanies the end of all belly laughs, we celebrated our last day as two single girls.

* * *

“
G
aspare did
a wonderful job as officiant,” Abia said as we sat together beneath the shade of an ancient oak.

With Rowan’s blood determined as the key to Talbot’s “eternal” curses, we were soon able to release Abia from her tether to Topaz, though she would never leave for long. The sea called to her, she said. It was where she did her best thinking.

“I think there are very few things your son cannot do,” I said in wonder.

“My granddaughter has the same quality,” she said without hesitation. “And many more that remain to be seen.” She eyed me expectantly, and I looked away before she could ask too many questions.

“There you are!” Ewan called as he approached us, but he didn’t look at me. He only had eyes for Abia. “Ms. Pike, thank the gods you’re this far from the group. You’re in serious danger of outshining the bride.”
She opened and closed her mouth, blinking double time. “Ah. Thank you, Ewan,” she finally said.

He bowed dramatically and then faced me, holding his hand out, palm-up. “May I have this dance?”

“That’ll be us someday,” Ewan said, nodding to a radiantly happy Boone and Timbra Adder.

I pressed my cheek to his chest. “How can you be so sure? How can you say that with such confidence?”

Ewan held me closer, one hand around my shoulders and the other behind my waist.

“Did I ever tell you my mother was a clairvoyant?” His voice was a whisper, the breath of a ghost on the wind.

“No.” I shook my head against his chest. “You’ve never told me much about her.”

“She was so much fun,” he said with a tinge of sadness. “Always laughing. Always teasing me about my “flamethrower.” She said she couldn’t wait until my world was turned upside down by a girl with wild red hair and eyes like emeralds in the tropic sun.

“I knew, Stell. From the first moment I saw you in class, I knew. At first, it was just the hair and eyes, but when I suspected your dragon…well, that confirmed it. I knew you were my flamethrower.”

“
W
ell
, this is a delightful side effect,” Emelie said as she inspected her increasingly-robust bosom in the full-length mirror.

“Enjoy it while you can,” Timbra warned. “Pretty soon your stomach will get so huge it’ll dwarf even those bad girls.”

My bark of laughter caused the baby to stir, and Timbra shot me a dark look. “You wake my son, you lose a limb.”

I held up my hands in apology and mouthed, “Sorry.”

“The new school’s coming along nicely.” Emelie said, turning from side to side in awe of her changing body.

“I still can’t believe Rowan Gresham is going to be the new chancellor,” Timbra’s eyes were wide as she shook her head.

“I think it’s a good fit,” Emelie argued. “He’s in a better mood since being freed of Talbot’s curses. Wants to do some good to reverse all of the bad his father did. The kids in Pearl needed a better school, and with all of the new families moving in, there’s a real need for it.”

“I just hate how things have turned out,” I said. “I guess I hoped the people of Thayer would accept couples like Boone and Timbra once they learned the truth, once they learned it’s the way the world should be.”

“Nobody likes change, Stella,” Emelie said sadly. “Whether it’s right or not.”

Timbra stood and held her tiny, perfect child who found yawning too great an exertion and fell back asleep in her arms. “I hold out faith people will come around. Someday.” Her eyes held sadness when she looked at her sleeping miracle and said, “Maybe even my father.”

“Do you guys see much of Ewan’s family?” she asked, changing the subject.

“We do. They’re building a house not far from ours on Jade. Wolves love their wilderness, you know. And I’ve grown to love it out there, too. At night, with no lights to distract from them, I spread my wings and fly amid the stars. Sometimes I meet Bay and Forster and the others. Sometimes I fly alone.”

“And Ewan has no plans to catch
his
star?” Emelie asked with a sly grin.

“Oh, he has a plan. Ewan Bristol always uses a road map.” I shot my friends my own sly grin. “But we’re taking the scenic route.”

D
ear Reader
,

I hope you enjoyed Book Three in the Descended of Dragons series,
Betrayal Foretold.
Thank you for your support, and for following Stella’s journey.

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While
Betrayal Foretold
offered many answers, you may still be left with questions, and that’s okay. Isn’t one great aspect of reading those lingering thoughts in the back of your mind, like recalling old friends? So many times I’ve wondered what my favorite characters were up to, now that they’d found their happily ever after. I hope these books gave you a little happy, and a little food for thought.

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.
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Thanks so much for reading.

Sincerely,

Jen Crane