Aspen (The Dragon Kings #2)(22)

Aspen followed them out into the lawn and watched the same scene she’d seen with Damien. This time a brilliant gold mark appeared in the middle of Sid’s chest. Aspen wondered what the words meant in the circle around the name.

Afterwards they gathered in the theater room. Apollo seemed to fill the whole couch. His presence was a little intimidating.

“Tell me about the first time you met my son. As a dragon.”

Aspen told him about how Sid had dropped down in front of her, and she’d first gazed into those gorgeous blue eyes of his.

“Why didn’t you run? Humans are terrified of us.”

“I like dragons. Always have. I take pictures of them.”

He stroked his beard. “You are an unusual one, aren’t you?”

Aspen chuckled. “You’re not the first one to tell me that.”

He shrugged. “Olivia was too.”

“Who’s Olivia?” Her name kept coming up.

Sid pinched the bridge of his nose. “Dad will you stop bringing up Olivia? She was completely different than Aspen.”

“Was?” Aspen asked.

“She’s dead. Look, Dad, I need help. Who should I go to for the rest? I have three markings. I need five more, and the sooner I get this done, the easier things will be.”

“You should go to Jolantha first. I’ll come with you. You know the river and underground dragons better than I do. Canyon and arctic will be the most difficult. Do you think Candide will do it?”

Sid shrugged. “Unlikely, but I don’t know any others. Maybe Jolantha knows someone. That or whatever canyon dragon we get. I know a few that might swear allegiance to me.”

“I’ll come back in a few days, and we’ll go visit Jolantha. I need to get home to your mother and explain these new developments. We’ll need to keep her away from Aspen until she calms down.”

Aspen raised her eyebrows. “Is she really that scary?”

Apollo chuckled as he stood up. “You have no idea. Usually she’s not, but she’s a little protective of her son. The first time she met Skye, she nearly bit off her tail.”





On Saturday morning, Aspen’s parents met her in the kitchen. It was still dark outside. That was one thing Aspen hated about the winter, it seemed like it was dark all the time.

“There’s my birthday girl,” said Mom.

“Yeah, eighteen, crazy, huh? I bet there were times you didn’t think I would survive.”

Mom laughed. “Yeah, but you made it. What time do we need to be at Sid’s?”

“About six. They have a chef coming in or something to make dinner. Skye’s making the cake.”

Mom finished her coffee and looked up at Dad. “I suppose we should go.”

“Short shift today,” he said and raised his mug to Aspen. “Happy birthday, baby. Tell Rowan we said so too. He’s still asleep.”

Aspen knew she should be excited for today. She’d been waiting years to be eighteen, but she was more excited about tomorrow. She, Sid, and Apollo were going to visit Jolantha, and Aspen was going to meet Sid’s mom for the first time. Everyone seemed to think she should be terrified of her, but Aspen wasn’t. Not much anyway.

Aspen poured herself a bowl of cereal and sat down on the couch to watch Saturday morning cartoons. She hadn’t done this in years, but she was heading to Sid’s in a few hours, and that wasn’t enough time to go outside and do anything else.

Forty-five minutes later Rowan plopped himself on the seat next to Aspen.

“Since when do you watch television?”

“Since I turned eighteen. Happy birthday, bro.”

“You too. You think I can get Skye to kiss me today? That’d make a pretty sweet birthday present.”

Aspen snorted and muted the TV. “No, I don’t. How many times do I have to tell you, she only likes you as a friend?”

He frowned. “We went out to dinner a few nights ago.”

“Because Sid’s dad showed up, and she wanted to get your nosy ass out of there.”

A look of hurt crossed over Rowan’s face, but he recovered quickly. “Whatever, we had a good time.”

Aspen turned on the couch and faced Rowan.

“Skye doesn’t have very many friends. You’re probably the closest one she has because I spend too much time with Sid. Don’t ruin that by trying to turn it into something it’s not.”

He sighed and crossed his arms. He didn’t say anything else, and Aspen hoped he got the hint. Skye had been through a lot with Sid, and she didn’t want to see her getting involved with yet another guy that she couldn’t really be with. If Rowan made any moves, both he and Skye would get hurt.

A few hours later, Aspen and Rowan let themselves into Sid’s house. They didn’t bother to knock anymore and headed straight for the kitchen. Skye stood next to the KitchenAid and watched the batter carefully. Sid tried to stick his finger in it, and Skye swatted his hand away.

He looked up, gathered Aspen in a hug, and planted a quick kiss on her lips.

“Happy birthday, sweetie.”

“Thanks. How’s the cake coming along?”

Skye shook her head. “He won’t keep his hands out of it. Take him away, please.”

Aspen wiggled her eyebrows at Sid. “Gladly.”