CHAPTER 15
It was the last time either of them spoke about having children. Instead, they plunged themselves into the life they had, enjoying the children that were put into their care for educating and quickly abandoning any thoughts that threatened to infringe upon their serenity.
Time seemed to fly by and, with it, changes that neither could say were for the better. It all came to a head one gloriously sunny day, a rarity in wet, chilly Ireland. Penelope had been called out to the school by one of the teachers, but not because of her students. Instead, she had encountered something far more heinous. At the center of it, as seemed to be the case with any trouble that came to be, was none other than her former student, Aiden.
“What is going on here?” she asked as she attempted to enter the doorway, only to find it closed shut, men placing padlocks on it.
“This school is being closed down, effectively immediately,” he said.
“What? What on Earth are you talking about?” she replied.
“It has come to my attention that the children of this school are being taught some inappropriate things.”
“What? Like what?”
“Like that they should embrace their human neighbors, learn to live in harmony with them. That is exactly the kind of mindset that leads to the bastardization of our kind.”
“Bastardization?”
“Yes, when humans mix with dragon shifters and give birth to foul abominations, mixed breeds not fit to live among us.”
Penelope had to bite her tongue. No one in the village was aware of Kergot’s origins or his gifts. So, he had no idea that he was talking about her own husband when he made his heinous remarks. Still, she was sure that Kergot wasn’t the only one in this village with secrets and she was well aware of Aiden’s.
“What right do you have to come here and talk to me like this? Close our school? I know that Tomlin has been quite ill, but he is still dragon leader. Everyone has suffered lately with the loss of our own from the McCord family. You really want to upset them further by denying their children an education?”
“Oh, I see you haven’t heard the latest news. Tomlin has passed, and I am the new dragon leader. It’s not quite official, but all I lack is the formal swearing in. I’m just getting ahead of the game a bit by taking care of a few things. Getting the children in this village in the right frame of mind is high on my list of things to accomplish.”
“And you think that simply shutting the school down will do the trick?”
“It’s only a temporary measure. I will be calling a meeting with all of your teachers to go over the new curriculum once it is established. I have someone working on it already.”
“This is not your school, Aiden, and until the dragon council swears you in and informs me that your authority is valid, I will not be allowing you to close this school. I will be requesting a hearing to discuss the legalities of this decision, at any rate.”
Before Penelope could react, she felt his cold grip on her wrist, yanking her forward from off the steps of the building and flinging her to the ground. She lay there for a moment, stunned that he had lain hands on her. Finally, she began to climb to her feet.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” she heard Kergot yell.
His voice was angry, angrier than she had ever heard him. Not even during their encounter with her former fiancé had he sounded like that. Before she could say anything, he was in Aiden’s face.
“Step off,” Aiden said calmly.
“Step off? You just hurled my wife to the ground, and you are telling me to step off?”
“Please. She’s just a woman and a fruitless one at that. You can’t be upset that I might have done any harm to anything more than her pride. Obviously, she’s not got a child in her womb that might have been injured. Everyone in this village knows she’s as barren as the rocks of the causeway on our northern coast.”
All Penelope heard was the loud crackling and a hiss that set ice adrift in her veins. He was changing, growing, shifting into his dragon. No! He didn’t know who Aiden was now. This was punishable by far more than a slap on the wrist if he brought harm to him.
“Kergot! No!” she shouted, but it was useless. He couldn’t hear her with his anger taking control of his entire being.
Aiden stood his ground, refusing the change. Kergot faced him, breathing his hot breath against the ground at his feet. The grass beneath Aiden turned brown in front of her eyes as she begged him to stop.
“Best listen to your woman, Kergot. You know what will happen if you attack a shifter still in human form while you are in your dragon presence. It would be such a shame for her to be both empty and widowed.”
Kergot’s shrill hissing filled the air around them, and then he shifted back into human form, suddenly launching himself forward and knocking Aiden backwards.
“Fine. If you cannot fight as a dragon, you will fight as a man, you miserable coward!”
“Don’t!” came a voice from behind them as Kergot lifted a single fist to strike Aiden, who was pinned down by his other hand and the weight of his body on him.
“Why shouldn’t I? You saw what he did,” Kergot barked back.
“Because Tomlin is dead, and he is your new leader.”
“He is no leader of mine,” Kergot roared, drawing his fist back further and then dropping it heavily against Aiden’s nose.
Their bodies rolled about on the ground, throwing punches at one another until Aiden finally managed to free himself and took a few steps back, finally shifting into his dragon. Now it wasn’t only Penelope begging Kergot to stop, the man behind him had joined in, raising his voice to be heard over the two mighty beasts.
Aiden shot up into the air, soaring high before reversing in an effort to dive bomb his opponent. Kergot met him full force shooting upward and barreling into him mid-air. Both dragons went skidding sideways only to regain control of themselves and clash again.
People had begun to gather on the ground now, as Penelope gave up on her shouting and watched, horrified, with tears streaming down her face. The man that had come with Aiden, she knew his name but couldn’t quite grab it in her mind. It was something Donnelly. What was his part in all of this?
There were gasps all around as Kergot seized Aiden by the neck, hurling him sideways and causing him to lose altitude. He thudded to the ground heavily, and Kergot landed atop him, pinning him down. Penelope tried to unjumble her thoughts. She wanted to speak to Kergot with her mind, try to get him to stop this, but was afraid it would only spell more disaster by giving Aiden the upper hand.
Kergot flung him sideways, hurling him into the heavy stones that made up the school’s exterior. A pained sound came from him, one wing folded beneath him at an awkward angle as Kergot lumbered toward him, once more. Penelope seized the opportunity to communicate with him while Aiden was stunned.
Kergot, please. Don’t. Let this go! her mind pled.
It was no use. He had closed his thoughts off to her. They were nothing but a massive tangle of unbridled anger that she couldn’t break through. She watched as he stood over Aiden, prepared to finish him. Then, there was the sound of powerful wings all around as more than a dozen men landed and surrounded the two men.
One of them shifted and stood before him, looking at him with a bit of trepidation. His voice trembled a little as he spoke.
“Kergot, we have been sent by the council to arrest you for your attack on the new dragon leader. Please don’t make this worse than it already is. Think of Penelope.”
Kergot’s mighty head turned, looking at Penelope standing there, her eyes still pleading with him to end this, though she said nothing. He opened his mind to her and flooded her with his thoughts.
I’m sorry, Pene. I just lost it when I saw him touch you. Are you okay? Are you hurt? his mind asked.
I’m fine, Kergot. Stop this. Please.
They will take me to the dungeons.
We will explain to the council why you attacked him. They will see reason. Stop now, before it is too late.
Kergot lowered his head and looked at Aiden, who had now shifted back into human form to avoid further injury. He lay cowering against the stones that he had hit only moments ago, but his eyes showed clearly the hatred in his heart. Penelope knew this would not be the end of it for him. He had always been vindictive and petty, even as a child.
Kergot shifted and turned back toward the guards, placing his hands in the air and walking slowly toward them. They didn’t bother to place handcuffs on him. There was rarely a need for that here, as dragons could just shift and get out of them if they chose to do so. Penelope watched as he moved away with them, once again communicating with her silently.
I will be fine, Pene. Go home and call an attorney. You know Aiden will not let this go as just a reaction for what he did to you, but the council has more sense. I will sit in his cell for now, until I can get in front of them. I love you, Pene.
I love you too, Kergot, her mind whispered back.
Then he was gone, having gotten far enough away from her that his thoughts were clouded. She began to walk back toward her home when Aiden stood and addressed her.
“You will need to vacate the premises of the house you are currently residing in immediately. It is owned by the council and only granted to you for as long as you operate this school. You are no longer entitled to live there.”
Pene stopped and turned back toward him, defiance in her eyes. She took a few steps in his direction and held her head high as she spoke.
“That house is not owned by the council. The land was given to us to build it on and we built it ourselves, just as we built this school from a small cottage to the large-scale, educational facility that stands here today. We taught you in it, watched you grow from a small boy to an educated, young man. If we have failed at anything, it was teaching you the importance of humanity. You want me out of our house? You’d best send someone to take me out.”
“That can be arranged.”
“I’ll be there, waiting,” she told him, her heart beating so loudly in her ears that she could barely hear even her own voice, much less his. Still, she persisted.
She felt broken as she walked home, facing the first night in a very long time that she might sleep without Kergot by her side. The thought of him in the council dungeons, the thought of what Aiden might have his men doing to him there broke her heart, but she had to stay strong. She would not let the likes of Aiden get the best of what she and her love had built together here.