****
"Mom, I need to talk to you," Aurora said two days later.
She was again sitting across the patio table from Sara who sipped coffee cautiously from a china cup. Aurora hated that cup. The delicate pink roses that crept along its sides were lovely; but they were flat, lifeless, and artificial. They reminded her too much of what she was becoming for her to find it pretty.
"Yes, soon-to-be Mrs.?" Sara nearly sang.
Aurora cringed.
"Please don't."
"What's wrong, Aurora?" Sara asked, the delight draining from her face.
Aurora looked up at the housekeeper who stood dutifully by with the coffee pot. The grey-haired woman took the cue and settled the pot onto the silver breakfast cart before disappearing into the house.
"Does the word 'Killington' mean anything to you?" she asked as soon as the patio door closed.
Sara looked like Aurora had struck her. Her hand shook as she lowered the cup back to her saucer.
"No," she said, but the tremble in her voice told Aurora she was lying.
"Don't lie to me. I found Dad's file."
The nervousness on Sara's face turned to anger quickly.
"How dare you go through your father's desk?"
"I saw you going through it after I mentioned my dream the other day. He showed me his secret drawer before he died. You must not have known about it."
Sara was visibly shaking and Aurora would have backed off if she couldn't still feel Arach's lips against her neck from her most recent dream.
"I don't want to ever hear you talking about that again, Aurora. Do you understand me?"
"Don't talk to me like a child. I'm supposed to marry someone I don't love tomorrow because I made a promise to Dad, but I have been dreaming of this dragon every night, and I deserve to know what that means."
Sara stood up so sharply she nearly knocked the table over.
"You don't deserve to know anything. You will marry Greyson and you will be a good wife to him. He will follow in his father's footsteps and you will both make things happen for each other. That is the way it is going to be."
Her mother started to walk toward the patio door and Aurora stood.
"I've fallen in love with him," she said, bracing herself for the reaction.
Sara turned to her, the look in her eyes so intense Aurora took a step back.
"Excuse me?"
"The dragon can become a man. His name is Arach."
"Stop it, now."
"He is just like the ones in Dad's file. It said 'Killington' on it. What does that mean?"
Sara came close to Aurora and grabbed her by her arms.
"Your father died because of what was in that file. It is your duty to marry Greyson as he promised his father. It is the only thing that will keep you safe."
"I don't understand," Aurora said.
Sara's hand tightened painfully around Aurora's wrist.
"And you never will."
Dragging Aurora along behind her, Sara rushed into the house and down the hall to the small library tucked beside her father's office. She pushed her inside and Aurora heard her calling to the housekeeper.
"Angela, watch her. Keep her awake. Do whatever you have to do, but do not let her fall asleep."
"You can't keep me in here until tomorrow," Aurora protested.
Sara looked at her for a long, sickening moment and closed to door. Aurora heard the door lock and she pounded against it, screaming to her mother. Panic rose in her chest. This was more than she had even imagined. Her father had told her that marrying Greyson was about uniting families that had been longtime friends and supporting Greyson's political ambitions while giving her the life that would enable her to pursue her own goals. Now she knew it was so much more than that.
If only she knew what.
Aurora paced around the library frantically for the rest of the day. She could hear her mother moving around the house making last-minute preparations, but no matter how much she screamed, Sara did not come to let her out. More than anything she wanted to sleep, but Angela would not allow her to rest. She didn't understand. Even if there was more to the dragons, she only saw Arach in her dreams. Her wedding was less than a day away and then she would be bound to Greyson by law and loyalty.
"Angela," Aurora finally spoke as she stared through the window at the stars, "Do you know what's going on?"
Angela had been the family's housekeeper Aurora's entire life and she was desperate for some type of reassurance from the woman who was oftentimes more a part of her life than her own mother.
"Please don't ask me, Aurora."
Aurora turned from the window and stared at her.
"You do know. Tell me."
Angela shook her head. She held the tin of crackers Sara kept in the library for her occasional afternoons of reading in her lap and looked down at it rather than at Aurora.
"Your mother would never forgive me."
"This isn't about her, Angela. This is about me. I'm getting married tomorrow. I am literally giving away my life because of a promise to my father. If there is more to it than friendship and politics, don't you think I deserve to know?"
There was a long moment of silence and then Angela reached onto the table beside her to pick up a glass of bourbon she had poured from the cut crystal bottles arranged on the table beside what used to be Lee's favorite chair. She drank the contents of the glass in one long swallow and placed the glass back on the table.
"When I was a little girl my grandmother used to tell me stories about dragons. She would read me fairy tales and describe these tremendous creatures with massive wings and huge claws that could breathe fire."
She paused and Aurora lowered herself to the floor beside her.
"Yes?" she asked, encouraging Angela forward.
"I thought they were just stories, until…"
"Until?"
"Until you were born."
"What do you mean? I'm not –"
"No. You aren't, but…" she trailed off and gazed at Aurora with a blend of sadness and fear in her eyes. "I can't tell you anymore. I'm sorry. Please, Aurora. Just marry Greyson. He will give you a good life and you won't ever have to worry about any of this again. Just be a good girl and marry him."
Angela touched her cheek and Aurora felt tears pooling between her skin and Angela's hand. Outside the window the stars had disappeared and the darkness was fading into dawn. It was her wedding day.