Chapter 31

Kiara:

“Aiden” I scolded the little dragon who was jumping on top of the dresser. No matter how many times I scolded the little creature. He grew more stubborn as he grew.

“You know that I won’t break anything,” Aiden said looking at me with his big blue eyes. His eyes had stopped shifting in color and were now a dark royal blue, his scales were as black as night. A person couldn’t see him if he decided to sneak on him in the dark.

“You know that I don’t like you getting on the dresser Aiden, whether or not you were going to break anything,” I said scratching the little creature’s head, he leaned into my touch, purring, and closing his beautiful eyes “now, get down before I get angry”

“You’re acting like a mum,” Aiden said jumping down making me laugh, he was growing faster than I had anticipated, I hadn’t even expected him to learn our language so fast. But according to Niklaus, some legends that said that dragons had invented the languages long, long ago, I didn’t know how true that was, but the legends had it that dragons had taught creatures how to communicate, what it was like to live with one another, they provided safety to the people who lived under them. However, humans had rebelled after a while, seeing themselves as the weakest in the ecosystem, they started creating deadly weapons. Some which hurt others with no actual cause, most just killing for fun. Niklaus had refused to tell me about these legends, claiming that humans couldn’t live with the magical creatures because the magical creatures were too dangerous to live with them. However, it was the humans who were in danger, they were the ones hurting all the other creatures. Taking them captive to make studies on them, to test their resistance or willpower. My heart broke when I read about all that I did, knowing that Niklaus didn’t judge me for being human, that his people accepted me despite what MY people and kind did to them, their beautiful hearts amazed me.

“That is because I am your mum,” I said kneeling to the dragon who curled his tail around me making me smile as he laid down in front of me, his head laying on my lap “nothing is going to change that little one”

“Even if I decided to go hunting?” Aiden asked and I smiled. Niklaus had taught the little dragon how to hunt, he taught him where, and when to hunt, how to kill his prey, when to kill the prey, and when to respect it. He had taught him not to kill for pleasure, it wasn’t in a dragon’s nature. Though his kind was known to be devious over the years, they were the strongest of dragons, having ruled the dragon kingdom above us once upon a time, he was the last of his kind, at least the last known dragon of his kind. The other dragons had killed his mum, Niklaus had found her body a month after we had found Aiden, or at least, what was left of it. We couldn’t even speak of the topic to Aiden about it, he would end up hating the other dragons when he was the heir who was to rule over them. The dragon who had killed them was a ruby red dragon, now, we didn’t know how he had come out when Crystal, a snow-white dragon had come to tell Niklaus about it. A grim look had settled over my mate’s face when he heard of the news, and I couldn’t understand why he worried about such a dragon until I realized today that the dragon who was his enemy’s companion, was none other than King Verone’s dragon. That is what Verone was counting on, he had a dragon by his side.

“Love?” Niklaus’s voice interrupted my train of thoughts making me jump at his voice. His eyes widened before he smiled at me. Kneeling to kiss the crown of my head. He sat down beside me and Aiden removed his tail from around me, wrapping it around both Niklaus and me as my mate sat behind me, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me to his chest. A heavy feeling settled in my chest as I felt how tense he was. Something was bothering him, though what it was, I couldn’t determine.

“What’s wrong Klaus?” I asked turning around in my mate’s arms, his eyes softened and he ran his fingers over my jawline before pulling me in for a kiss. Whatever had happened, seemed to happen a while ago, because I knew for a fact that he wasn’t as tense when I left the throne room. He had asked me to go to our chamber, he didn’t tell me why, and I didn’t bother asking about it. Trusting that he wouldn’t want me to go away unless it was something important that he didn’t want me associating with. He didn’t speak nor did he open his mouth to answer me as he kept his eyes on mine as if studying my expression, memorizing it. The thoughts that ran through my mind scared me as I looked at how defeated he suddenly seemed.

“I have done bad things, Kia, things that I’ve kept secret from you, things that I cannot take back or undo,” Klaus said keeping his eyes on mine “I tried hiding them, I tried making everything I did better. I did most of it to protect my people from what they were living through, at least, I think I did. But I ended up hurting more than giving benefit” Klaus said keeping his eyes on mine, his eyes sad as he spoke made me frown in confusion as I tried understanding what I was talking about. He wouldn’t say anything for a few seconds, waiting for me to question his words, however, I didn’t even understand what he was talking about to question him, and I wasn’t even the type of girl to question what he said or decided “I had always hated the humans for what they did to our people, I regret hurting them Kiara, I tried to make peace with them way too many times. But they never listened, they constantly went after our people…”

“What are you talking about Klaus?” I frowned in confusion pulling away from Klaus and looking him in the eye.

“The humans had hurt my people for a long time, when they saw themselves as weak, they took my people and experimented on them. They would make them eat fire to watch their bodies burn from the inside. They would send electric waves in their direction to see when their brains would be fried. They even tested medications and their effects on vampires, seeing how their bodies would react then heal to them” Klaus said making my headache at what I heard, the barbaric stories that were hidden from all humans “one day, me and Verone were tired of all the pain our people were living in. We decided that we had to save them, the people couldn’t live in as much pain as they were”

“Verone?” I asked frowning in confusion.

“We started a war against the humans, killing them at first sight. But something happened to Verone during all that and he couldn’t stop, or let me rephrase, he wouldn’t stop what he was doing. He started killing our people, the people we had sworn to protect. Verone was attacking and killing them for the simplest of reasons. Them not agreeing with him, or not seeing him passing by. Anything they did to piss him off sent the people to an instant death that even they couldn’t calculate or hold account” Klaus said looking at me, my frown drew in my face as I processed and listened to what he was saying. Something had happened that had him this worried if he was opening up to me about such a past “I tried stopping him, time and time, but he wouldn’t. So, I was forced to get into battle against him”

“It was then that I and Verone knew that we were turning against one another. That the path that we drew growing up was now to be ripped apart, and that we wouldn’t be walking on the same path again. That only seemed to anger Verone, for he saw me as a threat to him, a threat because everyone listened to me. The people feared Verone, but knew that I didn’t approve of his actions, they knew that I wanted to stop Verone and helped me to the maximum they could” Niklaus explained and I nodded willing him to continue “we had no weapons and no army against Verone, but they didn’t leave me. They stood by my side helping me and fighting by my side, the battle was the bloodiest I’ve ever seen”

“I don’t understand where this is going Niklaus? What happened?” I asked cupping his cheeks, making him look me in the eye. His eyes avoided mine for a second as he opened his mouth to speak, though no words came out. Seeing him at loss for words scared me, especially since I have never seen him in such a state. In my eyes, Niklaus was always the strong king who loved and cared for everyone, everyone loved, respected, and feared him all the same. It was how a king was to be treated. A little fear from the people always leads to respect, leading to keeping limits and grounds that shouldn’t be crossed. But seeing Klaus in a state of defeat, I wasn’t used to this and I never wanted to see him in such discomfort.

“The cycle is repeating itself, Kiara,” Klaus said making me frown in confusion “Verone is back and he is after the throne”