Supernatural Tales - Book II

Chapter 16

(Unedited)

Aaliyah woke up with a gasp, clutching her chest...

"Es--" her mate's name almost slipped past her lips but she halted at once and the throbbing inside her chest got worse, causing her to rub her palm across it, unsure why she was in pain.

When she looked up, Aaliyah found herself surrounded by nothing but darkness for as far as she could see and she frowned in uncertainty: not knowing where she was or how she got there. She then tried to feel Bida's presence and sighed in relief when she could feel them. Although they felt near, they were far away. So, she took a moment to breathe before standing and following the direction she could sense them in. It was a while before Aaliyah's eyes adjusted to an outline of something and the closer she got, the harder her heart pounded. By the time the structure before her became as clear as it could, Aaliyah could not compel her feet to move no matter how hard she tried.

It may have been over a thousand years since she had stepped foot into the ruins of the palace where Esme once lived, but Aaliyah could never forget that place. It was where she not just lost her dragon and her mate, but she lost herself as well. So, it was not at all hard for her to recognize the damned place when it materialized before her, mocking her like a wicked bully, and the woman breathed deeply as her dark eyes studied the vines scattered around the courtyard before her, she detested them as much as she detected every single brick that made that place. The part of her that wanted to run as far away from that place's image as she could not win over the other half of her that could sense Bida inside that place. So, she forced herself to move and get closer so she could see her dragon at long last.

Aaliyah gasped softly when she heard a voice...

"Hello, mate," the voice was shy and gentle, echoing from the very middle of the ruined yard, and Aaliyah did not even realize she was rushing towards it until she found herself gazing at a scene that seemed to be taken out of her memory.

"I need to speak to your dragon," Desdemona mumbled curtly to someone who looked just like her younger self and Aaliyah's wonder only increased as she studied the evil queen who looked nothing like the woman who had come back to her.

"I am sorry, mate. Bida is being rude and refusing to speak to you," younger Aaliyah replied meekly, fumbling with her fingers as she gazed at her mate's back, and Desdemona sighed deeply, clearly unhappy with that response.

"Perhaps you can tell me what it is that you need and I can help you. Everything Bida can do, I can too!" the younger girl replied earnestly, she looked as desperate as she was to please her mate, and Desdemona tsked in displeasure while Aaliyah's jaw clenched.

"I do not need you, I need that damn dragon!" Desdemona hissed angrily, causing the innocent girl to become teary-eyed and Aaliyah hated that girl, she detested everything about her at that moment.

"Unfortunately for them, I do not take no for an answer," Desdemona mumbled right before she raised her fist that had dark magic swirling around it, and Aaliyah frowned when the woman forced Bida to surface as if it were no big deal.

"I do not wish to talk to you, mate. Can we even call you that given the way you have been treating us?" Bida grumbled unhappily, crossing their arms as their diamond-like eyes glared at the woman before her and when the scene before her paused, Aaliyah glanced behind her at once.

Walking up to her with soundless steps was none other than her beloved dragon, Bida, and Aaliyah's tears started flowing as she roamed her yearning eyes over them longingly. She studied the shine in their diamond eyes, focused on the uncanny beauty of their pure white scales, and her lips lifted in awe as she studied the horns around their head that appeared to have formed a crown: as if nature wanted every other dragon to know who was above them all. Bida was easily the most magnificent dragon to have ever lived and Aaliyah was proud to be their human. They were the most powerful too because it was a miracle that they were alive, nobody could have ever survived living away from their other half for so long and both Aaliyah and Bida were thankful that their other half held onto whatever glimmer of hope and strength they could find.