Her Elemental Dragons: The Complete Series

After my tryst with Falon and Derel I found the library, while the men continued working in other rooms of the temple. At first all I could do was stare at the bookshelves lining every wall from floor to ceiling, full of dusty old tomes I couldn’t wait to crack open. Then I slowly stepped inside, examining a seating area on one side of the room and a small desk on the other with a giant flame carved into it. This was all for me, the High Priestess, I realized. Maybe I was meant to be a scholar of sorts after all.

A faded leather journal sat on top of the desk, covered in dust. I blew it off as I sat in the chair and then flipped the journal open, the pages making an audible crack as they moved for the first time in years. With my breath in my throat, I began to read.

My name is Ara and one day I’m going to be the next High Priestess.

Ara—my grandmother! Did she leave this here for me? No, she couldn’t have known I would come to the temple…but maybe she knew someone would.

For years the Dragons have been pressuring all the High Priestesses to step down. They’re scared of what we know. They’re afraid of what will happen if the Gods awaken.

My mother refuses to leave, of course, even though the Gods remain as dormant as this volcano. I’ve decided to record my thoughts in case something should happen to us, in the hopes that one day a future High Priestess will find it.

My mother said she didn’t know why Ara had left the temple and moved to Sparkport. Could this journal hold the key? Was it because of the Dragons?

I’d lived in fear of the Dragons all my life, as did everyone else with any sense. But the Dragons served the Gods alongside the priests—didn’t they? Why would they be afraid if the Gods woke? I had much to learn, obviously. Yet the Fire God remained silent.

I intended to read the journal cover to cover to learn about my grandmother’s life and my role here, but for now I skipped to the very last entry, desperate to know why she’d left the temple.

Once I turned twenty I was supposed to leave the temple and find four priests who would become my mates. Instead I let the Crimson Dragon seduce me, much to my mother’s dismay. She says he did it as a way to ruin me, and I suppose she might be right. If so, his plan worked—because I am pregnant.

I sat back and rested a hand over my racing heart. Gods, was I the granddaughter of the Crimson Dragon? Sark was the most ruthless and brutal Dragon of them all, even though he served the Fire God and ostensibly protected the Fire Realm and led our armies. I’d only seen him a few times when he’d come to check on Sparkport to instill fear in us, and he had been quite handsome, especially for someone hundreds of years old. But I’d also heard rumors that he burnt down the houses of anyone he suspected of conspiring against the Dragons. How could my grandmother sleep with him?

I forced myself to keep reading the final entry.

Sark took advantage of me when I was young, lonely, and foolish…and now I’ll never be able to convince four men to become my mates. Not when I am carrying another man’s child—especially the Crimson Dragon’s. I suspect that was his plan all along, to prevent me from becoming High Priestess, though now he has abandoned me, claiming the child cannot be his because he is loyal to the Black Dragon. No doubt she would punish all of us if she found out he had sired a child with someone else, which is why I must keep this secret to my grave.

My mother says that one day the Fire God will awaken and the next Black Dragon will be crowned. I’d hoped that I would be the High Priestess at the time, but Valefire remains silent and the Dragons continue to rule. I can no longer hold onto the hope that the Fire God will return from his slumber during my lifetime, and have decided to leave the temple and return to Sparkport to raise my child among my cousins. Perhaps it is for the best, as I find my faith lacking these days and have become a disappointment to my mother and those in the temple.

I can only pray that one of my descendants will find their way back to this temple when the Fire God awakens to carry out our divine mission, even though I have failed as High Priestess. If that is who is reading this, please accept my apology for not preparing you better. I had no idea if this day would ever come, but I trust you will make the Fire God proud.

And remember this above all else: we serve the Gods, not the Dragons.

I reread her words over and over as I absorbed everything she’d written. I was descended from both the High Priestess and the Crimson Dragon. I’d always thought the Dragons served the Gods, but it seemed there was some conflict between them. Now that the Fire God had awakened, would the Dragons become our enemies?

Falon appeared in the doorway, breathing quickly. “Calla, there’s something you need to see.”

“What is it?”

“The Dragons are coming.”