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A full month had crawled by, each day a grueling marathon of bitter recovery and academic obsession. It was finally Graduation Day,the pinnacle of Kaelan's mortal efforts,but the sky over the university was not celebrating. It was a weeping, bruised purple, dumping a relentless, cold rain that turned the graduation gowns into heavy, sodden capes of misery.
Kaelan stood under a stone archway, clutching his diploma folder with white knuckled intensity. He felt terrible. For the past three days, the unexplainable sickness had returned with a vengeance. He felt a strange, pulsing weight in his abdomen, a phantom sensation of fullness that made his stomach turn at the smell of the cafeteria's coffee. His phantom pregnancy symptoms,though he still lacked the memory to truly name them,were making him livid.
"I'm not sick. I'm just... over studied," Kaelan muttered to himself, his black panther ears flat and hidden beneath his mortarboard cap. "I hope the person who designed these gowns gets a permanent rash. I hope this rain turns into vinegar."
But beneath the sarcastic surface, Kaelan was vibrating. His soul felt like a tuned string that someone was plucking. For the first time in weeks, the secret seed buried deep within him the golden spark Ignis had sealed,was beginning to glow. It wasn't painful, but it was restless. It was reacting to a scent in the air. A Draconic scent.
He scanned the crowd of parents and students, his slit pupils sharpening. That was when he saw her.
A small girl, no older than seven, wearing a bright yellow raincoat that stood out like a sore thumb against the grey stone. It was Kehlani, the daughter of Zadkiel. She was sneaking behind a row of ceremonial hedges, clutching a handful of jars that smelled suspiciously of Draconic stink glass,vials designed to shatter and release a scent that would force any shifter into an uncontrollable, public frenzy.
She was trying to destroy his big day. She was trying to out him as a "beast" in front of the entire faculty.
Kaelan didn't call the police. He didn't scream. He simply limped over,his gait still slightly uneven from the exhaustion of his secret history and intercepted her behind the hedge.
Smack.
It wasn't a hard blow, just a gentle, firm smack to the top of her head with his rolled up diploma.
"Ow!" the girl squeaked, dropping her jars into the mud. She spun around, her iridescent scales shimmering faintly under her hood as she saw the jaded, fearless glare of the Panther.
"You're a very bad spy," Kaelan said, his voice a dry, irritated rasp. "Your mother has terrible taste in minions. Do you have any idea how much this gown cost to rent? If you break those jars, I'm going to make you scrub the quad with a toothbrush."
Kehlani stared at him, her eyes welling with enormous, crystalline tears. The reality of being caught by the "scary cat" her mother had ranted about finally hit her. She let out a pathetic, hitching sob, her small shoulders shaking as she began to sniffle weakly.
"I-I just... Mama said... she said you were mean!" the girl sobbed, hiding her face in her yellow sleeves.
Kaelan rolled his eyes, a classic look of exasperated fury crossing his face. "Your mama is a livid, narcissistic lizard who needs a hobby. Now stop leaking on my shoes. It's graduation, not a funeral."
But then, something shifted.
As Kaelan stood over her, the secret seed in his belly flared with a sudden, warm radiance. It recognized the bloodline. Even though Kehlani was Zadkiel's daughter, she carried the scent of the Dragon Realm,the scent of home that the seed was craving.
The girl stopped sobbing and looked up. She blinked, her nose wrinkling as she smelled the golden essence radiating off Kaelan. To her, he no longer smelled like a rival; he smelled like a protector. He smelled like the King.
Suddenly, Kehlani lunged forward, wrapping her small arms around Kaelan's waist. She became instantly sticky, clinging to his graduation gown with a grip like iron.
"Hey! Get off!" Kaelan barked, his short temper flaring. "You're getting mud on me! I'm a graduate! I have dignity!"
But the girl wouldn't let go. She buried her face in his hip, her sniffling turning into a contented, quiet purr. "Warm," she whispered. "You feel like the sun."
Kaelan froze. He felt a wave of relaxed calm wash over him, the sickness in his stomach settling into a gentle hum. His irritation remained he was still Kaelan, after all,but the deadly edge of his anger seemed to melt in the presence of the child's tiny, Draconic heat.
"This is weird," Kaelan muttered, looking around to make sure no one saw him being cuddled by a random dragon child. "You're a sticky, annoying little reptile. I hope you know I'm still reporting your mother to the housing board."
He reached down and awkwardly patted her head, his panther ears twitching under his cap. "Fine. You can stay for the ceremony. But if you try to blow my cover again, I'm telling everyone you're a salamander."
Meanwhile, in the Deep Wells, Ignis sat in his chains.
The guards had just finished a round of lightning, but Ignis was beaming. He could feel it. The seed had reacted. Kaelan had encountered a dragon, and instead of killing it, he was... nurturing it?
Ignis let out a soft, manic laugh that echoed through the prison.
That's my Kaelan, he thought, his heart swelling with obsessive pride. Even with his memory sealed, he can't help but be the center of the world. Two hundred and eighty-nine years to go... I wonder if the kid will have his sharp tongue.
Back in the rain, Kaelan walked toward the stage to receive his honors, a small, weeping dragon-child trailing behind him like a devoted shadow. He felt sick, he felt irritated, and he felt a vague sense of loss ,but for the first time in a month, he didn't feel alone.