IV
Memories

I woke up with a killer headache. What the hell did I drink last night? As I thought about it, all the memories came flashing into my mind like a movie. I brought my right hand up, looking at my healing scar. I had a dragon now, not any type of dragon either, a Red dragon. I looked around my surroundings and noticed I was in a bedroom.

The bed was comfortable to say the least, it looked newly remodeled. It had burgundy walls, turquoise furniture, including the headboard. A chandelier hung from the ceiling and gold accents throughout the room. There was a couch on my left side up against the wall, a few chairs here and there. A coffee table and two bedside tables. When I heard the knock, I ushered a come in and I was not expecting to see who I did.

"Queen Kardos," I said, sounding like a idiot, "I wasn't expecting you."

"And why is that? I'm your mother, I just wanted to make sure you were feeling better," She said, "And you don't have to call me mom but at least call me Astraea."

"How long have I been out and who's room did I take?" I asked him, ignoring the mom comment, again.

"This is a guest bedroom. Your room still has all your toddler things in it. I figured you'd want to remodel it once you came back," She sounded so exposed, "I can take you to your room and you can think about what you want to do with it." She suggested and I thought about it, it was just a room and maybe it would give me back some of my memories that he wiped clean.

"Give me an hour. I need a shower." I told her and she left my room, closing the door behind her. I rubbed my hands over my face, groaning into them. I told myself I would be strong and stay in that rental house because I could not betray my father like that. Astraea and Lucijan didn't raise me but it was a room, I could set it up as an office for now. Or maybe- I just needed to shower before I went down a spiral of thoughts that I wouldn't be able to get out of.

The warm water hit my back and I bit back a groan. My back was still sore from falling flat on it after connecting. Kígyó is her name, it seemed to roll off my tongue like it was a missing puzzle piece I've been looking for my entire life. I washed my hair, my face, and my body. After twenty minutes, I decided to get out. I dried myself off and combed my hair. I didn't care to dry it, I'll let it air dry.

I found some clothing in the dresser and pulled everything on. I found what seemed to be fighting leathers so I pulled on the entire outfit. It had seemed to have thigh harnesses for daggers, small harnesses all on the leathers to put your weapons, I found the boots to match, pulling those on as well. I looked in the mirror and almost didn't recognize who I was looking at. Who was I looking at? They were black leathers but they had blood-red trim throughout the entire outfit, including the boots.

Going out in this would mean... I'm declaring myself as the lost Prince, as Lucijan Kardos' son, as THE Pluto Zorán Kardos. I wasn't sure if I was ready for that or if my heart was ready for that. I took a deep sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose, take a deep breath and do it already. This wasn't betraying my father, this was taking hold of my birthright, and partially using my birthright. Now, I don't know if I could forgive them both so easily but that doesn't mean I couldn't take baby steps with them. I heard a knock on my door and opened it, it was my fath- Lucijan. I saw those blue eyes fill with tears and then a solid wall go over those ocean eyes.

"I didn't have any clean clothes and this was the first thing I found. Hope that's okay." I explained to my father and scratched the back of my neck. He nodded and handed me a small dagger, I grabbed it and holstered it into my right thigh.

"It's more than okay. Would you like to see your room now?" He asked me while placing a hand on my shoulder, and that touch had me playing memory in my head.

"This is the last one, right my love?" My father asked, looking at me from my crib. My mother flanked his side with a smile, her hand reaching out to cup my cheek. She nuzzled my nose with her own, a small giggle leaving my lips.

"For now, King Kardos. For now, till I decide what to do with you, having four children. What was I thinking?" She teased him and he laughed, a wide smile on his face.

"Pluto, you okay?" My father looked worried as I probably just zoned out.

"For now, till I decide what to do with you, having four children. What was I thinking?" I said and his eyes widened, then a sad smile reached his lips.

"I forgot," He took his hand off and I started to follow him to my old room, "When Nova came back home and Orion, any touch or any way I would phrase certain things, their memories would come back as well. I forgot this time you'll be getting your memories back."

"Do you regret it?" I asked him and he turned his head to look at me as we stopped in front of the closed door.

"Everyday." When he opened the doors, I got slapped with another memory.

"King Kardos, are you sure you want to do this? He won't remember you, his siblings," His supervisor told the King, "He won't remember his own mother." He said softly and the King looked to the man, a broken look on his face.

"Good. He won't have to live with the pain and truth that I do every day." Lucijan Kardos, the Ember King was crying. Soft, silent tears slid down his cheeks.

"And that would be?"

"That she's not coming back. That he has a sorry excuse for a father." The King spoke and crouched in front of his three-year-old son. He brushed a lock of hair out of his son's face, his light freckles a reminder of his greatest love that he has just lost. Pluto smiled at his father, reaching a hand up and wiping the tear away.

"Pa?"

"Pluto," His father cleared his throat, "I love you. You, your brother, and your sister are the greatest joys in my life. I need you to forgive me for this. I am lost. I am-" His father sighed, tears running down his face again, "I have lost my Mate. You will understand one day when you find yours. I hope you forgive me, that we'll unlock these memories together, and we'll be a family again. I love you so very much, Pluto Zorán. Don't you ever forget that, my little Ember."

I feel like I can't breathe as I watch from the background. I see myself as a toddler, my father, a hundred years younger but I can still see the pain on his face and the advisor that I don't remember. My father presses his marked palm to my forehead and starts to mutter draconei, the dragon language, as he no doubt uses the magic he shares with his dragon. His palm and the scar started to light up, and I could feel myself crying at this point. I couldn't help it and rushed up to my father, although I know that it was a memory and that my father wouldn't hear me I needed it in order to forgive him, to move on.

"Stop it, stop it, Dad!" I yelled and watched my father, still speaking draconic, crying through clenched teeth. "God! Why couldn't you just let us stay? We were- we were your children! I was your son!" I yelled, and I couldn't help my own tears. "I-I needed you. I needed m-my father." I sobbed and before I knew it, I was being thrown into another memory.

His mother was beautiful, there was no doubt in his mind about it. The way she could hold a room's attention, even with the other Kings in the room, Astraea Kardos could captivate a room with her smile. It was the annual King's ball, and the Kingdom of Red Blaze was hosting it this year. Pluto was barely a year old, his older siblings speaking and talking to the other children of different Kingdoms.

"Mrs. Kardos," A gentleman spoke, "Tell me, why would you marry a fool, like Lucijan Kardos?" One of the King's spoke, it was Mr. Naidu, King of the Baingani Storm Kingdom, where Purple dragons roamed.

Astraea laughed, a laugh that had her broad smile widening, and shaking her head. "I wanted cute kids." She shrugged, teasing her husband who held a hand over his heart, being a theatrical bastard that he was.

"And what does he know of your past? About your backstabbing bitch of a mother, and the sister she let die?" King Minjun Cha, Kingdom of Black Soul. Astraea whipped her head to him and her lips straightened into a thin line; the Queen, the Ember Queen, was here to protect. Pluto was being held on her hip and she quickly gave Pluto away to her sister-in-law.

"Who the fuck let you come? It wasn't enough to burn my Kingdom to ashes, but now you must come to a meeting that no one invited you to, to insult my mother? To speak of a truth that you know nothing about. Spoken like a true, Cha heir." Minjun's lips tightened and he bared his fangs at her. Astraea had no problem showing her fangs and the bloodthirsty smile, she kept just for him.

"I think it's time you go. Now." Her husband spoke up, a protective arm around her waist and they never looked so powerful except for that moment.

Pluto was so confused. The truth? What truth? He had a great aunt, and it was somehow connected to the Black Soul family? What the hell happened between the Kingdoms for this to happen? He always had the impression that it was over who had the strongest dragon but this just proved him wrong. He had to get to the bottom of it. Figure the truth out. Set the families straight, or he would never be able to be with his Mate, his Jaejin Cha.

"Astra, I'm not sure about this." Her worried husband frowned, watching his wife. Pluto was being strapped to his mother's chest as they both got on top of a silver dragon. Her silver dragon. Pluto was seeing the back of the dragon's neck and looked to see his father on the ground.

"I did it with the other two, Luci. We will be safe. Charys won't let anything happen to us," His mother consoled his father and his father nodded slowly, knowing that nothing was changing his very stubborn wife's mind. "If you are so worried, just follow us." She suggested and then grabbed the saddle bar. The saddle seemed to be a harness that laces itself under Charys' chest and belly. There were no reins but that was okay, dragon riders and dragons could speak to one another through their minds.

"Okay, Charys, wiap." Pluto recognized that word, it was the word Jaejin would mutter before taking off. It meant to fly. Obviously draconic. Charys took them to the summer sky, light and fluffy clouds scattered across the horizon. Pluto didn't know where to look, it felt so free.

"Look my son," His mother told him, pointing to the castle that looked so tiny from the sky, the open plains of the Kingdom, and the blue sky that they were gliding through. "When you come of age, you will be able to ride a dragon. When you do, nothing will beat the view, the feeling of her wings, and the feeling of being free." When they landed back into the pasture next to the dragon stables, she held Pluto up in the air so that their matching eyes met. "Save our family Pluto. Save your father, your brother, your sister," Her eyes were wide, "Save me. In the library, there is an ancient textbook called 'Uvelucal Livaij'," My brain translated it: Acid History, "Read the history. Save the families before it's too late. It's your destiny."

I wake up with my breath erratic. I'm scanning the room only to see that I'm in an infirmary type of room. When did I get here? My father sits by my side on the bed, looking at me with wide eyes.

"Pluto, are you okay?" He asks with worried eyes, and I nod slowly. I rub my temple with my hand and groan.

"What the hell happened?" I ask with a groan and cue my older brother walking in with my sister. My brother was sizing me up and my sister looked like she was enjoying herself.

"Well at first, you passed out," My father told me after clearing his throat. Orion folded his arms over his chest and my sister sat down next to my father in the other chair. "Then your body engulfed in flames. Imagine my surprise when I realized you weren't burning. Your brother-"

"Picked you up and brought you here. You didn't stop your flames for another hour. You have been asleep for two days. What happened." My brother interrogated me and I felt threatened. I looked up to my brother and barred my fangs at him.

"I don't have to tell you shit." I snapped at him and my brother got in my face, his fangs elongated and fire burning behind those blue eyes.

"You will tell me. What the fuck did you see? And how long have you been able to wield fire?" He asked and I gritted my teeth. He wasn't King yet, cocky fucker. I wrapped my hand around his throat and blasted him with my fire to the other end of the room.