VII
Lost

Lucijan

I watch my son and his dragon drop into the forest on the outer edge of my territory. I yell and fly down to the forest. Pluto, Pluto, Pluto, is all I can chant and think about in my blood. I can't lose him again, I can't lose my son. I lost him once and I refused to lose him this time around, I wasn't strong enough back then but now, now I will do anything for him.

'Find them.' I tell Kos in Draconei and he grunts. He starts to sniff and track my son, along with his daughter. Kos roars and I run towards his voice. I see Pluto wrapped up in Kigyó's wings, and it makes me feel relief. Joy. I run towards them and grab Pluto from her clutches. I lay him on the ground and rested him against a large boulder.

"Pluto, son," I woke him up and he looked at me with dazed eyes. "Yeah show me those eyes. There you go, are you okay? Does anything hurt?"

"I-I don't think so. Dad, I'm tired," He muttered and was falling back asleep. I looked at his head and didn't see any bleeding. No other injuries, no major bleeding. "Just let me sleep-" I felt two thuds, dragon thuds. I turned around to see Orion and Nova landing on their dragons, hopping off of them the moment their feet touched the ground. Astraea was behind Nova on Charys, I'm guessing they felt the large thud into the ground when Kígyó crash landed.

"What the hell happened?" Orion roared and I chuckled, even in times of crisis, nice to know that Kardos's temper didn't fade.

"Pluto got shot down. Check Kigyó for any wounds. Pluto seems fine, just banged up. I was going to let him rest while we figured out what the hell is going on." I ordered my two children and Nova went to the other side of the dragon to check for injuries. Astraea was glued to Pluto's side the moment she got on her feet, checking for any injuries and brushing his hair out of his face.

"There's an arrow here, Dad," I hear Nova and walk towards the back, she breaks the arrow and pulls both of the sides out. She sniffs the arrow and groans. "Dad, we need to get them both out now. This arrow is poison, and it's fast working. You need to get Pluto home to make sure he didn't get any nicks of it." Nova explained to me and I gritted my teeth.

"Who would want to hurt Pluto? Does the Kingdom know of Pluto?" Orion asked me and I nodded, cursing under my breath.

"The Court thought that it would be smart to let the papers know that the Lost Prince is found. The papers ran early this morning-" I hear the wind and I hear the arrow flying through it. "Down!" I yell and watch all my kids duck, watching the arrows fly above our heads, where our heads would've been if I hadn't been listening.

"Remind me, to add this to the list." Orion growled and Nova laughed, covering her mouth.

"List?" I ask him and Orion looks at me with the biggest shit-eating grin.

"My list, reasons to get rid of the old farts when I become King." He says and I laugh as well. I can even hear my mate's laughter, she wasn't a very big fan of them either. If only I could've done the same. They are a bunch of power-hungry bastards, but well enough they do take care of the people. I look over at Pluto, who is sound asleep along with his dragon. Son. I need to get him out of here, now.

"We need to get Kigyó. Kos, go grab a garbia." I told Kos to go grab a net and watch him fly off into the sky.

"King Kardos," I hear a yell and look behind the trunk of the tree, there's a man standing in the middle of the forest. A sinister smile on his face, "I want to talk. Just me, and my lovely King." He says and I look over to my son, my mate holding him. She has her arms wrapped around him, and I can see the worry all over her. Our family was just put back together. This couldn't be happening. Not all over again.

"Reach around. Eyes up in the trees. Follow my orders," I whispered and walked into the middle of the forest. 6 feet away from the man. There are lines on his forehead, and around his eyes. He's old, older than me, possibly my father's age if my father was still around. "I am at a loss, you seem to know my name but I don't know yours."

"Enough chit-chat. We know of the prophecy and we don't need that fag-" The growl that escapes my throat is loud enough to cut him off. Fire burns at my fingertips and it's weird, I haven't felt my fire burn that hot since I lost the children, since I lost my wife.

"You watch how you talk about my son. It's Prince Pluto, to you." I snap at him and not being afraid to show him my very sharp fangs.

"You know the prophecy, Lucijan Kardos. We don't need your son trying to do the impossible. No love is worth living side to side with those traitorous bastards. We didn't mind much when your father had us live side by side with the Silverians, but I will never, ever, stand next to a Soulian. I promise that." He barked and I tried to calm my breathing and my fire.

"That prophecy is 110 years old. Nobody knows when that prophecy will ever come to life. You have no idea if it is Pluto. You don't get to shoot down my son and think I would ever be okay with that!"

"Ever since you lost Mrs. Kardos, we don't know you, anymore!" He yells and I grit my teeth. I watch Nova and Orion jump down. Subduing his traitorous friends, tying them up as I keep his attention.

"I lost my Mate, of course, I am not the same King," I snap at him and growl. "I had to give my children off because I was not going to bring them down with me! I lost the love of my life, lost the light of my three children, I am not the same King, I am the Ember King, and I am the King of my people." I tell him and watch Orion kick him in the back of his knees. Nova ties his wrists together and I grit my teeth.

"Light of my three children? Did you go all soft on me, old man?" Orion asks with a smile and I squint my eyes at him.

"I can still torch you, ya know. Son or not. Get them to the Castle now, both of you. I want them both in the holding cell before its too late." I ordered with a snap of my fingers. "Then I need one of you to come back so we can get Kigyó on the net and get her back to the doctor. Then we'll get Pluto over there, but if that poison moves fast, hurry it up. I don't care how fast you go as long as they stay on." I snapped and they followed my orders, for once. I watch Orion and Nova take up to the sky, the prisoners being held in each paw of their dragon. There was four in total, one being held in front right paw and left paw.

I ran over to Pluto again, cradling his face in my hands. He was asleep. Still sound asleep. I couldn't lose him like I lost his mother. Although she's back by some miracle, those 14 years were horrible. I refuse to be the downfall of my family, again. Maybe Pluto is cursed, every damn castle he has been in just dissapoints him. His freckles remind me of Astraea and when he opens his eyes, he reminds me of me. Curious, yet confident eyes. He also reminds me of my Mate when his attitude but can't help but come out. The way he walks and talks also reminds me of my Astraea. I hear the two other kids land and we are quick. We have Kos push Kigyó onto the netting, Kos grabs one end while Charys, my wife's silver dragon was now Nova's dragon, grabs onto the other side of the net. I hope Nova bonded with her own soon.

"Okay get them out of here, and lets hurry it up so we can get Pluto home." Orion says and talks to both of the dragons in deep draconei, "Get Kigyó to the stables. Careful. I will be right behind you both." He speaks and I watch the two dragons fly up in the air while holding carefully onto the net that carries Kigyó to safety. I watch Orion climb onto his red dragon, Nyíl, also one of Kos' kin. "Hegan." He yells and I watch them fly into the sky, right behind the other two. Its just Nova, Astraea, Pluto, and I left in the forests of Red Blaze.

"Nobody knew you guys were coming here, I thought?" Nova asked and I nodded.

"I told the Court but thats because I have to tell them of my every move, especially if I'm riding Kos out more than a few miles." I explained to her and arch an eyebrow. "You think the Court has a rat?" I asked her, I guess I should've thought of that but it would explain a lot more.

"I'll look into it when we get back to the Castle, Dad." She smiles and I'm reeling at it. It's Astraea's mouth and teeth, a smile I would always get when she was onto something. I loved it. I get interrupted when I hear Pluto to start coughing.

"Pluto babe." My mate murmurs, cradling his face. I look down at him and those blue eyes look blown, along with his regular pale skin looks even more ghostly.

"Dad, something's wrong." He tells me and I look at him with a confused look. I scan his body once again, and that's when I see it. That's when my world comes crashing down. When it feels like I can't breathe, how it felt when Astraea was taken from me. The poisonous arrow sticks out from Pluto's thigh.