28. Kaida

After leaving Blaze on his knees, the smell of salt and savory bacon lured her into the kitchen. Kaida wore a smug smile as she crossed the threshold of the kitchen, knowing that she could leave Blaze helpless and horny at the same time. After months of him pushing her buttons, denying what he felt, and trying to cause chaos in her life, he deserved to know that she was in charge. Maybe this would be their thing. Tension until they couldn’t handle it anymore.

If that is the case, I will have to watch myself in public around him.

There are worse things.

The rest of her men were in the kitchen, all staffing stations, so they could prepare enough food to feed an army. After being in captivity and fighting for her life, Kaida’s stomach growled the further she stepped near the food. There was a cinnamon and vanilla scent that she couldn’t place until she saw a humongous stack of perfectly browned pancakes on a serving plate. The savory, meaty aroma of sausage filled her nose as she heard sizzling inside a pan. Arlo was manning the stove, and she could see him moving his arm back and forth as he fried the sausage. Beckett was grabbing different condiments from the refrigerator and cabinets. She saw a ketchup, hot sauce, and syrup container in his hand. Esen was in another cabinet, pulling out plates to serve the food. Beckett was putting a cloth onto the table with help from Enzo. The table could seat eight people, so it was perfect for them to be able to eat together.

For as long as Kaida lived here, she noticed none of them had ever eaten at this table. She never asked why that was but felt it was due to not having their parents around, so they never felt like a true family. Now that all of them were bonded to each other and her, maybe they finally felt like a family, and it was time to use the table. It made Kaida’s heart swell with happiness at the thought.

I brought them closer together. They may have felt like brothers before, but now they actually feel like family.

Kaida rushed over to Esen and helped him with the plates. He lost his balance after reaching for the top shelf to get his wanted plates. She pressed her hand on his back to keep him steady. It must have worked because he grabbed the plates and easily pulled them down.

"Thanks. I thought I was going to drop these."

"Not a problem."

Kaida looked down at the plates and noticed the pattern of swirls of the elements on the outer rim. Flames for fire, water droplets for water, vines for earth, and yellow swirls to signify air. The craftsmanship of the plates was remarkable. They were perfectly circular and even. The plates in the castle were nice but not nearly as beautiful as the ones in her hands. Kaida smiled at the plates and felt the wave of admiration Esen had for these plates.

"My mom and Arlo’s mom made these in a pottery class they took. The shop is still open, and the owner always mentions that our mothers were his best students. No one has made a set of plates and bowls like the ones they did," His voice was soft, and she could hear the pain in his voice from yearning to see his mom one last time.

"They are beautiful. I don’t think I’ve seen a set like this, even in the castle. Maybe close to this, but these look almost perfect."

"Yeah. Arlo’s mom constructed the plates the most. Her affinity for earth made it easy for her to work the clay. My mom made the bowls, and they both painted them. But I haven’t seen anything like theirs either."

"Why are you bringing them out for us to eat on then? I’d hate for one of us to drop one."

Arlo chuckled. "You can try to break them, but you can’t. My mom made them unbreakable with her magic. That’s another reason why Enki still talks about it."

"You’ll have to take me there someday."

They grinned at her, but neither conveyed their feelings about the subject to her. They would take her, but it might be too painful for them to enjoy it. She kicked herself for bringing up wanting to go to the shop as she opened a drawer to grab silverware while Esen walked over to the table to begin setting it.

Blaze stepped into the room, and Kaida was relieved that the energy shifted to him instead of remaining on the conversation that killed the mood. His eyes caught hers, and the smirk he wore lit a fire inside of her before he winked. Kaida growled at him before going to the table to finish what Esen started by adding the silverware.

"We’re glad to see you home, bro," Beckett called out while he set the condiments on the table.

"It’s Good to be home. Even better, my mind is cleared of everything. God knows I needed that shower."

The guys gave him a sympathetic look but did not press Blaze to discuss it. Kaida saw his state while in the cell next to him. It was smart not to ask him about it. They all needed to let him choose when or if he wanted to go into detail. She remembered they told her how the people who went berserk reacted when they were questioned about it. There was a lot of shame and anxiety around what they did, and most of them shut down when talking about it.

That isn’t what Blaze needs right now.

Blaze pulled back a chair and plopped himself into it. "You don’t need to walk on eggshells around me. Yeah, I remember everything that happened. But it wasn’t me. I couldn’t control it at all. I didn’t hurt anyone, so that’s all that matters. There are bigger things we need to discuss. Come on. Let’s eat so we can get to the details."

Kaida looked at the others, shrugged her shoulders, and did the same. Arlo and Enzo brought the food as Beckett and Esen found their seats. Blaze chose to be at the right of the head of the table, and Kaida chose to be at the head. Beckett was to her left, Enzo was to the right of Blaze, Esen was to his right, and Arlo chose to be to the left of Beckett.

"Why breakfast? The sun is going to set soon," Blaze asked the guys.

Arlo said while grabbing a pancake from the plate, "It’s the Quickest and easiest to put together, and we know you love breakfast."

"Why is it about me?"

"It’s not. Just a happy coincidence," Beckett told him while grabbing a couple of sausages.

Kaida watched Blaze narrow his eyes before settling on piling food onto his plate. He didn’t believe a word they said but left it alone. He looked at her with a piece of bacon near his mouth.

"Fine. You’re up, Princess. You’re gonna be able to explain everything better than me. I’m still foggy on the specifics, and they need to know what the bonds did to your magic."

The guys snapped their attention to Kaida; she wanted to smack Blaze for it. "Nice. Let’s just drop that bomb on them. Ugh. Okay. I’ll explain everything the best I can."

Kaida started with them being in the cage, and Blaze tried to break through it. It was interesting as she looked back on it that she was able to bring Blaze back from the Dark Dimension and Gemar’s power. It felt like it was more on instinct than anything. The guys stared at her and would sneak glances at Blaze the more she talked.

"You were able to bring him back through the bonds?" Beckett asked her.

"Yeah, it was the craziest thing. Because of his flame inside the bonds, I could see exactly what was happening. All I had to do was focus enough, and I could pull out everything affecting him."

"So, basically, if there is anything wrong with us, you will be able to tell through our flames?" Enzo asked.

Kaida shrugged. " I don’t know, maybe. This is all still so new. Was there anything like this in the textbooks that you read?"

Beckett shook his head. " Nothing like this was mentioned."

Kaida then launched into the next part of the story, where she broke the warding, and Blaze’s flames were enhanced enough to burn through the metal. The guys didn’t have anything to ask or add to this. They mostly agreed that it seemed plausible for him to be able to do that since the bonds had been doing weird things with their magic. Blaze laughed at them when they agreed to that.

"Fellas, you have no idea. Wait until you hear what happened next."

Kaida sighed. "Okay. So, after Blaze burned through the bars and got into my cell, we completed the bond. There was this weird silvery light, and I was knocked out for a bit. We didn’t know what it meant until we tried to escape and ran into Gemar. At first, all of our magic was working like normal. He was trying to say he would keep me there and break the bonds with everyone. I think we both noticed the window to the courtyard and thought the same thing. That’s when Gemar said he would keep me there, and my instinct was to attack. My magic was… different."

"Different, how?" Enzo asked her.

Kaida looked at Blaze for a way to explain it. He looked at the others. "She used Enzo’s magic. It was Storm magic mixed into her own."

Enzo’s mouth dropped open, but he quickly collected himself. "How is that possible?"

Beckett straightened himself in his seat. "The silver that links us all inside the bond. It’s connecting us in ways other bonds don’t."

It looked like a lightbulb went off in Arlo’s eyes. "The silver is another layer of magic. It can feed our magic into Kaida as her power has bled into us. Her power amplified Blaze’s magic, and that’s how he could burn through the metal even though it was warded. Then it allowed Kaida to use Enzo’s magic with her own."

Enzo followed his thoughts. "Plasmas were considered so dangerous. Not because they could mate with each type of dragon. It’s because of their power and ability to combine magic to become more powerful. That kind of magic means Kaida is a powerhouse, which explains why they were always on the throne when they were around. Who can contend with that? Her magic can melt away scales and defeat any opponent."

"Your father wanted it to be just me and you so other Plasmas could be made. He thinks that he would be able to control Plasmas like you control anyone else. He doesn’t know that Plasma is not one of the kinds that his gift could control," Kaida told them. I don’t think he ever realized that he could never control me. My Dragon’s power overrode his."

"I swear he is an intelligent man. However, he isn’t showing it right now. How can he keep thinking that this will work out for him? It’s like he believes he is untouchable. I get that he is the king of Storm Dragons. The only Storm Dragon that has more power than him is me. I never let on that I could wipe the floor with him because I knew better. He always had this arrogance, and I knew if I showed him, I could take him on in a fight, it would only cause him to kill me. I knew he always wanted to remain in control, but I did not think he would become this."

"You mean a power-hungry overlord who will stop at nothing to eradicate anyone threatening his throne?" Blaze said with a smug smile.

Kaida could see that Enzo wanted to say something smart back, but it was useless. What Blaze said was too accurate for him to fight.

"Gemar planned to keep us under his thumb with his power. His arrogance blinded him to believe he would still have it, even when we took the throne. We would have been his puppets. He just didn’t know that my dragon is immune to things like that, and it spreads into my mates, too."

"That isn’t the only thing he is arrogant about," Blaze said amusingly as he sipped a glass of orange juice.

They all looked at him, but Kaida raised an eyebrow. "Something you need to add?"

"Oh, yeah. You finally got to the good part, where I have the missing piece of information that everyone needs."

Kaida crossed her arms over her chest, tilting her head and giving him a look. "Well, go on then."

"I guess your power already seeped into me well before I was captured because I remember hearing a command about forgetting our conversation. He droned on and on about how we would never see it coming. He thinks he can jump on us by completing a surprise attack. He said that once he had both of us locked up, he could sever the bonds from Kaida to weaken her. That way, when he came here to attack, it wouldn’t be something we would expect because he never comes here, and you all would be weak from the bonds being severed."

Enzo jumped out of his seat and slammed his hands on the table. "He is coming here? When?"

Blaze narrowed his eyes at Enzo. "He wanted to do it after he severed the bonds, remember? I don’t know when now. His plan was messed up, so now I don’t know what he would do."

Beckett grabbed his plate from the table. "We need to round everyone up. We need to prepare for an attack at any moment. Let’s clean this up."

Kaida groaned. "Why am I not allowed to sleep? I need to sleep. Just because I was knocked out doesn’t mean I got any restful sleep!"

Blaze smirked at her. "I’m with you. Those four can handle rounding up everyone willing to keep this island safe. We must rest so our magic and power won’t fail us if they come tonight."

Esen looked around, and Kaida could see that the others were about to protest. Esen lifted his arms and waved his hands to get everyone’s attention: "They are right. They’ve been through more than we can imagine and need to rest. We can handle things from here. If the attack doesn’t come tonight, we can set up patrols around the island to have a heads-up and rest, too."

The rest of the guys groaned and growled but reluctantly agreed.

"We will set everything up and then come back here," Beckett told them.

Then Kaida realized something. "What about the women and children? Where can they go?"

"There is a bunker they can go to. It’s kind of an underground building. We will ensure all of them are there by sundown," Arlo answered before scraping some uneaten food into the trash. "Go to bed, Kaida. We will need you at full strength if he does attack."

"I know, I’m going."

Kaida slowly walked up the stairs with Blaze in tow. He didn’t make an advance on her like he did earlier and let her walk to her room. She thought he would join her, but he walked past her to his room. She felt hurt that he wanted to be alone, so she put her hand on the doorknob.

"I’m not joining you because we wouldn’t be sleeping if I did. We can revisit what happened in those cells when this is all over. It shouldn’t have been rushed. First times never should. It would have been different if we weren’t there, and I’d had time to do it right."

Kaida looked down the hall at him. His eyes were on hers, and his gaze made her feet curl. "I don’t know if I would have wanted it to be different. It was kind of fitting."

"Doesn’t matter. I’ll still show you what it is like to be with me properly when this is all over. For now, I’m just happy I got my head out of my ass."

Kaida laughed. "Me too."

"Don’t let me forget it. I don’t deserve to be easily forgiven. I was a dick, and I have a lot to make up for."

"No, you-"

"Yes, I do. Don’t let me forget what I did for a while. If you do, I know the others will step in. I’d rather it be you."

With that, Blaze walked into his room and shut the door. She looked at the space where he stood, knowing that their bond would be vastly different from that of the others, and she was okay with that.

I just need this to be over so I can live out my days in peace...if there is such a thing.