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When Abby caughtto make her feel uncomfortable, I turned my attention back to Caleb

"How did you learn to play ht myself"

"Seriously?"

"I’m not sure why you’re surprised I’ve had a lot of downtio to school when you were younger?"

"Yes The local town school, until the age of about thirteen Then I joined ineer… His drea the faround I slipped ain to relieve Ashley and Landis, I let Caleb lead hts and noise We walked in silence and stopped again once ere far away enough forCaleb doithup at the dark sky

After a pause, I turned my head toward Caleb "Does this island feel any more like hoht, he nodded "It does… After the battle we just fought side by side, it would be hard not to feel camaraderie for the people of this island"

I reached out and brushedforward to kiss his lips

"You are part of this island," I said "Part of this family This place wouldn’t feel complete without you now"

I held his hand and rested it over h I couldn’t deny that this wedding had ine what it would be like to one day wed Caleb I could al there at the head of the aisle, watching h my father’s It ain when a wave of shouts broke through our peace We sat up and looked back toward the crowd Theout toward the sea I followed their gaze and gasped as I finally sahat they saw

A horde of one hundred dragons, racing toward us in the distance Although I knew they caht of theons and their prince had returned

Just in tions were headed straight for the Port Caleb and I lost no tireet them Others were less enthusiastic They reons drew closer and closer My parents broke free froe of the jetty My ons had crossed the boundary now--I could only assume that Mona had cast a spell upon Jeriad and his co thein to e scales of Jeriad, and the grey-blue body of Ridan I also spotted several others who had accoht in the center of the croas a dragon larger than any I had seen before He had piercing a scales were pitch black laced with gold I had thought that Jeriad was intinificent creature made him pale in comparison There was no doubt in my mind that this was the prince

The horde soared over our heads and began to touch down in the clearing behind the port Their landing was so deft and skillful, the ground barely shook A strong wind built up around the area as theirwas in no way large enough to hold all of the dragons, so as their feet hit the ground, they changed into their hu space for the others to land Caleb, , and waited at the border until each of them had transformed My eyes roamed the crowd of virileto find hi them With locks of thick dark hair that touched his sculpted shoulders, he retained his bright amber eyes He wore a silken black cloth draped over his deep tan chest and his teeth were pearly white as he exchanged a ith Neros Complete with a chiseled jawline, he looked like soest just the two of us approach first"

He held out a hand I let go of Caleb and took it We left hi toward the dragons

The prince stepped forith Jeriad As we approached within a few feet of them, my father and I stopped Now that ere closer, I could see that the prince was alht The prince’s eyes left ripping his hand in a firm shake

The prince nodded slowly

"How do you like to be addressed?" my father asked

"You can call

"This is Derek Novak," Jeriad said, "fire-wielder and king of this island" He gestured toward hter, Rose Novak, the maiden we had coaze as he looked directly at rip around htened