Hidden Flame: Bound to the Triplet Dragon Kings

**Avery**

This is insane. All of this is insane. I locked my door and rested my back against it. I could hear The Trio quietly talking in

the hallway on the other side of my door, but I couldn’t make out what. They were happy and excited no matter what

they were discussing. They all want me to forgive them but Cassius. He wants to prove himself. Should I let him?

Not thinking, I throw open my door. “What am I to you?” In unison, they said, “Mate.” I abruptly slammed and locked my

door before I pressed my forehead to it. Mate? How? Oh, fucking god! I pulled out all of the historical books in my room

and some of my romance books too because some truth always lies in fiction if you are willing to read between the lines.

In my human history book, there is a section on mythology. In Babylonian myths, Tiamat was the goddess of all dragons

and she was believed to bring chaos and violence as well as create monsters. What if she didn’t bring those things but was created from them? Next, I found an example in Chinese culture. There was a woman named Longmu. She and those

dragons that she bonded to are believed to have created devotion and parental love. I wonder if she is the one

responsible for the mating bond. I picked up a romance book called The Flame. I rented it by accident because it is about

dragons.

Shakily, I began to turn the pages and read. In this fictional book, the female lead never knew who her parents were. She

was found as an infant near death along the shore of a frozen river by an elderly dragon woman. She raised the girl as

her own. The girl had a strange mark on her right hip. It turned out that the mark was from a royal lineage of dragons

dating back to their creation.

of my clothes. After turning on all of my lights, I grabbed a hand mirror and walked into

where I proceeded to look over every inch of my body. None of my scars remained except for the

dragon’s clawed handprint on my back but instead of jagged

resembled a pattern…a dragon’s mark. Maybe my nightmares of that day in the forest when I was

it marked me. But why? I

search my body. I have looked everywhere except between my legs. I sit on my toilet seat

the mirror. On the inside of my upper right thigh is an iridescent triquetra with a

shattered

am not alone

hurt?” Cassius asks as he rushes to me

falling onto the shards as I grab the shower curtain in an effort to cover myself.

a hand towel from my rack and

covered his eyes. “Avery, let me help. I won’t look, I swear,”

scooped me up and carried me to my bed.

to kill me. But it wasn’t Cassius who carried me,

am taking a huge leap of faith in allowing

things along the way to my bed. He gently laid me down as

me that

the full experience. You won’t

else. Happy reading!

take his wrists and guide his hands to where the shards are protruding from

the others come in. “Either get the fuck out or close your fucking eyes,” he yells in

return with their eyes covered. Conner fumbles around but Clint seems at home

need you to guide my hands over where they were once more,”

palms. I did as he asked.

what I read and what I saw. “Avery, we need

intimate areas. “I am trusting all of you, don’t make me regret it.” Without hesitation, they all nodded and fell to their knees at the foot of my bed. I inched closer and they clasped