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The Healer closes the journal and sets it aside. She knows now what he did and she is not sure she can counter it. He used blood magic and encoded her mark so that every time she touches it, her body wants the wizard and the beast with such ferocity that she can hardly see anything else. On top of that, it sends a deep pleasure chasing it so that she has a chemical rush making her want to touch it again to start the cycle over. Even with him gone it is still there, still making her want him, and giving her such pleasure it would be hard for anyone to stop.

She watches Trillia as she works in the garden and her hand rises almost touching her shoulder. She looks like she is trying to catch her breath. The Healer imagines this is probably the longest she has gone without touching it and Trillia is visibly shaking. She watches as she loses the fight and her hand rubs over it.

Trillia wants to cry when she realizes what she has done and then the pleasure rocks through her so hard and so fast it brings her to her hands and knees. She can see them, Janthor and the beast, images are flashing in her mind of all the pleasure they ever gave to her. She is choking on it.

"Trillia..." The Healer is standing above her and then kneeling down beside her, taking her into her arms and holding her, rocking her. "Breathe, Trillia. Change your focus, look out and find a tree, cloud, or plant to draw your attention away from it.”

Trillia cannot stop the shaking that is moving through her body. Maybe if she shifts. She gets up from the Healer and moves to the field beside the garden and calls to her dragon. She shifts swiftly not letting herself linger in that between place that Janthor loved so much.

She flies up into the sky. She cannot remember the last time she flew. She feels the air currents, moving and gliding with them. She banks and comes back around, landing in the field. She shifts as her paws touch the ground and her body feels better, stronger, and more alive. That is what her dragon does for her, makes her feel whole.

"Are you alright, Trillia?" Benoria walks over to her. She had been close by but had not wanted to interfere.

A smile lights Trillia's face that reaches all the way up into her eyes. "Yes, I know what my body needs, what I've forgotten." She pulls Benoria into a hug wanting to tell her the truth, finally.

"We're sisters."

"Yes, I feel that strong connection to you as well."

"No, I mean we are truly sisters."

"What are you talking about, Trillia?" Benoria's brow furrows.

Trillia looks at the Healer and she walks over to join them.

"There are times when babies are brought and dropped off on family's doorsteps, it happens periodically. I didn't know who was dropping off the babies, or didn't until I read the journal. He talks about the Sorceress; he was obsessed with her, even more than he was with Trillia. But the sorceress never wanted anyone but the dragons and it drove him to do such atrocities. He probably wasn't a madman though until he tried to change himself, and failed, ensuring she would never be with him. He talked about knowing she would get pregnant every time she had one of the dragons stay with her. A while after they left he would watch for the babies. Then he made note of where they were and he went back to many of them. He befriended them, talked them into coming with him and once he had them in his castle, he did all kinds of experiments on them, even taking their blood to create better potions. He started using blood magic during that time from what he wrote in his journal. So yes, you are sisters."

Benoria turns to Trillia. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wasn't ready to talk about any of it yet."

"We're all sisters?" She thinks back to the dungeon cell and the night she was drugged with the cream and locked in the cell with, with one of her sisters. She runs over to the bushes and throws up. She wipes her mouth on the back of her arm. It was the cream, it would not have mattered if she knew as she could not have stopped what happened. It is not her fault but she shivers, knowing what she has done.

Trillia comes up to her and wraps her arms around her. Even though she didn't have memory of before, she and Benoria had grown close over the last few months. Maybe because she is the one link, though small, that she can remember from before. "Are you alright?"

"Do you remember that night when he tried to put us together?" Benoria asks her.

"Yes, but we didn't."

"He had the servant put me in one of the other cells, with one of the women, with one of our sisters."

"Oh..."

"Yes."

Trillia hugs her tight. "It isn't your fault, Benoria, he did this, he even knew we were all sisters and he didn't tell us. He's to blame."

Benoria holds onto Trillia, thankful they have grown so close.

*****

Trillia squats and pulls weeds. She does not think of the garden the way she did when she planted it a year ago, but it comforts her to work with the plants. For the most part she is able to avoid thinking about the wizard and has not touched the mark in months. Once she learned changing into her dragon helped, she made sure she shifted daily and spent time in the air.

"Trillia..." The healer calls to her from the other side of the garden. "What is this plant again?"

"That is belladonna, you have to be careful with that one."

"Yes, now I remember reading about it in his journal." The Healer continues pinching off various herbs and putting them into her basket. She looks up at Trillia and is relieved that peace radiates off of her more and more each day. She does not seem to struggle with the mark anymore, she just wishes she could help her get her memory back but nothing she came up with worked. The Healer sighs as she knows she may never get it back. At least she has finally found peace.

*****

Drey lumbers around the room. Today is the day he will see Trillia again. He wonders how she is doing, if she has missed him, and if she has her memory back. He growls as he moves back and forth, anxious to get back to her.

The Sorceress walks in and runs her hands over his stomach. "This is one of my favorite areas on a dragon besides the obvious of course. She smiles up at him. "I know you are feeling restless and are eager to get back to your mate." She sighs, I just wanted to touch you one last time before I take you back. She leans in to him, inhaling him. Dragons have such a musky scent, almost of the earth which is strange since they are as much of the sky.

"Remember to keep my secrets, Dreyerelsnik, it's important you are able to remember our time here so I don't want to use the forgetting spell on you."

Part of him wishes she would, it will be hard to block out being intimate with her when he is being intimate with Trillia.

"It will all work out, Drey, I promise. Come, it's time to go." She holds out her hand, he takes it with his paw.

He blinks and when he opens his eyes again, he sees Trillia kneeling in a garden in front of him. She turns and sees them and hesitates, taking a step back. Trillia sees in her mind the wizard dead on the ground, the dragon in front of her having just killed him and then her trying to kill this dragon. She knows who he is because Benoria and the Healer have told her, but she still can't remember anything before that week.

He lowers his head and quietly says with pain lacing his voice, "She doesn't remember."

"Trust me, Drey." She walks away from him and toward Trillia.

"Hello Trillia, they call me the Sorceress, can I talk to you for a moment. Trillia stands up. "Alright... you are my mother, aren't you?"

The sorceress' eyes widen. "How did you...?"

"I read the wizard's journal, he wrote about you, and us, within it." Trillia no longer feels a charge when she mentions him.

"I see we have much more to discuss sooner than expected but today is not that day." She leans in and kisses Trillia's cheek. "You know that your memory has been altered, yes?"

Trillia nods.

"I can fix it for you would you like that?"

"Would I forget about what has happened since my memory was taken?"

"No, you will remember everything."

Part of Trillia was hoping she could forget what happened during that week and another part knew that it was part of her no matter how painful it is to remember it.

"I would like to remember my life, who I was before."

"Close your eyes, Trillia."

Trillia obeys her. The Sorceress puts her hands on each side of her head and closes her eyes too and then she kisses her forehead again. A small cry escapes Trillia's lips that has Drey's heart skipping like a rock across the water.

Trillia pulls away from the Sorceress and stumbles. She looks past her to Drey and she falls to her knees, tears stream down her cheeks as everything comes back including seeing from a different perspective how she had tried to kill him and the look on his sweet face. She chokes as sobs are wracking her body. The Sorceress walks toward Drey. "Go to her, she needs you now, and when she's ready call to me. I will hear you." The Sorceress disappears in a swirl of lights.

"Trillia..." He says tentatively as he slowly walks toward her afraid she will cower away from him again and his heart just cannot take it.

Her hand flies up, "No, don't." She turns and vomits.

: Benoria, I need you. : Trillia sends to her.

Benoria flies down from their cave above and shifts as she lands on the ground. "What is it... Oh, Drey, you're back." She looks from him and his sad eyes to Trillia, visibly shaking, crying and wiping her mouth. She hurries to Trillia, "Are you okay?"

"The Sorceress... I remember, everything." She collapses into Benoria's arms sobbing."

Benoria sits on the ground, holding her and rocking her until her tears subside. Trillia peaks up and sees he is still there, watching them.

"Do you remember him, Trillia?"

She nods her head.

"Then why don't you go to him?"

"I can't... I did such horrible things." She gags but does not allow herself to vomit again. "Oh the things I did and how I did them." Another sob escapes her lips. She had known what she had done before but it was still colored by the wizard’s magical mating mark. She still had remembered it as something she enjoyed. Now she can see the horrible creature for what it was, what she hated, and see herself craving him, begging for him.

"Trillia, it wasn't your fault. The wizard did that to you, he made you with his creams and potions. You had no choice."

Trillia swallows down bile as it tries to rise. "But I remember... enjoying it." She hisses seeing the vile creature in her head.

"It was the cream that he put on you. Don't you remember he made you put it on me. I went back to my cell and accosted the poor shifter maiden that was in there with me, my sister. I did things in there with her that I will never repeat and I enjoyed every bit of it."

"But she wasn't a... monster." Trillia chokes out.

"No, and you did that for us, for me, so he wouldn't touch me or any of the others. Don't you know, you are our hero. You saved us, Trillia."

"Go to him, can't you see it is hurting him to stay away from you? He loves you with all his heart."

"Where has he been? Why wasn't he here before and why was he with the Sorceress?"

"I think you should ask him those questions, you may discover that you two have more in common in regards to what has happened to you than you think."

Benoria helps Trillia get up and then gently pushes her in his direction. Trillia suddenly turns back and hugs Benoria tightly to her. "You and Rantalian have been wonderful, the family I wish I had when I was growing up."

"I feel the same as does Rantalian. We both love you and we are here for you." Benoria smiles and then gently pushes her toward Drey. "Go."

Trillia shifts. : Fly with me, Drey. :

His heart speeds up. : Of course, my love, anything you wish. :

Trillia shivers. : Please, for now, don't call me that. :

Drey's heart hurts for her. They are high in the sky, flying together, riding the air currents. He follows her, letting her take the lead as he had on that first day she shifted. He pushes the sadness away happy to finally be with her. It is not long before he realizes they are headed home. His heart flutters. She turns and heads down to a familiar place. She lands and shifts. He lands but keeps his distance.

She sits between the two posts that are still there. "I remember everything now." She says quietly while he listens. "I remember that first day, how scared I was but determined too. I just had a feeling, well, we both know that feeling was right." She looks up at Drey who is standing about the same place he was on that first day so long ago. "You don't have to stay so far away, Drey."

"I didn't want to frighten you."

"You don't frighten me, Drey, you never have."

"Then what is it?"

"It...It's what I've done. What I did with the..." She chokes on her words. "beast." Her breath catches in her throat and he comes closer.

"Trillia, I know that wasn't your fault. I know he did something to you that made you forget everything, forget me, and made you want him, both of them. I will not hold that against you."

"But in the beginning I went to him willingly."

"Only to protect your sisters and you didn't even know they were your sisters at the time, but you felt responsible for them and you were willing to do whatever it took to protect them. I can only love you more for that."

"I still love you Drey."

A small sound escapes him.

"But... I need some time. I've worked hard this past year to put myself together and I feel like someone just threw it all back onto me. Speaking of which, where were you?"

He swallows hard. Will she understand? Especially now that she knows the Sorceress is her mother. Of course he did not know when he made the agreement although all of them had been in the same situation.

"I've been with the Sorceress."

"Why?"

"It was part of the agreement for her to give us the magic we needed to defeat the wizard."

Anger flared in her eyes and Drey stepped back.

"That bitch! It was her fault in the first place, he wanted to be with her and she scorned him for the dragons. He tried to change for her, but it all went wrong and drove him insane. It's her fault!"

"Trillia, how can you blame her for his actions? He chose to be obsessed by her, he chose to do those experiments on himself."

"You sure seem to know a lot about this considering I haven't told you what he told me or what I read in his journal."

"Uh... well..."

"She told you didn't she?"

"I can't talk about what she and I discussed as it's part of the agreement."

She stands up and shifts. "I need some time. I’ll find you when I’m ready to talk." She Spreads her wings and flies up into the sky.

Drey huffs. It is not fair of the sorceress to make him promise not to tell Trillia what they had discussed. He does not like keeping anything from her.

: Sorceress, we need to talk! :

Only the birds break the silence. He heaves a sigh and heads to his cave.

*****

Trillia flies for hours until she is too tired to fly anymore. She lands in the field near her garden, shifts into human form and paces back and forth, still angry.

“Trillia? What are you doing here? Why aren’t you with Drey?’

“He was with her! She demanded it knowing I was her daughter!”

“Trillia, calm down. You can’t be mad at Drey for this, he had to agree or they wouldn’t have had the magic to defeat the wizard.”

“That’s the other thing, we are her daughters and she demanded they pay a price to be able to save us? How could she do that!”

Benoria lets out a long breath and decides it is best to keep quiet and let her wear herself out.

“And she’s making him keep secrets from me, his mate!” She stomps through the grass.

“That must be really hard for him; I know how much he loves you.”

That took the steam out of her wings. She plops down on the grass. “I just feel… I don’t know what I feel. Everything is upside down and inside out. I know I wanted to be with him so much when we were locked away in that castle. That’s all I wanted. But now… I’m just so angry.” She said with much less venom than a moment ago.

Benoria sits on the ground next to her and waits. She cannot really imagine how Trillia feels, living a whole year not remembering who she was and now suddenly remembering everything.

“Don’t you feel betrayed by our mother?” Trillia asks her.

“I guess I don’t really think of her as our mother, it hasn’t really sunk in yet. Who’s to say why she did what she did or does? Honestly I’d rather leave it all behind and just enjoy Rantalian each and every day than to think one more day about any of it.” She glances up knowing he is in their cave waiting for her but she cannot abandon Trillia if she needs her.

Trillia sees Benoria looking up at the cave and a heavy weight feels like it has dropped on her chest. It is all in the past, she can’t do anything about any of it. She feels the ache growing within her and wishes she hadn’t left Drey.

“Go, be with Rantalian. I’m going home. He and I will work it out together.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. He is the same dragon I fell in love with, it is ridiculous to blame him for any of this.” She stands up as Benoria stands and they hug quickly before they both shift.

*****

Trillia quietly walks into the cave in her human form. Drey is softly snoring as she approaches and stands near him. The weight lifts off of her chest as she watches him. She lies down next to him and curls her body into his, feeling his scales against her skin, she lets out a long sigh and drifts off to sleep more easily than she has since the day she was taken from him.

Drey feels her next to him and he wraps his tail around her and drapes his wing over her. He knows there are still things to work out and so many things she does not even know yet. He wonders how she will feel when she finds out. He knows she is up for the job. There is no one more suited to be the Queen of the Dragons than his mate.

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Author's Note: There is only one chapter left. Hopefully it won't take as long for me to write it as it did for this chapter. Drey and Trillia's story may be coming to an end but the following story, Lena's Dragon, is an offshoot from this story and I will be posting the first chapter the same day I post the final chapter to Dragon's Mate. It will have spoilers so you will want to read the final chapter to Dragon's Mate before moving on to read the new story. Thank you for all of the comments, favorites, and votes you have blessed this story with. Every bit of it has meant more to me than you can possibly know.