Abandon You Choose Dragon Chapter 16
My mother’s funeral was held three days later.
I stood before the headstone in black, watching the coffin carried out.
My father stood at the front. How much of his weeping was real, no one could say.
After the burial, the tribal elders read the inheritance decree.
The spiritspring land under my mother’s name would pass to her children, as custom dictated. She had written a document before her death, naming me specifically.
My father’s face went green on the spot.
But with the entire tribe watching, he didn’t dare say a word. He could only nod, jaw tight with fury.
James came over. There was more guilt on his face than I’d expected.
He called my name softly—”Iris”—his throat sounding like something was lodged inside it.
I didn’t look at him. He tried again. “Mom was calling your name the day she died.”
“Where were you when she was calling for me?” I said. “Where were you when she was still alive?”
His mouth opened. Nothing came out.
Liam was there too. He was gripping something in his hand. When he held it out, I saw what it was.
“Take it. Please.”
It was the box of moonstone marbles he’d treasured since childhood.
He’d never let anyone have them.
After he met Chloe, he’d only ever let her touch them.
“Iris, I promised to help you catch your moonflower that day. But in my heart, I was terrified Chloe’s flower would fall into someone else’s hands…”
“I couldn’t keep my word. I never should have made the promise.”
“I’m so sorry. I—”
His eyes flicked toward Rex.
I pushed the marbles back. “Liam, all of you treated me like I didn’t matter. Like everything about my life was a joke. From today on, we’re strangers.”
His fingers clenched white around the marbles. “Twenty years of friendship, and you’re saying we’re strangers?”
“Yes. Because saying we were ever friends would be too disgusting.”
“A friendship that can’t show its face is worth less than shit.”
He went rigid.
He’d never seen this version of me.
In his mind, I was still the Iris who shared every good thing with him first. The Iris who copied his homework, took the blame for him, covered for his lies.
But he didn’t know that that Iris had died the moment they all charged toward another female’s platform.
I’d barely turned around when Ash came running from across the grounds.
“Iris—you’re here! I knew you’d be here!”
He grabbed my wrist. “Listen to me. The tribal stuff doesn’t count. Come back to the city with me. I’ll take you to register at the Alliance.”
“I already booked the venue—look—”
He pulled out his phone. The screen showed a reservation confirmation and a bridal portrait appointment. “Pick any day you want. I’ll do whatever you say!”
I pulled my hand free and stepped back. “Ash. Your mate is right over there.”
His gaze followed mine. Chloe stood a few paces away in a plain white dress. Her rabbit ears hung limp and low.
She called out timidly, “Iris…”
Ash tried to explain. “No, she and I aren’t—”
“You knelt before the Moon God together. The whole tribe watched. She’s your match. Keep your distance from me.”
His breathing turned ragged.
Then his eyes landed on Silas, standing behind me, and went ice-cold. “You’ve known her for what—a few days? What gives you the right—”
Silas’s expression didn’t change. “Actually, I’ve known her longer than you have.”
Even I was stunned.
Ash let out a bitter laugh. “What the hell are you talking about? Your family lived on the other side of the territory. I’ve been with Iris since high school—”
“Thirteen years ago,” Silas cut him off, “I came back to the tribe to visit my brother. A group of kids got me confused with him and surrounded me, calling me a motherless half-breed dragon.”
“A little girl with fledgling feathers on her back came running over and threw rocks at them until they scattered.”
“Then she turned to me and said, ‘It’s okay not to have a mom. My dad doesn’t like me either. My mom doesn’t talk at home. James doesn’t look out for me. But I still eat when I’m hungry and sleep when I’m tired. If they don’t like me, that’s their problem. I like myself just fine.'”
He looked at me. His eyes were full of something I’d never seen anyone aim my way before.
“Thirteen years. Today I’m giving those words back to you. But with one difference—you also have me, and I’m in love with you.”
My eyes stung.
I had a faint memory of that day. Just a sliver.
But I had no idea that little boy was him.
The color drained from Ash’s face, inch by inch. He had nothing left to offer.
He turned and walked out of the funeral hall.
The moonstone bracelets on my wrist clinked softly together. A tiny sound—thin as a goodbye that never found its voice.
My mother had taken them back from Chloe before she died.
James told me what happened. “Mom had a moment of clarity near the end. She struggled up and had someone bring Chloe to her bedside.”
Chloe came. My mother stared at the bracelets on her wrists.
“My mother left these to me,” she whispered, her voice barely there. “I want to give them to my daughter.”
Chloe didn’t want to let go. Her rabbit ears pressed flat against her head.
“But Uncle gave them to me…”
Halfway through the sentence, she realized everyone in the room was watching her. She lowered her eyes and slipped the bracelets off.
My mother held them in her fist for a long, long time. Then she handed them to James.
“Give these to Iris. Tell her—I was never able to fight for anything in this life. But this once, just this once—Mama got her things back for her.”
After she handed them over, she lay back down and closed her eyes, as though a great weight had finally been lifted.
That night, while the person keeping watch dozed off, she walked to the river alone.
By the time James found her, she’d already been pulled from the water downstream.
Those moonstone bracelets—she’d worn them for most of her life.
Her husband had taken them and given them to his first love’s daughter.
And at the very end, she’d finally asked for them back.
She had never fought for anything. When her land was taken, she said nothing. When her husband gave away her heirloom, she said nothing. When her daughter was mistreated, she said nothing.
The only time she ever stood her ground was in her final hours—reclaiming what belonged to her child.
Silas gently wrapped his hand around mine—the one clenching the bracelets.
His palm was warm. Dragon beastkin always ran a few degrees hotter than everyone else. Slowly, carefully, he pried my whitened fingers open, one by one.
And then I cried.
The feathers along my back shuddered and shook, as though soaked through by a storm that had been gathering for years.