The Dragon Prince's Forbidden Affair novel Chapter 52

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The kids shifted into their human forms and Gray ran to me. "You have to play with us because Kaya and her sister are on one team, so I have to be on the other with mine."

I was surprised to hear Gray call me his sister. "Y-yeah," I stuttered and got up. We played a few rounds of freeze tag until we got tired out. Polly was tired out first. We all laid down next to each other.

"Your sister is fast Gray." Polly said. "You're fast Aqua."

"It's because she's older than us Polly." Kaya said. "I'm going to be that fast when I'm her age too."

Gray laughed. "You might be." He looked at me. "Are you coming with us on our picnic Tuesday? We always do something once a week out of the castle and that's what we're doing next week."

I smiled. "If our father asks me to come then I will."

My answer made him happy. "My mom said that full siblings and half siblings aren't the same thing, but I don't get it. I know my mom isn't yours, but my Dad is so your still my sister. That only makes you a little different than Cade. Cade said it doesn't matter but why did my mom say it mattered?"

It was clear to me that Lynn didn't like me. I didn't think she would try to invalidate my relation to my brothers to the youngest. "It doesn't matter because we are still siblings, it's just a little different. I have siblings back home who don't share parents with me at all, but we were raised together as family so they're my siblings." It made me feel better than they are my family by blood. Technically they were my cousins, and my adoptive parents were my aunt and uncle.

"My mom's been acting weird lately." Even Gray was able to notice Lynn's broken heart. "I'm glad you're here Aqua."

Kaya sat up. "You shouldn't complain about your mom Gray."

Gray looked at her. "I'm not complaining, she's just been acting different."

Kaya was probably sensitive to the subject because she didn't have a mother at all. "I'm going to be a mom one day and I don't want my son talking about me like that. She's probably trying her best."

Gray playingly tackled her and they wrestled. I looked up at Stewart as he walked to us. "We should start walking back towards the castle now."

We all got up and started walking down the trail the way we came. "Aqua." Polly said tucking on my jacket. "Can I get on your back? I'm tired and my legs give up."

I smiled down and her and lifted her onto my back. "Better?"

She laid her head on my shoulder. "Perfect... your hair smells good."

Kaya and Gray started running around pushing each other. "Hey quit that." Stewart said but they didn't listen, and Gray slid off of the edge of the trail. "Shit." Stewart shifted into his dragon and dove off the edge. My heart dropped and I was afraid of what would happen to my brother. I held Kaya back because she was trying to look over the edge.

Stewart flew back up with Gray on his back. Gray was in his dragon form. He probably shifted before he fell to try to fly. Gray flew off and landed in front of me then shifted back. Stewart shifted back and scolded Gray and Kaya. "We're high up enough for Gray to have been hurt even in his dragon form. No more pushing."

Kaya hugged Gray. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push you that hard."

"It's okay, I'm sorry I was pushing you hard too." Gray looked at me. "Are you okay Aqua?"

I nodded. "I'm fine I was just worried about you." I felt terrible that I could shift and save my own brother from a fall. I felt like not being able to shift was becoming a real problem while living in this world. I felt so helpless.