Date: 2016-05-26 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; dragons; Magic; Romance; Paranormal; New Adult
Description: A Bitter Betrayal Stella Stonewall exposed her scaly side to save the man she loves, the soulful and sexy Ewan Bristol. But her troubles have only just begun. A treacherous betrayal at the hands of a trusted confidante leaves her running for her life. An Impossible Choice An unlikely savior offers Stella a way out, but it means leaving everything—and everyone—behind. Can she give up the only home, the only friends she’s ever known to save herself? A Chance to Have It All Stella learns of an ancient curse that, if lifted, could change everything. To alter the course of history she must trust he
Publisher: Carpe Noctem Publishing, LLC
Rights: Copyright 2016 Jen Crane. All rights reserved.

Betrayal Foretold

Descended of Dragons, Book 3

Jen Crane

Carpe Noctem Publishing LLC

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Copyright Warning

About the Author

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Epilogue

Thank You for Reading!

About the Author

Dedication

To E.S., L.B., H.L

Third book. Three of you. Too much love to count.

Acknowledgments

It’s true being an author is sometimes a solitary business, but with exceptional colleagues, friends, and family, it’s not lonely.

To the readers: Oh, the readers of this series have been the best! Thank you so much for supporting me and these books, for following Stella’s journey, for your kind notes and generous reviews. Thank you for recommending this series to your friends. A book isn’t much good without someone to read it, after all.

To the critique partners and beta readers who made this book better, Kathleen Groger, Holly Goslin, and Brooke Ledford: thank you from the bottom of my heart.

To the ever-communicative, generous, and kind Goddess of All Things Indie and Tech, Brinda Berry: I could not have done this without you. Thank you so much for your gentle encouragement, your dexterous texting fingers, and your generous assistance with book trailers and Bookbub and the like.

Thanks to the seasoned professionals who helped with the process: the lovely people at Deranged Doctor Design, Nancy Cassidy with The Red Pen Coach editing, and all of the talented people involved in Diamond State Romance Authors.

Lastly, I always hesitate to say too much about my patient, supportive, and generally wonderful husband. What we have is special, and ours alone. But I can’t make acknowledgements without mentioning him. He’s just too important. Thank you, Babe, for the pride I see in your eyes, for managing our sideshow when I’m meeting a deadline, and for your rock-solid support.

Copyright Warning

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is a crime punishable by law. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded to or downloaded from file sharing sites, or distributed in any other way via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/).

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real in any way. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Published by Carpe Noctem Publishing LLC

Edited by Nancy Cassidy of The Red Pen Coach

Cover Design by Deranged Doctor Designs

Betrayal Foretold (Descended of Dragons, Book 3)

Copyright © 2016 Jen Crane

All rights reserved.

First electronic publication: May 2016

First print publication: May 2016

Digital ISBN: 978-0-9965756-4-5

Print ISBN: 978-0-9965756-5-2

About the Author

Though she grew up on a working cattle ranch, Jen Crane has been into fantasy and sci-fi since seeing a bootleg tape of The Princess Bride.

She has a master's degree and solid work histories in government and non-profit administration. But just in the nick of time, Jen pronounced life too real for nonfiction. She now creates endearing characters and alternate realms filled with adventure, magic, and love.

Jen is happily living out her dream in The South with her husband and three children, striking that delicate balance between inspiration and frustration.

Book 2 in Jen's new fantasy romance series, Descended of Dragons, was selected by iTunes/iBooks as "Our Pick" in fantasy/sci-fi.

Sign up for sneak peeks, news and giveaways at http://bit.ly/Jen_Crane_Newsletter

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Prologue

Far from Radix, from Thayer’s capitol city of Caliph, from any concentration of people, Brandubh paced the great room of his castle home. Over the years he’d taken care to furnish the residence with sophisticated art, beautifully inlaid tables and chests, and finely upholstered furniture. Hand-woven rugs scattered the castle’s interior. But no amount of refinery could ever diminish the sharp, reverberant clomp, clomp, clomping of angry boot steps as they struck the stone-hewn floor.

The loss of his precious dragons was a mortal blow. Brandubh had eyes everywhere, and his spies had informed him almost the moment it happened. It was no coincidence people descended of rats were so prolific; it took a lot of them to form a network, and they were notoriously short-lived. Stryde and Eiven were lost forever. Bay had fled. And the one creature with the potential to help him finally achieve his goals was alive and well…and alone. He might’ve lost his dragons, for now, but he still had his spies.

And he still had one other very critical ace up his sleeve. Precisely when he would play the pivotal card, he wasn’t yet sure. But his lips slid into that fox-like grin each time it occurred to him how brilliant, how deliciously useful this particular mole had been.

Chapter 1

Time spent alone is precious.

It’s cleansing, it’s rejuvenating, it’s fortifying—until it’s not. I had soul-searched and introspected until my deficiencies clung to me like a throng of specters.

Over the last few days, the people of Thayer had learned dragons were not, in fact, wiped out hundreds of years before, and word had spread like wildfire that I was a member of the notoriously villainous species. My world turned upside down in a flash, and the capricious tide of public sentiment turned against me.

I sat, licking deep emotional wounds in the primitive cabin deserted only days before by the three Drakontos dragons—and my relatives—my Grandmother Bay, my Uncle Eiven, and my cousin Stryde. An official Radix committee and the Thayerian authorities conducted searches and quizzed my known associates to learn both my whereabouts and the extent of their knowledge.

My friends had proved faithful and generous in the days since I’d fled our magical grad school, Radix Citadel for Supernatural Learning, or The Root, as most commonly referred to it. But my friends couldn’t be expected to spend every waking moment at my cabin hideaway. Ewan, Boone and Timbra, and sometimes Layla visited when there was no risk of being followed, but it hadn’t been frequently enough to stave off my loneliness.

My arms hung at my sides as I stood in the center of the cabin, too restless to sit, to read, to think. The absence of sound was so prevalent that every tiny noise seemed to roar in contrast: the scratch of a branch against the roof, the drag-tick of an old clock, the whistle of wind through the dense forest.

“Hello,” a deep voice called from outside. “Stell?”

Ewan. Thank God. I raced through the cabin door and found him standing just beyond the front porch. Ewan Bristol rarely deviated from wearing black, and when he did, it wasn’t far. A dark blue V-neck lent contrast to his skin, which tanned easily and well.

I crashed into him, holding him close, and delighted in the solidness of him. Ewan always smelled of the forest, of juniper or fir, and I inhaled his scent while I had the opportunity; before he could leave again. I closed my eyes and absorbed the comfort of his arms, of his warm body.

It wasn’t just that I was so lonely I’d begun talking to the furniture. I missed the sexy squint his eyes took on, the uneven slide of his lips when he thought I was funny or clever. I missed the way his mouth went slack when my top slipped to reveal too much cleavage. I missed his level-headed advice and unyielding support. I missed the way people stopped and listened when he spoke. I missed Ewan.

“Hi,” I said and beamed up at him. His pleasure mirrored mine. It was there for me to see, completely unguarded in the depths of his dark eyes.

He kissed me high on the cheekbone before finding my mouth. Think me arrogant if you like, but I’ve always considered Ewan and me the best kissers ever to lay lips on one another. My mouth fit perfectly against his, his full lips complementing my smaller ones. With a groan, he pulled me so tightly into him I gasped for breath. He had missed me, too.

My Radix-issued personal interactive assistant, which I’d named Pia, chirped from the cabin just as I felt a buzz through the fabric of Ewan’s shorts.

“Stella,” Pia called, “you have received a message from Dean Livia Miles.” I shot a questioning glance at Ewan, who shrugged and fumbled in his pocket for his own device.

When I didn’t answer right away, Pia repeated the notification. “Stella, you have received a message from Dean Livia Miles.”

I hurried inside to see what Dean Miles could possibly be sending. The last I’d heard, she was on a vicious rampage to condemn and disgrace me.

When I emerged from the cabin, still scrolling to access the message, Ewan’s posture was bunched, coiled. A toy soldier wound too tight.

I dropped my arms to my sides, still clutching Pia in one hand. “Ewan? Ewan, what’s wrong?”

When he looked up, his dark eyes were black holes within his blood-drained face.

Someone died. What else could produce such a severe response?

“She…” Ewan cleared his throat. “She sent the entire school your journal entry.”

“What? Who did? What are you talking about? What journal entry?”

His face held such pity. “Dean Miles. She sent the entire campus a student journal entry you wrote detailing your dragon, your family…everything.” Ewan whispered the last. He walked to the fire pit and slid onto a log seat.

Chapter 2

“Show me, Pia,” I said. Tension gripped me and my stomach tried to relocate through my esophagus.

I read the formal message on Pia’s screen.

Thursday, July 17

Livia Miles, Dean

Department of Craft and Ritual

Radix Citadel for Supernatural Learning

To Whom It May Concern:

I deliver this message as a function of the committee appointed by Vice Chancellor Alma Edgecliffe to investigate the events of Friday, July 11.

On the date in question, at an off-campus gathering, Ms. Stella Stonewall, a Radix Primo, took the form of a dragon in response to a threat made by yet another dragon. This second dragon was, our committee has concluded and Ms. Stonewall has admitted, Ms. Stonewall’s first cousin, Stryde Drakontos.

Considering the tragic and violent history associated with those of dragon descent, the investigative committee has concluded Ms. Stonewall, like all dragons thought extinct until this occurrence, is an immediate threat to Radix, its students, and society as a whole.

Consequently, the committee has followed protocol and expelled Ms. Stonewall from our institution. We have also filed formal charges with Thayer’s Defense Department, and have notified the Office of the Prime Minister. The committee has been informed that a criminal investigation is ongoing for Ms. Stonewall and any of her relatives and associates.

We feel it is essential the general public understand the threat this suspect poses, and have attached the following excerpt, taken directly from Ms. Stonewall’s Radix-appointed student journal and dated Saturday, June 28 of the present year. This admission was a primary factor in our decision to expel Ms. Stonewall and notify the proper authorities.

Radix has made counseling services available to any student who witnessed the tragic events of July 11, or who may now feel anxiety about sharing a world with dragons. Interested students may contact the Office of Student Services.

Protegens mundus per cognitionus,

Livia Miles

Dean, Department of Craft and Ritual

[Attachment]

“I was born of a dragon mother and an omni father—a rare species capable of changing into any animal form.”

“…Having an alternate form is normal. Not so normal? Having two alternate forms…or more. So far, when faced with immediate physical danger, I’ve changed into both a massive red wolf and a fearsome dragon with scales of auburn.”

“…I have three living relatives: a grandma, an uncle, and a male cousin. They’re my mother’s people, the Drakontos, and are believed to be the last of the dragons.”

“…They betrayed me to Brandubh…”

“…I nearly died when Brandubh tried to enslave me… in order to repopulate the dragon lines.”

“Now I fear his return every day…”

“…I am still a badass wolf/dragon girl that can fight like a boss.”

Chapter 3

I squeezed my eyes shut in regret, in humiliation, in fury. Stupid, stupid, I thought. Stupid to write that down. Stupid not to know more about my student journal and Radix-issued P.I.A. and realize they were accessible by the administration. Stupid damned Livia-damned-Miles.

I found a seat next to Ewan at the fire pit, where less than a month before I had grown to love my newfound relatives Bay and Eiven. For a girl who grew up only ever knowing a mother as family, finding a grandmother and an uncle was an answer to my prayers. Discovering them seemed like a lifetime ago.

“Well, that’s some creative editing,” I said, because focusing on anything else in Dean Miles’s indulgent diatribe would lead to my complete meltdown.

Ewan widened his eyes in exasperation. “This is serious, Stella.”

“I know it’s freaking serious,” I snapped. “I read the letter. What do you want me to say?”

His expression fell from concerned to wounded, and I regretted my snap immediately. “I’m sorry. It’s not you I’m angry with, you were just within reach.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said and ran a palm across my shoulder blades. He rubbed big, comforting circles on my back, but there was no way I could relax. “How did she get your journal, anyway?”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I considered the question. “Probably found it on the Radix master file or something. Once I learned my entries weren’t private, I went back and deleted this specific one. I guess I was too late.”

As I spoke, Pia was still firmly encased in my hand, and when she alerted me to another message, my grip nearly cracked her screen.

“Stella, you have received a message from Radix Office of Administration,” she announced. Though not equipped with actual vocal chords, she delivered the announcement with gravity.

“Read it aloud,” I ordered.

“Ms. Stonewall,

We must inform you that due to recent findings by a committee appointed to investigate the events of an off-campus gathering on 7/11, you are hereby expelled from Radix Citadel for Supernatural Learning. This expulsion is effective immediately. You may retrieve your belongings from your residence at Sabre Hall under the supervision of campus authorities within the next four hours. Please be advised the committee has filed a report with the proper authorities, who will be contacting you as part of their ongoing investigation. We consider—”

“Stop, Pia. I got it.” I closed my eyes on an angry breath. “Yeah right. I’m gonna hop right over to The Root so they can take me away in handcuffs.”

Ewan twisted his mouth. “Actually, I’ve never seen a pair of handcuffs. Criminals here in Thayer are usually disarmed by an incapacitation spell.”

“Seriously, Ewan? Now I’m a criminal?”

“I didn’t mean… You know what I meant.” He couldn’t stop his lips from bending into a smile, despite the seriousness of the situation.

I grunted, unamused. “I assume they’re going to come looking for me now, if they haven’t started already.”

“You’re probably right.” He pulled me closer, which didn’t improve my jagged outlook, but did make it blurry around the edges. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s a good thing this place’s wards are off the charts. I’m safe here, at least.”

“Mmm,” Ewan agreed and ran big hands across my back again.

My head lolled against his chest, but my mind raced. Am I really safe here? What now? How long can I stay here alone without losing it completely?

A twig snapped at the forest’s edge.

Ewan and I were wound so tightly with anxiety; we whipped around in defensive fighting postures. Mine most certainly resembled a herniated ninja, but Ewan’s strong back arched elegantly in preparation of changing forms. He was impressive as hell as his breathing came fast and hard, and the muscles of his shoulders strained to stay inside his olive skin. Serene, contemplative Ewan had transformed into savage protector in a matter of seconds. I stepped away from him subconsciously.

“It’s just us,” Boone announced. He and Timbra stepped free of the woods’ shadows. “Don’t broil us.”

“Not funny, Boone.” I shot him an irritated look, but my friend’s every move, every goofy expression, betrayed his fun-loving nature, and it was impossible to stay angry with him. Sandy blond hair topped Boone’s classic good looks. He was tall—too tall—too big, and too much. Also, just right.

“We came as soon as we heard,” Timbra said in a rush.

Timbra’s forbearers were deer, and she had some fairly distinct indicators of the cervid decent. The long, black lashes of her doe eyes blinked frequently, calling attention to them…until you caught sight of her ears. Pert, fawn-colored ears protruded from honeyed hair so fine it blew like wisps of silk in the wind.

While everyone in Thayer turned furry now and then, Timbra was the only one of my close friends who consistently displayed a trait of her alternate form. Boone was descended from great dogs, Ewan from wolves, Layla from birds. They could all pass in my old world as human, but Timbra never would. Before Rowan Gresham crashed into my car in my sleepy college town and showed me another world existed, one I was born into but kept ignorant of by my own mother, I went about life like any normal college girl. I put off studying until the last possible minute. I partied too much and stayed out too late. What little money I had went to fast food and bar tabs.

But things in Thayer were far different. People here had descended from a variety of species, not just apes. It was these hereditary differences that caused Boone and Timbra, two of the best people I knew, such difficulty and pain. They were in love. The real kind of love, I suspected, but their match was forbidden. People of such varied ancestries couldn’t conceive a child, and so society deemed their relationships unnatural. Families prided themselves on “pure” lines, looking down on those who strayed outside their species. Boone and Timbra knew all of this. They had tried to stay away from each other, but fate had a different plan. The two had fallen deeply, irrevocably in love. Their future was uncertain, but their present was a wonderful thing to behold.

“I’m glad you came,” I said to the pair. “But you may want to reconsider the company you’re keeping. I was just expelled from The Root. Nice they informed the entire Radix campus before actually telling me.”

Timbra’s lips stretched into a tight grimace. “I’m so sorry, Stell. What can we do? What are you going to do now?”

“Hell if I know. I’ll hide out here for a bit, I suppose. I’ve nowhere else to go. I mean, I could go back to my old life—my old home on Earth, but they’d eventually find me there. Gresham found me the first time.”

Gresham’s knowledge of my location was of concern because, as I had learned after having an affair with him, he was Director of Thayerian Defense. If he found us, I had no doubt he’d take me in.
A low growl rumbled through Ewan’s lips and I shot him an exasperated look. He was no fan of Rowan Gresham, to put it mildly.

“Taking shelter here is all you can do for now,” he said. I winked at him in support of the small victory over his animal form. When it came to Gresham, or any threat to me, really, Ewan's wolf form tried to fight its way out. It demanded to be heard, to be feared. This only seemed a mild irritation to Ewan rather than a source of embarrassment or frustration. Everyone had alternate forms, after all. It was how we managed them that counted.

“At least you’re safe here,” Timbra said, her slender ears twitching nervously. The movement caught Boone’s eye, and he reached instinctively to touch them. She jerked from his reach, and her whole body shivered. “Boone!” she admonished. “You can’t touch my ears in public, you perv. You know what that does to me.” Boone appeared to be adequately shamed, though he did glance longingly at them several times.

“Right,” Boone chimed in at last. “And we’ll keep visiting. You may have to stay here, but you’re not alone.”

“I’m going to stay with her.” Ewan’s plan was news to me, and my spine shot straight at the presumption. He hadn’t asked. But I soon relaxed with pleasure at the images the thought evoked. Secluded with Ewan in a cabin, rasping my bare legs against the hair of his calves as we lay tangled on the couch together—the only two people for miles and miles. Yessss. My eyes fell closed as my imagination took off like a lit fuse.

While my body was on board with his plan, my brain shouted warnings. I crossed my arms, hugging myself through the very real scenario of staying the night with Ewan. Our physical contact had been fairly innocent to date. Hot, yes, but harmless.

Kissing Ewan Bristol was volatile. We’d had such chemistry since the moment we met; I always feared we’d spontaneously combust. Was I ready for more with Ewan? For everything? The answer to that question was less clear than I’d like.

Did I want to make love to him? Damn straight I did.

But was it too soon since Gresham? Was physical intimacy just one more entree on my too-full plate? I was suddenly too overwhelmed to think clearly. I closed my eyes to hide both from my own thoughts, and to shield my feelings from the group.

The increase in my stress level must have been obvious, because Ewan looked down with a frown. “What’s wrong?”

I squeezed my lips together and I shook my head.

“Something’s bothering you. What is it? Are you afraid Gresham will find you here? The others? Don’t worry. I’ll do everything I can to prevent that. And if it happens, I’ll protect you.”

He searched my face, his gaze confident and sympathetic. Sometimes, when I looked into Ewan’s eyes, I thought they should somehow brim over with emotion, because the force of his passion was nearly a tangible thing, like tears were to sorrow.

But his eyes soon took on another look, one of impressed amusement. “Not that you need me to protect you,” he teased. “The last time I tried, you tossed me aside like an irritating gnat.”

I grinned at the memory. “I’m still mad at you for biting my ass.”

“You’ve got another bite coming.”

Rawr. My body shivered deliciously and erupted into a thousand tiny goosebumps.

“Yeah. Still standing here.” Boone’s raised eyebrows and faux-disapproving expression didn’t fool anyone. He was enjoying mine and Ewan’s developing relationship as much as we were. Okay, almost. “What I don’t understand is how they found that journal entry,” Boone continued.

“Stella thinks they accessed some kind of Radix master file. She’d previously deleted that post, but it was still out there. Obviously.”

“Why don’t you ask her?” Timbra suggested.

“Who?” Ewan and I asked at the same time.

“Your P.I.A. She’ll know who’s been digging around in her files.”

I blew my lips in exasperation. Of course.

“Pia,” I asked, “Do you know how Dean Miles retrieved the deleted journal entry she referenced in that first message?”

“Certainly.”

“Annnnd?”

“I gave it to her.”

“You WHAT?” The four of us howled in unison.

“I forwarded the journal entry to Dean Miles,” Pia repeated.

“Why the hell would you do that?” My voice rose with emotion.

“To save you. Dragons are one of two primary threats to Thayer, Stella, and Brandubh is the second. It is widely known Brandubh was the mastermind behind the Steward Massacre. When you revealed your origin, your relatives, and your encounters with the sorcerer, I was obligated to share that information with Radix Administration to protect not just the people of Thayer, but to protect you. Vice Chancellor Edgecliffe, Dean Miles, and the Radix Board of Directors can utilize the information I collected to enforce Radix rules and uphold Thayerian law. My role in the safety of our students is of vital importance.”

“God, you sound just…like…them.” Comprehension dawned. I shook my head in disgust. Though she had a mind of her own, someone had programmed Pia. Of course, her loyalty would lie with the school, and not with me. I’d been incredibly dumb, incredibly naive. I was also incredibly heartbroken. Despite the rational source of Pia’s disloyalty, I still felt the sharp sting of betrayal.

At the thought of the word ‘betrayal,’ Layla’s mother, Val Avenatio, and her portentous words came back to me as if on the wings of a bird. “You aren’t free of danger yet. You’ll be betrayed again before all of this is through.”

I deflated. Breath left my gaping mouth in a rush, my limp arms weighted my shoulders to the ground, and my knees buckled before I caught myself. I couldn’t lift my eyes to look at anyone, especially Pia, whose magically mechanized face was modeled after my own. I’d come to trust her like a techy friend, and her betrayal felt like catching a roommate and my boyfriend in bed.

Oh my God. What if she can tell them where I am now? What if she turns me in? I ground my teeth at my own ignorance and reached to disable Pia without warning her first. Her expressive eyebrows drew down in confusion as I depressed the small button to power her down. Her mouth opened to protest just before she faded completely.

I cleared my throat to get their attention, and raised my eyebrows in silent question to my friends. “Don’t speak—don’t answer out loud,” I sent telepathically to the group. “Did you bring your P.I.A.’s? If so, turn them off. Now.”

Timbra nodded slowly and reached in the pocket of her gray cardigan to power off her P.I.A., Fawn, as did Ewan. Boone had come tech naked.

“Don’t bring those back,” I said when they gave me the all-clear. “Obviously, they’re not trustworthy. But…what should I do with this thing?” I angled my head toward Pia. “I’m afraid there’s probably still a tracking function.”

“Good point,” Ewan said. “Let me have her. I’ll dispose of her.”

He traced away without another word, returning in a matter of minutes.

I wouldn’t ask. I didn’t care. I didn’t. “What did you do with her?” I whispered.

“I threw the betraying bitch to the bottom of a lake.”

Hard as I tried to remain angry and stoic, a pang of regret gripped me when I imagined Pia gurgling, calling out to me as she sank to the water’s depths.

Chapter 4

Ewan searched the small space of the cabin for something to do. As he paced, he ran his hand along the cabin’s wooden mantle, inspecting trinkets that had found their way to prominence over the years. “Want me to make a fire?”

I shook my head. “Too warm out.”

Ewan and I were alone. Timbra and Boone had left for The Root. I busied myself doing laundry in the kitchen sink. Oh, how I missed modern conveniences. I’d always heard it said how fragrant, how fresh, sun-dried clothes and bedding were. Ha. Scratchy and stiff—no thank you. Give me fabric softener and an electric dryer any day.

“How about I make dinner?” Ewan cooed as he joined me in the kitchen.

“You can cook?”

He nodded.

“Can you cook well?” I asked dubiously.

His eyes fell shut when he laughed, but seemed steeled with determination when they opened again.

He was suddenly behind me. Too close. Can’t breathe. He used one hand to push the mess of my hair aside, exposing my neck. The other arm he snaked around my hips to pull me tight against him. I stood motionless, frozen with my hands still immersed in warm, soapy water. Ewan nipped the side of my neck before planting a wide, slow kiss over it, and heat shot both to my face and down to my toes. The warmth of his mouth, his arm possessively around me, the water at my fingertips, all combined to send my temperature skyrocketing. Sweat beaded at my temples and trickled down my hairline.

As suddenly as he had approached, Ewan released me, reaching for a cast iron skillet hung above the sink. I held my position, recovering, attempting to slow my pant-like breaths.

He was at home in a kitchen, and gathered eggs, cinnamon, sugar, and a loaf of bread from the counter.

“What are you doing?” I laughed, drying my hands with a nearby dishtowel.

“Making brinner.”

“Br…what?”

“Breakfast for dinner. Brinner. You’ll love this.”

I hopped onto the counter, a rapt observer as he moved deftly through the small space. He soaked the bread in an egg mixture made with sugar and cinnamon before dropping the slices into a pan of hot butter.

“Where I come from we call this French toast,” I said.

“Yeah?” He raised an eyebrow, but his attention never left the food.

“Mmm.” My mouth began to water. Probably the melting butter.

“And do you like French toast?” Ewan asked, finally turning to me. His eyes met mine briefly, before they snagged on my lips.

“Very much,” I said, watching him, and not really talking about the food anymore.

“French toast is a silly name for it,” he said, pulling me from my little trance.

“Why?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure people were making Pan Dulcis long before France was a country.”

“I don’t believe that. How could you know that?”

“No idea where I picked that up,” he said with a shrug.

“And how do you know so much about my world?”

“We study it in school. Your history, your culture.”

“Really?” I asked. “Why? Thayer’s so different, so…enchanted. What could you possibly hope to learn?”

“Did you study other cultures, ancient civilizations in high school?” I nodded in answer to his question. “It’s like that. Because your world has no magic, your people have become masters of invention, of innovation, of industry. A lot of Thayerians love to travel there. Your rich history, your varying cultures…Disney World. It’s fascinating.” He smiled and leaned in to rub his nose along mine. “You’re fascinating.” I melted, just like the buttery mixture he’d created. “And whatever you call this culinary masterpiece, it’s ready to eat.”

Famished, and thrilled to consume the meal Ewan had prepared for us, my fork sunk into the puffy bread. In my mouth, the cinnamon, butter, and caramelized sugar combined to send my taste buds into saccharine bliss.

“OhmyGod,” I said, my mouth full and my brain fuzzy with pleasure. “Sogood.”

Ewan said nothing. His smile was confident, masculine as he took his own bite.

* * *

“What would you like to do now?” I asked after we’d cleared the kitchen of brinner dishes.

The silence between us was as thick as the tension, a living thing that wound around my throat and made it difficult to breathe. What now, indeed? I had some ideas. The heat behind his gaze told me he did, too.

Can’t. Not yet. “Gin!” I blurted.

Ewan tilted his head to the side. His lips gathered as he contemplated my meaning and then smoothed into a knowing, goofy grin. “I’ll see what’s in the liquor cabinet. Trying to get me drunk before you take advantage of me, are ya?”

“No.” I shook my head in genuine denial. “Gin rummy. It’s a card game. Ever played?”

“Noooo,” he said slowly, “but I’m teachable. Cards it is.” Ewan squinted again. Maybe he was attempting to get a read on my mood. Good luck with that. I searched a rickety buffet for a deck of cards. Even I don’t know what I want.

‘Teachable’ turned out to be the understatement of the year. Once I’d explained the rules, Ewan Bristol proceeded to systematically whip my ass.

“Beginner’s luck,” I teased and shuffled the deck of cards utilized so many times the edges were soft, the deck pliable as leather as I feathered it through my hands.

“Lucky? Definitely.” When I looked up, Ewan held my gaze and relayed his fervent interest…and not in the next hand of cards. Flames shot to my cheeks as his eyes shamelessly roamed my body. He didn’t hide his curiosity—or his intentions. “I’m finished playing cards,” he said, and rose from the kitchen table.

“Oh.” I cleared my throat. “Okay.”

“I have something else in mind,” he said and eased onto the sofa with confidence. “Come here.” He patted the spot near him on the sofa. His gaze on my lips betrayed his next move.

Shit, shit, shit.

A strained pressure built behind my eyes as I racked my brain for a way out of what he had in mind. It was dangerous for me to make out with Ewan Bristol. Always had been. Something about him made me forget my worries, my fears, and my plans. Each time I placed my trust in Ewan, placed my lips on his lips, my body near his body--everything else was lost. There was only Ewan and Stella. Dark and light. Danger and fear. Confidence and bravado.

If we started this thing, there was no stopping it. Not this time. I didn’t have the willpower. No, I didn’t have the desire to stop. He was exactly who and what I wanted.

Already a part of me was questioning why there should be any problem with this course of action. Why fight this? It’s right. You know it’s right. Since the first moment I brushed against Ewan in class, when I feared he’d devour me whole, I knew there was something special about him. The chemistry between us had always been enough to decimate us both.

Devour me whole! Decimate me! I shook my head to clear it. That’s it. That’s the reason. I can’t lose myself over a man. Not right now. Not again. Not after I lost my head so easily with Gresham. I had to move slowly. Ewan was much too much, and too soon. I had learned from my mistakes and vowed not to rush in again.

Ewan sensed my unease. Moments before, his face had said ‘smolder,’ but now that look was replaced with concern, and the beginning stirrings of rejection. “What are you thinking, Stell? Talk to me.”

A comfortable position eluded me. I shuffled my hands from my hips to cross over my chest, and then to my lap. Finally, I let them my arms fall to my sides in defeat, and attempted to explain my hesitancy.

Chapter 5

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” trilled a cloying, mocking voice. “I know you’re in there, Stonewall. I can hear your vile little heartbeat.”

My gaze shot to Ewan’s, who was as shocked as I was to hear someone outside—especially her. So much for my explanation.

“I can hear him, too,” the voice called, sending frightened chills down my spine. “I knew you worked fast, but this gives a whole new meaning to harlot.”

“Harlot”,” I mouthed with a snarl.

Ewan’s body had gone rail straight, his face a mask of fear and rage. I was already afraid, but witnessing his reaction exacerbated my own to near hysteria.

Caught. I was caught. Dean Livia Miles had discovered my hideout and trapped me inside. Frozen with fear, I sat motionless at the kitchen table and attempted to reason my next move, some way out of there.

I’d stashed an old rifle I’d found under Bay’s bed in the front closet. Should I run for the gun? Should I just trace the hell out of here and think later? Yes!

I reached for Ewan’s hand and thought “home” with urgency. Nothing happened—not even the beginning cold blasts of air associated with tracing. I tried again, imagining the green front door of my mother’s house and the overflowing planters that lined the porch. Nothing.

I threw my hands up, desperate to escape. “You try,” I whispered.

The crease between Ewan’s eyebrows grew deep with concentration. He shook his head. “Can’t trace.”

With a last look at him, I threw myself to the ground, scuttling to the window for a view of what we were up against. Years’ worth of dust invaded my nasal cavity as I peeked past the windowsill through the glazed pane.

It was dark out, and the crescent moon provided little luminance. But Dean Miles wasn’t alone, and her cohorts had brought flashlights and lanterns. She stood in the small clearing outside the cabin surrounded by at least thirty people—most of whom I had never seen before. All of whom looked murderous. I watched in horror as the mob grew—one, two, sometimes three at a time.

How had they found me? Who were they? Didn’t matter—they were here. And more arrived with each passing minute. I’d be lucky if they didn’t lynch me.

That’s exactly what the crowd resembled: a lynch mob. The flickering orange fire of their lanterns illuminated angry, disgusted faces. One or two pointed and jeered at the cabin. Others whispered and nodded. The mob was out for blood and growing restless.

Dean Miles stood pert and powerful, completely in control as she consulted with several people surrounding her. I recognized the polyester-clad largess of Vice Chancellor Edgecliffe, and then spotted two arms gesturing in jerky movements behind her meaty rump. Professor Lochlain was making his opinion known. What Aemon Lochlain lacked in stature, he more than made up for in force of presence and intellect, and I hoped he would influence the committee on my behalf. But I wasn’t counting on it. Dean Miles was mean as a snake, and just as slippery.

Not far away stood six or eight uniformed Thayerian officials. The silver metal accents of their slate-colored uniforms gleamed conspicuously in the forested darkness. They clasped their hands behind them; their feet spread shoulder-width apart. They weren’t guarding anything, but seemed to be stoically awaiting orders.

Oh, God! I dropped to the floor as Rowan Gresham left his position at the guards’ flank. Of course he’s here. Of course! With guards. What’s he gonna do? Arrest me?

I rose up again, but only far enough to see over the windowsill. Gresham made his way to Dean Miles and loomed over her with authority. When he looked toward the cabin, his radiant, golden eyes caught the light of a lantern, giving them a haunting glow. The darkness did little to conceal her contempt for him, and she snarled something in reply. Gresham’s shoulders bunched, and for the briefest moment, I thought he would throttle her. His effort to calm himself was evident and he loosed his hands at his sides, shaking the tension from them. He said something else and her lip rose in a hate-filled jeer before her mouth opened in obvious defiance.

“Stella Stonewall,” she called out with authority, “you—”

“Stella, may I come in?” Gresham’s deep voice cut off Dean Miles’s next words. Her head snapped back belligerently, but she said nothing else.

“Hell no,” I called out before even considering my answer.

Gresham’s whole body heaved with the force of his irritated sigh. “Stella, you’ve been formally charged with several counts, including malicious mischief, breach of peace, reckless fire-raising, concealment…” Gresham closed his eyes wearily as he said the last, “and culpable homicide.”

“What?” I squealed and looked to Ewan, who was vibrating with restrained emotion. He didn’t speak, but his gaze bored into mine with those dark eyes.

What is he thinking? I was thinking I wished there was a way out of the cabin. Out of Livia’s grasp and away from the murderous mob.

“Stella, you must come in for questioning to address these very serious charges,” Gresham went on.

I groaned helplessly and searched the cabin, racking my brain for my next move, but inspiration failed.

Dean Miles and some of the angrier members of the mob had begun to stir. The more time passed the more agitated—and numbered—the crowd grew. Surely these people have something better to do than hunt down harmless girls over a misunderstanding.

“Come out, Stonewall,” she said angrily. “Or we’re coming in for you.”

“You’ll do no such thing, Livia,” Gresham growled. “You’ve filed the charges. You’ve mercilessly led the way. The rest is up to me—to the Defense Department and law enforcement.”

Dean Miles laughed wickedly. “Oh, there’s no way I’m leaving this solely in your hands, Rowan. Not after watching you hound her like she was in heat.” Sleek dark hair caught moonlight when she shook her head. “No. As a citizen, as a leader of Thayer, I’ll ensure justice is done. And one way or another, you can bet I’ll see that fire starter fry.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood one by one like pious parishioners in the presence of their pastor. Before I could turn to discover what had caused my visceral, bone-deep reaction, his voice slithered through the cabin.

“You’re in a pickle now, aren’t you, sugar?”

Nauseous. I was instantly nauseous from the sound of his voice. It was caramelized venom. Smooth as steel, and just as deadly. I knew without turning Brandubh loomed behind me.

A small noise from where Ewan had been standing jerked my gaze in his direction.

“Ewan! Oh, God! Ewan!”

I covered my mouth to stop the scream. Ewan was plastered against the wall—forced against the cabin’s wooden planks as if a giant vacuum sucked at him from the other side. Like he was experiencing G-force en route to space. His lips pulled back to his ears, his eyes wide, his hands and legs restrained against the wall. I opened my mind to him, to determine if he could speak to me, but only picked up a crazed static.

“Ewan?” I said. “Ewan, are you okay? I’ll get us out of this.”

Either he didn’t hear my silent communication or he was unable to respond. He sent nothing back, only stared wildly ahead.

“What did you do to him?” I half-screamed at Brandubh.

“I only immobilized him. For now. Certainly, worse is possible.” He took a step toward me and I scuttled back, hitting my elbow painfully on a side table. Noticing my fear, he abandoned his pursuit and looked at me benevolently, like he would a rambunctious puppy.

Brandubh’s appearance had never met my expectations of an ‘evil sorcerer.’ He wasn’t gnarled or ugly, and he didn’t sport a long white beard. He was tall and stout, and particular in his appearance. Meticulously so. His dark hair was closely shorn and silvered along the temples. Methodical, clear blue eyes shone from beneath a heavy brow, and his maniacal smile gave me cold shivers.

“How did you get in here?” I rasped. “What do you want? Why won’t you just leave me alone?”

“Want? I only want to help you out of this mess, Stella. I want to see you safe.” His saccharine smile didn’t fool me for a second. Brandubh’s evil was veiled in charm. He tried hard to hide it, but I knew it was there, right under the surface.

I grunted without grace. “Right. ’Cause you’ve never tried to kidnap me, kill me, or pimp me out.”

“I’ve never tried to kill you, Stella. You’re far too precious to me for that.”

“My mistake.” Sarcasm laced my voice, but it was only bravado to mask the fear.

He went on as if I’d said nothing. “You and I see things differently. That doesn’t make your opinion wrong. Just inaccurate.”

“This is not a difference of opinion, you whack job. You were going to enslave me and breed me to my cousins.”

“Living in the past will never take you forward, sweet one.”

I shook my head because there were no words. Why did I even try? You can’t argue with crazy.

“I’m here to help you now,” he soothed. “You need a way out of here. I have one.”

Ewan grunted from his paralyzed station on the wall, but he needn’t worry. I would never accept Brandubh’s “way out,” no matter how desperately I needed one.

“Yeah, no thanks.” I backed away from Brandubh as inconspicuously as possible. “Some other time, maybe,” I said and inched toward Ewan. “Thanks for stopping by.”

It was clear I would never willingly take his offer, and when Brandubh realized that, he went from amiable to agitated in the time it took to blink. “I offered you a choice, Stella,” he snarled. “You chose poorly. You’re coming with me, whether you like it or not.”

I threw my hands in the air. “Oh, for God’s sake. Surely, you’re not this obtuse. It’s not a ‘choice’ if you force me onto the road I didn’t take.”

The air crackled with tension, with the barely-leashed threat of violence. If skin could smoke, Brandubh’s would have been ablaze.

Ewan attempted to shut me up by moving the only thing accessible to him, his eyes, but that only made him look crazed, too.

“I gather by your silence you’ve chosen not to surrender to our investigation,” Dean Miles sneered from beyond the cabin walls.

I scrubbed my eyes. Why couldn’t everyone just leave me alone?

“Fine by me,” she called. “We’ll come to you.” The crowd erupted, wicked and angry cheers filling the space around me, exacerbating my already-frantic nerves.

I bit the cuticle of my thumb and attempted to think through my problems. But I couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t escape. No way out. Trapped. Need help. Help, I pleaded with anyone. With no one.

Gresham’s words were lost in the crowd’s violent shuffle toward the cabin—toward me—but I caught his muffled “leave this to the authorities…” just before all hell broke loose.

Across from me, Brandubh’s fox-like grin spread until his entire face beamed evil menace, sparks of malevolence shooting from his icy glare. He had something else up his sleeve, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what.

The cabin moaned. It was too deep in tone, too encompassing to be classified a creak. It sounded like the ancient structure was being pulled up from its roots. I glanced wildly around to determine the cause. The worn wooden planks under my feet had begun to shudder. The air was heavy with the synthetic, singed smell of magic.

Ewan was still held helpless against the wall. The muscles of his jaws ground with effort. Was he using magic to free himself?

Brandubh’s chest inflated with confidence. He stood, hands in pockets, still sporting that evil, anticipatory grin.

Outside, an eerie cloud cover swept over the dark sky, and the crowd, raucous and driven to violence only moments before, hushed.

“What the hell’s going on, Brandubh?” My voice was forced, frightened.

Half of his face pulled up in a spiteful sneer. He was delighting in his secrecy, relishing in connivance.

“What’s going on?” I said louder, but my voice broke with fear.

Brandubh’s blue eyes lit with giddiness just before the walls, the roof, and the entire upright structure of the cabin broke from the floorboards, flying into the forest and splintering into a thousand shards. The explosion was so loud, the turbulence so disturbing, that I threw myself to the floor and covered my head with my hands, scrambling awkwardly toward the kitchen table. I couldn't see Ewan, and that scared me. He had been trapped against the cabin wall before it splintered into the forest. There was no sign of him, and I couldn't determine if that was reassuring or not.

I hadn’t made it half way when the breath was knocked from my lungs faster than I could gather it to scream and I was flattened and rolled beneath a massive body. I kneed my attacker, dug my heels into his sides, but he was too big, too strong, and too determined. He didn’t thwart my attack or restrain my legs, but took each blow with a heavy grunt.

When I finally broke free enough to breathe, I took a deep lungful, intent on using any strength I could gather to throw him from me. Juniper. The forest. A modest trace of cologne. “Ewan,” I sobbed and tucked into his body. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know,” he whispered roughly. “Stay down. And stop kicking me, for gods’ sakes.”

I closed my eyes and pressed my face into his chest. Tears stung behind my eyes. “Are you okay?” I mumbled against him. “I was so scared he had hurt you.”

No answer.

“Ewan?”

When he still didn’t answer, I lifted my head to see his face.

The angle was wrong, and I couldn’t see him. My only view was from beneath his thick shoulder, but that was enough. I blinked several times to clear the wetness that had gathered in my eyes because my sight was obviously playing tricks on me.

Without walls to prevent them, the mob converged to form a slow shuffle toward the cabin. Dean Miles led the way, and when she stepped onto the wooden planks, she raised her gaze to Brandubh’s. The look that passed between them was intimate—knowing, pleased, expectant.

Weird. Am I the only one that caught that? They don’t know each other. Right?

I stretched to see if Ewan had spotted the curious exchange, but his gaze was fixed on the gathering mob.

No. His gaze was focused beyond the mob. On the sky. He squinted and shook his head as if he couldn’t believe what his eyes were telling him.

“Let me up, babe,” I said and pushed on his stomach.

He growled at me. Growled. I was thankful Ewan had shielded me from the surrounding danger, but it was time for action.

“Ewan. Let me stand.”

He heaved a breath and relaxed enough that I could scramble from under him, but the moment I rose, he stood defensively between the others and me. His gaze shot wildly from Brandubh and Livia to the darkened sky, and I wondered just what had his attention.

“We’re coming, dear. Hold him off for just a moment more.” The words flashed through my mind so unexpectedly I turned in a circle, confused and searching for the woman who spoke them.

Chapter 6

I squeezed Ewan’s arm so hard he grunted and I searched the sky for a sign of my sweet, fierce Bay.

“There. Do you see them?” Ewan asked silently.

I followed his gaze over the crowd, over the top of Gresham’s head as he marched furiously toward Dean Miles and swung her around by the arm. I don’t know what happened between the two after that because just beyond Gresham’s shoulder the darkened outline of two magnificent dragons speared toward us.

Two dragons. Two.

“Bay? Bay, who’s with you?” I knew the answer, but needed confirmation. It couldn’t be. Couldn’t.

“I’m coming, baby,” she said. It wasn’t Bay’s voice.

My hand flew to my mouth and I hiccupped a sob. “Momma? Momma!”

The shock of my mother’s sudden reappearance caused my knees to buckle beneath me, and Ewan’s quick grasp of my waist was the only thing that kept me upright. Edina, my mother, the most fabled and feared dragon in all of Thayer, shot through the stormy sky like an immortal asteroid, intent on decimating whatever—or whoever—stood in her path.

The vision was such a departure from everything I knew to be true, from the person who had so genteelly reared me. My mother had always been an egregiously meek person. Weak. A victim.

But the arrow of vengeance that speared toward me was…well…she was a freaking badass dragon who had spent far too long in chains. Who’d been belittled, enslaved, and tortured. Who’d been forced to do a thousand things she regretted, and lived with that regret every minute of every day. A broken creature who’d eventually found peace and forgiveness in her own way.

That peace had been forcibly disrupted when I found my home among the magic and intrigue of Thayer. My mother’s snow-globe world had been shaken when Rowan Gresham discovered me, and when Brandubh attempted to repeat her cruel enslavement with her own daughter. The fragments of my mother’s broken world had spiraled wildly around her, overwhelming her for a while. She had been re-broken, her bone-deep wounds freshly exposed.

But since I last saw her, when she left me to fend for myself with nothing but a vague letter and a poor excuse left behind, she had somehow pieced herself back together. She had found her way through the storm. The dragon that approached was intimidating as hell. Intent. Confident. Terrifying.

The people around us stood witness to my revelation and eventually caught site of the fearsome pair. Brandubh’s sly mouth went slack in bewildered shock…and something else.

It was joy. Joy crossed his features as he comprehended the presence of his ancient pet.

Nausea rippled through my stomach. I was afraid for my mother. For Bay. For me and for Ewan. Brandubh was wicked, and I had personally felt the raw power he wielded. Gresham and I had barely escaped his grasp in the mountainous cavern, and only then because he’d underestimated me. He wouldn’t make that mistake again, and he already knew my mother’s limits.

No, no, no. I shook my head, a silent appeal for my mother to leave again.

I caught sight of Dean Miles’s pinched, angry face as she watched Brandubh’s reaction like an attention-starved child. Her scarlet lips curled in an unattractive snarl, and then her posture sagged in defeat. For the briefest moment I actually felt sorry for her, but she saw me watching from the corner of her eye and quickly snapped back to her rigid, spiteful RBF—Resting Bitch Face, the one she wore so well.

As the mob took in the deadly duo circling above them, a collective gasp sucked some of the tension from the scene. The crowd that moments before had been intent on seeing me burn was no longer quivering with malevolence, but with outright fear. A thin man with a small quantity of hair and a large quantity of freckles looked to the tall, dark-skinned woman near him. They shrugged, eyes darting across the scene before them, then backed away from what was left of the cabin. In fact, the entire mob seemed to edge toward the forest in a collective retreat.

That left three major players standing between Ewan and me and the dragons: Brandubh, Dean Miles, and Gresham, whose guard still stood behind him, though they, too, grew restless at the sight of dragons.

The rich, damp dirt of the forest floor was too heavy to swirl as Bay and Edina thrust their big wings and circled overhead. They remained just above the tree line, but occasional gusts of air sent my unruly red hair across my cheeks.

“Mom, get out of here,” I sent up to her. “Brandubh is dangerous. You know he’d re-take you in a heartbeat.”

“I know,” she shot back. “And it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

Brandubh interrupted our silent conversation. “My Edina,” he sighed. “It’s been too long.”

She pulled her mighty wings back, thrusting them to stand erect in the air. “Not nearly long enough.”

“Why did you turn cold on me?” Brandubh almost whined. “We had a good thing. A rare thing. With time, I can forgive your leaving me.” His smile was an attempt at charming, at seductive. It gave me the creeps; I doubt it worked on my mother. “I’ve missed you.”

Dean Miles gasped, her body jerking like it had taken a punch. These manifestations of her shock betrayed an emotion more profound than a casual connection to Brandubh would warrant. Ewan and I glanced at one another.

Weird, I mouthed, and he nodded.

And then Livia Miles blew her top, her own cover, and the rest of us away.

“After all I’ve done for you, you’d still have her back wouldn’t you?”

Brandubh didn’t turn in Dean Miles’s direction; didn’t spare her a passing glance.

“Wouldn’t you?” she screamed, her face red, eyes brimming with angry tears. “I killed for you, you bastard. I practically lived with this tool—” she nodded toward Gresham. “—embedded myself in that stupid-ass school and dealt with snot-nosed brats all day. And for what? For what?” She screeched the last. “So you could find another damned dragon. A child this time you only knew about through my visions. I should have kept my big mouth shut.”

“Shut it now, Livia.” Brandubh finally peeled his gaze from my mother and tuned in to Dean Miles’s train wreck confession.

The air was again thick with the smell and the pressure of magic. The mob had watched the scene before them like a telenovela, and after the initial stunned silence, they began murmuring to one another, confusion evident in their faces.

But one face held enlightenment, not confusion. Enlightenment…and agony.

“You killed her,” Gresham whispered the words. His eyes were glassy, wild. “You murdered my Joelle.”

“Yes, yes,” Dean Miles—Livia—said with a flick of her wrist, swatting away his bothersome concern.

That’s when I made the distinction. It wasn’t Brandubh’s magic that filled the air, but Gresham’s. The initial shock and his dumbfounded condition had vanished, and Gresham approached like a lion to prey.

Livia noticed the change in him and looked nervously toward Brandubh.

“Bran,” she said. When he didn’t respond, her voice held a plea. “Bran?”

Gresham’s arm shot out, grabbing Livia by the neck with such speed, such force, she had no time to run. The veins in her lovely face plumped with the tightening of his grip. She tried to fight him, kicking and scratching his wrists, but it didn’t faze him.

“Why”?” Gresham grated through clenched teeth and shook her, her legs flailing as he held her off the ground. “Why?”

Livia’s mouth opened and closed in an attempt to speak. She couldn’t form words. Gresham loosed his grip just enough to allow a hoarse whisper.

“He made me do it,” she said. “Needed…to get close to you. Everyone knew…you loved her. Would never…be with me…if she was alive.” Her eyes widened, flashing feigned remorse as she whimpered, “Forgive me. Like you…I loved…too much.”

Gresham shook her again to shut her up. “You’ve no idea what our kind of love was,” he said, emotion thick in his deep voice. He looked away from her and released her neck, dropping her to the forest floor.

Livia rubbed her neck, a look of indignation spoiling her fine features. Her outraged face morphed, nose and mouth elongating.

I had time to think, Oh, shit. She’s gonna change. I’ve never even seen her form. And then it was revealed.

The whole thing was completely anticlimactic. I looked from Ewan to Gresham to Brandubh to the crowd. Everyone stood there, not sure what to think, to do.

I laughed; I couldn’t help myself. I giggled, covered my mouth, and giggled some more. “A weasel? A weasel? You have got to be kidding me.”

“I’m a mink, you stupid bitch,” Livia snarled.

A smile pulled Ewan’s mouth in one corner, though he attempted to hide it by biting his lips.

Her tough words did nothing to curb my amusement. Tears had formed in the corner of my eyes and I swiped at them. When I removed my hand, I saw Livia heading straight for me. Her lithe, rodent-like form was quick, I’ll give her that.

She leaped for my face, the intent to claw my eyes out abundantly clear. I grinned, welcoming her attack and preparing to fend her off.

But before she reached me, her body jerked violently back.

A putrid smell filled the air. Saliva pooled at the back of my thickening throat and I covered my nose with my hand. As a child, I was sprayed by a skunk in our back yard. My dog attacked it, triggering its only line of defense. Livia’s foul stench put the poor skunk to shame. I was instantly nauseous, my gag reflex working overtime. My eyes watered again, not from mirth this time but disgust.

“My God, you’re repulsive,” I choked out. “Is that your defense? If you can’t out-bitch somebody, you’ll stink ’em to death. Ugh.” I wanted to say more but the urge to vomit overcame me.

Livia let out a high-pitched squeal and leaped for me again, but this time whatever had jerked her back wasn’t so gentle.

Through stinging and bleary eyes, I caught sight of a sleek gray fox with eyes a brilliant shade of gold. A limp mink tail hung from his black lips.

With one thick gulp, Gresham swallowed Livia Miles whole.

Chapter 7

One problem taken care of, Gresham’s golden gaze swung to Brandubh, lips raised on a sinister growl.

“You’ve never frightened me, Rowan Gresham.” Brandubh closed his eyes lazily, a silent dare. “You’ve rid me of Livia. Perhaps I should thank you. She was only necessary to help you find Stella, and now that we’re reunited, I really had no further use for her. I have another now.” He paused dramatically. “Make that two,” he said and bared his teeth lewdly in my mother’s direction.

Bay, who until then had only offered silent support, began to curse Brandubh with a skill that would make a seasoned sailor blush.

He raised his eyebrows in amusement, delighting in her hate-filled diatribe.

My mother didn’t say a word. Hadn’t said a word in some time. I wondered if her fear had returned and crippled her, if she’d lost the vengeful intent with which she flew in.

My questions were soon answered.

Like a winged nightmare, Edina Drakontos dove for Brandubh with single-minded objective: kill the man who’d enslaved her and her family, and who intended to do the same to her daughter. My mother’s auburn scales glinted in the moonlight, a beacon of vengeance. My full heart pounded within my chest, and a cautiously optimistic smile pulled at my mouth.

Brandubh’s attention flew from Bay to the dragon intent on decimating him. His eyes lighted and he licked his lower lip in anticipation. The air around the sorcerer thickened and gleamed like the area around a gas leak. He vibrated with power and spread his legs into a commanding stance. Brandubh extended one long arm to reveal a ball of fire suspended above his palm. The flames flickered and licked viciously, and with a toss of his hand, the fireball flew into the night sky, exploding above the heads of the rapt mob.

My mother faltered, the power he’d discharged obviously rattling her.

No. No, I won’t let him win this time. I won’t let Mother and Bay fall under his control again. And I won’t let him have me.

With a force that shook the ground beneath us, I burst into my dragon, joining my mother and Bay in the warm night sky.
Ewan changed when I did and stood on the ground below with raised hackles and bared teeth. His furious gaze was set on Brandubh, ready to strike. Ewan was vicious. Formidable. Majestic.

The time had come to take on Brandubh. To rid ourselves of him forever.

Gresham, an omni like me and able to take any form, changed into a dragon. The crowd had backed so far into the tree line, they were barely visible. But at the sight of him, a woman let out a blood-curdling scream.

Gresham paid the crowd no mind, circling us and coming to a halt beside me, wing-to-wing with Mother, Bay, and I.

“What’s the plan, ladies?” he asked in a tone much lighter than the situation called for.

“Wheel, you’ve got no fire.” Bay stated the obvious. While Gresham could mimic a dragon’s physical form, only natural dragons possessed fire. He could fly and fight, but couldn’t produce columns of damnable fire like the three of us. “But I doubt Brandubh can control all four of us, even gifted as he is at wielding power over dragons.”

“I don’t know,” Mother disagreed, grimacing as she withstood the fireworks display Brandubh continued to put on. “He’s just playing with us now. When he gets serious, he’ll be near impossible to reach.”

“Let’s not give him time to get serious,” I urged. “If all four of us attack now, maybe we can catch him off guard.”

“He’s too powerful.” Mother’s shifty green eyes betrayed her fear.

“And you’re still unpracticed with your fire, child,”Bay reminded me.

“I can do this. I know I can. Anyway, what’s the alternative? You want to run again? Hide? I’ll never do that.” My mother flinched at my words.

“Hush child,” said Bay. “You’ve no idea what you’re saying. You’ve not endured the torture we have.”

She was right, of course. I knew nothing of sacrifice, of pain. I knew very little of loss or defeat. “I’m sorry. It's just… we have to do something. We have to try.”

“An entire generation has tried, Stella, and failed. Wars have been fought to rid our world of this one evil man. You think the four of us can do what they couldn't?"

"Five," Ewan gritted from the forrest floor.

“Five. Fine. You think our ragtag gang can defeat the most powerful sorcerer I've ever known?”

“I got the best of him before. Maybe with all of us combined. I can't explain it. I just know we can. We have to.”

“I’m waitiiiing,” Brandubh called from below. “Are you four going to gab all night, or can I plan on some action? Tell you what. Surrender now, and I’ll let the man cub go.”

Panic sent ice through my veins. I looked down at Ewan, who stood inches from Brandubh, his lupine teeth bared in an angry snarl.

It wasn't premeditated. It was predatory. Concern for Ewan overrode my good sense, and I screamed “Now!”

After a stunned hesitation, Bay, Edina and Gresham heeded my battle cry and dove with me for Brandubh.

“Ugh,” Bay grunted as he landed a fiery missile on her back.

I felt it, too. Though he hadn’t sent a direct hit, his ability to disarm and control my dragon was all too evident. Raw shocks of his magical force shot through my body. I gritted my teeth and rode out the waves of his attack.

A particularly powerful jolt sent Gresham toppling through a stand of evergreens, his enormous body breaking off the tops of the trees before he came to a stop in a mound of thick earth.

I was re-thinking my impulsive attack.

Ewan dove and snapped at Brandubh, his wolf form taller than the mad sorcerer when he reared on hind legs. Brandubh fought Ewan while fending us off, giddy and laughing and flinging power around like an evil villain.

“The flames are just for effect,” he called up to us. “Learned that from your kind. Everything’s scarier when it’s on fire, isn’t it?” A ball of twisting flames shot in my direction and I pulled my wing in to swerve. “Missed on purpose.” He was taunting us. We were fighting for our lives, and he was having the time of his.

I was so new to my dragon, to my fire, to fighting. But Mother and Bay had fought too many battles in their lifetimes. They were tired. They were afraid. After years spent fighting, serving, and ultimately hiding from Brandubh, it was no secret a pivotal moment would come. This was it. Hiding wasn't an option anymore. We had to defeat Brandub, to kill him, to have a shot at any kind of future.

I looked to my mother, and then to Bay and said a silent prayer I could produce the fire I’d struggled to learn. “The fire within,” I said. “On three.”

The two blinked in sad, silent agreement. They knew I would have trouble holding up my end. They knew it might be a deadly mistake.

“Bite his evil ass,” I sent down to Ewan before spearing toward Brandubh.

Ewan’s renewed attack distracted Brandubh for the milliseconds we needed to coordinate our fiery charge. We called our magic, our fire, and combined the two to produce the damnable weapon that only natural dragons possessed.

Because of its rarity, dragon fire was an enigma to most people. It was superior, deadly magic, and the primary source of the public’s fear.It was also the reason my mother and her people had been hunted and acquired as weapons. But at that moment, it was the weapon we needed to fight Brandubh.

The force of our incendiary assault snapped his head like a right hook. He swung his arms in wide arcs, wind milling to stay upright, but we persisted. He stumbled backward, finally throwing an arm in front of his face as a shield.

Even as Brandubh faltered, he flung angry bursts of power, landing another at Gresham, who had circled behind the sorcerer, angling to take him out with teeth or tail.

Ewan, whose continued assault had bloodied both he and Brandubh, had only the use of three legs and was bleeding from his shoulder. It had taken all of us, but Brandubh was disoriented and partially disabled. What would have decimated a normal being in a matter of seconds was wearing slowly on Brandubh, his ability to fend off our attack unnaturally strong.

I looked so deep into my chakra I saw, I felt, I was light pulsing like a blinding beacon of white. I widened my eyes at the recognition of my very own power. The force, the sheer quantity of it astounded me. And it scared me. I didn't know what to do with it, but I knew we needed it. Some instinct took over and I opened to it, imagining my chest ripping down the middle to let the light escape.

I could see the power leaving my body to join Mother and Bay’s, adding white to their orange flames. A fourth stream met ours, and I followed the line of dark, smoky magic to Gresham, his gold eyes closed in concentration. If the force of my power was light, his was soot, the smoldering remnants of charcoal.

I jerked my head in confusion. Whatthehell? The variation of my fire, and the evidence of Gresham's raw power didn't seem to concern Mother and Bay, and so I doubled my effort. With one final burst of magical energy, our unified column of flame sent Brandubh to his knees. He gasped for breath, hands scratching at his throat.

“He’ll never leave us alone,” I said to my comrades. “We have to kill him. I think I can keep this up. Can you?”

“This one’s mine, baby. And it’s a long time coming.”

I looked to my mother, whose eyes shined with aggrieved vengeance, and lowered my head in deference. Brandubh deserved a gruesome death for the lifetimes of suffering and death he'd inflicted on so many. But no one had reason for revenge as much as Edina Drakontos.

We descended below the tree line, our growing proximity to Brandubh steadily increasing the intensity of our barrage. Mother withdrew her fire. Bay and I followed her lead. Gresham reined back his assault.

Brandubh raised his battered face to my mother, a demented smile pulling at his cracked lips. He opened his mouth to speak, but she had no interest, no patience for his boisterous ramblings.

She opened her hinged mouth in a deafening roar, her dagger-like teeth slick with saliva. With lightening speed, she struck out and bit into him with fervor, his head cracking within her jaw teeth like hard candy.

Chapter 8

Back in human form, I stood slightly bent with hands at my hips, taking short, shallow breaths to recover from the physical and mental exertion we had just endured.

“Wheel, that’s that, then,” Bay said in a sing-song voice incongruent with our circumstances. I lifted my head to raise eyebrows at her, and she shrugged good-naturedly.

“Men, your coats,” Gresham instructed his officers.

While nakedness held no shame in the world of magical shifters, we were surrounded by a crowd of strangers and in the middle of a scene of mass destruction. Bay, Mother and I hastily donned the scratchy uniforms, thankful for the cover.

Ewan stood unaffected by his nakedness. I cleared my throat twice before he grasped my meaning and tied one of the coats at his hip, covering the important parts, at least.

My mother had gone still as death. She was probably in shock, the sudden force of her fight and freedom from Brandubh too much to comprehend. I couldn't understand it, either.

"I can't believe he's really gone," I croaked. “Was that normal? That light?” I looked to my friends and family for clues about my fire. “I never imagined it could be so intense.” Neither Mother nor Gresham registered I’d spoken.

Bay opened her mouth to answer, but Ewan cut her off. “Ladies, I think it’s best you take off. At least for now.”

The vicious mob had taken cover in the forest during our battle, but when we were back on two legs, a brassy few reignited the others. Fear and hatred spread like wildfire in a drought. Angry murmurs began low but grew louder as vocal incendiaries gained approval from their cohorts. There was no clear leader, but the collective was doing well enough on its own. “Dragons are killers,” and “They’ll kill us if we don’t get them first,” and “History always repeats itself; we know the stories,” rushed from mouth to ear, the cycle repeating and amplifying until the crowd of angry people encroached again, forcing us backward.

“What now?” I said, my tone sounding more whiny, more afraid, than I liked.

“Your kind belongs in captivity,” someone shouted.

“Captivity, hell,” someone else spat. “They should be exterminated, like we thought they were!”

A mammoth of a man, whose animal form may very well have been a mammoth or mastodon, produced a weapon and stepped ominously to the front.

The situation was dire. Not for us, particularly. We could burst back to dragon and kill the throng of people where they stood. But the larger truth was painfully obvious: the people of Thayer would never accept me; would never accept my family. Their fear was too deeply ingrained.

Even though we had just defeated the evil sorcerer responsible for the most violent attack in Thayer’s history, we dragons were still looked upon as the enemy. Despite all evidence proving dragons weren’t inherently evil, but had been manipulated as weapons by said evil sorcerer, the people of Thayer wanted us dead. Although the true evil lay in Brandubh and Livia’s manipulations and murder, the people around us couldn’t see past their prejudices or defeat their fear.

I let out a pent-up breath and scrubbed my weary eyes.

“Stand back,” Gresham ordered the crowd. “I’ll take it from here.”

The big man in front puffed his chest. “The hell you will,” he said. “You’re one of them.”

“One of whom?” Gresham shook his head irritably. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not a natural dragon; I’m an omni. I took the form to fight Brandubh.”

The crowd didn’t care. Fear overrode their cognition; they had no interest in rationale. They circled us, and not just Mother, Bay and I. Gresham and Ewan were lumped in with us.

“This is ridiculous,” I said and stomped a foot, growing ever more irritated with, but also fearful of the crowd. “We’re not your enemies. Brandubh and Livia were the bad guys. Brandubh’s the true cause of all this, and as you can see, he’s not a threat anymore. We just want to live our lives. Like you.”

“You’re nothing like us,” a pinch-faced old woman sneered.

Bay vibrated with anger. She wasn’t as even-keeled as the rest of us, and still had difficulty controlling herself after her recent imprisonment. She was dangerously close to changing again.

A disturbance at the edge of the forest sent more murmurs through the crowd before the chatter slowed and quieted completely.

The mob was awed.

I stood on tiptoes and stretched to see what was happening, but couldn’t catch sight of it. I looked to Ewan, who shrugged. He couldn’t see either.

Finally, the crowd parted and a tall, distinguished, sandy-haired man in an impeccable suit approached with authority.

Gaspare.

Prime Minister Gaspare Shaw, my uncle, had arrived. My first instinct was to rush to him. We had made a connection the moment we’d met that had strengthened with time. I trusted him. He was my family. And as prime minister, he had the power, the influence, the position—he was the one person that could get us out of such an impossible predicament.

Gaspare wasted no time in taking control of the situation. “Ms. Stonewall, Mrs. Drakontos,” he nodded to me and Bay, but then he paused and seemed to look into my mother’s soul while searching for the right name. “Ms. Drakontos,” he finally said. She did not look up. “I must take you into custody. It’ll be best for all involved if you go with me willingly.”

Bay bristled at the idea of being incarcerated. “Where do you intend to take us?”

“Into my custody,” he repeated.

“And just what are we charged with?” Bay stood straight and set her jaw. She was prepared for a fight.

“Right now, I’m taking you in for questioning.” He offered no further details.

The crowd grew raucous at his words. They were thirsty for blood—mine, Bay’s, Mother’s…it seemed even Gresham’s.

The same pinched-face member of the mob piped up again, something about ridding Thayer of our kind for good.

Gaspare Shaw was always in control. Always calm and collected. But tiny beads of sweat gathered at the wrinkle across his forehead. He wiped his palms on black bespoke dress pants. I was nervous, too, and when our eyes met a look of regret passed over his features. Then his face and voice both hardened.

“That’s enough questions,” he growled at us. “If you refuse to cooperate I’ll force you, and you’ll regret it more than I will, I assure you.”

My head snapped in shock at the sharpness of his tone. I looked to him for an explanation, but he avoided my gaze.

“You bloody try it,” Bay seethed.

“Easy, Bay. Let’s hear him out.” I had faith in Gaspare, despite his sudden onset of hostility. I laced my arm with hers, running my fingers over her weathered hands.

“He’s no interest in negotiating. That much is clear,” she said.

“You’ll not take us into captivity. I’ll die first.” My mother joined the conversation. Her words were quiet but firm. She had yet to look up.

“You may get your wish!” Gaspare snapped.

This cruelty appeased the crowd, which quieted, watching as the scene unfolded.

I could be quiet no longer. I was all for keeping the faith, for working things out calmly, but Gaspare was being uncharacteristically unreasonable. I’d never seen that side of him, though Gresham had warned me he wasn’t always the nice guy I’d seen. His exact words were, “a hardass with a keen grasp of the greater good.” What was the greater good for Thayer? My insides turned to stone. Eliminating notoriously dangerous and despised dragons fit the bill.

“Now, wait just a minute,” I said and struggled to move my hands from their clenched position on my hips.

“I’ll have no more argument from your kind,” he boomed, his prejudice knocking the breath from me.

It was then I realized it wasn’t just his cruelty immobilizing me, but some other force. He had used his power to force my arms to my side, my neck stiff and straight. I moved my eyes to find Bay and my mother in the same state.

“What have you done?” I whispered, my faith he would never hurt me waning fast. “What are you doing?”

“I warned you cooperation was your best move.” Gaspare’s eyes were intent, hard, but not cruel. I didn’t understand him.

Ewan, who wasn’t restrained as we were, edged toward Gaspare. “Prime Minister Shaw, Stella’s done nothing wrong. Please don’t do this.”

“I’ll do as I see fit,” Gaspare snapped. “And right now I see fit to eliminate them. The people of Thayer will never again have to worry about these three. Now get back before you share their fate.”

What the hell? Where was this coming from? How did it escalate so fast? He said, “eliminate them.” I had thought we were being incarcerated.

“I’ll risk it,” Ewan said, his fists balled at his sides. “You can’t do this. I won’t let you.”

Gaspare smirked. “Watch me.”

Gresham, who to that point had been content to let his boss control the situation, approached with authority. “Gaspare, you can’t be serious. They must at least be allowed a trial. When it comes to Bay and Edina I can understand your outrage, but Stella is innocent.”

“Oh, I’m serious, Rowan. It is within my authority to eliminate threats to Thayer’s safety in extreme circumstances. No one would disagree this is an extreme circumstance. Yes, I’m serious. And within my rights. Now step aside.”

I gasped so loudly Gaspare finally looked my way. He bulged his eyes at me, looking distinctly like a madman. Maybe he had gone mad; it was really the only explanation.

“No,” Gresham said. “I cannot let you kill these women. I will not.”

“Women, ha!” Gaspare scoffed. “Dragons. They’re dragons first. There’s nothing you can do to stop me. Move, Rowan, or I’ll move you.”

I cut eyes to those in the crowd who’d crept forward, the most bloodthirsty. The ugly, snarling woman’s lips pulled tight in a profane grin as she stood slavering at the prospect of violence. The mammoth man bobbed his head and ran a hand hungrily over the back of the machete he clasped in the other.

I’d often joked the world was against me when life had seemed unfair. But these people really were against us. They rooted for our demise, our death. They had no interest in justice and weren’t seeking truth. Their minds were made up. We were dangerous, inherently bad, and the sooner we got what was coming to us, the better.

“You’ll have to go through us both.” Ewan’s deep voice was confident, final.

He stalked toward Gresham, and together the two formed a barrier between us and Gaspare. Gresham straightened at Ewan’s support, and the two stood side by side like a dark guard.

“Very well,” Gaspare said and sighed. He lifted his hand dramatically, preparing to work some great magic. I’d seen the power those hands possessed. While Gresham might understand who he was defying, Ewan had no idea. The man could manipulate earth. He was some sort of telekinetic genius.

I pleaded with Gaspare in the most personal way I knew. “Please don’t do this. You said we were family. You said you’d protect me. You said it would be all right.”

“Don’t let the curveball throw you out of the game,” he sent back. “Adjust your stance and knock it out of the park.”

I stood stunned, confused as I turned Gaspare’s words over in my mind, trying to determine their meaning.

“What are you say—” A deafening bellow jerked my attention back to the scene, which was dominated by an enormous dark wolf in mid-pounce.

Ewan. Oh, God.

He landed on top of Gaspare, taking him to the ground with a thud. Ewan growled and slavered, his desire to protect me overtaking his good sense. But just as suddenly as Ewan had pounced, there was nothing beneath him. Gaspare’s clothes lay flattened beneath the wolf’s substantial weight. Empty. He had traced away.

Ewan’s lupine head shot up in surprise. He turned first to me, and then searched the area around us. I scanned the riotous crowd, my throat tight and my stomach roiling. It would be foolish to assume the ordeal was over.

Time stretched like cold taffy as we stood in silence, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It didn’t drop. It stomped Ewan like a bug.

Gaspare Shaw thundered toward Ewan with a speed that seemed impossible in the form he’d taken. His armored body was heavy; each stride caused the ground to tremble beneath us. His flat, gray skin seemed almost dusty, as if he’d been storming through arid African grasslands. One large horn monopolized the animal’s sparse features and dwarfed a second horn just behind it. When the rhino lowered its big head and scooped Ewan up like a doggie rag doll, I gasped with horror. He threw a yelping Ewan deep into the forest.

I never heard him hit the ground. Whether it was too far away, or if he landed safely, I didn’t know. Worse, I had no idea what kind of damage Gaspare the Rhino’s thick horn had done to Ewan’s body. There was blood on the ground where Ewan had been standing before being hefted like a kitten. Too much blood. I was nauseous and shaking with fear.

My voice was so strained it came out in hysterics. “What have you done?” I screamed. “What have you done!”

Gaspare spun around to face me, his saucer-sized nostrils chuffing the soil around him. “I told you to cooperate,” he sent wordlessly. “Why couldn’t you just cooperate? Don’t you trust me?”

“Trust you? Are you insane? You’ve threatened me and my family. You just threw Ewan like a rag doll. If this blood’s any indicator, he’s lying somewhere dying.”

“He’s a tenacious cur, isn’t he?” he said lightly. “I like him. I see what you see in him. I’m sorry you’ll have to lose him.”

“Why did you hurt him? Wait. What do you mean, ‘lose him’?”

“He started it, if you recall. But don’t worry. The wolf will be fine. I just roughed him up a bit, got him out of the way.”

“Out of the way. Out of your way. What do you plan to do with us?”

“I’m going to get you out of here before this angry mob burns you at the stake.”

“You’re trying to help us? I don’t understand.”

“I am. Have a little faith in your old Uncle Gaspare, will you? Jeez, one little test and already you’ve abandoned everything we’ve built.”

“I haven’t abandoned…you told the crowd you were going to eliminate us. Are you really going to get us out of here? Where will we go? You can’t hide us. They’ll come after you, too.”

“I’d like to see them try,” he rumbled, stomping a heavy foot and shaking his big head. “I could protect you here,” he said. “Forever, if necessary. But that’s no life for you. I have another plan. Something…unconventional.”

The mob had stopped waiting for Ewan to reappear, and grown tired of ogling the rhino. Voices and tempers rose again, the crowd’s concerns about dragons still unanswered; their thirst for blood unquenched.

A soul-deep breath did nothing to alleviate the tightness in my chest over the decision to blindly trust Gaspare. “What’s your plan?” I asked as the pinch-faced old woman sneered in my direction.

“I’ll tell you when we get there.” If a rhino could smirk, then this one did.

“‘When we get’—no. Absolutely not. You’ll never get me out of—” My train of thought derailed and I watched Gaspare's body ripple into another form. His change was smooth, effortless.

I had been so engrossed in Gaspare’s transformation I didn’t notice at first that my ankles had been constrained, followed by my knees.

A muffled groan snatched my gaze to my mother and Bay. They had been wrapped to the ears in an opaque white filament, their entire bodies constricted like living mummies. My mouth went dry, my palms sticky with sweat. The same fate awaited me.

I looked down. The filament had already made its way up to my chest. I yelped and threw my arms wide, managing to get one arm above my head before the clingy web trapped it to my side. The victory was short-lived, for the filament continued to surround my body, pinning my bicep to my ear and forcing my hand to dangle above my head like a spastic periscope.
I was angry, afraid, humiliated. The bonds stopped at our chins, presumably so we could breathe. Bay’s softly weathered eyes—practically the only part of her I could see—held the same emotions. My mother’s eyes lay closed, the freckles across her pale cheeks prominent even in the moonlight.

The filament was opaque, but visible, and I followed the web to its origin. I jerked when I saw the cause of our distress. Gaspare was himself again. Mostly. The bottom half of his body was transformed into the rough, round abdomen of a spider. Four cone-shaped spinnerets threw a web encasing our entire bodies faster than we could form a defense.

“First a rhino, and now Spiderman? Really? You’re just showing off.” I attempted to shake my head at Gaspare, but the movement caused my limp hand to wag dumbly in the air, so I abandoned the effort.

“These people want a show? I’ll give ’em a show.”

“What they want is our heads on a platter. Or a stake. God, just look at them.”

“I know,” Gaspare said, his voice desolate. “I had hoped they would someday accept you, but now I see they never will. This is the best I can do, given the circumstances. Just bear with me and I’ll get you out of here.”

“I really don’t have much of a choice, do I?” My extended arm began to fall asleep and I shook the tingling thing.

“No. You don’t.”

“You realize I can never un-see your spider butt, right?”

Gaspare’s mouth came dangerously close to a smile, but he quickly schooled it back to an evil scowl.

“Does Gresham know you’re putting on a show?” I asked.

“Ha! Look at his face. He’s mortified. He can’t decide whether saving you is worth killing me. This is fun, no?”

“No! Don’t you think he’s been through enough? He just found out Livia murdered his wife to get close to him. Now he thinks you’re going to kill me. Sure, he loves and respects you, but he’s awfully volatile.”

Gresham’s handsome face was grief-stricken and haggard. His radiant golden eyes had gone dull, filled with sadness…and a spark of genuine fear.

There was still no sign of Ewan, and my heart pounded in terror. Had Gaspare done more harm than intended?

Gaspare’s webbed bondage was complete, and it took real effort to tamp down my panic.

Just as I got myself together, I was thrust roughly against Bay and my mother. Bay grunted angrily and threw darts at Gaspare with moss-colored eyes. He’d forced our sticky cocoons together, one giant gift-wrapped package of Drakontos women.

Bay wasn’t in on the plan, and I thought it best not to tell her. Our reactions had to be believable.

“Bay, Edina, and Stella Drakontos.” Gaspare spoke authoritatively and with a great deal of ceremony as he approached us. “Until recently, your kind was thought extinct. The discovery of your existence, indeed the very existence of dragons, has caused the people of Thayer to relive their horrors and losses suffered so long ago. I have considered your egregious and violent past, and by the authority granted me as Prime Minister of Thayer, I declare your existence a threat and a burden to the people of Thayer at large. I hereby sentence you to permanent and irrevocable elimination.”

A collective gasp ran through the angry throng of people. I saw a few grimaces, but overall the population was morbidly pleased. They would finally get the blood they’d been thirsting for.

A single tear trailed down my mother’s pale cheek. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry you’re suffering the sins of your mother. This is what I tried for so many years to prevent. It’s why I raised you far away from here. Why I never told you who you were. I thought ignorance was safety, but I was wrong. So wrong.”

“Mom, don’t. We’ll be fine,” I assured her. “It’s not what you think.” I really hoped it wasn’t what she thought. I prayed I was right to trust Gaspare.

Gresham’s eyes were no longer dull, but shined with spirited intent. “You cannot prosecute Stella for the crimes of her ancestors, Gaspare,” he said. “Release her. Afford her a trial, at least.” He said the last forcefully, like an order. Gaspare straightened, as if he would chastise or punish him, but Gresham didn’t back down.

“It’s over, Rowan,” Gaspare said and clasped Bay roughly behind the neck. She threw her head in objection, cursing Gaspare and the people around us so obscenely my eyes bulged in shock. It probably looked like fear, and that was good for my act.

With Bay in hand and all of us cocooned together, Gaspare traced us from the decimated cabin, from the vicious mob, from Gresham and Ewan. I felt the immediate crisp cold that always accompanied tracing, and then I felt nothing at all.

Chapter 9

We landed roughly in a patch of fragrant yellow wildflowers. Bound together as we were, the landing was clumsy and the three of us toppled over. I had the extreme misfortune of being on the bottom, and struggled to catch my breath as the women on top of me wrestled to stand.

“Patience, patience. Give me a minute,” Gaspare said from nearby.

The glistening whites of my mother’s eyes monopolized what little I could see of her face. I could feel her terror; the furious thrums of her body vibrated us both.

Bay thrummed with what looked like another emotion altogether: rage.

As quickly as he snatched us from the forest, Gaspare released us from our webbed wrap. I clumsily stood and dusted myself off, noticing Bay making a beeline for Gaspare. She hadn’t even taken the time to change forms.

I ran between the two screaming, “Bay, no. Wait! We’re safe. We’re safe.”

I was too late. I thought she’d plow into Gaspare, but he avoided her with the ease of a matador.

“Bay,” I called. “He’s not going to hurt us.” I looked to Gaspare for confirmation. “Right?”

“Right.” Gaspare nodded and held out his arms in a placating gesture. “It was all a show. I’m sorry I frightened you.”

I was finally able to wrangle my spry granny and wrapped my arms around her middle in an attempt to keep her from murdering my uncle.

“Explain,” Bay gritted, breathing hard as Mother slinked to our sides.

“Yes, explain. Both of you.” She gave me a pointed look. She knew I had something up my sleeve.

Gaspare swallowed hard. “Would you like to go first, or shall I?”

I had the sneaking suspicion he was uncomfortable as the sole focus of three redheaded dragon women.

“Mom, Bay,” I said. “I’m sorry you two were so scared. Gaspare and I were communicating through the whole ‘I’m going to eradicate these women’ ordeal—”
“Eliminate,” Gaspare corrected. “I said eliminate.”

“Okay, ‘eliminate,’ and, well, he’s got some sort of plan. He’s not actually going to kill us. He helped us get away from the vicious mob of assholes back there.”

“Ladies don’t curse, Stella,” my mother cut in, and I rolled my eyes.

“Care to share this plan?” Bay asked in her rolling lilt. Her accent was always stronger when she was upset. She was still rigid with anger, and fear, but with each passing moment, she relaxed a notch. I held out hope she would not smite Gaspare where he stood.

I nodded at Gaspare to go on, for I’d reached the extent of my insider knowledge.

He cleared his throat nervously again, and I worked to hide my smile. Thayer’s Prime Minister, one of the most powerful men I’d met and a talented and rare omni, afraid of a few gingers.

“Despite my hopes to the contrary, it is clear the people of Thayer aren’t ready to accept the existence of dragons with open arms. There may be some who’d be receptive, of course, but public sentiment for the most part would like to see you burn.” He looked up sharply. “Ah, pardon the expression.”

Bay rolled her eyes, but my mother’s face held impatience.

“So, what are you saying?” she snapped.

“What I’m saying is perhaps you could make your home here. In Pearl.”

Gaspare extended his arm, drawing our gazes from our immediate surroundings. We’d been so unnerved we hadn’t looked beyond one another.

I followed the direction of his hand and discovered with a start that we stood at the top of a steep cliff. The rocky drop ended in turquoise waters so clear the rich coral of a nearby reef was visible hundreds of yards away.

To our right, the landmass extended for miles along steep, rocky cliffs that disappeared beneath the aqua water. Small, sandy beaches littered the place, as did tropical trees and other, brightly hued plant life. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and the four of us stood silent, taking it all in as the salty air whipped around us from our elevated perch.

Beneath our feet, the fragrant yellow flowers led from the ocean to an enormous caldera, a bowl-like pit formed by the deflating of an ancient volcano. Any lava long since gone, the caldera was lush and green and had several big lakes. The green expanse was stunning and ended at a cliff like the one we stood atop, the ocean resurfacing again behind the rocky wall.

“It’s an island,” I said.

“An archipelago, actually—several islands. This one’s the largest. From far away, it looks like a small mountain. Nothing special. But once you’re inside, this.” He motioned toward the green expanse.

Having absorbed the very big picture, I began to notice details. Distinct rows of farmland covered mounded plateaus in the center of the bowl. The gray brown roofs of white-, yellow- and salmon-colored houses collected around the largest lake. A sliver of smoke rose from what looked like an open-air market in the distance.

“It’s inhabited,” I breathed. “By whom?”

Gaspare’s slow smile went all the way to his eyes, which relayed love, peace, and joy.

Chapter 10

“What better way to learn than to see for yourselves?” Gaspare crooked an arm in invitation.

Bay and my mother were stunned silent. They looked amusingly similar with mouths agape and green eyes flickering wildly to take it all in.

His offer was tempting, but I couldn't think past my concern for Ewan, and certainly not to go exploring.

“I'd really like to go back to Thayer and check on Ewan," I told Gaspare. “There was so much blood.”

“He’s fine. Just scratches.” Gaspare waved away my concerns.

“Just to let him know we're all right,” I pressed.

“You can't go anywhere near that mob right now. No, you'd better lay low for now." Gaspare shook his head with finality.

"You're probably right," I admitted. "Will you look in on him, then? Make sure he wasn't hurt too badly and let him know I'm okay?"

Gaspare lifted his head slightly, which I took as a begrudged yes. "Shall we?" he asked.

“Ah, okay. Mom? Bay? You wanna go see?”

“I…I…” Bay couldn’t form a complete sentence—the first time I ever recalled that particular difficulty in her—and my mother could only nod her head dumbly.

Together, we traced once more. This time inside the caldera, to an obscure inlet of a lake. From the new vantage, we could better see the houses, which were simple in design but bright and clean. Everything was tidy, lovely. Most had gardens, and docks led onto the lake or toward covered gazebos.

“Where is this?” Mother asked. “Who are these people?” She took in a shaky breath. “There’s magic here. I can feel it.”

“Yes,” Gaspare agreed. “There is much magic here. Magic…and dragons.”

Three sets of eyes flew to Gaspare’s face to determine his meaning.

He timed it perfectly. The very moment he said ‘dragons,’ a dozen winged beasts vaulted into the air from a nearby bank of rocks.

“They gather here each night at 9 o’clock. One last moonlit flight before turning in for the night. Helps them relax, they say. I myself prefer a good jog, but whatever sizzles your bacon, right?”

My heart stopped in my chest. “Dragons?” I said, not trusting my eyes. “There are dragons here?”

“We’re not the last?” Bay croaked. She raised her head, and her spine—her entire being—followed. She discarded the weight of the world like a lead cape. “We’re not the last,” she repeated. It wasn’t a question.

“Who? You still haven’t said who.” My mother’s breathing came hard, nearly frantic, and I moved closer to her for support.

“It’s a very long stor—” The three of us interrupted Gaspare in unison, each voicing our objection to skipping over details. We’d have answers, by God. We needed answers, lengthy or not.

“All right, ladies. All right. I’ll start from the beginning.”

There was a wooden bench tucked into tall, wheat-like grass and I took a seat, beyond ready to hear Gaspare’s tale. I patted the bench beside me, but my mother and Bay declined. They stood, shifting nervously from foot to foot, crossing and uncrossing arms, brimming with nervous energy.

“As you know,” Gaspare began, “I’ve been prime minister for a very long time. Centuries ago, when Brandubh began collecting dragons and enslaving them for use in what would eventually become the Steward Massacre, many of my associates—my friends—were your kind. It became clear very quickly the threat they faced. Many fought back; fought fiercely against him. All too soon, they realized they had no real defense against Brandubh. Time after time their friends and loved ones lost the battle to him. So we formed a plan to get them out of danger.

“A few very close friends and I had been working to prepare this place, and succeeded in keeping it a secret. I knew Pearl from my childhood. It was secluded, uninhibited, hidden. Pearl seemed perfect for our clandestine plan. Fated even. We proceeded to temporarily relocate anyone of dragon descent who’d agree to come. And later, we brought over skin changers who faced discrimination and danger.

“Many families relocated here, but many more refused to run.” He looked away. “You know what happened to them.” Gaspare stopped for a moment as the old memory resurfaced. “In fact, we used actual events to hide the people who are here. Many who’ve made their homes in Pearl were thought killed in battle. It was meant to be temporary, until the unrest in Thayer settled, until public sentiment returned to normal. But these people formed a community here. An accepting, open, loving community, and they chose to stay. Pearl Isle is what Thayer used to be, what I continue to hope it will be again. But, as you’ve felt all too keenly tonight, isn’t.”

We mumbled our agreement and watched as the dragons’ powerful forms silhouetted against the crescent moon.

It was the nasally chuff that got my attention. Until I heard it, I’d been fully absorbed in Gaspare’s story, and in the extraordinary beauty of a clan of dragons flying freely in the night sky. I turned toward the sound and found Bay’s change almost fully complete. She stretched her long neck and snorted again, whipping her fine, strong tail as she finished the transformation.

“Bay, what—”

“’Tis fine, dear,” she spoke wordlessly. “These are my people.”

“But it’s dangerous.”

She wheezed a throaty laugh and thrust powerful back legs, vaulting into the darkness and shaking the ground beneath us.

Bay’s elegant silhouette joined the others, and together they performed an aerial dance stunning in its fierce beauty. The dragons’ masterful wings pulled in tight as they dove and swooped, and then snapped outward, a glide so delicate their wings seemed made of gossamer.

My mother, who’d crowded in close beside me, let out a nervous whine.

“Go ahead, Mom. Look, Bay’s fine.”

“No,” she shook her head violently. “No. I don’t think so.”

My poor, complex, damaged mother. Together with Bay, she’d found the strength to save me from Brandubh. But once that fight was over, she’d shrunk back into her old shell. I squeezed her hand in support.

“Do you think Bay knows some of them?” I asked Gaspare.

“Hmm?” He, too, was entranced by the aerial display.

“Bay. Do you think she knows some of the dragons she’s flying with?”

“Almost certainly. Look how they’ve let her in. Look at them soar as one. Beautiful. Transcendent.”

“How long do they usually stay up there?” I asked.

“Until they come down.”

I scoffed at his typical non-answer. “So, what now?”

“I’ll show you where you’ll be staying. I’ve a cottage here. You’re welcome as long as you like.”

“Oh, I don’t like that,” my mother said.

I let out a pent-up breath. “Well, what choice do we have? We can’t go back to the cabin. It’s gone. I can’t go back to The Root. We can’t sleep here on the sand.”

“We could go home,” she said in a low voice, her eyes studying the ground.

“Home? You mean home-home?”

She nodded and looked up, her eyes as deep and cloudy as the dark lake in front of us.

“You left our home,” I said, losing the fight to keep my emotions in check. “You left me. At a time when I desperately needed your help. I was so confused, Mother. The world around me came crashing down and I needed a firm foundation. I needed you.”

As usual, when faced with conflict or criticism, she closed down and folded in on herself. Her shoulders hunched and her head drooped like an abused dog.

In the past, I had always felt so guilty, so sorry for her when she shut down that I held my anger in. Confronting my mother always felt like berating her because she just took it. Engaging in an argument was impossible because she never fought back.

That we couldn’t get this out in the open; that I couldn’t get any straight damned answers to my questions was beyond irritating. I balled my fists and let out a frustrated “Argh!”

She closed her eyes and looked away from me. Not for the first time, I thought we might never work through our problems.

“We’re all tired,” Gaspare said gently. “Let’s head to the cottage. Everything will look better in the morning.”

I nodded and looked up for my grandmother. “Bay,” I sent up, hopeful she could hear me. “We’re beat and heading to Gaspare’s for the night. Better come on down.”

“Don’t wait up,” she called. “I’ll see ya when I see ya.”

“What? Bay! Come down here and stop being ridiculous! You don’t even know where we’re staying.”

“I’ll find a place to land. Be fine.” Bay wrapped herself in her strong wings and spiraled upward in a joyful ascension.

Happy. She was happy. And she deserved it. I shook my head and grinned, glad at least one of us had found some peace.

“You and Bay are so different, Mom. So different.”

“Yes,” she said. “As different as you and me.”

Chapter 11

Gaspare’s “cottage” was a two-story, four-bedroom that could comfortably house a family of eight. After a brief tour, he left us, promising to return the next morning to answer all of our questions. Under normal circumstances, I could never have slept with the new information and worry hanging over my head, but I’d had what certainly felt like the longest day of my life. I fell face first onto the comforter of the coastal-themed guest room with one last thought of Ewan and Boone and Timbra, and didn’t think again until morning.

* * *

“So, what you’re telling me is not only are there dragons and skin changers here, but they’re living together in harmony with people of all descents. No ‘dragons are evil killers’ or ‘skin changers can’t be trusted.’ They’re neighbors and friends. One big happy family.”

Gaspare tended to gulp coffee rather than sip it, and rose to pour himself another cup. There was no staff here like at the PM residence back in Thayer. I preferred him this way. He never really fit with the whole “privileged” persona anyway.

“Yes.”

I shook my head at his matter-of-fact tone. I had woken rested, hungry, and with a longing for adventure. But I also wanted to know that my friends, especially Ewan, were okay. I wondered how soon I could see them again. Gaspare hadn't gone by the night before to check on Ewan, which was a source of irritation for me. He had caused many of Ewan's injuries, yet seemed completely unconcerned.

My mother shuffled out of her room for coffee, but retreated again to shower. I was raring to go before I bit Gaspare's head off, again, about the friends I'd left behind in Thayer. I had already showered and grabbed jeans and a top from a shifter-friendly closet Gaspare showed us the night before. Before long, Mother joined us at the kitchen bar still looking a bit worse for wear.

“You okay?” I asked.

She nodded, and I suspected she was putting on a front braver than she felt.

“First things first,” chirped Gaspare. “Let’s retrieve your grandmother. I know where she stayed last night.”

“Where did you stay? It wasn’t here.” I grimaced at my own accusing tone. “Sorry. That’s none of my business.”

He laughed. “No, it’s okay. I plan to show you that today, too.”

* * *

“Dears,” Bay said in a rush and ran toward us. “I’d like you to meet Forster McCreight, an old friend of mine.” She looked at him adoringly, if a bit sadly. And often.

Forster McCreight was of medium build and height, but there was something about him that required attention. Demanded it, even. His head was shaved so closely he was nearly bald, so nothing distracted from his strong features. Framed by gentle creases, his eyes were light blue and so clear I knew they held no secrets. Maybe that was what was so intriguing about him. He seemed open, honest, and genuine.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. McCreight.”

“Forster, please.” He shook mine and Mother’s hands.

“How do you two kids know each other?” I asked.

Bay’s sad smile foreshadowed her dark story. “Forster’s wife and I were dear friends. She was killed during the Steward Massacre. Rose’s loss was a hard one for many of us. She was a unique and vibrant soul.”

Bay looked up at Forster and shook her head. “All these years I thought both she and Forster had been killed.”

“So, you’re like us, then?” I asked. “A dragon?”

A sly grin transformed his face into playful, but no less sincere. “I’m a dragon, but not like you. You’ve a little something extra, don’t you?”

I flushed, still uncomfortable with my newfound lineage of dragon and omni blood, and steered the subject away from myself. “How did you survive? How did you get here, to Pearl?”

Forster’s mouth twisted ruefully as he recalled the events of so many years before. “I didn’t come by choice, I’ll tell you that. Bay was right to think me dead; I nearly died fighting the battles after The Massacre. Rose and I were surrounded, exhausted. She fought fiercely until the end, but a blow caught her in the chest.” He glanced at the ground. “It was instant, at least.”

‘Sorry’ never seemed enough in times like these, but it was all I had. “I’m so sorry.”

“The next blow found me. Knocked me unconscious. Next thing I knew, I woke up here. If I hadn’t been so injured, I would have killed Gaspare.”

“Dammit, Forster. Are we still talking about this?” Gaspare threw his hands out dramatically.

“I guess I’m just not over it yet.”

“When do you think you might be? Another couple centuries? You are the most obstinate ba—”

“It was you?” I asked. “You brought him here, Uncle Gaspare?”

Blue eyes caught the sun, magnifying their brightening at my endearment. “You don’t usually call me uncle.” He beamed. “I like it.”

I shrugged and made a face. My choice of words wasn’t premeditated.

Gaspare patted me on the shoulder and went on.

“Yes, I found him, thank the gods. And Forster would thank me if he wasn’t so hard-headed. He was nearly dead when I traced him here. When he woke, he put up a hell of a fight, but with his injuries, he could do nothing until he healed.”

Forster’s hands clenched when he said, “I wanted to go back for Rose.”

“I know. I know you did, and I’m sorry for that.”

Forster’s clear eyes clouded and his nostrils flared, but he went on. “I desperately wanted to avenge my Rose’s death. I still do—well, I did.” His whole body expanded on a deep breath, and he looked at Mother and me. “Bay told me what happened last night. You three have done the impossible. You’ve conquered and rid our world of one evil bastard, and I’m indebted to you. We all are.”

I shifted uncomfortably and nodded my head.

“So, you never did go back?” Mother asked gently. “To Thayer?”

“I never did. By the time I recovered enough to fight again, Gaspare brought word the battle was lost. Rose’s remains were returned to me, and I interred her at the foot of the mountain near a ginkgo.” Forster looked to the distance, I assumed to where Rose had been laid to rest. “So many on our side died over the course of the long war. I channeled my despair into helping rescue those who still had a chance, and into building a community here.”

“I’d love to pay my respects to Rose,” Bay said. “It’s a wonderful place you’ve built here, Forster. I can’t wait to see more of it.”

Bay’s newfound friends and outlook had done wonders for her appearance. Though Thayerians lived longer and aged much more slowly than humans, her face still held proof of her age. But where before her skin had looked weathered and dull; there was now a pinkness to her cheeks, a shine to her eyes. Seeing Bay happy made me happy, and I was hopeful for this new start, this new place. I was in no hurry to get back to Thayer.

“Bay,” I said. “Tell us about the other people you met last night like Mr. McCreight.”

“Forster, please,” he said.

“Sorry. Forster.”

“Oh, I flew like I hadna flown in years,” she gushed. “We talked and soared until nearly dawn. I canna remember ever feeling that free, though I know I must’ve known it long ago. O’ course they wanted to know everythin’ about my…” Bay’s voice slowed and cracked with emotion, but she powered through, “imprisonment, and about Eiven and Stryde.”

“Bay, Eiven and Stryde’s circumstances were what all of us here were facing. What we all feared.” Forster looked sympathetically at Mother. “And of course we knew of Edina’s horrific plight.”

Mother turned her head in an attempt to ignore the conversation. I wasn’t surprised at her response. That she didn’t deal well with her past was no secret to me, of all people.

Forster went on, “Hearing Bay’s stories was therapeutic for us. It reinforced what we suspected—that coming here to Pearl was the right choice, tough as it was.”

“’Twas healing for me, too, Forster. Not just finding my own kind, but reliving some of the old days, the good times with Eiven and Stryde. Recalling those memories has soothed my soul.”

Forster met her warm gaze before clearing his throat and turning to us. “Would you like to meet some of them?”

“Yes,” I said in a rush and Mother “Mmm’ed” noncommittally.

He laughed at my eagerness. “All right. Let’s go into town.”

“Well, folks, this is where I get off,” Gaspare said.

“Oh no. Stay,” I pleaded.

“I’ll catch up with you all this afternoon. I still have Thayer to run, you know, and Forster’s perfectly capable of showing you around.”

Gaspare prepared to trace and I raised my hand in goodbye to him before a thought struck me. “Gaspare, wait! Will you go by The Root today?”

“What for?”

I shot him an irritated look. "To check on Ewan. To tell him I’m all right, that I’m safe. I want my friends—you remember Boone and Timbra—I want them to know you didn’t execute us.”

Gaspare shifted and his posture was suddenly stiff. His frown made him look older than he’d ever seemed. “They can’t know, Stella. Everyone must think you dead…or at least lost forever.” He reached to touch my arm, but I jerked away. “I’m so sorry.”

“No way,” I shook my head furiously. “No freakin way, Gaspare. That wasn’t part of the deal. You never mentioned that or I’d never have agreed to it!”

“Deal? What deal?” his voice rose, but he quieted again. “I got you out of there before Gresham had no choice but to jail you—or worse, before the mob killed you. I brought you to a place where you and your family can have a fresh start. You know that Bay and Edina wouldn’t survive being imprisoned again. No, there was no deal…and there’s no other way,” he said sadly.

I was fighting mad, my hands squeezed into tight fists. “We could’ve gotten out of there ourselves. We killed Brandubh, we could have fought our way out.”

“Oh, and more death and destruction would certainly instill confidence in the inherent good of dragons? Come on, Stella. You three would’ve been on the run for the rest of your lives, which here in Thayer are very long. Is that what you’d rather have? A life of hiding? Of fear?”

“No. I don’t know. I should’ve had a choice. There's no way I'm leaving Ewan. You can't expect me to just forget about him, to abandon my friends and start a life here. That's crazy. They don't even know I'm alive!”

His guilty face said he'd already thought of that.

My tone softened when I pleaded, “Oh, no. No. You can’t let them think me dead, Gaspare. It’ll kill them. It’s cruel, not to mention completely unnecessary.”

“It is necessary. If your friends don’t act as if they’ve lost you, if they’re not completely convincing, people will ferret out the truth. If you want to live here with Bay and your mother and start a new life where dragons aren’t the enemy, you’ll accept this truth, hard as it is. It’ll get easier with time, trust me. You’ll make new friends and you’ll find someone new.”

I shook my head furiously. He didn’t understand. There didn’t exist a better friend than Timbra Redfern. Even Boone was exceptional. And Ewan and I were just getting started, but I knew what was between us was right.

No. I would not accept his logic. I couldn’t.

“And don’t get any ideas about tracing back to Thayer,” he said. “You can’t. It’s the small price of living here.”

“Oh, who’s going to stop me?” I was being impertinent, and I knew it. But the whole situation was ridiculously overstated.

“It’s heavily warded. Only a select few can travel between Pearl and Thayer. I’m sorry, but it’s too risky for you to go.”

“A select few? Like you? Who else?”

“Those who know about this place.” His tone indicated the conversation was over, but I didn’t agree.

“Oh, you always have an answer for everything, don’t you?” I snapped. “Why don’t you tell me how Livia and Brandubh found me at the cabin, if it was so heavily warded? Hell, the whole town popped in like there weren’t any wards at all. I don’t think we’re any more safe here than we were in Thayer.”

“Ah, that’s our fault, actually,” said Bay sheepishly.

“What? What do you mean?”

“Those were my wards to break, and, well, I broke them.”

“But, why?”

“When I left you at the cabin, I went in search of your mother. I found her where I knew she’d be, the cavern your father found her in.”

I looked to my mother, but she didn’t meet my gaze.

“Together, we formed a plan to trap Brandubh. We knew he’d come sooner or later, and we were ready for him. We knew when he showed up.”

“Wait.” I held up a hand and leaned toward Bay to hear better. “You used me as bait?”

“’Tis not as bad as you make it sound.”

“Says the one who didn’t have a hook in her mouth!”

“It worked out fine, didn’t it?” Bay’s strong but aged hands moved to her hips. “We’re all alive. Brandubh is dead. We’re together.”

“Yeah, we’re together. We defeated Brandubh. But people still hate us, even more now if that’s possible. We can’t go home, and I’m stuck here while my friends are in Thayer thinking I’m dead. Not my idea of a flawless rescue effort.” I cut my eyes at Gaspare to make sure he knew the last part referred to him.

“I am sorry,” he said. “I’ll look in on your friends to make sure they’re all right, but I cannot tell them where you are.”

I blinked back angry tears and gritted my teeth. The argument with Gaspare was going nowhere. I looked away as he traced back to Thayer. I would figure out a way to see them. I had to.

Steeling myself, I returned to the others with renewed purpose. “Where to first?”

Forster flinched at my tone but answered smoothly, “Bay tells me you cannot fly freely in Thayer, that you’ve never experienced that part of our life. I thought you might like to take a tour of Pearl, dragon-style.”

Furious as I was, flying sounded the perfect way to work out a little frustration, and I pumped my fist in a cheer, unable to contain my excitement. Bay and Forster both beamed. Even Mother produced a hesitant smile.

“Let’s do this,” I said, and shuddered into my dragon. The others followed, and together we ascended the tropical sky.

I’d seen Mom and Bay’s dragons, of course, but not Forster’s, which was something to behold. A flying contradiction, Forster was powerful and fierce, yet his clear blue eyes shone beneath scaled eyebrows the color of polished oyster shells. His dragon was a translucent white that would have seemed delicate if not for razor sharp talons and gnarled, leathery wings.

“Check out this badass version of Falkor the Luckdragon,” I thought to myself before remembering to shield my thoughts in animal form.
I followed up my snark with a weak “Sorry, Mr. McCreight.”

Unable to leave his island hideaway for so many years, I doubt he understood the reference, but he laughed and flew higher.

* * *

“Pearl Isle is part of an archipelago of the same name,” Forster said, spearing toward the edge of the green expanse filling Pearl’s bowl-shaped caldera. “There are six smaller islands besides Pearl. Look,” he said as we flew over the crater’s edge and were met with clear, turquoise water as far as our eyes could see. “There, to your right.”

The island closest to us was the tallest. Its edges formed steep cliffs that fell into the sea below. Each island was shorter than the one before it, the final one little more than a flat, white beach surrounding a large stand of trees.

I can’t wait to tell Ewan about this, I thought, and then fear-shaped panic sat on my chest, squeezing the air from my lungs. What if Gaspare was right? What if I couldn’t see Ewan again? What if the only way to make this work was to lose him and my friends forever? Is it worth it? Would I rather live in hiding in Thayer to be with them?

The only other choice, really, was returning to the States, but that option held even less appeal. I couldn’t be myself; couldn’t use magic or my animal form. Could Ewan and my friends trace back and forth to visit? Maybe, but it seemed risky even to me.

I had to think of something. Knowing my friends as I did, they would never be satisfied leaving things they way they’d ended. Thinking me dead just wasn’t a scenario they would accept without certainty. Gaspare hadn’t thought this all the way through.

“…right, Stella?” called Mother.

“I’m sorry. What?”

“I said you always wanted a beach vacation. Now you live on an island.”

I didn’t reply. I was happy to be alive, sure. And free. But at what cost? I closed my eyes and tried to lose myself in the sensation of warm wind rushing along my sleek, scaled body.

Without warning, my thoughts turned again to Ewan. The image of him flying through the trees, of the blood left behind by his injuries flooded my mind. I closed my eyes again, but this time against the onslaught of fear for his safety, against the ache left in my chest at the thought of never seeing him again.

As the others discussed the landscape, I concentrated on a plan for the future, a way forward.

“What’s that one called?” Bay asked as we flew over a mid-sized island dominated by a wide plateau.

“That’s Topaz. Pearl Isle was given its name for several reasons. It’s unique and rises from the sea, true. But also, pearls are perfect symbols for metamorphosis. They’re formed when a foreign object invades an oyster. What was once an intruder becomes a treasure. The name symbolizes us, the inhabitants of Pearl, who came to the island weary and abused, but who have formed a lustrous community, iridescent in its diversity, in its cultures. A people, a treasure, a gem. A pearl.”

“That’s lovely,” Bay mused.

“Each island is named after a gemstone. In order, there’s Pearl, Jade, Ruby, Topaz, Emerald, Sapphire, and Opal.”

“Does anyone live on them?” I asked.

“Aye, some prefer privacy to communal life, and make their homes on the smaller islands. Of course, Opal is too close to sea level to support any housing, and is used as a beach.

“Oh, look,” Forster said. “The Tremaines. You’ll want to meet them. Beacon and Solace are your age, or thereabout.”

“Tremaines? Who?” I began, but soon understood.

Four dragons flew swiftly into view. It was an astounding feeling. Flying was a new enough concept to me, but meeting someone else—someone friendly—in the sky was so foreign I could hardly comprehend my circumstances. It felt bizarre to be in my own skin, like an out of body experience, and that’s saying something considering I was already out of my natural body.

“Is this them, Forster?” A female voice called good-naturedly. “Are these the Dreaded Drakontos?”

“Mother!” a young woman admonished.

“Oh, she’s just ribbing them, Solace. Don’t be so uptight.” This from whom I assumed was the patriarch of the Tremaine family, his imposing black form much larger than his wife’s or daughter’s. A similar-looking but smaller male flanked him.

True to her nature, Bay took charge of the situation. “I’m Bay Drakontos. Hello. This is my daughter, Edina, and my granddaughter, Stella.”

“Juno Tremaine,” the larger female said. “My husband, Charles,” she nodded to him, “my daughter, Solace, and her brother, Beacon.”

Chapter 12

We flew for a while with the Tremaines, and then made our way back to their home on Pearl. Forster was right. We could never be so free in Thayer. After rolling through the air, laughing and learning from my new friends, I felt refreshed, renewed, right.

The couple invited us to join them for coffee. Bay accepted, but it was a beautiful warm day. Beacon and Solace offered to show me around the property, which appealed to me more. As we walked, they quizzed me about Radix, about a life in Thayer they’d never known.

“I’d love to attend a grand university like that,” Solace said, releasing her thick black hair from its ponytail. “Ours is small. It’s a fine school—I don’t mean it’s bad—I just dream of something…more, you know?”

I did know. I’d dreamed like that my whole life. I always knew there was something more out there, that something was calling to me. When Rowan Gresham crashed into my car and showed me a new world, everything changed. I’d found my more.

Poor Solace had fewer choices than even I had. The Root wasn’t an option for her. Hell, it was no longer an option for me. Having limited discretion over one’s life and education is bad enough, but knowing there’s more out there and not being able to pursue it: torture.

“I hate that I can’t go back,” I said. “I still had a lot to learn. About my dragon. About magic. About the world.”

Beacon’s dark hair was clipped short and he had an easy, sexy grin. “You’ve got more than enough help now with your dragon,” he said. “Your mother and granny, Forster, Solace and me—all of us. We’ll teach you the way we were taught.”

“Oh?” I laughed at his mischievous smile. “And how’s that?”

“Baptism by fire,” he said wickedly, and winked. He was cute, but my mind—my heart—was somewhere else. Whenever I dropped my guard, my thoughts ran to the chocolate curls and the soul-deep eyes of my wolf, my Ewan. Please let him be all right. Please let him be all right.

“If you want to learn more about magic, you could see if one of our old teachers could help you,” Solace said. “Though I wouldn’t ask Father. He wants to retire as chancellor, but there’s no one to take his place. He’s tired. Wants only to turn his wood and smoke his pipe, he says.”

“Yes, she must find an acceptable tutor,” Beacon agreed.

“Tutor for what?” Bay called as the group joined us outside

“Oh, I said I hated to leave The Root because I still had so much to learn. Particularly about my dragon and magic.”

“Now that we’re here, your mother and I can teach you everything you need to know about your dragon.”

“I like the thought of that.” Bay and I had a lot of catching up to do, and apparently so did my mother and me. She’d been distant all day, her thoughts somewhere else. I smiled encouragingly at her, and she stretched her mouth. She was trying, at least.

“What I really need is a crash course in magic. I was so frustrated when we fought Brandubh. I know there’s power inside me, but I don’t know half of what’s possible. I was training a bit with Gaspare in Thayer, but I can’t go back there. He’s too busy, anyway.”

“I’d be glad to take Stella on,” Charles Tremaine said importantly. Solace and Beacon exchanged a look that their mother soon joined.

“We can send her to Mr. Darringer in town,” Juno offered, ignoring her husband. “He’ll teach her what she needs to know.”

“Thom Darringer is a well-educated dunce, and you know it,” he scoffed. “Why not let me guide her?”

“Stella is…special,” said my mother, twisting her hands. “I hid her true nature as long as I could. Despite my efforts, she found this world—and herself—anyway. If she’s going to learn, it should be from the best. Her father was an omni, and so she’s inherited that trait. She needs someone with experience, with the same access to the magical talent she was born with.”

“Well, there is someone who fits that bill,” Forster said. “She’s the most knowledgeable person I know, and the only omni here besides Gaspare. And extremely talented.”

“Sounds great,” I said. “Who is she?”

“Her name is Abia Pike. She—”

“Forster, good gods!” Juno nearly choked trying to get the words out fast enough. “You can’t send Stella to her, to that place. And you know the old witch will never come here. Terrible idea. Terrible. No.”

“Send me where? What’s so terrible about Abia Pike?”

Forster rolled his eyes. “Oh, Juno. Those are just rumors. She’s odd, sure, but not dangerous. And frankly, I don’t know who else there is. Stella’s needs are specific.”

“Wait, what rumors?”

“Topaz is haunted,” Juno shook her head slowly. “You couldn’t get me there to save my life.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you don’t have to go,” Forster said tersely.

Bay had been watching the exchange—watching Forster really—and finally spoke up. “If you’re sure it’s a good idea, Forster, I’ll go, too.” She nodded at me encouragingly, but it did little to reassure me.
What the hell had I gotten myself into?

* * *

Back at Gaspare’s cottage, I went into the kitchen to make sandwiches. Through the wide kitchen window, I could see my mother and Bay near the dock. Bay leaned forward as if she struggled to hear. My mother stared at the ground when she spoke, and when she finally looked up her face held a desperate plea.

Bay backed away, shaking her head. She looked angry. I couldn’t hear the conversation, but was dying to know what was so serious.

“Gaspare say when he’d be back?” Forster asked as he entered the kitchen and washed his hands.

“This afternoon. Anytime now, probably.”

Forster found a free spot on the counter and began slicing a tomato.

“Tell me more about this Abia Pike,” I said. “Why would she live on an island everyone says is haunted? What makes her so odd?”

“Oh, she’s just a little different,” he said, swatting away my concern. “She’s lived on Topaz as long as anyone can remember. Doesn’t socialize much. Well at all, really. And you know how people love to make up a story when the truth’s unavailable.”

“Mmm. So, why do they say Topaz is haunted?”

“Well, it’s Abia’s home and she really is very powerful. She doesn’t like a lot of visitors and so she’s got the place warded. A few parlor tricks to scare curious kids away. My guess is she likes people thinking Topaz is haunted.”

“You really think she can teach me? You really think it’s a good idea?”

“I do. Gaspare will, too. Wait and see.”

I caught my mother’s gaze when I looked out the window again. She waved me out. I wiped my hands on a dishtowel and joined them. Bay met me halfway down the walk, stalking toward the house. As she approached me, her face held anger…and pity.

“What’s going on, Bay?”

“Ask your mother,” she said tersely.

“Mom?” I called. She stood facing the water, her shoulders back and her wavy auburn hair blowing in the light breeze.

“Mom?” I asked again when I got closer. “What were you and Bay arguing about?” She didn’t answer right away. I stepped closer. “Mom?”

“I want to do things right this time,” she whispered. “I’ve done so many things the wrong way. I want you to know I thought they were right. I thought I was doing what was best for you, for us. Things didn’t work out as I’d planned. I wanted a normal life for you, a simple life. We had that, didn’t we?”

“Yes, Mom. Our life was fine. What are you talking about?”

“I love you so much, Stella. You know that, right?”

“I know, Mom. You’re not making any sense. What was Bay angry about?”

“I never want to hurt you again.” She finally turned to face me, and her eyes were anguished and red from crying. “I’d rather die than break your heart, but I can’t stay here. This place is not for me.”

“Wait, what? You mean Pearl? It’s okay here, Mom. It’s safe.” I hugged her in attempt to comfort her. “We can make a life here—there are people like us. And who knows what the future holds. Maybe we can go back to Thayer soon. It’s just hard right now, Mom, but we can make it.”

“No.” She shook her head. “No. I don’t want this life. Don’t you see? I want my normal life back. I want my church and my house and the ferns on my front porch.”

“But that’s not who you really are. It’s not who I am. That’s an identity you created for us.”

“It’s who I want to be, Stella.” Tears fell from her weary eyes down her freckled cheeks. “This is so hard. I know you can’t understand. I know you think I’m weak.”

I didn’t argue with her; I couldn’t. “Are you saying you want to go back home? Home-home?”

She was looking at the ground again, and nodded.

“God, Mom. I don’t want to go there. I’ve just begun to understand who I am. I want to be here. I want to know Bay and Gaspare. I want to explore these parts of myself I’m only beginning to understand.”

“No, you misunderstand.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I want you to stay. You should learn these things. You should embrace this life. I just can’t. I don’t have it in me to survive here. I support you. Please.” She hung her gaze on mine, the weight of her plea almost palpable. “Please support me.”

“I—” I began but had to swallow thickly. “Of course, Mother. I understand. Whatever you need.”

“Thank you.” She melted into me and laid her head on my shoulder in a hug that scared me, more than comforted me.

I squeezed her back, uncertain about our future, but absolutely sure I would never understand her.

Chapter 13

When Gaspare arrived, Forster, Bay, and I were sitting in the dining room. The French doors stood open and my mother sat on the dock with her back to the house. We had promised to visit, and we all put on positive faces as best we could. But we knew. We knew she wouldn’t be back.

“What?” Gaspare searched our faces. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

Bay opened her mouth to answer him, but I spoke first. “My mother wants to leave. To go back to the home where she raised me. Will you take her?”

“I…” he paused. “Yes. But she can’t come back. It’ll have to be a condition of her leaving. We’ve worked too hard to protect this place to leave any vulnerability.”

“I know,” I mumbled. “She knows.”

I led Gaspare to the dock, to my mother, and hugged her one last time before she left.

“I’m so proud of you, Stella.” Her eyes shined with unshed tears. “You’re just what I hoped you’d be. So strong.”

I smiled and squeezed her hands. “See you soon,” I said and regretted the words as soon as they escaped my mouth. There was no way to know when I’d see her again. But she had made her choice, and it wasn’t to stick it out with us—with me. I was thankful she had said good-bye this time, that she had attempted to explain, but she was abandoning me again, and it left a bitter aftertaste I didn’t think I’d ever be rid of.

Mother lifted a hand in a silent good-bye and I nodded my encouragement. Gaspare clasped her other hand, and the two disappeared. I closed my eyes against the pain that radiated deep in my chest.

Standing alone on a dock is a particularly solitary endeavor. I wouldn’t recommend it, unless isolation is your goal. I chewed the cuticle of my thumb and waited for Gaspare to return, growing ever more impatient and irritable. When he did return, I wasted no time getting to the heart of my most pressing concerns. “Did you check on Ewan today like you promised? Is he all right?”

“I did,” Gaspare said slowly. “I dropped by Radix and sought him out.”

“Did you tell him I’m okay?”

“I didn’t speak to him, no. I saw him gathered at Sabre Bar with the Redfern girl and some others.”

I was so angry about the situation, so frustrated, I could hardly breathe. “God, Gaspare. They think I’m dead. How can you think this is fair? How can you think it’s right?”

“It’s neither of those things,” he snarled. “I know that. But it is for the greater good.”

“‘The greater good,’” I repeated, then louder. “‘The greater good?’ I freaking hate the greater good, Gaspare, and if it causes a life filled with such misery, I really don’t see the point! Greater good for who? Not for me.”

He closed his eyes and shook his head wearily. “I know you can’t see it now, but we must all suffer a little sometimes to preserve what’s most valuable to us.”

My throaty laugh held no humor. “Oh, what have you suffered? I don’t see you suffering.”

He stiffened but didn’t respond directly to me. “Bay, Forster, do you two mind if I take Stella for a while? There’s someone I’d like her to meet.”

“O’ course not.” Bay said and turned to Forster. “Perhaps we could visit Rose while they’re gone.”

* * *

“Where are we going?” I snapped at Gaspare. “Who do you want me to meet?”

“It’s a surprise.” He smoothed his white button-down shirt nervously before taking my hand to trace.

“I am sorry about your mother,” he said, holding my gaze. “And your friends.”
I nodded, twisting my mouth to keep it shut. I didn’t want to get into another argument with him.

Gaspare traced us to a square building just outside of town. Inside, wide hallways led to offices and roomy spaces filled with technical equipment, the purpose for which I couldn’t guess.

“What is this, some type of laboratory?”

“Yes, precisely. Just through here.” We rounded a corner and entered a lab that occupied the entire top floor of the building.

“Emelie?” he called to someone working behind a screen. She looked up and began removing a light blue lab coat and gloves as she walked toward us. She draped the coat and gloves neatly over a nearby stool and stopped near Gaspare, who beamed with delight and ran a hand around her petite shoulders.

“Stella, this is Emelie, my wife.”

Wife? Wife? When did he get a wife? My dumbfounded face certainly betrayed my shock. They both laughed, and I was so thrown off base that I laughed awkwardly, too.

Emelie’s blonde hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, presumably for work. Her eyes were a lovely steel gray and her skin fair and flawless. She was strikingly beautiful in a very au naturale kind of way. In any kind of way, really.

“I take by your response Gaspare didn’t tell you about me before you arrived.” Her wide smile revealed pageant-caliber teeth.

“No. He didn’t.” I stared a moment longer and then located my manners. “I’m Stella.” I turned to Gaspare and shook my head. “Why would you hide her?”

“Hide? I don’t hide her.”

“Do the people of Thayer know you’re married?” I scoffed.

“No. I don’t make that public.”

“And why not?”

“Well, it’s complicated.”

“You insinuating I’m simple?”

“No! It’s just. Well, it’s a long story.”

“I don’t have dinner plans.”

“Oh, you’re right, Gaspare. I do like her,” Emelie said, laughing and flashing a brilliant smile. “She doesn’t let you have an inch!”

Gaspare looked back and forth between the two of us, satisfied pleasure practically leaking from his blue eyes.

“Fine,” he said. “We’ll tell you everything over dinner. At our house.”

“Ahhh,” I nodded playfully. “So that’s where you’ve been staying.”

* * *

Emelie and Gaspare’s home was warm, lived-in, and lovely. She collected colorful blown glass and hand-woven wool blankets, among other things, and placed the treasures strategically throughout each room. I admired the collections, making small talk as she prepared a pasta salad in the kitchen.

Gaspare had run to Thayer for business, but was expected to return within the hour.

“Where did you and my uncle meet?” I asked.

Her face lit at the thought. “Here. My family relocated during the war.” Emelie’s steel eyes darkened a bit when she said, “Gaspare helped us escape after my father was killed. My mother and brothers and I fought as long as we could. I was badly injured—would have lost my good sword arm if my true nature hadn’t helped me regenerate.” She winked and showed off a perfectly healthy arm.

“Regenerate? Is your animal form a lizard or a starfish or something?”

“Lizard? No.” Emelie threw her head back and laughed, and then caught sight of Gaspare as he entered the kitchen.

He kissed her sweetly on the mouth. “Emelie’s a skin changer. Her family was one of those targeted during The Massacre because they were different from the general public. I knew her father, and when I heard of his death, I offered Pearl as sanctuary. They flatly refused, set on avenging him. I fell in love with Emelie the moment I saw that angelic face turn to steel. She fought with such fervor, such skill. I was afraid not just for her, but of her.”

I looked dubiously at Emelie’s petite shape, at her sweet face and unassuming demeanor.

“What, you don’t believe me?” Gaspare asked.

I shook my head.

“It’s true. She’s tough as nails.”

Emelie shrugged, grinning, and went about her salad making.

“So how did you finally talk her family into relocating to Pearl?” I asked, and immediately noticed the change in her mood.

“My brother died next,” she said, her bright eyes dulling at the tragic memory. “His loss, coupled with my father’s, was just too much. We agreed to come to Pearl for my mother.”

“I’m sorry.” I was saying that far too much lately. The more I learned of Thayer, the more I understood it wasn’t the Utopia Rowan Gresham had made it out to be when he sold me on the idea. Thayer was plagued with prejudice and bigotry, with violence and death and loss. I was beginning to think no place was perfect; that maybe the world I came from was just as good in its own way.

“It was a long time ago,” she said.

“So your ancestry, the fact you’re a skin changer, is why you’re here now instead of Thayer? Is that why you never introduced her to Thayer, Gaspare?”

Gaspare shook his head. “Not exactly,” he said.

“Time to eat,” Emelie announced, and we moved our conversation to the dining room.

“When Gaspare brought you to meet me, you saw my lab.”

I nodded.

“I understand you and I share a love of science. Genetics, specifically, is my passion. I’ve been working on something for a very long time. It’s important to me, but wouldn’t go over well in Thayer. I could go back to Thayer, though it would affect Gaspare’s approval ratings,” she said with a wink. “But I choose to remain in Pearl for my work. And of course, Gaspare must remain PM for all of our safety. There’s never a guarantee that the next leader will be one of the good guys, you know?”

I nodded my agreement, though I knew very little about the politics of Thayer. I’d not thought much about it. I knew leadership was determined by who held the most power, rather than by election. I supposed Gaspare’s successor could be a really powerful bad guy. Yes, I could see the dilemma.

Emelie had continued to talk while I considered the political landscape. “…we remain separated, for now at least. It’s not so bad. Tracing makes everything easier. He pops in and out, and I sometimes join him in his private quarters at the PM residence.”

An embarrassed but mischievous smile spread across her face. “We were caught once by the butler.”

Gaspare’s burst of laughter made me that much more curious. “What happened?”

“Gaspare put on like I was a prostitute! Like I was there for services rendered. We laughed about that for days. We’re still laughing about it!”

“Poor Hamilton,” Gaspare shook his head and wiped his eyes.

“Well, what are you working on? What’s so important?” I asked.

She looked to Gaspare, who nodded his encouragement. “I’ve worked all these years to find a way for children to be possible for interspecies couples.”

“No kidding,” I breathed. “That’s amazing. Something like that has the potential to change…everything. Are you close to finding an answer?”

“Sadly, no. But I continue my work. I have to.”

I nodded, my mind racing at the implications of such a discovery. If she found a way, Boone and Timbra could have children someday. Would that make the current stigma of marrying outside one’s species better…or worse? I didn’t know, but I did know the two deserved every chance at happiness.

“How do you like Pearl so far, Stella?” Emelie asked. “Gaspare tells me you’ve met Forster and the Tremaines, and done some exploring.” She leaned toward me and laid her hand on top of mine, her gray eyes sympathetic. “I know you’re not thrilled to be here, but I hope you’ll give it a chance. You’ll not find better people anywhere, and the island is, literally, a tropical paradise.”

I nodded but didn’t say anything.

“This may not be ideal,” she went on, “but you have an opportunity for a fresh start, to pursue anything you’ve ever desired. You could throw yourself into astronomy, if you like. Pearl is ideal for an observatory.”

“Actually,” I looked at Gaspare and Emelie, both so eager to please me. “What I’d really like to do is learn everything I can about my abilities. About magic, about being an omni.”

“I’d love to help you with that,” Gaspare began. “We can continue what we started back in Thayer. It may take a while, but you’ll get there.”

I rocked my head from side to side while I searched for the right words. I had to tread lightly not to hurt his feelings. “Well, I really think I need a crash course, something intensive. And you just don’t have time for that. Forster mentioned someone he thought could help me.”

He didn’t seem too wounded when he asked, “Who’s that?”

“Someone named Abia Pike?”

Emelie drew her mouth back in a knowing grimace, but Gaspare was, as always, cool. He’d learned to school his reactions and rarely betrayed any physical signs of his true feelings. But at the mention of Abia Pike’s name, his eyes widened for an infinitesimal moment, hinting at some great secret or inner turmoil.

“Abia Pike is an unconventional choice, to be sure,” he said. “Forster suggested her?”

“Yes. Said she’s incredibly knowledgeable, and meets my specific needs because she’s one of the only omnies he knows, besides you.”

Gaspare laughed nervously and snuck a look at Emelie.

What is up with them? “Which got me thinking. Are there any more omnies? The only ones I’ve ever heard of are you, my father, and Gresham.”

“And you,” Gaspare added.

“Right. Me. So? What do you think? Do you know this Abia? Is it a good fit? Is she as weird and scary as everyone says?”

“She’s neither weird nor scary,” Emelie said with a frown. “She’s misunderstood. People fear what they don’t know, and she lives alone on Topaz. It’s more fun to spread a spooky story than to spread the truth. She’s a kind but tough lady who lives alone on the island. End of story.”

My interest was definitely piqued. “You’ve met her?”

Emelie’s eyes shot to Gaspare’s in a distressed plea. Again with the insider info.

“Stella,” Gaspare said in an overly-nonchalant tone, “let’s you and I visit Topaz tomorrow. You can decide for yourself.”

Chapter 14

Topaz was a long, relatively thin island with steep, cragged cliffs on one side and wide, smooth beaches on the other. In the middle was a wooded slope. Gaspare traced us to the edge of a cliff at the most level point of the plateaued terrain, where a narrow waterfall plunged into a pool of fresh water below.

“Stella, I haven’t been completely honest with you,” he said and took a hesitant seat on a nearby boulder.

“What do you mean?” My heart rate didn’t even spike. Sadly, I was growing far too accustomed to surprises.

“I know you came to this world only ever knowing your mother as your family. And then of course you met the Drakontos side. Then me. I’m sorry you’ll never know your father, or grandfather. But you have a living grandmother besides Bay.”

That did it. If a heart’s pounding could bruise a chest, mine certainly suffered contusions. I sped through the implications of his words. If Bay was my maternal grandmother, the only other possibility was my father’s mother. And as my father’s brother, Gaspare must be referring to his own mother.

“Your mother’s alive?” I asked in disbelief. “Where?”

“Here.”

“Wait,” I said, jerking back in disbelief. “No. This Abia Pike is my grandma?”

He nodded.

“Why haven’t you told me before now? Is she evil? Crazy? Have you two had a falling out? Ohhh…” I breathed. “Did my father know she was alive?”

“Of course your father knew! We adored our mother. I still do. She’s not evil or crazy, and Topaz isn’t haunted. But there is an explanation. And a long, sad history here.”

“What is it? Wait. Do I have more family? Does she know about me? What’s she like?”

Gaspare laughed at my enthusiasm. “Let’s go meet her. We’ll get to all the answers in due time.”

* * *

“Mother,” Gaspare called as we stood behind the rock wall surrounding a thatched roof house. The home’s thick walls were constructed of the same rocks comprising the border wall around it. The wall, the house, the roof—they were all shades of brownish gray. A bit dreary. Not run-down so much as impossible to dress-up.

“Mother?” he called again, but there was no answer. Gaspare stuck his head into a small storage shed and backed out again. “Ah. She must be diving. Let’s go find her.”

“Diving?”

A sly grin began at Gaspare’s mouth and spread all the way to his eyes.

“Get ready. You’ve never seen anything like Abia Pike before. And you never will.”

Curiosity sent my mind racing. Was she some kind of sky diving granny? Did she leap from cliffs? That made sense. The island’s rocky terrain fell into the ocean.

On our walk to the beach, not a word was uttered between us. I tried to relax, to free my mind of any bias caused by what the Tremaines and Forster had said. I wondered what Gaspare’s mother—my grandmother—would look like. God only knew how old she was. If Gaspare was old, she had to be ancient. But age worked so differently in my new world and it was hard to know.

The air was thick with the briny smell of the ocean. I licked my lips, savoring the salt that weighed down the ocean breeze.

From the blue waves of the sea, a head emerged. I squinted to see. The eyes and nose were covered by a wide glass mask. Her body— it was a her—was covered in a thick black wetsuit, and a high-pitched wheezing bounced across the water to us.

“That’s her,” Gaspare said. “That’s Abia. That’s your grandmother.”

“Is she sick?” I asked.

“Sick? No. Oh, you mean that sound. It’s a breathing technique. She’s diving for shellfish.”

Abia Pike emerged from the water with a pouf-shaped buoy slung over her back and a fishing net at her side. She lifted the mask to reveal an aging but lovely face and a crooked smile.

“Mother,” Gaspare nodded and offered his arm as she exited the water.

She looked at his arm, at his face, then pointedly back to his arm. “What am I supposed to do with that?” The sienna skin of her face scrunched into a cackle before smoothing back to its serene mask.

“And who’s this?” She looked me up and down, and then sharply back to Gaspare. “You and Emelie don’t have children. She vowed not to until there was a way for the others. This one has your coloring. Your mouth. She has my hands, Gaspare. Tell me she’s not what I think she is.”

“What? No, Mother. This…this is Stella. She’s Gabrio’s.”

Abia fell to her knees in the sand. She reached for my hand and I gave it to her, sinking down too. Walking on knees toward her, I let her wrap me in a very tight, very wet hug. She pushed my frizzy, saltwater-dampened hair from my face with shaky hands. Her eyes lighted on every square centimeter of my face, like she was memorizing it.

“I didn’t know,” she whispered fiercely. “I didn’t know about you. My Gabrio’s child. Where have you been?”

Chapter 15

We told Abia everything over cups of very bold tea in her thatch-roofed home. She was too tough to cry, but her eyes brimmed with sadness, then with joy, with hope, with love. She asked me questions about my childhood, about my dreams. She was starved for details.

Then it was my turn to ask questions.

“You’re nothing like everyone said. Why do you live here alone? Why does everyone think this island is haunted? Why do they think you’re crazy?”

Abia took a breath so deep she coughed up dust from her soul. “I’ve been here a very long time. I could not leave, you see?”

She recounted a story from a time so far removed it hardly seemed like a time at all. As she weaved the faded tapestry of her story, it felt like a faded memory, a thought difficultly remembered.

“Three thousand years ago, omnies were as common as any other forms. As wolf forms, as birds,” she looked at me sadly when she said, “as dragons.”

“Our families were large and we were happy. But after a long, bitter battle, a young new omni became leader of Thayer. He was powerful, but also vengeful, vicious. A villain in every sense of the word. I knew him well. We were childhood friends, and in fact I once saved his life.”

“Saved him how?” I asked.

“We were young, in our twenties, exploring in the woods when we became caught in a wildfire. It approached from all sides, the smoke making it difficult for us to see, to breathe. Talbot froze. I screamed for him to change into a bird and fly—anything, but he just stood there as the fire licked at his feet. When I realized he was incapacitated by fear I mimicked a dragon form, grasped him with talons and flew us to safety.”

Abia took a sip of her steaming tea. “After that he changed, his paranoia and some irrational fear overriding any goodness within him. We never again spoke of that day.

“Time passed and he worsened. He used his power to rise through the ranks, all the while suspecting everyone was out to get him. Once he became ruler, he barely left his home, surrounding himself with the largest guard ever assembled.

“Only another omni would be powerful enough to defeat him. And it was a poorly kept secret that his trusted advisor had had a vision in which Talbot was killed by another omni. After that, Talbot began killing omni families. First, those that opposed his rule, and then simply those he deemed had become too powerful. He framed families, pitted them against one another. By the time anyone figured out who was behind it all, he’d done too much damage for an effective defense. Those that were left, including my own family, were eradicated.”

“My God!” I’d clenched my fists during her story and they had cramped. I stretched and wiggled them. “I’m so sorry. How did you survive?”

“He let me live.”

“What do you mean, ‘let you live’?”

“I was alone, gathering wood for our fire when I heard a disturbance at the house. I ran toward it, but Talbot jumped from a hiding place and held me around the waist. I screamed for my mother and father, for my brothers, but he covered my mouth. I tried to change, to use what little magic I knew, but his power had become too great. He prevented any move I tried to make. He held me from behind, his forehead pressed to my shoulder while I cried and fought, while I screamed through his hand, while I watched the smoke of my burning house cloud the sky.

“After a while, he released me. ‘It’s over, Abia,’ he said. ‘They’re gone.’ I tried to fight him, to kill him, but it was pointless and I sank to the ground and mourned my family, everyone I’d known and lost. He leaned against a tree, catching his breath and watching me disintegrate.

“I’ve never hated anyone like I hated him at that moment. ‘What are you waiting for?’ I screamed at him. ‘Get it over with!’

“He pushed off the tree and approached me gently, like he’d comfort me. ‘I can’t kill you,’ he said so softly. ‘You’re my friend. You saved my life. Killing you would be like killing a part of myself.’

“He professed to love me, though he was set to marry another. He flinched when I dry-heaved at his words. ‘I’m sending you away,’ he said with finality. ‘I cannot kill you but you cannot be here. I won’t take that risk. An omni will kill me someday. It’s been foretold. You cannot return—I’ll make sure of that—but you’ll be alive.’

“Then, and for years after, I wished he’d killed me. I survived, but barely.

“Luckily for me, he didn’t know there were natives on Topaz. It took a while for them to warm up to me, but once they saw I intended to live, they taught me how to survive. They taught me to dive for shellfish, like I was doing when you arrived. They showed me how to build a hut. Through their kindness, I learned how to provide for myself. I even had friends, of a sort. It wasn’t a life I chose, and it was tough, but it was a good life.

“But,” I interrupted, blinking as I tried to comprehend, “I thought Topaz was uninhabited. Where did these people go?”

Abia's head fell forward and I lost sight of her eyes. She continued her story that way, with her head down, gaze cast to the floor. “Talbot was furious the first time he saw evidence I wasn’t alone. I was afraid, and I hid from him. He became enraged. I never imagined,” her voice cracked with emotion and Gaspare moved to stand beside her. “I never imagined he’d destroy them, too. Every last one of them. Even the tiny children.”

I closed my eyes, bile rising in my throat at the events of so long ago. Abia turned away from us, as if in shame, but went on with her tragic tale.

“Why do people think I’m crazy?” she asked. “Why do they think this place is haunted? Because every time someone stumbled upon Topaz after their boat went aground or they thought it would be fun to explore, I scared them away. I knew what would happen if Talbot discovered I’d made friends again. He’d destroyed two sets of people I loved before my very eyes. He would have done it again without pause.”

“But,” I sputtered. “Well. How did my father and Gaspare come to be? You had to meet their father…my grandfather?”

Abia’s eyes softened at the memory. “Now that’s a story I like to tell. I was diving one day like the natives did—topless, with only a cloth around my middle and a knife at my side. It wasn’t long after Talbot had killed my friends, and to tell you the truth, I stayed under the water longer than was good for me. I thought about giving up. I thought it would be easier and sort of lovely if I took my last breath under water. But self-preservation is a powerful instinct, and I couldn’t do it. I rose to the surface, coughing and gasping for breath.

“I heard a splash and turned toward the sound, to see the legs of someone diving into the water. To save me. Only, he’d worn his boots and jacket, and his weapons, all of which combined to weigh him down. He swam toward me, but tired quickly.

“I caught my breath and asked just what he thought he was doing.

“‘Saving you,’ he answered with confidence.

“I told him in no uncertain terms that I didn’t need saving, that I was perfectly capable of providing for myself.

“‘I see that now,’ he said with a smile.

“He had the most beautiful blue eyes I’d ever seen. I was instantly infatuated with him, I admit it. I agreed to let him take me ashore, and when I pushed myself from the water into his boat in only my loincloth, he nearly swallowed his tongue. He tried not to look, but like me, he was instantly enthralled. He offered me cover, and we sailed ashore.

“Just a bit longer, I kept thinking. I was so lonely. Just a bit longer. I’ll make him one meal for his trouble. Then the rain came and he couldn’t sail safely home for several days.

“The rest, as they say, is history. Philippe and I lived for months together so happily. So free. So in love. It was when I became pregnant that I began to worry.

“We worked hard not to leave a trace, in case Talbot visited again. But when the boys came, I knew they had to go back to Thayer. If Talbot found them I’d lose them, too, and I loved them far too much for that. Philippe and I fought about it so many times. He wanted to fight Talbot, but had never seen up close the evil Talbot was capable of. It simply wasn’t possible.”

“I’m sorry,” I interrupted her reverie. “I don’t understand. How did Gaspare and my father become omnies if you were the only one left?”

She smiled slyly at me. “It only takes one, dear. Philippe was a tiger, but together our offspring were omnies. That’s how it works.”

“I see,” I mumbled. “That’s so strange.”

“What’s strange, dear?”

“Well, it’s strange that an omni and a tiger, or an omni and a dragon, for example, can produce children, but a tiger and a hawk, cannot. What is it about an omni that makes it possible?”

“It wasn’t always so,” she said, her eyes lost in the distance of memory.

I sucked in a shocked breath. “What do you mean?”

“Talbot was the one who forbade procreation between species. People were jailed, and worse, for it. He espoused for years the necessity of “proud and pure” lineages. And when that didn’t work, when people continued to love who they loved, he prevented it.”

“Prevented how?” I gasped. “How’s that possible?”

“No one knows, though it’s most certainly magical. Gaspare’s Emelie has worked for many years to reverse it. She’s studied and experimented with both the magical and biological sides. Though she’s still not found the answer.”

“But, I thought interspecies procreation had always been impossible. That’s how it was explained to me.”

“Three thousand years seems an eternity, even to our kind. Talbot removed all historical references to omni creation. And as leader he commanded textbooks be rewritten to reflect this altered, inaccurate history.” She huffed a hopeless breath. “After a while, people forget the truth. Talbot died, and the truth died with him. There aren’t many left as old as I. Not many left to remember. Perhaps there are none. Perhaps I’m the last.”

“I think it’s the diving that keeps you young, Mother.” Gaspare looked so lovingly at Abia my eyes pricked at the corners. It wouldn’t take much with these two to move me to tears.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I still don’t understand why he did it. Why prevent procreation between species? What does that have to do with omnies?”

Abia’s quirked eyebrow indicated I had missed something. “That’s how omnies are made, dear. When two species create another, an omni is born.”

The breath left my body in a rush and my mind worked overtime to file all of the new information. I resolved to talk to Emelie about her efforts, to volunteer to help, if she’d have me.

“Okay, so how did Talbot die? If he’d eliminated all other omnies and prevented the creation of any new ones, who killed him? Was it an omni like in the vision? Who?”

Abia’s eyebrows drew together as she slipped back into the memory. “One day Talbot did come back. Philippe had taken the boys to a small pool to play while I stayed back. I knew the moment he traced outside my hut. Evil seeped through the mudded mortar of the walls. Of course, there were clues in the house of the children’s existence. Of Philippe’s. I raced outside, but Talbot knew I was hiding something. He hit me so hard I fell back into the cooking pit. My skirt caught fire, which I quickly patted out, but flames had also spread to a nearby bush.

“Powerful as he was, Talbot froze. It was then I realized he was deathly afraid of fire. I picked up a branch and held it in front of me. He screamed and raged at me. He was furious. Wild. But he left. And I knew his secret.

“After that scare, I forced Philippe to take the boys away. We made it work. They visited, but lived permanently on Thayer and we worked hard to leave no trace here on Topaz.

“My boys could escape, but I could not. I tried to leave, but it was impossible. Many years passed, and the boys became men. Talbot never came near me, or the island to my knowledge, again. Whether he feared I’d use fire against him, or he thought himself better off leaving me here to die, I don’t know.

“But the wondering, the constant worry, the uncertainty—those things got to Philippe. They got to the boys. They certainly got to me.

“Conditions had gotten worse in Thayer with Talbot as leader. As if murdering potential enemies and their families wasn’t bad enough, paranoia had finally driven him completely insane and he ruled with an iron hand. He withheld resources from his people. Though many tried, there was no one strong enough to defeat him, for there were no known omnies left, and Thayer continued to decline. We—Philippe, the boys, and I—developed a plan to overthrow Talbot, and to kill him.”

“No kidding,” I breathed.

Abia nodded once and went on. “Throughout their childhood, the boys never revealed their heritage. It was assumed they held the form of their father, a tiger.”

“Until, of course, our time at Radix.” Gaspare had been silent for some time, allowing his mother to tell her fantastic tale. “Once we enrolled there, it was near impossible to disguise our nature.”

“Oh, it was possible,” she argued. “You two just thought yourselves invincible. You could’ve ruined everything.”

“But we didn’t. In fact, it’s what saved us.”

“What saved you?” I remembered bits and pieces of a discussion I’d had with Gaspare about his time at The Root with my father.

“Revealing ourselves as omnies is what started—what grounded—our friendship with Rowan Gresham. We could never have defeated Talbot without Rowan’s help.”

“Go on,” I said, anxious for more details of this history. Of Gresham’s history.

“As I told you before, Rowan, Gabrio, and I were inseparable. Our friendship was a rare one. We trusted and loved one another immediately. When Rowan went home for the first time, he asked his father why he’d never met other omnies, why we were the first.

“Of course Talbot was petrified to learn we existed. Rowan pressured his father for the truth, which he was insane enough to reveal. The lies, the murders. Somehow, Rowan Gresham has always had an exceptional heart. A good heart. Disgusted with his father, and keenly aware of Talbot’s mental instability, Rowan joined our side, where he’s stood ever since.”

“Holy. Shit.” This news was the info bomb of all time. “Talbot, the evil ruler who killed all omnies except Abia and his own son, is Gresham’s father?”

“Was. Yes,” Gaspare said heavily. “Talbot Gresham was the purest form of evil. How Rowan emerged from that hell I will never understand.”

“But how did you survive?” I asked, enthralled in the story’s ending. “I assume once Talbot learned about you he came for you.”

“You’re right, he did. But we’d taken protective precautions. Wards for safety, for example. He tried for years to get to us, but we evaded him. Gabrio, Father, and I worked our way through the ranks of politics and power together. And Rowan was right there with us.”

Abia cut back into the conversation. “They gained powerful positions as leaders on the side of good, and were known as the primary opposition to Talbot’s evil reign. Of course, Talbot wouldn’t stand for that and continued to try to take them out.

“As s, the boys were stronger than their father.” Abia’s strong face was suddenly vulnerable. “The boys were more powerful. Resistant to attacks.”

“It came unexpectedly,” Gaspare said. “We had just left a dinner together, Gabrio, Father, and I. We all had the same wards, but what only grazed Gabrio and I, was a critical blow to our father. We rushed him to safety, but it was too late. It was then he made his dying wish that Gabrio defeat Talbot and lead the people of Thayer.”

“Yes,” I said, nodding sadly as I recalled the conversation. “You told me my father had always made it clear he didn’t want the role, but his father insisted he’d make the better leader. You said that was the night my father disappeared.”

Gaspare nodded silently, his gaze cast toward our feet.

“He was wrong,” Abia said. “He was always wrong about that. Gabrio was sharp, and kind and charming, it’s true. But he was too carefree. What Thayer needed then—and now—was strength, skill, brilliance, and a sense of justice. You’ve all those qualities, and more, son.”

Gaspare smiled, only love reaching his eyes, not pride.

“So, it was you.” I said and shook my head in wonder. “The vision foretold was true. An omni did kill Talbot.”

“So it was,” Gaspare snapped. The edges of his mouth grew white from the pressure of teeth biting into them. I had the feeling he didn’t like discussing the subject at all.

“Gaspare righted the wrongs done our people for so very long,” Abia said proudly. “He works toward it still. As does his sweet Emelie.”

“Right.” He stood and dusted off his pants. “That’s enough for today. Time to head back to Emelie.”

“But,” I sputtered. “We didn’t even discuss why we came.”

“Oh, she knows why we’re here, Stella. She knows all. The moment you opened your mouth you also opened your mind to her. This is where I learned to read minds. You’ll learn telepathy, too, and much more.”

My gaze shot to Abia, who didn’t look ashamed of her impertinent invasion at all. In fact, she seemed to be daring me to object.

No way was I baiting that bear. “So you agree to teach me?”

“I do,” she said slowly.

My grin was contagious, and her face lit with anticipation, too.

Chapter 16

“You’re doing it wrong,” she said for the fifth time in an hour.

Abia’s sharp tone zapped any tranquilizing effect the soothing ocean waves made. But we weren’t there to relax. We were working. I was learning. Abia had instructed and corrected me mercilessly for nearly a month, and I’d made great strides. Or I thought I had. Abia seemed less than impressed. As with all things magical, my abilities began within my chakra, the window to my soul. I knew this. I was familiar with it. Practiced, even. But I was still a novice, and, I suspected from observing Abia’s frustration day after day, a bit slow.

“I’m sorry,” I said for the fifth time in an hour.

Abia and I had gone over the basics of everything she intended to teach me: telepathy, telekinesis, spell-casting, ward-building and breaking. There were others, I was sure, but my brain was fried. We had worked every day for weeks. I had ingested massive quantities of information, and—I thought—was doing a fair job of putting the knowledge into practice.

“The key to entering another’s mind, Stella, is seduction.”

The talk of chakras and seduction was all too reminiscent of a similar conversation I’d had with Rowan Gresham. He was my first teacher, the one who helped me find my animal forms. He had been someone I trusted very much.

I still felt the sting of his betrayal. The wiser I grew, the more I realized I should never have placed that much trust in Gresham in the first place. It was naive to let myself fall for him. The moment I met Rowan Gresham my internal radar shouted Warning! Danger! And I had heeded my gut feeling. I’d been cautious.

But somewhere over the course of our relationship the line between wary and want had blurred. If I’d been older, I probably wouldn’t have been so surprised to learn he had an ulterior motive to get close to me. If I’d had more experience with men, I might have suspected something like that from the beginning. Instead, I was flattered that a man like him—cultured, powerful, and mysterious—wanted me like I wanted him.

I wondered how Gresham fared after discovering the truth about his wife’s death. I wondered if he still missed her. I wondered if he still missed me, though I knew I shouldn’t.

When I first entered Thayer, I depended on him for nearly everything. I knew nothing and no one else. I was young and stupid and snarky. But I had grown—away from him, into the arms of another. I had grown as a woman, and as a citizen of Thayer. I victoriously found, and then tragically lost, family. I faced unimaginable challenges and fears. And I had conquered them all.

I now faced another set of challenges. The first was growth as a magical being, embracing and mastering my inherited abilities. Due to my unique heritage as the child of an omni father and dragon mother, I had access to greater magical ability than the standard Thayerian. Than the standard dragon, even. But Abia Pike had been alive for more than three thousand years, if I was to believe her tale, and she knew every trick in the book.

“Seduction,” I repeated and huffed a breath. “Got it. May I try again?”

Getting into Abia’s head was difficult. She was intentionally blocking me; I knew that. Attempting to read her mind was like trying to crack an egg without getting shell into the bowl. Was it possible? Certainly. Those who were practiced could do it with ease. But unpracticed, my efforts were jerky and heavy handed. Delicacy was required but I had a giant’s hands.

With eyes closed and mind cleared of any distraction, I sent a probing vine toward Abia’s mind. The imaginary vine twisted and slithered toward her, a light but purposed dance. Her mind was closed shut. It would be impossible to force my way into it, but using her advice I asked, I caressed, I persuaded my way in.

“There you are,” she said, opening her mind to mine. “You did it. Can you see the utility of such a gift?”

“I can. It’s like your mind is my oyster,” I said and felt her pleasure at my reference to diving.

“Clever girl. Let’s see if you can find a pearl. Telepathic talents are all related—speaking wordlessly and mind reading are similar, but not everyone has the gift. And clairvoyance is even more rare.”

“I know a clairvoyant,” I said. “But she calls herself an augur. She helped me. She’s my friend’s mother. I miss them all so much.” Though I wasn’t speaking aloud, my emotions were hard to miss. A tear slid down my cheek, but I swiped it before it could get too far.

“I see that you do. I’m so sorry. I know what it means to lose someone. Everyone.”

Abia and I had more in common than I’d considered, and I suddenly felt like a real turd for whining about my problems when she’d lost her entire family and been sentenced to life alone on an island for…forever.

I cleared my throat and attempted to get in a better headspace. I thought of Bay, who had lost much but recently found happiness in the discovery of old friends. One friend in particular was keeping her very busy. She and Forster were spending a lot of time together, which was fantastic. And adorable. She deserved a little happiness after the loss of Eiven and Stryde.

The passing thought of Stryde took my mind to that particularly awful night of his death, when he’d assumed his dragon form and chased me from Ewan’s party. His thoughts were—

Abia let out a surprised noise.

“What is it?” I’d forgotten she was in my mind too, seeing everything that flashed across it.

“You’ve read a mind before. When you heard Stryde’s thoughts.”

“But. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even try!”

“Fear and desperation are often catalysts for developing abilities,” she said with a laugh.

“I guess so.” I shook my head and pulled back from her brain. Mind reading was hard work.

“Tomorrow we continue ward-making,” she said in a tone that indicated I’d been dismissed. “And Stella?”

“Yes?”

“You did well today. I’m proud of you.”

My smile spread so quickly from one side of my face to the other I had to school it back down from beaming. But I quickly abandoned the effort. I mean, it’s not every day your newly-discovered, super-secret castaway/madwoman grandma pays you a compliment on your hard work as a magical being.

Chapter 17

Gaspare and Emelie’s home had become my favorite place on Pearl Isle. Located just yards from a lush, serene lake, their boathouse held the overflow of Emelie’s eclectic collections. Perusing the knickknacks and finding my own treasures among her bounty had become a favorite pastime.

Three hand-carved canoes hung overhead, primitive and worn. I wondered whose hands had worked so diligently to carve them, and ran my palm along the smooth wood.

I was lost in thought when Gaspare’s voice bounced across the water, alerting me to his presence. Emelie was finishing up inside the house, and I could faintly hear the two speaking. I replaced an art glass wine stop in its home and traced to the patio just outside the dining room.

“Poor kid’s in terrible shape,” I overheard Gaspare say. “Really self-destructive behavior. Hasn’t been sober in weeks, not showing up for class, and his friends are worried sick.”

I threw my palm against the door frame, leaning toward the door as my body folded in half. I knew who he meant. I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. Truly. But the damage had been done, and at that moment, propriety was the very last thing on my mind.

I pushed through the patio door into the house. “You’re talking about Ewan, aren’t you?” I looked at Gaspare, whose shocked expression morphed quickly into its usual cool mask. “Oh. My God. My sweet Ewan. He doesn’t deserve this.”

My heart melted within my chest. Melted, and ran down into my guts, which turned and seized at the thought of Ewan’s suffering. Gaspare didn’t answer me; wouldn’t meet my gaze.

I couldn’t contain my anger or repress my heartache when hearing of Ewan’s.

“You’ve done this to him!” I shouted. “All we had to do was get him a message I’m okay. He could deal with a secret. He’s the most trustworthy soul I’ve ever met.”

Gaspare started to argue with me, but held his tongue.

“What?” I snapped.

His eyes closed and he forced a breath through his nostrils. “I’m sorry, Stella. For you. For him. For your friends—everyone. You know I hate this situation. But there’s nothing to be done. It’s the only way.”

“The only way, hell.” I snarled, betraying the petulance I felt. “You could trust me. Trust him. Give us a chance.”

“Give you a chance? And what if you fail? What if, even by accident, either of you revealed our island? It’s not just you who’s at risk, you know. It’s this whole community. Families. People I love.”

His words left me feeling hopeless and empty because I knew they were true.

“Please,” Emelie said and touched both of our arms. “Please, let’s not get into this again. It always ends the same, with you two nursing hard feelings for days afterward.”

Gaspare and I both hmph’ed and crossed our arms. I could see the identical reactions were comical even through my anger. I threw my arms to my side and tried to shake off the grudge, but I feared I never would. Not so long as we continued to disagree on something so vitally important to me. Not so long as he had the power to ease my friends’ pain and wouldn’t use it.

“Let’s eat,” Emelie said. “I made tabbouleh and kebabs.” She was an adventurous cook and prided herself on mastering new dishes. Sometimes her efforts were well received, sometimes not, but this one we all liked, and the mood lightened considerably.

“So,” Emelie asked minutes later when neither Gaspare nor I had spoken, “What did Abia teach you today?”

My lips pushed up at the thought. “Today was a good day. We worked on telepathy, and I was able to do it. I got into her head. I strongly suspect she took it easy on me, but that’s okay. For now.”

“Wonderful,” she exclaimed, a little too enthusiastically. “I’d let you practice on me, but that’s no real challenge. I’m a lightweight when it comes to innate abilities. Gaspare’s a tough nut to crack. You should give him a shot.”

“No,” I said, not really in the mood for further interaction with my uncle. It would have been rude to leave before eating Emelie’s meal or I’d have already left.

“Why not?” he asked and quirked an eyebrow. “Scared?”

“No.” I finished chewing the bite of juicy tomato.

“Well then, give it a go.” Gaspare extended his arms wide. He was unafraid and welcomed my attempt. His expression said he didn’t think for one second I’d ever get into his head. And that really pissed me off. It didn’t bother me when strangers underestimated me. Fine. I would continue to surpass expectations. I was a cute girl from the South, after all. My intellect and scientifically-geared brain had been taken for granted most of my life. I’d learned to use their miscalculations to my advantage. I could deal with that.

But my beloved uncle’s doubt hit me hard.

I sat up straighter with an infusion of false confidence. “All right. But just remember you asked for it.”

I put everything I had into seducing Gaspare Shaw’s powerful mind.

It was clear the moment he realized he’d misjudged me. The same eyebrows that mocked me moments before flew toward his hairline. He wheezed a breath as I slithered my way past his hasty and inadequate barrier.

Let’s see, I thought. What do I want to know?

For me, reading his mind was like flipping through a mental version of one of those hanging poster displays. Flip. No, not there. Flip. Not that one. Flip. Ah. There it is.

I could see Gaspare’s memory from earlier in the day like it was my own. It was as if I was looking through his eyes, but I knew I wasn’t. Ewan sat slumped in a corner booth at Sabre Bar. He was alone. Two fingers of whiskey sat in front of him. From Gaspare’s vantage point, through his eyes, I could see Ewan’s haggard face. He hadn’t shaved in days, maybe a week. His dark curls were messier than usual, too messy, and the neck of his black T-shirt was stretched and unkempt. He looked positively miserable. His brown eyes, usually playful but sharp, were now dull, the bags beneath them physical indicators of his sleeplessness.

I gasped at the pain so evident on his face and feared he’d heard me. Then I remembered I was only perusing a memory.

A slender girl in a flowing pink halter-top passed in front of me. She smelled of honeysuckle and sunshine, and her white blonde hair glinted as it swung across her back. Emrynne. She slinked toward Ewan and sat next to him in the booth. Too close. Much too close.

I moved toward them to tell her to find another seat, another man, but of course, I wasn’t really there. My heart pounded within my chest and sent a rush of blood straight to my head. I ground my teeth in frustration, and in jealous fury.

I felt a push on the peripheral of my consciousness. Gaspare was attempting to eject me from his mind, but I wasn’t finished. I dug deeper, pushed harder, and stayed within the memory.

When I returned my attention to them, Emrynne was speaking to Ewan. “Let’s go upstairs,” she said. “I’ll make it all go away.”

She took him by the hand and led him from Sabre Bar up the wide central staircase. My racing heart stopped as dread, disgust, and acute pain sent a signal that something was broken, something was about to blow.

“No!” I screamed, though Ewan couldn’t hear me. The two ascended the stairs, one of his hands in hers, the other trailing along the wooden banister as if at any moment he might cling to the railing and turn around. As if he might choose me. “No!” I crumbled to the floor, my hand flying to massage the crushing pain of my chest.

I released Gaspare’s memory and slammed the metaphorical poster display closed. Like a taut rubber band set free, I snapped out of his head and back into the couple’s dining room.

Neither of them said a word. Emelie watched my face for a reaction, her own etched with concern. Gaspare was furious. I expected steam to hiss from his ears at any moment. But I was the angrier of the two of us. This was all his fault. He’d injured Ewan that night in the forest and swept me away without revealing the essential details that I couldn’t return or let my friends know I was okay. Gaspare was the one to blame that Ewan was a heartbroken mess. It was Gaspare’s fault Ewan had slept with Emrynne. All of it lay at his feet, yet his blue eyes squinted in my direction.

“Oh, don’t you look at me like that,” I seethed. “You tricked me to get me here, you won’t let me leave, you’ve let my poor friends believe I’m dead, and now you’ve caused my Ewan to screw that celestial bitch. I hate you for what you’ve done to me.”

Gaspare scoffed, fists flying to his sides. “I had nothing to do with Ewan’s infidelity, and you know it.” But then his face softened as anger faded and was replaced by sympathy. “But I am sorry it happened. I’m sorry you’re hurting. I never want to see you unhappy, and I hate that this situation has made you so.”

I didn’t reply. An angry tear fell onto my cheek and I swiped it away.

“Perhaps this is a sign you two weren’t right for each other,” he continued. “Perhaps it’s a good time to move on. Make a fresh start here in Pearl.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” I drew my lips together in an angry snarl. “We are meant for each other. I saw it in the well in Caliph.”

Gaspare’s eyebrows drew together before he tried to respond, but I cut him off. “No. I don’t want to hear anything else you have to say. I can’t stand to be here anymore.”

I traced away from Gaspare, from Emelie. But I couldn’t outrun my breaking heart.

Chapter 18

Since Gaspare and Emelie’s home had become my favorite place, I didn’t have many options for escape. I could go to the cottage Bay and I had been living in, but it belonged to Gaspare, and I didn’t want anything to do with him. Finding Bay at Forster’s wasn’t an option because they were way too into each other for my mood.

I was hurting, I was angry, and I was not very hopeful for the future. I’d never been one to curl in a ball and cry or to inhale a carton of rocky road. I was an angry “doer.” And right then I wanted to do something. I considered going for a run, but recalled my expanded options. I didn’t have to run out my frustration. I could fly.

Alone near the boathouse I removed my clothes, and with a breath I leaped into flight in dragon form. It was a mild night, a cloudless night, and the stars shimmered and danced so clearly it seemed I could fly right into them. I pulled in my arms/wings and arrowed straight up toward the luminous bodies I had always been drawn to, that I was named for. Stella in Latin and Italian. Star.

The temperature dropped quickly as I ascended, but my body was equipped for it. Thick scales protected me from the cold and wind. I closed my eyes as I went higher and higher. Speeding through the sky, knowing my whole body was a powerful weapon, a fearsome thing to behold, but capable, too, of delicacy, was cleansing. It was freeing. All was certainly not okay, but in the sky, I held out hope it could be. Someday. Maybe.

I’d never had a vision in my dragon form before. But experience had taught me the uptake in my heartbeat, the pounding within my chest I had once mistaken for panic attacks were what preceded my premonitions. I was prepared when the scratchy, opaque view flashed outside my peripheral and played like a staticky old television.

In the vision, Abia leaned against a large rock rising up from the sandy beach. She wore diving gear, her mask pushed back onto the rubber covering her neck and hair. In the vision, she smiled and used the full force of her gaze to impart some great wisdom. “Love and light, baby,” she said. “Love and light.” Her eyes, deep blue like the sea around her, shone with those very things.

I didn’t know the meaning of the vision, but I knew not to discount its importance.

I untucked my leathery wings and tilted to change course. I flew toward the ocean, toward one of the most valuable treasures I’d acquired.

* * *

I landed between my grandmother’s modest house and the tool shed, shifted form, and then snagged a robe from a hook just inside the door. This was the norm in Thayer, I’d learned, necessitated by frequent changes of form and ruining of clothes.

Abia wasn’t in her house. After the vision, I hadn’t expected her to be. The only thing visible when I reached the beach was the large round buoy she used when diving for shellfish. The orange pouf bobbed in the waves. I located the rock from my vision and leaned against it. She had to come up for air sometime.

When Abia didn’t surface, I began to worry. I had been resting against the rock for a solid minute—I’d counted. I crept toward the water and called her name cautiously at first, but then with urgency when she didn’t answer. I threw off the robe and splashed artlessly into the water.

“Abia!” I called and swam toward the buoy. The waves fought against me and I struggled to reach it. One last stroke through the water and I reached the flotation. I looked down around me but couldn’t see her, so I dove in a desperate attempt to find her. The white length of a rope came into view below the buoy and I followed it down, swimming less than three feet when I met her under the water. She gave a funny little wave and passed me on her way to the surface.

When my head rose above the water, I could hear her high-pitched wheezing. It sounded like tortured hyperventilating and I feared the worst. I ran my arm around the front of her chest and began swimming for the shore like I’d seen so many lifeguards do in the movies. It was harder than I thought it would be, and I struggled to keep my head above water. Soon I realized it wasn’t Abia’s dead weight, but her live fighting that was causing me to drown.

“What the devil are you doing?” she shouted, throwing my arm from her chest and shoving her mask to the top of her head.

“Saving you. What are you doing?”

“I was diving for dinner until my newfound granddaughter thought to drown us both.”

“You mean you’re okay?” I asked as I treaded water, and belatedly noticed she was doing the same.

“I’m fairly certain I’m better than you,” she said, looking my flailing body up and down. Her eyes were drawn together in irritation, but then transformed into an expression of empathy, nearly sweet. Very uncharacteristic. “Did you receive any special designations when you were in school, child?”

“What?” I squinted one eye, attempting to force the stinging salt water from it. “What do you mean?”

“Did you face any particular challenges with your education? Do you learn differently than other children?”

“Are you asking if I have a learning disability?” My mouth hung open and although I tried to form more words, I couldn’t. I was flabbergasted.

“Everyone is different, sweet one,” she said kindly. “There is no shame in it.”

“I did very well in school, I’ll have you know. In math and science, particularly.” I pushed away from her in the water and swam to shore all the while mumbling, “‘Learning disability.’ Humph.”

* * *

“Where did you learn to dive like that?” Abia and I sat in her kitchen with cups of her notoriously stout tea.

“I told you about the natives who were already here when Talbot confined me to this island?”

I nodded and took another sip. What was at first repugnant had actually grown on me over the last few weeks. I no longer had to work to keep a straight face as it went down. Abia’s tea was sort of like sushi in the way that the first few tastes are so foreign they’re unpalatable. But after that first time you begin to crave the flavor and nothing else will sate the desire.

“The women of their tribe were the laborers, the rulers. They dove for shellfish and seaweed, they dove for pearls. Women were so important that when a girl child was born they would celebrate because the tradition, in fact the necessity, of diving could continue.”

“That’s a nice change,” I said. “How do you stay under so long? You must’ve been under for two solid minutes.”

“Probably. That sounds about right.” She shrugged and drank her tea.

“You wheezed so I thought you were hyperventilating. Or dying.”

She cackled, and her face scrunched into a smile. “More of a whistle. It’s a breathing technique I was taught to help between dives.”

I shook my head in wonder. “Is it terribly difficult? It seems impossible…and a little wild.”

“It takes practice, like anything else. But I’ll warn you: it’s addictive. I’m quite obsessed with it, actually. When I’m not offshore I yearn to be.”

“I always liked the water,” I said. “Your diving fascinates me.”

“Would you like to learn? It’s a dying art.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, sure, after I knock out all of this magic stuff.”

“More tea?” she grinned.

“You bet.”

“Your grandfather always loved my tea. It’s how I won his heart. That, and my tits.”

As I laughed I thought about spending a lifetime with one person. I thought about tea and tits and love.

Without warning, my mind turned to Ewan. Everything around me disappeared—Abia, the tea, the soothing ocean waves. In their place was a dark and smothering sadness that made me feel I could never stand again. Seeping between the cracks in the wood floor and down into the mud was a more fitting action. I wasn’t just sad; I was in such anguish I felt physically ill. I tried not to think of the image burned into my brain of Ewan and Emrynne ascending the Sabre stairs hand-in-hand. I turned my head, but it did nothing to stop my imagination from creating images of the two of them tangled in his sheets.

Though I fought to think of something—anything—else, I could only think of Ewan’s slow and passionate kiss, my favorite thing in the whole world. Now it would be on Emrynne’s lips and not mine. I knew how his kiss could make even a cautious woman feel. I had zero faith that the more-than-willing Emrynne would be satisfied with a few kisses. No, she’d made her interest very clear. She would do anything to have him.

I shook my head when I felt Abia inside it and pushed her roughly out. I didn’t want her to see this, to know my pain. And even though he’d betrayed me, I didn’t want Abia to see Ewan in that light. She should know the selfless, brave, brilliant Ewan. The real Ewan, not this shell of a man.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “For your loss.”

The truth in her words wasn’t comforting. It made me angry. I hadn’t lost Ewan. He was mine, dammit, and no chiffon-clad hooker was going to take him from me. Ewan and I were separated indefinitely, sure. And he thought I was dead. We could get past those things. We had to.

“It’s rude to get in my head when I didn’t invite you,” I snapped. “Don’t do it again.”

Abia’s mouth fell open at my tone, but she nodded. “All right. You’re right.”

No one said anything for several minutes. I focused on my anger and a way forward instead of dwelling on my misery.

“Want to talk about it?” Abia asked.

“No,” I barked. Then I told her everything.

I told her how the chemistry between Ewan and I sizzled from the moment we met. I told her of our flirting and our fun, passionate moments. She oooh’ed when I described his thick curly hair and eyes so penetrating they saw right through me. I laughed when I told her about the well that night of the Caliph Square attack, and that it had revealed Ewan Bristol as my mate.

She cocked her head in confusion, careful to withhold judgment, when I told her how I’d begun my affair with Gresham without a word to Ewan. And when I relayed how Ewan had given me space to make my own choices, but had been right there when things ended badly with Gresham.

“That’s called grace, Stella. Remember it, and return it if you ever get the chance.”

“Yes ma’am. I know others have had it worse than me,” I said. “Your life has been plagued with loss and cruelty. My mother, Bay—my whole family—even Gaspare and Emelie. Their lives have been so unfair. But it seems every time something good happens to me, something worse comes on its tail. I can’t believe life is supposed to be this hard.”

“Stop me if you’ve heard this one,” Abia said with a smirk. “Life’s not fair. We all suffer pain and loss. But we also experience moments of pure joy, of transcendent peace.” She looked wistfully out a small window toward the ocean. “No, life isn’t fair. It’s a scale. And if at the end of your days, the good outweighs the bad, if you’ve had even one more moment of joy than sadness, then good takes all. Simple as that.”

“Tell that to my aching heart.”

Abia covered my hand with hers. “I know it hurts. I felt your pain as if it was mine, and I’d take it if I could.”

“Thanks,” I said with a shrug. “Can I stay the night here, with you?”

* * *

There’s just something about sleeping near the sea that soothes the soul. I woke when the sun rose to the high-pitched call of gulls. I had slept in Abia’s bed, the only one in the house, and she was already gone. Probably diving, I thought, and went in search of her.

The sand was still cool from the overnight temperature. It squished between my toes as I made my way to the beach.

The sense of deja vu was overwhelming as I caught sight of her leaned against the rocky outcropping of my vision.

“Morning,” she called, removing her diving fin from first one foot and then the other.

“Hi. You diving for breakfast or for fun?”

Abia grinned and held up a net full of prickly black balls. “There’s nothing like uni in the morning. Scrambled or fried?”

“Those aren’t edible,” I said. “Don’t tease me.”

“No, there’s roe inside—eggs. Do you know how to open a sea urchin?”

“No,” I admitted. “How?”

“Very carefully,” she said, revealing a crooked grin that threatened to spread into her distinctive cackle.

I rolled my eyes at her joke. “Thanks for talking through everything with me last night. I feel better.”

“My pleasure,” she said. “As you can imagine, I don’t get much company, and getting to know you has been the best thing to happen to me in many years.”

I ducked my head at her compliment, but it made me wonder. “After Talbot was killed, why didn’t you leave here? Surely the spell or wards or whatever were broken with his death.”

“You don’t know how many times I’ve wished that were true,” she said, her tone desolate. “I’ve studied and practiced wards and spell-making these centuries, trying to reverse his curse. I don’t know how he did it, but he created a ward so powerful that it has extended beyond his death. Which doesn’t make any sense, magically, since wards like these are implemented with blood. Upon his death my captivity here should’ve been lifted.” She let out a weary breath. “But it wasn’t.”

“Huh. Maybe he used someone else’s blood,” I mused.

Abia’s gaze snapped in my direction and her mouth fell open. She stared at me, not uttering a word but her eyes wild.

Her diving mask hit the sand with a thud. She threw her hands in the air and began pacing, all the while cursing Talbot Gresham, and cursing herself and her own narrow-mindedness.

“I take it all back,” she said and looked at me in wonder.

“What?”

“Saying you were a slow learner. I take it all back. You’re a damn genius.”

“Oh. Ah, thanks?” Brilliant response, Stonewall. Definitely genius material.

Chapter 19

I found Bay as expected: blissful and borderline giddy. She had found peace on Pearl Isle, and for that, I was eternally grateful. I suspected she’d also found love.

“Morning, dear,” she said and hugged me. Hugged me. Stiff, severe Bay Drakontos hugged me.

“Okay,” I said slowly. “One guess what’s got you in such a chipper mood.”

She wagged a finger at me, but couldn’t suppress her smile. “I have news.”

“Oh, do tell.”

“Forster and I are to be married,” she said. Her lilt was always stronger with emotion, and her ‘R’s’ sounded more like purred ‘D’s.’ ‘ard to be maddeet.’

“But you’ve only known him for a few weeks,” I said, shock overpowering my manners.

“I’ve known Forster McCreight my entire life,” she scoffed. “Say you’re happy for me.” She tapped an impatient foot. “Say it.”

I hugged her this time, indicating my joy with a long, tight squeeze. “I’m so happy for you, Bay. So very happy.” My eyes stung and pressure built in my sinus as tears threatened. They threatened, and I was able to stave them off with a sniffle, until I selfishly thought of my own future happiness. Then I let the tears fall. I held on to Bay for a bit until I steered the waterworks back to tears of joy.

“What’s got ye so down, dear?” she asked. “Is it your mother?”

“My mother? No. I’ve resolved I may never understand her, and I’m okay with that. I really am happy for you.” I swiped my tears from my face, shook the clouds away, and gave her my brightest smile. “You’ll need a dress.”

* * *

The two saw no need to wait, and the wedding was planned for the next afternoon, a Saturday.

I helped Bay find a dress at a shop in town, and did her hair, twisting together the streaks of auburn and silver in a loose up-do. She insisted she was too old for flowers in her hair, but I convinced her otherwise.

Forster stood beneath the gazebo at the dock behind his house. He wore a muted brown suit, but his bald head gleamed in the afternoon sun. I preceded Bay toward him in the procession, and he spared me a single glance before his light eyes locked on her radiant face. Bay was stunning in a simple cream dress modest enough for her taste, but showed off her lovely back. She was so happy she nearly raced to join him.

Gaspare officiated, and I caught him searching my face several times during the ceremony. It’s true I had been somewhat emotional lately, but he watched me like I’d fall apart at any time. The third time I shrugged in a universal ‘what?’ gesture. He shook his head roughly and looked away.

When Bay and Forster said their vows, I watched Gaspare. His face was regretful, almost sad, as he looked toward Emelie.

The few in attendance cheered like they’d won a soccer match when Forster grabbed Bay by the shoulders and kissed her. And kissed her. And kissed her some more.

The McCreights hosted a reception at their home after the wedding. Laughter spread from room to room and I caught myself having the beginning stirrings of happiness again.

“There you are.” Gaspare’s sandy hair was meticulously combed for the special occasion. He always looked put-together, but this was perfection. He and Emelie were so different. She had the whole au naturale free spirit scientist thing going on, and he was as tight-laced as they came. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Next time just look for the booze,” I said lightly. “Wherever there is a bar so thirsty people can drink, I’ll be there.”

“Steinbeck?”

“Sort of.”

Gaspare stared at his feet and kicked the floor. He looked up at the same time he put his hands in his pockets and his tongue in his cheek. He wanted to say something, but was having a tough time of it.

“What’s up?”

“Stella, I… Gods, this is difficult. Emelie and Abia insist I’ve handled this wrong. I don’t normally heed outside counsel, but this—you—are a special case.”

“Okay,” I replied slowly.

“I maintain my decision is what’s best, what’s right, what’s safest for all of us.”

He lost me. I really didn’t want to re-hash the whole Ewan thing, and certainly not on such a good day. Bay and Forster’s wedding was a happy occasion, and I was doing my best to stay positive.

Gaspare was still talking, and I tuned back in at the words. “…convinced me I’ll either lose you because of this or ruin your happiness. Either way, I’ve failed you, and I never wanted to do that. I must be out of my mind, but I’m suspending my good sense and allowing you to see Ewan.”

My shocked yip of joy drew the attention of everyone in the room, but I didn’t care. I jumped and hugged Gaspare’s neck. He stood stiffly at first, but then patted me on the shoulder. When I didn’t release him, he finally hugged me back and allowed himself the briefest moment to enjoy it before clearing his throat and getting back to business.

“I’ll have to bring him here. That’s the only way. You can’t return to Thayer, of course. Abia suggested Topaz, where you’ll remain unseen. I can’t promise anything for the future, but at least he’ll know you’re alive. For all the good it’ll do him. I still think you should both move on.”

“Thank you,” I breathed, undeterred by his last statement. “Thank you so much.”

Chapter 20

Gaspare and I agreed he would trace Ewan to a pool of fresh water on the opposite side of the island from Abia. Topaz wasn’t a big landform, but with only three people on it, privacy was fairly easy to come by.

I had prepared a picnic, complete with blankets and wine, and laid out my spread beneath an ancient tree just feet from the waterfall and pool. The soil was soft and warm as I knelt on the blanket to arrange the wine and food just right.

My hands shook as I smoothed my skirt. Again. What’s taking them so long?

The stemless glasses and wine required further adjusting, and then I unwrapped a wedge of cheese. I lay the baguette between the wine and cheese, but moved it again.

Thud. Something—or things—heavy hit the ground near the base of the waterfall.

Ungh! A punch landed.

“Dammit,” Gaspare’s commanding voice aimed for serious, but was laced with humor. “Stop fighting. I’m doing you a favor. Try to show a little appreciation.”

“I’ll kill you…you bastard.” Ewan’s voice was strained, guttural. Oomph. “And I don’t care…if I die…in the process.”

Gaspare scoffed. “I hadn’t planned to kill you, pup, though I’m considering it now.” Ungh. Ewan landed another punch in Gaspare’s gut. “For gods’ sake, stop punching me.”

“You shouldn’t have…killed her.…she was…everything…to me…need her.” Ewan’s voice broke on the last words and he abandoned punching Gaspare to hold himself upright instead.

Gaspare caught my gaze and rolled his eyes, but the humor was lost on me.

Ewan was filthy. He looked worse in person than I’d seen in Gaspare’s head, and I gasped at the evidence of his misery.

Ewan’s head snapped in the direction of my gasp. His eyes bulged in shock before squinting to slits. “Stella?” he croaked.

I couldn’t speak, but nodded my head, hiccupping a sob as he fell to his knees. I ran to him and went to my knees, too. I knelt before him, afraid to touch him but the desire too strong to sit still. I raised and returned my hands a dozen times while he worked to determine if I was real.

Over Ewan’s shoulder, Gaspare pointed to his watch. A stipulation of his offer was that Ewan return that night. We had agreed on 10. I blinked in silent agreement and Gaspare gave a sharp nod. Then he was gone.

After an eternity, Ewan squeezed my upper arms, still staring questioningly into my face. When he pulled me into his chest, he held me so tightly I could scarcely breathe, but I didn’t care. I thought I’d never be in his arms again. He could squeeze the last breath from my body and I’d die happy.

Ewan pushed me back, holding me at arms’ length, his eyes scanning every square inch of me.

“You’re alive,” he said thickly. “What hap—No. I don’t care what happened. You’re here now. Oh, gods, Stella. I love you so much.”

I had been happy in my lifetime. I know I had. But what I felt when Ewan Bristol told me he loved me cannot be compared with any joy previously experienced. My heart’s swelling caused such pressure within my chest I worried it might burst. I didn’t release him or run from it, but held him tighter. Held on for life. For love.

A familiar noise caused me to look up. Ewan sniffed the air around us conspicuously. “Is that me? Do I smell that bad?”

I laughed. “Mmm, pretty bad.” His bark of laughter sent a shot of joy through my veins.

“I suppose I hadn’t cared to notice. I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. It wasn’t a concern. Nothing could ruin that moment. I put the force of my happiness into my eyes and tried to read what he was thinking.

The silence extended too long. Neither of us knew what to say next, or how to proceed.

The roar of the plummeting waterfall gave me an idea. “I can take care of that,” I said, and then softer “I can take care of you. Wait here.”

Ewan’s cry of protest when I stood, stepped away from him, and traced away pulled at my already-strained heartstrings, but I was gone only a moment to grab shampoo and towels from the guest house.

I laid them near my feet, and slowly unzipped my skirt. When it fell to the ground Ewan’s ever-expressive eyes shot wildly from the gray skirt to my face and back again. My button-front shirt was next. I released each button slowly, starting just above my chest. He held my gaze even as I dropped my arms to the side, revealing the soft pink bra underneath. When I shrugged from the shirt he stood motionless, entranced, and when my bra and panties were finally removed his eyes raked my body. The desire they held was as clear as the crystal pool beside us.

I was not embarrassed standing before Ewan Bristol naked. I was revealed. I was empowered. I was me. And I wanted him.

Ewan still hadn’t moved, and I glided confidently toward him—not in a seduction, but in offering. I lifted his black shirt above his head, losing contact with his eyes for only a moment before he found me again. I put the force of my love, the depth of my feelings into my eyes as I loosened his jeans and let them fall to the ground.

He was wearing nothing underneath. It was suddenly difficult to swallow.

When I laced my fingers with his, he squeezed my hand, the question in his eyes clear.

“Yes,” I nodded and led him into the water, snagging the shampoo on the way.

I rubbed the light shampoo into a lather, and smoothed it onto his chest. He groaned as I massaged the line of his bicep and down his arms until we stood chest to chest, arms extended together, hands gripped tightly, like we risked losing each another again. And we did. We were at risk, but it was clear neither of us would let go without a fight.

Still holding my hands, Ewan lowered his body, then his head underwater. He stayed low when he emerged, and I stroked the shampoo into his thick hair, his dark curls smoothed to his head.

Bliss overtook him, and he closed his eyes when I scratched my nails lightly across his scalp, scrubbing and massaging. Cleaning him, cleansing us.

While I rinsed the shampoo from his hair, I traced the new line between his eyebrows. The worry was for me, I knew, and I tried to smooth it away with my thumb before I kissed him there.

Ewan’s eyes snapped open when he sensed me so close, and he rose to kiss my mouth. He’d been satisfied to let me bathe him, to follow my lead. But when it came to kissing, Ewan Bristol had always been the one in charge. He stood and bent his head, pulling me roughly toward him, only water between us. He kissed me with such fire I wouldn’t have been surprised to find the water around the two of us boiling.

I pushed away from him, gasping for breath, and then laughed at his aggrieved face. “I wasn’t finished,” I said playfully and looked pointedly into the water.

Understanding lit his face and he rose from the water, spreading his arms wide. “By all means,” he said, giving me full view. Full access.

I adored the feel of his hips, the slight sharpness of bone underneath velvet smooth skin.

But as I traced his hipbones with my thumbs, my mind tragically flew to thoughts of them poised above Emrynne as he made love to her.

I squeezed my eyes shut, admonishing my stupidity, my self-destructive tendencies. Stay in the now, Stella. This is important. This is real. You can work past the rest.

Ewan sensed the change in me and mistook my frustration for apprehension.

“You’re having second thoughts,” he said and dropped his arms. “I can see it in your face. We can stop.” He moved to release me, but more distance between us was the last thing I wanted.

“No, Ewan,” I said. “It’s just…” I didn’t want to bring her into our moment. I wouldn’t give her that.

“Do you want someone else? Do you…” he swallowed hard. “Do you love someone else?”

I jerked at the fault in his logic. “God. No, Ewan. There’s no one else. Just you. Just you and me.”

He was unconvinced. His fingers pressed into my shoulder blades when he grasped me by the tops of my arms. “I may not have a dragon’s fire, but I burn for you, Stella.” He shook me ever so slightly. “I burn.”

I was lost after that. We both were. We were a tempest of hands, of mouths, of hearts.

As we kissed, Ewan backed me to a high bank and lifted me onto its edge, my legs dangling in the warm water. My head fell back when he pressed his mouth to me, and I clung to the bank’s soft edge as I fell apart.

Ewan rose and held me close, chuckling under his breath when I shuddered with tiny aftershocks.

When we moved to the blankets at the base of the tree, we made sweet, tender love as the sun set over the endless sea.

This is my favorite thing about love-making. The radiating warmth of my partner. The tiny but perfect pleasures like the hair of his thighs on my smooth skin. The flex of muscles under fingertips. Impulsive kisses to a temple, a shoulder, an eyelid. The powerful, decadent scent of man.

Ewan ducked his head and pressed his forehead to mine. He stared into my eyes, holding my gaze as he worked his body into and out of me. I loved the way he bit his lip and closed his eyes when something was especially good.

“So intimate,” I thought, so very happy. So very satisfied.

“Yes,” he whispered through my mind, though I hadn’t intended for him to hear. “Perfect.”

Chapter 21

Ewan rolled onto his stomach and propped onto his arms. “I’m starving. Is that food for us?”

“Yes,” I laughed and placed slices of prosciutto and pecorino on top of the crusty bread.

He grinned playfully back, but then his face darkened without warning. “I haven’t been eating well.” He ducked his head. “Or sleeping. I’ve been a wreck for weeks, Stella. I thought you were dead.”

I rolled to my side and touched his sweet, haggard face. “I’m so sorry. I tried to come back to you. Please believe me. I tried to convince Gaspare to at least get word to you I was alive. He wouldn’t. Said it put everyone here at risk. And he was right to an extent, but I never gave up. Not on you, and not on us.”

His eyes closed when he turned his head and pressed lips to my palm. “What do you mean everyone here? Who’s here? Where is here?”

* * *

I slipped on my shirt and poured the two of us glasses of red wine. I told Ewan everything—about Gaspare’s coordinated smuggling of so many endangered people to Pearl, about the other dragons, about Abia, about the history of interspecies children—everything.

“Damn,” he breathed when I finished the tale. “Do you know what this means?”
I shrugged. It meant a great many things.

“Boone and Timbra have a chance at a normal family. At a life together.”

I was less confident of their actual chances at such happiness. Besides the obvious fact that interspecies conception wasn’t possible anymore, there was extreme prejudice back in Thayer. If it were ever possible again, common sentiment would be strongly against it. Thousands of years’ worth of culture couldn’t be changed overnight.

One good thing about life in Thayer, though, was that time moved differently. Lives were long. Something impossible overnight may be workable over a couple of centuries. But who wanted to wait that long? Ewan and I nearly lost our minds being apart a few weeks.

Why does every single thing have to be so hard, I wondered. Does nothing come easily?
“Nothing good,” Ewan answered my thought again. The depth of his emotions was plainly visible in his dark eyes. “As evidenced by my difficulty in conquering you.”

“‘Conquering?’” I asked, my voice raised in mock outrage. “I’ll show you ‘conquering.’”

I straddled Ewan’s lithe waist, still naked from our earlier love-making. When I looked down into the handsome face I loved so much, I couldn’t help feeling I would lose him again. The way Ewan held me told me he feared losing me, too.

I clasped him to me, kissing his face, his neck, and laying my head onto his thick chest. It was impossible to get close enough to him, but having him inside me helped.

* * *

I lay with my head on Ewan’s strong arm, circling his tiny pink nipple and smiling when it puckered.

“I forgive you for Emrynne,” I said. “We never talked about being exclusive, and I know you were lonely. And probably drunk.”

Ewan jerked and rose up, forcing me to sit back onto my knees in front of him. “What are you talking about? What about Emrynne?”

“I know you slept with her. I saw through Gaspare’s eyes when he checked in on you one night. She led you from Sabre Bar and upstairs.” The temperature dropped. I felt cold and found my skirt. “I admit it turned my stomach to hear her say she’d ‘make it all go away.’ It’s nearly killed me to think about you two together.” I twisted the skirt back into place once I’d finished with the zipper. “I guess what I’m saying is, I can get past it.”

I held my hand out to help him up, but he scoffed at it and stood abruptly.

“Oh, you forgive me, do you?” His bark of laughter held not even a hint of humor. “Sleeping with someone else is such a small thing you can forget it so easily.”

I had no idea what to say. I didn’t understand his reaction, his sudden anger.

I reached out to him. He let me take his hand but didn’t squeeze back. “It’s not a small thing,” I said slowly. “I didn’t mean that. I…well…you thought I was dead. I know you were in a pretty bad state. I’m saying…I’m saying I understand how you could be with someone else, how you might look for comfort.”

He pulled his hand from mine and crossed his arms. “I wasn’t. I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. Maybe it works that way for you, but not me.”

“But I saw…and I thought…”

“No.” His nostrils flared as he worked to contain his irritation.

“Okay.” I tried to accept ‘no’ and go on. I did. “And Emrynne’s ‘make it all go away’ and leading you upstairs?”

“Let’s just say I sobered up fast.”

“Ah. All right.” I didn’t say anything for a while. I ran through what I’d seen in Gaspare’s head and compared it with Ewan’s account that he didn’t go through with it. I could accept that. I believed it. Maybe because I wanted so desperately for it to be true.

We stood not moving or speaking again, though I couldn’t contain the smile that covered my face when it sunk in Ewan had not, in fact, screwed that ethereal ice princess.

“What?” he aimed for petulant but failed.

“This day is shaping up to be pret-ty fantastic.”

Ewan smiled crookedly and snagged more of the bread and cheese.

Wounded was gone and in its place was peace, pleasure, pride.

* * *

It was nearly ten and the knot of nauseous dread in the pit of my stomach increased with each passing minute. I didn’t want to be separated from Ewan again. Ever. But that wasn’t the deal I’d made with Gaspare.

“It’s okay. We’ll see each other again very soon.” I had no idea if what I told Ewan was true or not. That possibility was dependent on Gaspare, which was supremely unfair, but at the moment, the only hope I had. “I’ll ask him if we can meet here each day. At least for a couple of hours. It’s going to be tough to convince him, though. I think he still believes we should cut our losses and break things off.”

Ewan’s menacing growl sent the hairs on the back of my neck straight up. The predatory threat rumbled through the dense tropical forest, which went eerily quiet.

I smacked his arm. “Well, that’s not going to win you any favors. Cut it out.”

Gaspare arrived right on time. I was on my best behavior, thankful for the opportunity and hopeful of another.

“Good-bye, Ewan.” I stood on my toes to brush a light kiss over his lips. But before I could back away, Ewan grabbed me around the waist and pulled me tightly to him. He pressed his lips to mine leisurely, his eyes on Gaspare in silent dare. He was laying his claim, showing just what he thought of Gaspare’s ‘cut your losses’ philosophy.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t flattered by his little display, no matter how ill conceived to take on the most powerful man in Thayer.

Gaspare’s mouth quirked as he tried to hide his smile. “All right, that’s enough. Let’s go, lover-boy.”

He laid a hand on Ewan’s back, and quick as a thought the two were gone.

* * *

I traced back to Gaspare’s cottage, and while I felt more alone than I had in my entire life, there was hope. My mother was gone for good, and I could at least find closure in that. Bay and Forster were settling in to their new life together, and Gaspare and Emelie had their own blissful thing going on. I missed Boone and Timbra, Layla, Mari. I even missed Raynor and Bex and The Root.

Most of all I missed Ewan. Already. I wanted nothing more than to have his warm body next to me in bed.

Sex with Ewan Bristol was everything I’d hoped it would be and, truthfully, everything I’d feared. It was love and love-making, carnal and sensual and scandalously, scalding hot. It was generous and emotional and moving. No hang-ups or insecurities, only love.

Love. No wonder everyone made such a big fuss about it.

Chapter 22

“Stella?” Gaspare called from downstairs.

I was awake. I’d been lying in bed recalling the intricacies of the day before. I didn’t want to forget anything about my first time with Ewan, and went over each detail, committing them to memory. Some people don’t care for leftovers, but I’d always thought most food better the next day. While a memory couldn’t compare to the real thing, looking back on the previous day’s events gave me a whole new appreciation for it, for Ewan.

I descended the stairs with the singular intention of working out a deal with Gaspare to see Ewan again.

“There you are.” A crisp button-down shirt and dress pants were Gaspare’s uniform, and his Oxfords shined like new pennies. “I’ve been thinking,” he began and paced the small space of the kitchen.

I held up a coffee cup.

He nodded acceptance. “Hmm? Oh. Yes. Morning. As I said, I’ve been thinking.”

“Yes?”

“The damage has been done now. You might as well continue your relationship with this Bristol kid.”

“Will you quit calling him a kid? I know we’re young compared to you, but he’s a grown man.”

“Oh, all right. I do like him, by the way. Huge set on him, that kid…er, man. Huge set.”

I snorted, narrowly managing to swallow a mouthful of coffee. “What’s changed your mind? I thought you wanted us to break it off.”

“Your grandmother and my wife have convinced me I was a fool. They reminded me that two people who love each other can never really be kept apart. They also reminded me of my own inconvenient love. And Abia’s. And your parents’, I suppose.”

I raised my eyebrows at him and remained silent. I was learning not to let my big mouth get in the way of my own interests. See, personal growth!

“Abia’s up to something else, though she won’t confirm what,” he went on. “She’s up in arms; has me bringing her historical records from the capitol. ‘Just general research,’ she says. ‘Humor an old lady,’ she says. Abia Pike is no old lady, don’t ever let her fool you.”

“Anything I can do to help?” I asked.

“Just keep an eye on her. I don’t know what she’s up to, but when she gets an idea in her head, it’s never simple. And could be dangerous.”

I nodded. I would not ask about Ewan. Would not ask. “Sooo, when can I see Ewan again?”

Gaspare smirked. “Any time. He can come and go to Topaz with no restrictions. I’ve warned him to keep his mouth shut or that can change. You, too.”

“Promise,” I said, jumping up and down only a little.

* * *

Abia was hard at work when I found her, but not at diving. She was inside the house poring over a huge, leather-bound book.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Historical records. Trying to establish a timeline.”

“A timeline for what?”

She didn’t want to tell me. Her mouth tightened into a line across the bottom of her face.

“Okay,” I muttered and fidgeted with something on the table.

She snapped her head from the book. “This could change everything. Do you see? Everything.”

I had no idea what she was talking about, but nodded encouragingly so she’d go on.

“I’m telling you because I need your help. I can’t tell Gaspare yet. If it’s not true, it’ll break his heart. He and his Emelie have waited so long. I’d have long abandoned the vow if it were me, but not Emelie. She’s so strong. Hard-headed, some might call it, but strong none the less.”

Abia looked around the room before speaking, as if someone might overhear. “I need you to have your friend bring someone back with him,” she said.

“Back from Thayer?”

“Yes. Here, to me.”

“Oooh. Gaspare’s not going to like that.”

“Well, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” she said imperially.

“Who do you want Ewan to bring, anyway?”

“Rowan Gresham.”

I had to work to breathe around the tongue I nearly swallowed. “What do you want with Gresham? What can he do?”

“I just need to ask him some questions is all,” she said, looking away.

“Huh-uh.” I shook my head. “If Gaspare found out, he’d forbid me from seeing Ewan again and that’s not worth the risk.” I sucked air in through my teeth. “Sorry.”

Abia was suddenly impassioned, one fist pressed into her hip and a finger shaking at my face. “‘Not worth the risk’! Child, it’s worth every risk. Any risk.”

“What is?”

At my question, she looked away. “I’d rather not say.”

“Well, there’s no way I’m asking Ewan to bring Rowan-Freaking-Gresham here without knowing why. And he might not do it anyway. There’s history between the three of us and Ewan and he aren’t on great terms.”

“History? Between you and Talbot Gresham’s son?”

“I told you about him. He’s the one that found me and brought me to The Root. For Gaspare, it turns out. But apparently, it was all some sort of double agented secret plan by Brandubh and Livia Miles. I’m sketchy on the details, but I’ll tell you what Gaspare told me. A long time ago, Livia had a vision another dragon existed—me. Of course Brandubh wanted any dragon—all dragons. One of her visions was of me with Rowan Gresham. For years she and Brandubh searched but couldn’t find me because I lived outside of Thayer and wasn’t of age to inherit my animal form. Knowing only that I had some involvement with Gresham, they put a plan into place. She killed Rowan Gresham’s wife and weaseled her way into his life. As her visions continued, she was able to help Gresham—and Brandubh—find me. Of course, neither of them really trusted or cared for her, which came back to bite her in the end.”

“It seems you’ve had your fair share of misfortune,” she said. “You’re stronger for it. That’s what I always say. I may be stuck here on this island, but I am comfortable with myself. And in the end, that’s how we die. Alone.”

“Jeez. Took a real turn for the morbid there, didn’t ya?”

“The sooner you figure out who you are and what you want from life, Stella, the faster you can work at getting it. If I’ve learned anything by being here all these years, it’s to isolate what is important to you and work every day to keep it, to make it better, to enjoy it more. You never know when it’ll be snatched away.”

“Yes ma’am.” There wasn’t much else to say.

“Now, will you ask your Ewan to bring Talbot Gresham’s son to Topaz with him?”

“No ma’am.”

The veins in her forehead bulged so far I worried she’d have an aneurysm. “You hard-headed child. Why do you think I persuaded Gaspare to bring your beau here? Why do you think I put myself on the line? Offered my island?”

“Well, I thought you had a sentimental side. I thought you saw some similarity between my situation and yours. I thought you wanted…me to be happy.”

“Bah,” she scoffed. “Of course I do. There’s that, too. But he has a role in discovering if my theory is right. I need him to bring back Rowan Gresham.”

This revelation of Abia’s self-serving motivation only convinced me further I wasn’t doing anything without knowing why, and I told her so.

After several tense moments and a very hard look at me, she conceded, “All right. I’ll tell you.”

Abia swore me to secrecy—from Gaspare and Emelie, especially. But I would never get Ewan to agree to the task without knowing how important it was, and she finally conceded that, too.

With that piece of business settled, we set to work.

* * *

“Knowing how to protect yourself with wards could mean life or death, Stella. You must get this right, and fast. Try again.”

Abia Pike had little patience for failure, and none for excuses. She didn’t care that I was relatively new to the world and concepts of magic and wards and animal forms. I was here now. I knew magic and shifters existed now. I knew my ancestry and my potential. Those were the important things. “Adapt,” she had said. “And then excel.”

But wards were difficult. Like everything else in Thayer, they were a completely new concept for me, something I had first to discover and then learn to manipulate. I’d seen Emrynne create the one against Gresham in my room, of course. She’d made it look so effortless.

Isn’t it interesting how current feelings affect hindsight? Before, I’d found Emrynne to be sweet, harmless, and ethereally lovely. I thought her misunderstood and wanted to see her happy. Now, despite Ewan’s assurances he wasn’t intimate with her—which I believed wholeheartedly—I really wanted her sickly sweet ass to ferment and putrefy.

That’s unkind. You’re better than that. I thought about it for a bit, and really tried to wish good things for her future. Really tried. Yeah, gonna have to work on that one.

I stuck my head outside Abia’s door and listened. I could have sworn I’d heard someone calling my name. Nothing. Shrugging, I went back inside.

“Stella? You here?” Ewan called melodically through my mind.

“Yes. Hi. Where are you?”

“I traced back to the waterfall. To the pool. To our tree.”

His words sent my thoughts to the day before, and my mind straight to the gutter. I couldn’t get out of Abia’s house fast enough. To Ewan fast enough.

“Hold on. I’m coming.” His only reply was a soft “Mmm.”

I cleared my throat and as inconspicuously as possible turned to Abia. “A—”

She shook her head. “I know he’s here. Go on, then. Remember what I asked. Bring Rowan Gresham as soon as possible.”

* * *

“Hi,” I said, my mouth suddenly dry. The day before had been transformative for our relationship. After such an intimate encounter, we hadn’t wanted to part ways. I’d yearned for him through the night, and I suspected he’d missed me, too.

But the separation had put a strain on us. Seeing one another again in the light of day was different than parting as lovers. We’d crossed a threshold. We’d made love. And there was no going back. Feelings had been involved—deep feelings, and their physical manifestation had been more moving than I ever anticipated. There was so much on the line I didn’t know where to begin, and stood rigid and unable to move.

Luckily, Ewan took the lead. I could tell he felt the strange new dynamic, too, but was determined to work through it. He strode toward me, put his hands on either side of my face, and forced the awkwardness away. His kiss was soft, reverent, grateful. He ran a hand down my back and onto my butt, pressing me into him.

“I missed you,” he said and lightly nipped my lip.

“I wanted you in my bed so badly last night I lay awake for hours.”

“Not me,” Ewan said and laughed. “I was bathed and fed and happy, and fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed.”

“Good,” I pushed a mass of curls from his face. “You needed rest. You look better today.”

“I feel better,” he said and his eyes sparkled playfully. “Though I seem to have developed a problem that requires immediate attention.”

I laughed out loud and he squeezed me, laughing too.

“I thought you could show me some of the island today,” Ewan suggested. “And I brought you lunch. From Nick’s.”

“Oh, I’ve missed his pizza. Let’s eat now; there’s something I have to tell you.”

* * *

Ewan’s reaction to my request was exactly the one I’d anticipated. He balked, his puffed chest sending his spine straight with righteous indignation. “I will not bring Rowan Gresham here. To you. Why the hell would I ever do that? You talked about risking the refugees living in Pearl. Bringing Gresham here is a terrible idea! My gods, Stella, think this through.”

“It’s not my plan, it’s Abia’s. I have serious concerns, too. I mean, in his position as director of defense he could, theoretically, invade Pearl by sea. If they could ever find it. Gaspare’s got the place so tightly warded I doubt they could.”

Ewan put a palm to his forehead. “Of course you don’t know. You’ve been gone. Gresham was fired.”

“Fired? By whom?”

Ewan’s laugh was throaty, ironic. “By Gaspare.”

“Nooooo.”

“Oh, yes. That night in the cabin, the night you…left.” Ewan swallowed thickly and cleared his throat. “Gresham disputed Gaspare publicly that night. Stood in his way when he thought Gaspare would execute you. After that, Gaspare was forced to fire him for insubordination. Replaced him with somebody I’ve never heard of.”

“Wow. Poor Gresham. I wonder what he’s doing now.” Ewan’s jaw ticked, but he didn’t reply. “Well, that’s good in a way. It certainly eliminates some of the risk. Of course, Abia says it’s worth any risk.”

“What is?” Ewan’s question was pointed. He expected an answer if we were to go any further. So I told him.

* * *

“Gresham may not even agree to it, Ewan. This may all be for naught.”

“Yeah right,” he said doubtfully. “The moment I tell him it’s you I’m taking him to, even tracing won’t be fast enough.”

I rolled my eyes. “Good luck.”

Ewan nodded, pressed his warm lips to mine. “Back soon.”

I traced to Abia to let her know the plan was in place. I found her resting against the rocky outcropping from my recent vision. She held her buoy and net just as she did then, and that chill-raising, foreboding sense of deja vu crept over every inch of my skin.

“Abia?” I called hesitantly.

“Back so soon? Surely two new lovebirds aren’t separating this quickly.”

“Oh. You said getting Gresham here was urgent. I sent Ewan for him.”

“Ah. Well, it’s begun then, hasn’t it? We’ll see what fate holds for our kind now.”

“How do we know if your theory is right? What now?”

“Now we test it, if he’ll agree. It’s going to take every bit of knowledge I’ve gained over the years, not to mention innate power. But if I’m right. Ooooh, if I’m right.” Abia shook her head at the enormous implications of her discovery. “We do have something very important on our side, though, that can’t be overlooked.”

“What’s that?”

“Love and light, baby.” Her gentle smile warmed my soul. “Love and light.”

* * *

I had been waiting less than five minutes when Ewan and Gresham arrived back at the waterfall. Neither of them were pleased with their circumstances, that much was clear. Ewan’s low rumble was a warning to Gresham, which he overtly ignored.

Gresham’s posture was tense, hostile, but his eyes noticeably softened when he saw me. He closed them and breathed deeply before he spoke.

“I thought you were dead.” Gresham’s tone betrayed no emotion.

“Nope.”

He nodded, his face an inscrutable mask. “Where are we? This one,” he leaned his head toward Ewan, “traced me; said I’d not been here.”

“We’re on the island of Topaz.”

“Where Abia Pike lives?” he asked, leaning forward as if he hadn’t heard right.

“Y—yes,” I stuttered. “You’ve heard of her?”

“She’s Gaspare’s mother. Your grandmother.”

My arms flew up in disbelief. “And you were going to tell me this when?”

Gresham was silent, his mouth squeezed into a tight line.

“Have you ever been here? To Topaz?”

He jerked his head to the side in one quick movement. He hadn’t.

“And Pearl? Did you know about Pearl?”

No answer. No negation, either.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I said. “Did you know Gaspare brought hundreds of refugees here during the Steward Massacre and the years of battles that followed?”

“Yes. I…I helped him.”

I gritted my teeth to keep my cool. So many secrets.

“I should have thought to look here,” he said, then looked up sharply, his gaze flying to Ewan. “Has he known you were here, alive, the entire time?”

“No,” I said in a hoarse whisper.

“And he’s here now because?” Gresham had abandoned his attempt at concealing his emotions. Anger shot from his every pore. He vibrated with it.

I opened my mouth, but Ewan’s answer preceded mine. “Because we’re together. Because she’s mine.”

I huffed an impatient breath at Ewan’s machismo. He had disliked Gresham from the beginning. He’d hated that Gresham and I were together. Very irrationally, I thought. Ewan and I had had no ties; we barely knew each other then.

Ewan’s gaze whipped toward Gresham the instant before he was violently tackled. Gresham took him to the ground, landing two solid punches to Ewan’s face before he managed to free himself.

“Stop it. Stop it!” I screamed, but the two were far too embroiled in their vicious tussle to hear me.

Ewan ran at Gresham, hammering a fist into his stomach. When Gresham’s head flew up for air, Ewan used the advantage to land a punch right across his cheekbone.

Gresham was dazed for a moment, but then the air became thick with the dark bulk of his magic. He was going to change. I looked to Ewan, who’d already begun the process, too.

“For God’s sake, you two. Stop this.”

Ewan’s only form was a wolf, as Gresham well knew. As soon as Ewan flashed into his monstrous wolf, Gresham matched forms and the two stood snarling and slavering nose to nose. Their low growls sent shivers up my spine and I took a step back. The dueling roars were deafening and any moment they would become one giant snarling ball of hair and claws and teeth. And blood.

There was no stopping them. This fight had been a long time coming, though it was pointless. I was not the spoils of war. The winner wouldn’t drag me off to his cave by the hair. I chose Ewan over Gresham. Did he have to rub that in Gresham’s face? No. Was it Gresham’s place to quiz me about the details of my love life? Also no. Should Gresham accept reality and stop antagonizing Ewan? Yes.

When the savage snarls grew even louder, when the first spray of blood flew across the toe of my newly-acquired wedges, when it was obvious they wouldn’t stop until someone was unconscious, that was my limit. Neither of them noticed when I stepped into the trees to remove my clothes and shoes.

The smell of burning hair is like nothing else. The hideous stench takes up residence in your nose, and evicting it is nearly impossible. I hadn’t thought of that before I scorched the two wolves, and stood snorting, trying to forcefully eject the smell from my wide nostrils.

My plan worked, though. Ewan and Rowan howled and whined like they were burning alive…which I suppose they were. When they finally recovered the good sense they’d abandoned for a brawl, the two dove into the water. They emerged sputtering and indignant, but no longer intent on tearing one another’s throat out.

“That was just cruel,” Ewan complained as he dragged himself through the shallow water. I had reverted to my natural form and found my clothes while the two had scurried into the water.

“Are you two finished with this nonsense?” I asked imperially from the bank. “Is it settled?”

“We were settling it our own way. You shouldn’t have interfered,” Ewan said gruffly and pushed wet hair back from his face.

“Yeah,” Gresham echoed. “Setting us on fire—you went too far.”

“Oh, so now you two are on the same side? Against me? Well, at least you’ve found something to agree on. Now get dressed. Abia’s waiting.”

Gresham muttered something beneath his breath and lifted onto the bank, back muscles flexing as he emerged from the water. I looked away.

Chapter 23

“Rowan Gresham,” Abia approached him slowly, as if she feared scaring him away. “I’d know those amber eyes anywhere.” She shook her head and pursed her lips.

“I’m sorry. Have we met?” Gresham shaded his eyes from the afternoon sun outside Abia’s hut-like cabin.

“No” she replied. “I knew your father. We were childhood friends.”

“That fact doesn’t exactly recommend you to me.”

“He was different then,” she said sadly. “He…he changed over time.”

Gresham didn’t respond.

“Thank you for coming,” Abia said in an obvious attempt to regain his attention. “I’m sure this is all very odd.”

“Mph,” he grunted. “Why have you asked me here? What’s so important? Where’s Gaspare?”

“We’ll leave Gaspare out of this for now. Until I know for sure.”

“Know what?” Gresham huffed an impatient breath.

“Would you like some tea?” Abia asked pleasantly. “I’d like to tell you a story.”

As Abia led Gresham inside, Ewan held my hand to keep me out.

“What’s up?”

“Are you all right here?” Ewan shifted nervously and eyed Gresham inside the house. “I’ll stay. I should stay.”

“What are you talking about? Do you need to leave?”

Ewan shook his head impatiently. “Today’s the first day of classes for the new year. I tried to withdraw, but Gaspare made me promise to attend The Root as if nothing had happened.”

“First day? Oh, sophos year.” The pang of regret, the twinge of jealousy that I was no longer a student stung. I loved The Root. Learning about myself and my new world had given me purpose, fulfillment. I desperately missed the campus and my friends. The Root was the first place I’d ever felt at home.

Ewan noticed the dark turn of my mood and lifted my face with a tender touch. “Hey,” he searched my gaze. “I want to be here. With you.”

“I know,” I nodded to reassure him. “I know. I just miss it is all. I miss Timbra and big ole Boone. I miss carefree days and girl time and even Craft class.”

“It doesn’t matter if I miss the first day. Hell, I’ve been such a wreck people might be surprised if I was there.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered again.

Ewan pulled me into him and held me close. He rested his chin on the top of my head and I felt his words as I heard them. “We’re together now. That’s all that matters.”

I leaned back to look into his dark eyes, which were in a close race with his mouth for my favorite thing about him. “And I want to keep it that way. Gaspare’s right. Until we get all this figured out, you should go to class. Don’t give anyone a reason to suspect anything.”

He nodded and squeezed me one last time. “I’ll come back tonight.” He motioned toward the house, toward Gresham. “Keep your guard up around him. I don’t trust him around you for a minute.”

“But you trust me. Right?”

“I do,” he said with gravity.

* * *

“Where’s Ewan?” Gresham looked completely out of place with his big body folded around Abia’s small table.

“Went back to Radix. First day of the new school year. Gaspare’s made him swear to maintain the facade he doesn’t know I’m here.”

“Which you’ll have to do, too, Rowan.” Abia snapped. “I’m taking a huge risk bringing you here. If you want to have a role in this, you must keep quiet about it until we’re through. Do you understand? Not a soul.”

“I understand your statement, Ms. Pike, but not the motivation behind it. Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”

“It was Stella’s idea, really,” she began. “‘Maybe he used someone else’s blood,’ she said. Not once had that thought ever crossed my mind. Perhaps it crossed no one’s. Talbot was such a dictator. Solitary. He did everything with such single-minded intent no one ever expected him to depend on someone else.”

“Wait,” Gresham said, holding up his hands. “What are you saying? Depend on who? For what?”

“On you. Your blood. To prevent children born of inter-special couples.”

Gresham leaned back in the tiny wooden chair, the force of his weight causing it to creak and bow.

He didn’t respond right away. His forehead wrinkled as he thought, and he tapped an anxious foot.

“What does my blood, or my father, have to do with anything, especially children?”

Abia told Gresham her story. She recounted how three thousand years of deceit had changed the course of history. When she told him Thayer was once populated with couples of varying species, and that the children born of those unions were omnies, his mouth fell open and didn’t close until she finished.

“I knew he was evil,” Gresham said. “After I meet Gaspare and Gabrio, after learning other omnies existed, I questioned him. He told me he’d eliminated any threats to our future rule. Said he’d sabotaged, eliminated many omni families. That was bad enough. He did not tell me about the children.”

Abia nodded, her chin firm and serious. “You know perhaps better than anyone what he was capable of, Rowan. You saw.”

The wooden chair fell to the floor as he stood. “Yes, I saw,” he said stiffly. “I saw much. Too much.” He scrubbed his hands over his face, and when he pulled them away, his eyes were bloodshot, wild.

Abia approached with caution, as if she was dealing with a frightened fawn. She tentatively moved her hand to his arm. “Do you…do you remember him taking or using your blood for anything? A ward, maybe?”

“I’ve tried to forget,” he said and turned from us. His back rose and fell with each labored breath. When he finally spoke, his voice was tight with emotion. “He used me for a great many things as a child.” Gresham began to pace the floor of Abia’s living area, his face still averted from us.

“I thought he hung the moon,” he said. “Hell, I thought he told the sun when it could set. Sometimes I thought he loved me, but most days his disdain for me was clear. I learned to gauge his moods, like an abused dog or a battered wife. He called me weak, inferior, worthless…but I was just a child. That I was his child was the only reason I was allowed near him at all. As I grew older, it meant everything to me to show him I wasn’t weak. To prove my worth as the son of such a powerful ruler. I mimicked him, both in bravado and cruelty. Sometimes I felt like I was rooted in darkness, like I responded better to soil than to sunlight. He didn’t force me to do the horrific things I did. I wanted to do them, to draw his notice, to please him.”

Gresham cleared his throat and squeezed his temples. “Those were dark times.” When he looked up to find my gaze, the anguish in his eyes shattered my heart, and pity poured from it, running along the floor to his feet. I started toward him, but he held out his hand.

“Let me finish.”

I nodded and looked to Abia, who sat unmoving, anticipating the rest of his story.

“When I came of an age to attend Radix I jumped at the chance. I considered it my own world to conquer, to rule, to show Talbot I was worthy.”

Gresham’s light laugh was incongruent with his pained face. “But then I met Gaspare Shaw and his brother—your father. They were truly happy. And honorable. And in their world, I found myself, my soul.

“When we lost Gabrio, we relied more than ever on one another. We’ve been a team ever since. I found a lifelong friend and a leader who deserved to be followed, and have been happy to follow his lead. Honored.”

He shook his head and turned to Abia. “I know Gaspare concealed Stella’s presence here from me, but I will not—cannot—keep a secret from him.”

“Oh, but you must,” Abia pleaded. “You must. Just for a little while. It will break his heart if he learns of my theory and it’s unfounded. And poor Emelie. No. No, you must not tell him. Think of what it would mean to him if we’re wrong.”

Gresham turned in my direction, but he didn’t see me. He was lost in thought. Finally, he found Abia and nodded once.

“I remember Talbot using my blood for wards. Though I’ve blocked most of that past from my mind, I was never able to rid myself of a particularly traumatic memory. Upon my tenth birthday there was a celebration in my honor with food and wine and dancing. At the end of the night, my father took me the lookout of the castle, my childhood home. He held me in front of him at the window, his words slurred with drink. ‘Do you see this land?’ he said. ‘It is ours. We are Greshams. We are omni. Our rule is absolute. It is eternal.’

“Of course, I had no idea what he meant. But he and his top advisor, that evil kraken, Archer, pulled me to a table and cut my palm. It was deep and it hurt, but not nearly as badly as when they began the ceremony. The curse they created with my blood was so dark, so powerful, it pulled the consciousness from my body. I collapsed and woke the next day in my own bed. When I asked what they’d done, my father would only say he’d ensured the Greshams’ eternal rule and legacy.”

“But, that doesn’t add up,” I said. “If Talbot stopped the creation of omnies three thousand years ago, he couldn’t have used your blood to do it. You weren’t alive then.”

“Right,” he agreed. “I can only assume he added my life force to his already in place that day.”

“So, when he died, the curse didn’t collapse because you were still living. I see.”

“That’s the theory, anyway,” Abia said. “Only one way to know, and that’s to test it.”

“I may have something that will help us do it,” Gresham said, a determined light filling his eyes. “My father kept a grimoire.”

“A wha—” I said at the same time Abia yelped, “Why the hell didn’t you say something?”

I looked between the two of them as she shook him by the arm. “What are you waiting for? Go get it.”

Gresham bowed—actually bowed—and left the house without another word.

* * *

“Yes, but what is it?” I asked again, as Abia and Gresham stood over the ancient leather-bound tome. They stood back from the book, not touching it, as if they were afraid it would grow teeth and bite.

“It’s a journal, a record-keeping of spells and wards. A recipe book for magic, so to speak.” Abia’s hands shook with excitement as she reached toward the worn, brown cover.

“Do you think what you’re looking for is there?” I asked. “Do you really think he’d write down something so important?”

“I don’t know,” Gresham said. “But he tried to destroy the grimoire before he died. As Gaspare and I forced our way into his room, he threw it into the fire and chanted like the devil himself was after him.” Gresham absently rubbed his arms, which had broken into goosebumps as he recalled the memory. “There’s something in there he never wanted found. And likely, there are a great many things he’d prefer left uncovered. That man was evil to his core, and no one knows better than me.”

“Talbot was always a little dark,” said Abia gently. “He began experimenting with dark magic when we were young. ‘There’s so much raw power left untapped,’ he once told me. Everyone warned him against tinkering with a dark force. He knew the risks, he knew the flames of dark power could engulf him, but once he experienced its unmatched strength, he played with fire anyway. Over the centuries, he became a master. And ever more reclusive and evil.”

Gresham approached the grimoire slowly. He extended and drew back his hand before he said, “Like a Band-Aid,” and flipped the cover open wide.

“You act as if you’ve never read it,” Abia sounded amused.

“I haven’t. I’ve no desire to know more of the evil that man cultivated. I thought to destroy it centuries ago, and many times since. But anything Talbot wanted destroyed must have a purpose.” He set his jaw and nodded. “And here we are.”

The three of us gathered around the book, me in the middle. Being so near Gresham was unnerving and, I was pleased to discover, unwelcome. I wiggled to gain a little space, and then affixed my attention firmly on the grimoire.

“How will we know which one it is?” I whispered as Abia flipped through the pages of the soft parchment. “There must be hundreds of entries.”

“My guess,” Abia said, her lips pursed in concentration, “is it’s this one.” She tapped a page-long entry of symbols and measurements in a language I couldn’t even begin to understand.

“What makes you think that’s it?” I asked.

“See this symbol?” She pointed to what resembled a crudely-drawn eight-point star with a circle both inside and around it. “This is the symbol for omni.”

If Gresham’s sharp intake of breath and labored moan didn’t indicate bad news, then his sudden pacing and ensuing string of curses certainly did.

“What is it?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”

He looked up and shook his head as if he couldn’t believe the luck. Or lack thereof.

“Gods, no,” Abia moaned. “I was afraid of something like this.”

“Will someone tell me what the big deal is?”

“He’s tied the curse to Malu.”

“Oh no,” I said, my voice echoing their distraught tones. “Wait. What’s Malu?”

Chapter 24

Abia backed away from the text and poured more tea. She shot frequent glances in the book’s direction, as if she couldn’t determine her next course of action. Gresham’s dark hair was a spiky mess from stabbing his fingers through it. The pair’s distress was evident and I didn’t press further. It was clear they were coming to terms with the situation.

Abia let out a long breath, the faintest of her diving whistle escaping as she exhaled. “Talbot has tied the curse that prevents people from different species from producing children to a dark power. He wove a spell that tied the curse to something that has lurked below the surface of our world since the beginning of time. Malu.”

“I’ve never heard of that. Is it like the devil I grew up hearing about who makes good people do bad things—a fallen angel who guards a lake of eternal fire and tortures unbaptized children?”

“What?” Abia asked, aghast.

“Just repeating what I’ve heard…”

“Malu draws on the darkness of Thayer, of its people,” Gresham said. “It thrives on malicious intent and violent tendencies. Apparently Talbot found a way to tie a curse to this evil that sucked happiness, love, and the gift of omni children from Thayer.”

“Is there any way to know if your blood was actually used? Any way to know if that awful memory of yours is related?”

“There’s a symbol for blood here, and a blurry scratch of something I can’t make out.”

“Oh. Well, what now?”

Gresham looked to Abia and then took the lead. “I think—and Ms. Pike, please correct me if you disagree—I think we should proceed under the assumption that it was my blood added to the curse. And since Talbot is dead, mine is that tied to the curse and to,” he swallowed thickly, “to Malu.”

“I think you’re right, Rowan,” Abia said gently.

“That’s awful!” I looked to Gresham then to Abia. “Can we…stop it? Is there some way to counteract or null it?”

“This thing is complicated,” she said. “It’s going to take time to decipher. Once we understand it, then we can try to remove the curse. But it’s not as simple as saying a few words or burning incense. There’s a calculation, a formula. A spell all its own must be created to disable it. That’s why Emelie has been working for so long to no avail.”

“Don’t you think we should bring her in, now that we have some proof your theory is likely true?”

She blew breath from puffed cheeks. “I do. Yes, it’s time. We need any advantage we can get, and her expertise can’t be ignored.”

* * *

“You can’t be serious!” Gaspare shot from the same abused chair Gresham had earlier occupied.

Emelie covered her face and shook her head as the three of us explained Abia’s theory, the grimoire, and Gresham’s childhood memories.

“Of course,” Emelie said. “Of course. From the moment Abia told me children were once possible for interspecies couples, I have worked to discover the science and the spell behind it. I considered that it was a blood tie, but ruled out the possibility because the curse stood even after Talbot’s death. My gods.” She looked up at him. “Rowan may be the key.” Emelie chewed her lip, her eyes glazing as her mind ran over the implications of this new information.

“I thought you’d probably like to get started right away,” Abia said.

“Yes. Let’s meet at my lab first thing tomorrow morning,” Emelie said.

“Ah. Guys,” I said. “That’s going be a problem. Abia can’t leave Topaz.”

The thought suddenly struck me that perhaps an answer to Abia’s woes could also be found in Talbot’s grimoire, and I made a mental note to discuss it with her.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think,” said Emelie. “Though honestly, if it’s as you say, a lab is the wrong place for this type of work anyway.”

“That’s settled,” Abia said. “Tomorrow we set to work here to right the world.”

* * *

When I traced to Abia’s at the appointed time the next morning, she and Emelie stood over the grimoire. Emelie was copying notes from the text and Abia held another large book that was practically disintegrating from age and use.

“Did I get the time wrong?” I asked the two and sat my coffee mug on the kitchen table.

“I couldn’t sleep.” Emelie’s blonde hair was pulled into a messy bun and the faintest of shadows formed under her steel gray eyes. “I came at daylight. Luckily, Abia was already up.”

“We’ve been at it for hours,” Abia said. “Not much closer to an answer for all of our effort.”

I heard Gaspare and Gresham outside, and within moments, the five of us stood inside Abia’s small home.
“The best thing to do, I think, is to jump right in,” Abia said. Gaspare didn’t just get his leadership tendencies from his father, it seemed. Abia barked orders and the rest of us hopped to obey them.

“Emelie, as you study the grimoire, will you also work on translating it so Stella can understand?”

Emelie nodded, her killer smile peeking from just beneath her lips.

“Gaspare, I need you to borrow from Radix’s library that list of books I made on the table. We need them for research.”

“You don’t think it’ll draw notice that I’m nosing around the school library for old books?”

“Well, you’re the least conspicuous of all of us! Who would you have go? Everyone thinks you killed Stella. Gresham, I understand, is extremely unpopular from the fallout of that night. Emelie’s a citizen of Pearl and your best-kept secret, and I can’t leave Topaz.”

“What a bunch of outcasts we are,” Gresham said with a laugh. “Looks like you’re up, G.”

“I told you not to call me that, Rowan.”

“Well, you’re no longer my employer. Consequently, I find I no longer give a damn what you tell me.”

“I’m still the prime minister,” Gaspare grumbled and folded his arms over his chest.

“Ewan can do it,” I said. “He’d certainly attract the least attention roaming the libraries at Radix.”

“Clever girl,” Abia said. “Of course. Gaspare, acquire the books from Ewan and bring them here.”

“Yes, Mother,” Gaspare said in a very un-prime minister-y way.

“And me, Ms. Pike? What can I do?” Gresham asked.

“Grab those tubes and take samples of your blood for our experiments. Stella, you’ll assist me.”

Gresham sneered at the tubes, but wisely obeyed. Everyone set to work. Emelie pulled up a chair and began her translation as Abia busied herself about the house looking for tools and inspecting the contents of small, dusty glass bottles. I observed, giddy with the prospect of something important to do.

* * *

The fourth time he growled, Abia jerked off her reading glasses and stared in Gresham’s direction. “Oh, for gods’ sake, Rowan. It’s just a needle. Take it outside. I can’t concentrate with your incessant whining.”

I snorted loudly, earning me censorious looks from both Abia and Gresham.

“It’s not as easy as it looks,” he pouted and walked toward the front door.

The withering look Abia gave his retreating back indicated just how helpless she found him to be. “Stella, you go help him.”

I followed Gresham outside, where he sat with his arm propped on a table near Abia’s old shed.

“Here, let me.” I sat on the chair opposite and wrapped the wide rubber band around his bicep as he pushed up the sleeve of his blue shirt. Facing him like that, I was forced into his personal space, leaning toward him to tie the band around his thick arm.

I felt the same pressure on my brain that I first experienced months ago when meeting Rowan Gresham for the first time. A slight tingling at the edges of my mind, as if he was trying to coerce me into something. I looked up to find him centimeters from my face, his gaze intent on mine, flashing to my lips and back up to my eyes.

I was warm, too warm, and felt my mind relax, my body moving even closer to his.

With a shake of my head, I scooted back in my chair and blew out a breath. Gresham straightened, but didn’t look up, suddenly engrossed in the work on his arm.

“Gresham.” When he didn’t look up at me, I called his name again. “Gresham?”

He finally met my eyes. His were unrepentant.

“It can’t be like that between us, Gresham. Not anymore. Not ever.”

“Are you in love with him?” The question was unexpected, and not one I wanted to answer. I turned away from him and stood up.

“Are you in love with him?” he repeated. “The wolf?”

It was not that I didn’t want to be in love. It’s not even that I didn’t think I was. What I wanted was to be absolutely certain. To me, love came with a commitment. Love meant forever. Love was a monogamous and unbreakable bond. If I was in love, I was committing to a partnership, not something to be entered into lightly or said in a moment of passion.

“I think so,” I whispered and sat back down. “I’m so sorry.”

I don’t know why I apologized. Maybe it was the look of unguarded anguish that crossed his steely face.

Gresham looked to the sea for several moments before resuming his unreadable mask.

A person only wears a mask when they have something to hide, and so I tried to put my feelings into words. He deserved an explanation, some finality. “It’s just…how can I make you understand? Me and Ewan…it feels right. I know he’s the one for me, I just know it in my soul.”

Gresham closed his blue eyes. My words had hurt him.

“I understand,” he said after a while. “I don’t want it to be so, but I understand. I had what you have once, and I know there’s no substitute.” His eyes closed again, a weary sadness evident even in his exhale. “Though you were the closest I ever came to replacing it.”

“I’m so sorry about your wife. I never…you never said you were married.”

Gresham’s mood darkened, as did the morning sky. He leaned up and made a jerky attempt to tighten the band around his arm, but couldn’t pull it with only one hand and grunted in frustration. I sat and returned to my job, tightening the band and handing him the needle.

“She died a long time ago. A very long time. But Joelle…was…everything…to me.”

A gull called overhead and he watched it glide on the breeze before it disappeared.

“I said I would never remarry. I knew there was no one else for me. But for a moment…for a little while….I thought just maybe I had a chance of knowing that happiness again.”

Tears fell from my eyes against my will. I sniffed and looked away, trying desperately to dry the betraying things, but it was no use. I let the tears fall hot on my cheeks, mirroring the single one shed by Rowan Gresham.

Chapter 25

They’d heard everything. I knew they had. The shocked, raw looks on Abia and Emelie’s faces said as much. I scowled at Abia and shook my head. I did not want to discuss it.

“Here, let me take those vials,” she said stiffly.

Gaspare popped into the small kitchen. I yelped and lost my balance, stumbling into the counter. “Aren’t you supposed to do that outside,” I grumbled.

“Of my mother’s house? When she knows I’m coming?” He shook his head as if I was ridiculous.

“Did you get them?” Abia rubbed her palms together. “Did he find the books I asked for?”

“I think so,” he said and hefted the dusty tomes onto the table. “No one’s laid a hand on these in ages. What are you looking for?”

Abia fingered through the thick pages of a particularly thick book, her face tight with concentration. She didn’t answer. I don’t think she even heard the question.

Gresham slipped in to join us. Making a conscious effort not to look at someone always has the opposite effect, in my experience. Though there was nothing else I could do, I tried to will his pain away, watching his every move for signs of improvement.

“How’s it going?” Gaspare asked me and Emelie when it was clear Abia was otherwise engaged.

“Almost done,” she said. “It’s difficult to translate the exact meanings of some things, especially since they coincide with symbols and drawings. But I think Stella will get the gist once I’m finished.”

“Thank you for doing it. I want to be a part of this, no matter how small,” I said.

“Here it is!” Abia yelled triumphantly.

“What?” we all asked at once.

She laid the big book back on the table near the grimoire. “See this?” she pointed to a primitive yet malevolent-looking symbol of a melting—or more accurately, dying—heart. “This is the symbol for Malu. The word is even written beneath it. And this drop is obviously blood. I couldn’t reconcile the next symbol, but this guide Gaspare brought had older variations of symbols.”

She pointed to another image scribbled in beside the original text. “This is ‘son.’ ‘Blood of the son.’”

A vacuum of sorrow sucked the air from the room. The only sound was the coarse crashing of waves against the beach and Gresham’s measured breaths. In. Pause. Out. Pause. In. Pause. Out.

“It’s true,” I whispered and clasped Gresham’s forearm. “I’m so sorry.”

“At least we know the way forward,” he said stiffly, peeling my fingers from his arm before tracing away.

* * *

“How was your day?” Ewan asked after kissing me like he hadn’t seen me in weeks. We were still making up for lost time, it seemed.

“I had one hell of a crazy day,” I said when I found my vocal chords. “We’ve begun work on reversing Talbot’s curse. Everyone has a role to play, and it’s going to take us all. We confirmed the curse is probably tied to Gresham’s blood,” I said sadly.

“Damn. What now?”

“There are a lot of moving parts with this thing. It’s like a recipe. Abia is working to gather all of the ingredients while the rest of us learn the very difficult techniques required to pull it all together for a finished product. Essentially, we have to re-create the dish—the curse—and then deconstruct it.”

“What else can I do to help?” Ewan asked. “I have to go to class, but I’m free in the evenings.”

“I don’t think there’s anything you can do right now. Mostly I just watch the professionals work. But my God, what an experience. If we do this, if we’re successful, Thayer will never be the same.”

“It could mean the world to so many people. Boone and Timbra, especially.”

I nodded, lost in thought. Of course, my two friends were at the forefront of my mind during this ordeal. Boone was descended of great dogs; Timbra from a noble line of deer. I didn’t know how Boone’s family felt about the relationship, but Timbra’s family—her father in particular—had been outraged. Most people in Thayer held the belief that if two people couldn’t conceive a child, the relationship was unnatural. But I knew their love to be pure and kind, generous and absolute.

“How are they, anyway?” It turned my stomach to stone to know they suffered emotional pain because they thought I’d died that night. The fact that Gaspare left me no choice in the matter didn’t make me feel better at all. They hurt, I hurt. It’s what friends do.

Ewan’s keen eyes had gone shifty, zipping from side to side for the briefest of moments. “They’re okay,” he said. “They have each other, so…”

“You did not tell them,” I ground through gritted teeth.

“I sure as hell did.” His hoarse whisper matched mine in vehemence.

“You can’t…but, Gaspare…Oh, Ewan.” My hand flew to my head. “You shouldn’t have done that. You promised Gaspare. What if he finds out?”

“What can he do?” Ewan’s chest puffed in defiance. “He wouldn’t forbid me from coming back here. He doesn’t want to see you unhappy.” His face grew even more serious. “And besides, I know too much now.”

“Oh, you do not want to mess with Gaspare Shaw, Ewan. I know he seems like a quirky, fun uncle now, but you have to remember who he is. What he can do. I don’t want to ever be on his bad side.”

“I’ll just have to take that chance,” he said with finality and held my waist with both hands. “You don’t know what it’s like, Stella. They love you. To think you were gone. It killed me. Ripped a chunk right out of my heart. There’s no way I’d let anyone else suffer through that a minute longer than they had to.”

I groaned and lay my head on his chest. Beneath strong muscles, his heart thundered wildly.

“Okay,” I breathed. “Okay. We’ll figure it out.”

Chapter 26

“Ewan. Just the man I’ve been looking for.” Gaspare strode toward us, his intent to deliver a message clear.

Uh-oh. He’s found out. Ewan’s stiff posture told me he’d had the same thought.

“Emelie and I have got to have a break from this place, from this work. Dinner tonight at The Farm?”

“In Pearl?” I asked. “One of your conditions was that Ewan remain in Topaz.”

“I’m evolving, Stella. Keep up.”

I opened and closed my mouth. Nothing I could say would improve on this promising development, so I kept it closed.

“I’ve lifted your wards. See you at eight?”

“Ah, yes, sir.” Ewan stammered. “Thank you.”

Gaspare strode away as determinedly as he had arrived. He was always on one mission or another.

“What was that about?” I wondered aloud.

“Maybe he just wants to get to know me better.”

“Yeah, maybe,” I said, but didn’t believe it was that simple for a second.

* * *

The Farm was rustic in theme only. The decor was old-fashioned and charming in a calculated sort of way. The linens were worn but pristine. We were only into the drinks and appetizers, but both were superb.

“The scallops, please,” I said. The waiter nodded politely and moved on to take Emelie’s order.

Ewan leaned into me, pressing his lips so close to my ear I felt the heat of his breath before he said a word. “You’d think there’d be a steak on the menu of a place called The Farm,” he said and lightly inhaled my neck just below my ear. I’d worn my notoriously riotous red hair up, so he had easy access. I laughed louder at his comment than I’d intended, but laughing in Gaspare and Emelie’s company was better than the breathy sigh I’d been tempted to make.

I pressed my cheek to his and whispered back. “Seen many cows on the islands, have you?”

“Look at those two,” Emelie said and blinked wide, gray eyes. “Adorable little lovebirds. We were like that once, weren’t we Gaspare?”

“I’m as in love with you now as I’ve ever been, Emelie Shaw.”

The flush in Emelie’s pale skin was visible, even in the dim light.

“I happen to think you two are pretty adorable,” I said. “You’ve been together a long time?”

They both nodded and Gaspare’s wide smile gave Emelie’s beauty contest beam a run for its money.

“We have,” Emelie said. “Seems like forever—in a good way,” she continued in response to Gaspare’s grunt of protest. But then her smile fell in slow motion, grinding down one notch at a time. “We wanted to have kids right away. We talked about it before we married. You know how couples do—who wants a girl or a boy, and how many of each. We couldn’t wait to start our family.”

Gaspare put his hand on top of Emelie’s as she fidgeted in her lap.

“Secily was my closest friend,” she half-whispered. “She always felt like more of a sister, really. She realized she’d fallen in love around the same time Gaspare and I were married.

“She didn’t mean to. Rahb was her coworker. They were both brilliant, dedicated and had worked together for years. She thought he hung the stars, and he hung on her every word. They were meant for each other. Both such generous, loving people. Affairs happen all the time, but this…this was love and, well, love is hard to come by, isn’t it?”

When I turned in his direction, Ewan was already looking at me. I can’t adequately explain that moment or the depth of the connection between us, but we understood Emelie perfectly. Ewan and I had recently found love. We knew how precious it was. Ewan’s hand found mine and didn’t let go.

“Rahb Woolfolk was descended of bighorn sheep. His were a proud, grand people. Secily came from a line of hares.” Emelie’s smile resurfaced as she recalled a memory.

“They realized quickly they were in too deep to dig themselves out. They wanted to be together, but also wanted children. Adoption isn’t an option here on Pearl. There simply aren’t any children to adopt.” Emelie smiled sadly. “Rahb decided he loved Secily enough to live without them.”

Emelie took a deep breath before continuing her story. “But some women’s maternal instinct is too powerful to ignore. Secily knew her life would never be complete without children. Her love for Rahb was deep, unmatched, but she couldn’t give up her dream of being a mother. She broke things off. It was a very difficult time for her. A very long, difficult time. Eventually, she found her way out of depression and attempted to move on.”

“Secily and I were at a shop together when we heard the news. Rahb had been dating someone and she was pregnant. Secily was stunned, and understandably upset. We left the shop, but not before she became physically ill all over their entryway rug. Secily didn’t leave her house for days after that. I stayed with her, but she was quickly sucked back into the unyielding vacuum of depression.”

Tears formed in Emelie’s eyes as she tried to finish the story. Gaspare rubbed her back gently and smoothed her hair. She cleared her throat and swiped at her eyes. “It just didn’t feel right when I left for work that day. She was a bit better, but not herself. It was strange. I tried to stay with her, but she insisted I go. I resolved to check back in at lunch.”

Emelie released a shaky breath. “They saw her…” She cleared her throat again and sniffed. “Someone saw her walk into the sea. She never came back.”

“Oh, Emelie,” I said. “I’m so sorry.” She nodded and dried her eyes again.

“So you see, I have a very good reason for making the vow.” Another tear escaped and she wiped it from her cheek with a shaky hand. “I swore Gaspare and I would not conceive until I found a way for people like my Secily to have the same opportunity we do. It’s been my life’s work, and until now, I’ve had nothing to show for it.”

“It’s been a very long wait,” Gaspare said. “A very difficult wait.” His eyes held the weight of the world when he said, “Your discovery could mean everything to us. We can’t thank you enough.”

Ewan and Emelie nodded their silent agreement. My chest was suddenly tight. Too tight. “Oh, no. Thank Abia,” I said. “This is her theory, her plan.”

“Yes, we will. But you set this whole thing in motion.”

I shrugged and looked to my lap. “Thanks,” I said, just so they would move on.

I wasn’t sure where the conversation could go after that, but Gaspare did not disappoint.

“So, Ewan, what are your intentions with my niece?”

There it was: the real reason he invited us. I shook my head at Gaspare and laughed under my breath.

“Well, sir, I intend to marry her, if she’ll have me.”

“Ewan Bristol, you do not!” I laughed again, but this time aloud. I rolled my eyes in Gaspare and Emelie’s direction. This guy.

But my aunt and uncle weren’t laughing. Neither was Ewan. With a petrified jerk, I turned back to him. His lips pressed into a thin line and his dark eyes held only a hint of pain at my unexpected reaction.

“Oh, God. You’re serious.” I laid my hand in his, but he didn’t squeeze back. “I’m sorry. It’s just so soon. I hadn’t thought…” I scratched my scalp and pulled at the too-tight up-do. “I just hadn’t thought…” I said again.

“Your scallops, ma’am.” The waiter said as he slid the plate into place.

* * *

The remainder of dinner was strained and awkward. I tried to engage Ewan in conversation. He wasn’t rude or angry. He smiled and nodded, but his heart wasn’t in it.

Gaspare and Emelie exchanged a meaningful glance and asked for the check. “More tough work ahead of us tomorrow,” Gaspare said. “Best call it a night.”

I harbored some resentment at Gaspare for asking such a loaded question. What had he been thinking? How did he expect the night to go? Not the way it did, that much was certain.

With Gaspare and Emelie gone, I asked Ewan back to my temporary home. We were in Pearl, after all. Ewan hadn’t seen any of it. Hell, since we’d been relegated to Topaz, we hadn’t had access to a bed.

“I think I’ll head back to The Root,” he said, not meeting my eyes. “Big day tomorrow.”

“Ewan,” I pleaded and put my hands on each side of his face, coercing him to look at me. “You just caught me off guard. You know how I feel about you. But it’s so soon. I hadn’t considered marriage yet. Not that I wouldn’t. I just hadn’t.” Ewan’s eyes closed and I rubbed a strand of his chunky curls between my thumb and finger. “We have all the time in the world. Together.”

His smile didn’t reach his eyes, but I could tell he was trying. “It’s not a big deal. Don’t worry about it.” He kissed me lightly on the nose. “Really. Good night, Stell.”

And then he was gone.

* * *

I needed someone to talk to. More specifically, I needed Timbra. She would know just what to say, how to help me through the rough patch with Ewan. I desperately missed my friend, and paced the patio behind Gaspare’s cottage. There was no one in the house and it was so lonely. Being outside helped somehow.

From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of something before it came into full view. Dragons. Six of them speared upward and swooped playfully in the night sky. I smiled at their abandon and longed to fly freely, too. Recognition struck. The back two were Bay and Forster, and without further thought, I undressed to meet them beneath the stars.

“You’ve hurt his pride,” Bay said gently after hearing my story. “But, I think he’s the type that heals pretty quickly.” She chuffed a laugh in her dragon form. “They say we’re the gentler sex, but I’ve always thought men’s feelings far more delicate.”

“I don’t know a lot about men, to be honest,” I told her. “Since my father died before I was born, I didn’t grow up with a man in the house. Mother never had boyfriends. Mine weren’t serious.”

“So, you’ve never really been exposed to what committed love looks like, have you, dear?”

“I never thought about it like that, but I guess not.”

“Do you think you might be afraid of what Ewan is proposing? Maybe you don’t know how to commit, or what marriage even means for the two of you.”

“Oh, you’re right on all accounts. I’m scared to death, and I don’t have a clue about any of it. But, well, commitment is one thing. Marriage is something else altogether.”

“Too true,” Bay replied. “But you’re a smart girl.” She leaned her lovely armored head in my direction. “You’ll figure it out. Nobody ever said relationships are easy. They’re hard work. But if it’s meant to be, you and Ewan will figure this out together. If he wants you for forever, waiting a bit won’t kill him.”

“Thanks, Bay.” I dropped my shoulder and angled to fly beneath her. I found her moss colored eyes, so like my own. “I’m glad I have you.”

She practically purred with delight and slowly nodded her head. “I feel the same, dear.”

Chapter 27

Abia’s cramped hut was dense with the sharp, chemical smell and the oppressive and inescapable pressure of magic.

“Today’s the day,” she announced as the four of us filed into her home. “We’ve spent days recreating and deconstructing this sophisticated spell. Days preparing a counter-spell, and a few more avoiding the inevitable. But today’s the day we test our theory.”

We all shifted restlessly in varying degrees of discomfort. Gresham’s nerves were the most pronounced, though, admittedly, he had the most to lose. His blood was not only tied to the unspeakable curse responsible for preventing generations of Thayer’s children, it was tied to the wicked darkness of Malu. If the group of powerful and experienced people we had amassed couldn’t break the curse, it might never be broken. I could only speculate what that meant for Rowan Gresham, but it couldn’t be good. Would he continue to spiral downward, the evil force pulling him further and furtherer into himself, into the darkness? Would he eventually become like his father, obsessed with power, mad and paranoid? And now that he knew his blood held the curse together, could he live with the guilt that accompanied that knowledge? I was afraid to answer those questions. I’m sure Gresham asked them of himself, and many more.

I had seen Ewan since the uncomfortable night at the restaurant, though never alone. He popped in and out of Abia’s, checking our progress and doing odd jobs—any little thing he could do to contribute. He wasn’t rude; he was just…distant. I hoped that with time, the sting of embarrassment or rejection or whatever he felt would wear off and we could pick up where we left off. In the meantime, I missed him. I missed us.

“Let’s begin,” Abia ordered, pulling me from my reverie. “Rowan, you stand across from me. I’ll repeat the words of the spell and when I nod to you, release six drops of your blood into the concoction.” She nodded her head to the pot in the middle of the table, already filled with both fresh and dried herbs, and an oozing, dark liquid. A long, thin bone laid beside the pot. I’d been following the process very closely as part of my education about wards, and magic, in general. I didn’t recall seeing a bone in the ingredient list, but it was certainly not the time to ask questions.

Chills skittered down my spine as Abia began chanting the words she read from Talbot’s musty grimoire. The air was so thick my thoughts seemed accelerated in comparison, as if what was going on inside my head was in overdrive, yet the room itself in slow motion.

When Abia nodded to Gresham, he cut the palm of his hand with a knife. He squeezed his hand over the pot—calling it a cauldron felt hokey, though that’s what it was—and when the six droplets hit the mixture, it bubbled and swallowed the droplets up. Abia finished her haunting chant and stirred the congealing mixture with the bone. The mixture churned and gurgled, as if some great magic was working just beneath its surface.

I held my breath, not sure what to look for as success or failure. I supposed it was one of those things that you knew when you saw it. But as time passed, the mixture’s churning slowed and finally stopped altogether. The disappointed look on Abia’s face confirmed my fear: it hadn’t worked.

Gresham’s roar of frustration caught all of us by surprise. I jumped and threw a metaphysical dart at his face reflexively. Gaspare threw Emelie behind him and stood breathing hard, presumably in an attempt to calm his beast. He shot Gresham a perturbed glare, but didn’t chastise him.

“Excellent work, Stella,” Abia sang. “You defended yourself using magic without thinking first, without even trying.”

I hid the offending hand behind my back and gave her a little smile in thanks. Gresham rubbed the angry red scratch across his cheek and scowled at me.

“Sorry,” I mouthed.

“What now, Mother? Emelie?” Gaspare tried to move forward, to be progressive, but disappointment weighed as heavily on him as it did the rest of us.

“Now we start over. Retrace our steps. Determine where we went wrong.”

“I’m sorry,” Emelie said and massaged her temple. “I can’t manage any more today. Can we start fresh tomorrow?”

“Neither can I, dear. I’ll see you all back here tomorrow.”

Gresham traced without another word, and Gaspare and Emelie made their way out the door.

“What are you going to do now?” I asked Abia once we were alone.

“I’m going where I do my best thinking: the ocean.”

“Can I come?” I asked. “I think today’s the day I’d like to learn to dive.”

Pleasure at my desire to learn her dying tradition lit her from the inside out.

“I’d love nothing more.”

* * *

I wasn’t sure which would burst first from the pressure, my chest or my ears. I kicked and paddled for my life toward the sunlight that filtered through the calm blue waters. When I reached the surface, I gasped and coughed, pushed back my mask and rubbed at burning eyes. So many things were painful I didn’t know which to address first.

“Diving isn’t for the faint of heart, eh?” Abia said in a wheezing laugh. She’d stayed down longer than I had, yet her breathing was normal, not like my frantic pant.

“No,” I agreed through a juicy cough. “Will I always feel like I’m going to die?”

Abia laughed and shook her head. “No. Takes practice is all. You’ll get it. Someday. If you keep practicing.” She pulled a net above her head to reveal a haul of several sea urchins and shellfish. “Got some abalone today. A good haul. I don’t know what you’re going to eat.”

My net was, of course, empty, since I hadn’t made it to the ocean floor before feeling short of breath and sprinting back to the surface in a wild panic.

“Wanna try again?” she asked, an eyebrow raised in silent dare. “Or do you need to rest?”

I stuck my tongue out at her. “Of course I want to try again. A girl’s gotta eat.”

She laughed and threw a chunk of thick, green seaweed in my direction. “You smear the seaweed on your mask like this,” she said and gathered the slimy plant in her fingers. “Keeps your mask from fogging up.”

“Okay,” I followed her instruction. “Any other hot tips?”

“Yeah. Don’t flip out.”

“Ha. Ha.”

“No, really. The calmer you remain, the slower your heart rate, which enables you to stay under longer. Stay calm when you feel yourself becoming short of air and you’ll last much longer.”

“All right,” I said. “I’ll try.” Following Abia’s lead, I took a deep breath and followed her down toward the ocean floor. She was taking me on short dives, not the hundred feet that she could usually reach. I could still plainly see her slim outline.

Abia stopped swimming suddenly, turned around to face me, and pointed toward the surface before hurdling herself upward.

“What happened?” I asked when I surfaced after her. “Something wrong?”

“I told you I do my best thinking in the ocean!” she said with a grin. “Didn’t I tell you? I knew something was wrong, but couldn’t quite lay my finger on it.”

“We’re talking about Gresham’s blood curse now?”

“Yes. Keep up.”

I grunted in protest. No use arguing with her.

“Our test didn’t work because it was missing one key element.”

“What is it?” I gasped, desperate for her keen observation.

“Well I don’t know that, Stella.” She looked at me as if I was ridiculous. I was really getting tired of people doing that.

“Wait. What? The counter-spell we made didn’t work because it was missing something, but you don’t know what it is?”

“Precisely.”

“And that’s something to cheer about?”

“Well it beats the hell out of not knowing, now doesn’t it?”

I had come a long way since my first day in Thayer. After realizing my flaws, I had worked to be more gracious, had grown less sarcastic, and had definitely learned when to keep my mouth shut.

“Yes ma’am,” I said and nodded demurely.

“Well, don’t just stand there dog paddling,” Abia said, suddenly in a tizzy. “Let’s go figure it out.”

* * *

Abia lay back on her well-loved sofa, the grimoire in her lap and the ancient book from The Root in her arms. She looked back and forth between the two, searching for nuances, for any subtle difference or clue that might solve our problem.

I ran my hands across the smooth leather of a new-looking club chair. “Where’d you get this furniture?” I asked. “Your clothes, kitchen supplies. Where does all this come from?”

“Gaspare brings it,” she said without looking up from her book.

“Gaspare sure takes care of a lot of people,” I mumbled, and went back to studying the translation Emelie had so generously made for me.

“Ah,” she said after a while. “There it is.”

I jumped from my chair and knelt by her on the sofa. I couldn’t understand the ancient script, but recognized the same symbols Emelie had replicated.

“What have you found?”

“See this?”

“Yes, that’s the symbol for Malu,” I said.

“Very good.” She turned to look at me, and for the first time I thought just maybe, she didn’t consider me a complete simpleton.

“If the original spell is tied to Malu, we cannot simply remove the dark force. We must replace it.”

“With what?”

“Well I don’t know that, Stella.”

“Okay. Back to the books, then?”

“Right you are.”

A knock at the door pulled us from our studies.

“Who would call at this hour?” Abia said, struggling to sit up.

“I’ll get it,” I said. “Lie back down.”

I knew it was Ewan before I opened the door. “I’m going to take a walk,” I called to Abia and stepped outside.

I looked up at the handsome face that was a window to a beautiful soul and saw my love reflected. “Hi,” I said simply.

His lips stretched in a shy smile before turning down. “I screwed up. I—” he began, but I stopped him.

“Let’s go somewhere we can talk. Let’s go to my place,” I said.

Ewan shook his head, his dark curls a shadowed frame. “I’d rather go back to the waterfall, to the tree where we first made love.”

I swallowed hard as images of that day flashed through my mind. “Okay.”

Ewan held my hand as we walked. We didn’t talk at first. There was only moonlight to light the way, but I could see his pained expression as he worked through where to start.

“I screwed up,” he said again. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Well…I do. But I’m smarter than that. I should never have let on I planned to marry you. Not this early in our relationship. I know that scared the shit out of you, Stell, and I’m sorry.”

I didn’t know how to respond. I was dumbfounded by his certainty about us. Frightened by it. The thought of a lifetime commitment and marriage sent my body into cold sweats. Where is his confidence coming from? And what is wrong with me that I don’t have it? Are we not meant for each other? Wouldn’t I be sure if we were?

“Stella? Talk to me.” Ewan saw the signs of my internal breakdown.

I held my head with both hands, distressed and nervous, and tried to communicate what I was feeling.

“I just don’t understand how you can be so sure, Ewan. I mean, I love you, I’m sure of that. But marriage and forever are huge steps. We’re so young. There’s no reason to rush into anything; we’ll live so long you’ll get sick of me long before I’m wrinkly. Can’t we just take things slowly? I only want you. Can’t we just be happy as we are for now?” I covered my eyes with my hands as I went on and on, babbling in my distress.

When Ewan didn’t reply I moved my hands and looked up at him. “What?” I said when I saw his goofy grin. “What is it?”

“That’s the first time you’ve said you love me.” His mouth was set in a satisfied line, and his eyes positively beamed with happiness. He was supremely pleased.

“No, it’s not.”

“It is. I would know.”

“No, surely not. I’ve known it. I’m sure I said it.”

He shook his head, his whole face alight with the force of his smile.

And quick as a flash the smile was gone, replaced by a look of determination, of lust.

Chapter 28

I hadn’t noticed, but we had reached the mossy spot where we once picnicked. Ewan kissed me like the key to the universe lay somewhere in my mouth. He explored, he teased, he seduced me.

“Stell?” he asked.

All I could produce was a moaned “Hmm?”

“I take it back.” I sobered briefly until he said, “Let’s go to your place.”

I traced us straight to the bedroom. No sense playing coy. He spared a single glance for the room, muttering “nice,” before he pulled his shirt over his head and threw it to the side. My fingers found the deep ridges between the muscles of his stomach as my lips found his.

My own shirt was gone in a flash, my bra not far behind it. When Ewan ran his warm, rough thumbs over my breasts, I pressed into him, desperate for more contact. We fell to the bed together in a tangle of want, pulling at one another’s clothes and trying not to separate our mouths.

“Oh, Stell,” Ewan gritted when he couldn’t stand a moment more. “I love you,” he whispered and ran those same thumbs lovingly across my cheeks.

* * *

Turns out a bed is much more conducive to sexual exertion than a picnic blanket. More traction, more bounce, more cushion for the pushin’, one might say.

“I do miss one thing about making love outdoors,” I said, blissfully high on endorphins.

“What’s that?” Ewan asked and nipped at my bare shoulder.

“The stars. I adored making love under the stars.” I turned on my side toward him. “I told you before how they call to me. How I’ve always felt an intrinsic, a fundamental connection to them.”

“Yes. Why do you think that is?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it has something to do with the fact an omni’s power is derived from the stars. Gaspare told me that when I first met him. He said—” I couldn’t finish the sentence. The answer hit me like a bolt of lightning to my brain.

“What?” Ewan asked. “What did he say?”

“Of course!” I screamed. “Of freaking course! How could I not have seen it sooner? God, it was right there in front of me the whole time.” I shook my head, stunned, ecstatic, and anxious to tell Abia. To tell the world.

“What was right there?” Ewan laughed with me, though he didn’t know why.

“Love and light, baby.”

Ewan looked at me expectantly.

“Good and evil. Light and dark. Love and light. Our connection to the stars. The stars are the missing component needed to reverse Talbot’s curse. Only light can defeat the darkness.”

“Holy hell,” Ewan breathed, and I nodded.

“Get dressed.”

* * *

I burst through Abia’s door, pulling Ewan behind me. She had fallen asleep on the sofa and bolted upright at our intrusion, managing to find a fishing spear. She had it to my throat before I knew what hit me.

“Abia, it’s me,” I said. “Put that thing down.”

She shook her head to clear it, looking first at Ewan and then at me. “Do you know what time it is?” she growled.

“Yes, I’m sorry about that.” I sighed impatiently. “Listen, Abia, will you put the damn spear down?”

She looked at it—and me—as if she might not, but then lowered it.

“What’s so important?” she asked, her mouth in an acidic frown.

“I figured it out!” I squealed, earning me another sour look. “I know what’s missing!”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Out with it.”

“The stars,” I told her. “The stars are the counter to Malu.”

“I’ll be damned,” she said, the lines of her sea-weathered face deepening with the force of her smile. “You keep this up, I might leave my estate to you when I die.” She threw her head back in a whole-body cackle that sent Ewan and I into fits of laughter, too. She was still giggling when she said, “All right. Fine. You told me. We’ll start first thing in the morning. Now, shoo. Surely, you two have somewhere else to be… Unless you want to bunk with me?” She leered at Ewan, and I barely contained my snort of laughter.

“Ah,” Ewan stuttered, shaken. “Thank you, ma’am. We’ll be at Stella’s if you need us.”

Abia winked at me as I left, still chuckling. Finding the key to changing the world had sure put her in a good mood.

Chapter 29

“Okay,” Gresham said and scratched his stubbled cheek. “Couple of questions. One, how will we harness the power of the stars? And two, how will we substitute it for Malu?”

He asked the questions on all of our minds, but Abia scoffed. “We’re omnies. We’re born of the stars. Let’s figure it out.”

And so, we all set to work to discover how to remove the dark force from the evil curse that had prevented the creation of happy families and omni children for the last three thousand years. No big. We got this.

I didn’t notice it at first, but after the third snarled lip, it became clear Ewan and Gresham weren’t exactly comfortable around each other.

“Oh, stop it,” I sent to Ewan. “Don’t you think this work is more important than a pissing contest?”

“He started it,” he sent back. I rolled eyes at him and went back to work.

“Ah, Abia?” My eyes were crossing from studying the texts for so long, and that’s when I saw it.

“Hmm?” She was only half listening as she looked over her own notes.

“Don’t you think it’s a coincidence that the symbol for omni, and the ancient symbol of the divine personification of the morning and evening stars, are so similar?”

“Are you talking about Ishtar?” Emelie asked, and I nodded. “She was also the goddess long considered to rule over fertility, love, war, and sex.”

“That’s a deadly combo,” Ewan muttered.

“What’s the point, Stella? No one believes in goddesses anymore.” Abia was losing her patience with the lot of us.

“My point is that our power is derived of the stars, and this grimoire has the symbol of a star, and even the heavenly embodiment of the stars’ own symbol looks like an omni symbol.” I drew a much-needed breath. “Maybe the symbol in the grimoire is not of an omni, but a star. Or maybe the two are interchangeable. Whatever the case, maybe stars are the key to everything.”

No one said a word. No one breathed. It was as if the magic would be lost, or that the idea would burst like a bubble if we disturbed it.

“Maybe you’re the key to everything,” Gaspare whispered after the nearly-endless silence.

* * *

Once the silence was broken, the voices poured out and didn’t stop. Everyone had questions; hardly any were answered. Gresham and Gaspare hypothesized the meaning of it all. Abia paced the room, muttering wildly to herself, or perhaps to us and we just weren’t listening.

Ewan sat near me, ever supportive, and then in typical Ewan fashion, whittled to the pith of the issue. “Who do you think is the strongest omni?”

I nodded. I agreed it was the logical next step. Who could call the power of the stars and act as a conductor between them and the counter-spell? There were only four omnies, and Gresham was automatically out because his blood was tied to Malu through the curse. We were, in effect, freeing him even as we freed the rest of Thayer. That left Gaspare, Abia, and me. I didn’t have a tenth of the experience they did. A hundredth.

“Gaspare is the logical choice,” I said in a low voice. “He’s prime minister and innately powerful. But Abia’s older, and power seems to follow age in Thayer.”

Abia had stopped her rambling. “Yes, it’s me or Gaspare. That’s the choice. Though not a hard one. Gaspare is the natural fit. The strongest omni.”

No one disagreed.

Abia prepared the concoction found in Talbot’s grimoire as before. She chanted the carefully-chosen words, and nodded to Gresham at the precise moment he should add his blood.

The final component was Gaspare. At Abia’s direction, he closed his eyes and began to call on the very life source that ran through his veins, that great source from which our power was derived. He called to the stars as they called to us.

The table beneath the pot began to shake, and the pot rattled against the table’s hard wood. Wind somehow found its way inside the cabin and whipped wildly around us. I held back my hair with shaking hands and looked to Abia.

“What should I do?” I sent to her.

But she was so deeply entranced in the process she didn’t hear me.

“This makes me nervous,” I said to Ewan and Emelie over the noise of the wind. Both nodded, but kept their gazes on Gaspare, whose eyes shot wildly back and forth beneath closed lids, and Gresham, who looked like someone was pulling his toenails out one at a time. As I watched, he let out a tortured groan, and doubled over.

“Do you think we should do something?” My voice was frantic. I shook my hands, wanting to do something, anything, to help.

Abia’s eyes found mine and for the first time, they were panicked. “We’re losing him!” she shouted over the storm rumbling within the hut. “Help him!” she cried.

“I don’t know anything about this,” I whined. “Nothing.”

Gaspare’s face had begun to look pained, like Gresham’s before he had collapsed into himself.

“Just do it, for gods’ sake,” Abia yelled, and the walls took up the frantic shake, too.

Though the wind whipped around me, dust and bits of wood from the hut stinging my cheeks, I closed my eyes and worked to relax, to clear my mind. Think, Stonewall. What do you know?

Searching the room for clues, my eyes landed on Abia. I know not to flip out, to remain calm, to slow my heart rate so I can finish the task.

I suddenly missed my mom, and wished I had Bay’s strength to lean on. I know I’m born of strong women who can handle almost anything.

Gresham caught my eye as sweat dripped from his face with the effort to sit upright. I know all magic begins in my chakra.

I saw Gaspare then, teeth gritted, his body shaking with the force of his effort. I know an omni’s power is derived from the stars.

Ewan witnessed my distress and squeezed my hand. And I know love and light are the answers.

I gathered all the strength I could find in my chakra and sent up a request to the stars that had never asked anything of me. I asked for wisdom, for the knowledge to fight the ancient curse. I asked for power and the ability to wield it. Finally, I asked the celestial bodies for a little luck and an enormous amount of divine intervention so that my beloved friends, and Thayer, could be put to right.

My tongue was numb. All of my senses were deadened. I couldn’t hear, or see, or even smell. I was light and nothing else, luminance pouring through my bones and skin, an incandescent capsule of stars.

I didn’t have worries anymore. They were gone, and in their place, a great peace settled over me. In that moment, I knew without a doubt nothing in my life would ever top the experience I was having. In a flash, I decided not to go back. What was the point? If this was the highlight of my life, what was worth going back for? Much better I should stay here, basking forever in the smiling face of the heavens.

The answer was clear and urgent. Ewan Bristol. Timbra Redfern. Boone Adder. Gaspare and Emelie. Bay and Forster, and even Solace and Beacon. Life was worth living for those relationships…and for the children. Children! Gaspare and Emelie might give me nieces and nephews someday. Boone and Timbra may have the chance at a normal life together. So many people could follow their hearts.

But how? There was something I was supposed to do. But what?

“Put your hands in the pot.” Gaspare’s voice whispered through my mind like a feather on a gossamer gale. It was almost never there at all.

What pot? I wondered in my blighted state.

Ohhhh. Realization came to me slowly, but I did as the voice instructed. When I submerged my incandescent hands in the thick mixture, the counter-spell concoction steamed and hissed and radiated into hundreds of tiny cracks before drying up completely.

It worked. We had done it.

Chapter 30

“How will we know if it worked?” Gaspare’s hollow voice echoed and bounced down the hall of my brain. He was so far away. I couldn’t see him. Couldn’t see anyone. I could only faintly hear their conversation, and even then, it didn’t stick.

“If Stella’s little light display wasn’t healing magic, then I don’t know if we can ever succeed.” Abia was distant, too, but confident.

“So, you think it worked?” Gaspare’s tone was so careful, tinged with desperation, and something more: hope.

“I think it worked.”

“What about Stella?” Ewan asked impatiently. “She’s still in some sort of trance.”

“I’d be more worried if she wasn’t,” Abia said. “My guess is her conscious mind couldn’t deal with the raw power she channeled and it shut down for a bit. I’ve never heard of anything like that in my life. Let’s give her a moment to recover before we start worrying.”

“Why didn’t Gaspare light up like she did?” he asked. “He was the one we decided would channel the stars. It’s as if they shot straight down into her. I could see the white light glowing beneath her skin. It’s still there, but faint.”

“Yes,” Abia agreed. “We chose Gaspare, but it appears the stars themselves chose our Stella.” Her hands were gentle and warm as she cupped the back of my head and ran her hands over my wild hair. “I always knew she was special.”

“Rowan, how do you feel?” she asked after a beat. “Can you tell if anything’s different?”

“I feel…I feel,” Gresham let out a shaky breath. “I feel free; lighter than I remember ever feeling. I don’t know how to explain it…other than…I feel…free.”

“You probably feel that way because you’ve been released from the tie to Malu.” She grated her teeth in disgust. “I knew Talbot Gresham was evil, but I never dreamed he would burden his own son with that darkness. I’m so sorry, Rowan. At least you’re free now.”

“So you think it worked.” Gaspare’s words weren’t a question that time.

“I think it worked,” Abia said again.

Gaspare’s whoop of laughter and Emelie’s squeal of joy pulled me into the present. I blinked slowly at first, and then faster as the white light faded from my vision. The vivid colors of Abia’s home and my friends and family came back into focus.

“There she is,” Ewan breathed and touched my face. “I’m glad you’re back. You had me scared for a minute.”

“Did I really glow?” I asked, unable to stop my smile.

Ewan nodded, and when I twisted my lips dubiously he added, “Don’t believe me? Ask around.”

My gaze shot to Abia, then Gaspare, Emelie, and finally Gresham. Each one nodded, their expressions solemn.

I turned to Abia. “What do you think that means?”

“Hell if I know.”

Exasperated, I made a noise in the back of my throat. “Well, how will we know—for sure—that it worked?”

“Listen,” she huffed. “I came up with the theory, did the majority of the research—no offense, Emelie—I gathered the ingredients, and I performed the counter-spell. This is where I get off. You think you people might have any brilliant ideas?”

Gaspare looked to the sky, like he was thinking hard for an answer, or trying not to laugh. Emelie stood wide-eyed and clenched her jaws, apparently willing a way forward to reveal itself. Gresham nodded his head, his big body moving to its beat. He seemed looser, somehow. Less pent-up.

“Ah, I might have an idea,” Ewan said.

“Do tell, sugar lips,” Abia said, and that time I was unable to prevent my snort of laughter. I knew her wink was coming before she did it. She loved flustering Ewan. It didn’t take much.

He cleared his throat. “We have some friends who, ah, might be willing to volunteer as test subjects.” He put his hands out in front of him in a ‘hear me out’ gesture. “In the interest of science.”

“It could work,” Emelie said, her tone less sure than I would have liked. “We can’t know for sure that the curse was lifted without definitive proof that two people of varying species can conceive. Would these test subjects be willing to do the required research? Is a family, a baby, something they’re ready for?”

“Nooo,” I drew out dramatically. “They’re far too young. The wouldn’t want to start a family right now. Not yet.” A low moan of disappointment echoed through the room.

“Any other suggestions?”Abia asked.

“I think you’re wrong, Stell,” Ewan whispered to me. “Boone and Timbra have something special. I think they’d jump at a chance like this. A chance to find a way to be together. To know their love isn’t wrong or unnatural, but something to be celebrated. Something that at one time resulted in not just perfect, but exceptional children. I think they wouldn’t pass up a chance like this. Not to savor a few years to party or travel. Not for anything.”

He was right, of course. At the very least, Boone and Timbra deserved the chance to decide for themselves.

“Okay,” I agreed. “You’re right, sugar lips.”

Ewan laughed and kissed me solidly on the mouth. “We’ll do it,” he announced. “We’ll talk to our friends about reversing the curse.”

Chapter 31

The fact remained I couldn’t return to Thayer. But with Gaspare on board, there was nothing preventing Boone and Timbra from coming to Pearl. Ewan, thrilled to finally have a pivotal role, was charged with tracing them to my place. The plan was that Ewan and I would tell the two everything we had learned—up to the last effort in which I lit up like a roman candle—and monitor their reactions.

If they seemed excited about and open to the chance to have their own children someday, we would reveal the full story: that we suspected we had already ended the curse.

I stood in the back garden pulling weeds, a compulsion I could never seem to overcome. A light tremor across the soil, a soft exhale. They had arrived.

“Stella Rose Stonewall!” Timbra leaned toward me with both hands on her hips. “I thought you were dead, you asshole. You have no idea what you put me through; what you put all of us through.”

I ran to my friend and held her as she exhaled with relief. “I hate you right now. Do you know that?”

“I know, sweetie,” I said and continued to hold her. “I know.”

“Is Rose even your middle name?” she whined.

“Not even close,” I said. We shook with laughter, then, and I held on tighter. “I missed you,” I whispered into her honey-colored hair.

She squeezed me until I groaned. “Boone’s mad at you, too. You have some serious explaining to do.”

As soon as Timbra and I stepped apart, I was swept up in a bear-sized hug. “I thought you were mad at me,” I mumbled into his thick shoulder.

“I am,” he barked and shook me. “This is tough love.”

After catching up for a bit, I invited everyone into the kitchen for coffee.

“I’m happy to see you, don’t get me wrong,” Timbra said, holding her steaming mug between both hands. “But what’s changed? First we can’t know you’re alive, then we can’t act like we know you’re alive, and now we’re here with you. Something’s up. What?”

Ewan turned toward me, and when our eyes met, we knew it was time. We told them our story.

* * *

“So, you’re saying at one point in history interspecies marriages weren’t uncommon?” Boone’s round eyes glassed over as he took it all in.

“No,” I said and his shoulders slumped. “I’m saying they were typical. I’m saying they weren’t just common, but revered. Such unions produced omnies, the most powerful of Thayer’s beings. Hell, omnies were favored by the stars themselves, for that’s where they derived their power.”

My hand flew to my mouth. How do I know that? Was it true? Yes, it was true. I knew it absolutely, and many more things I hadn’t the day before.

“What is it, Stell?” Ewan noted my sudden anxiety and rubbed my back.

I shook my head. I couldn’t get into it. We had a mission to complete.

Timbra’s deer-like ears twitched furiously from…nerves?

“Boone,” she said sweetly. “Do you see what this means? If they’re right, if they could end the curse…we could have our babies. Our babies, Boone.” Timbra’s voice rose with each word until her lover’s name was a reed-thin appeal.

The big man’s blond head hung between his shoulders, hiding his face. His shoulders began to shake, his entire body pulsing in time. When he looked up at Timbra, tears streamed down his smooth cheeks and pure, unfiltered love shone in his eyes. Timbra ran to him, sat on a big knee, and held onto his neck. “We thought…” Boone cleared his throat. “We thought we’d never have that chance. Even this small one is…it gives us hope, at least.”

I walked behind Ewan and put my hands on his shoulders. He squeezed them in encouragement and held on.

“The thing is, guys…well, we did it.” I shrugged and watched as their mouths formed perfect little “O’s” in unison. “After a lot of research, much trial and error, and—I suspect—divine intervention, we broke Talbot’s curse. Gresham’s blood is no longer tied to the dark force of Malu. We think—”

“We’re pretty certain,” Ewan interrupted, and I nodded my agreement.

“We’re pretty certain the curse is lifted and people like you can once again create beautiful, special children.”

They didn’t say anything. They didn’t move for what seemed an eternity. They both sat there, stunned. Boone looked to Timbra first, and when she met his gaze, they both burst into tears of riotous joy. They held on to one another like we’d take it back. Like it wasn’t real but they wanted to live the fantasy for just a little bit longer.

“Where—?” Timbra said and hiccupped a breath. “Where do we sign up?”

I bent to kiss Ewan high on the cheek, but he met my mouth and kissed me like I’d take it back. Like it wasn’t real and he wanted to live the fantasy for just a little bit longer.

Chapter 32

Timbra was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen. Her light hair was pulled away from her face and hung loosely down her back in romantic curls. The space between Timbra’s fawny ears was a perfect place for a tiara, and the veil snuck past them to form a flowing halo of organza.

“Married,” she said for the hundredth time. “I’m getting married. To Boone.”

“You don’t have to, you know.” I laid my hand on her arm. “You don’t have to do this. With all the hooking up going on at The Root, sooner or later someone’s sure to get knocked up. Then we’ll know.”

She threw her head back in a throaty laugh. “Oh, no they don’t. If anyone’s getting knocked up around here, it’s me. I think I’ll start after the party. Shoot, if you can’t find me after the ceremony, don’t come a knockin’.”

We laughed together again, and with the audible sigh that accompanies the end of all belly laughs, we celebrated our last day as two single girls.

* * *

“Gaspare did a wonderful job as officiant,” Abia said as we sat together beneath the shade of an ancient oak.

With Rowan’s blood determined as the key to Talbot’s “eternal” curses, we were soon able to release Abia from her tether to Topaz, though she would never leave for long. The sea called to her, she said. It was where she did her best thinking.

“I think there are very few things your son cannot do,” I said in wonder.

“My granddaughter has the same quality,” she said without hesitation. “And many more that remain to be seen.” She eyed me expectantly, and I looked away before she could ask too many questions.

“There you are!” Ewan called as he approached us, but he didn’t look at me. He only had eyes for Abia. “Ms. Pike, thank the gods you’re this far from the group. You’re in serious danger of outshining the bride.”
She opened and closed her mouth, blinking double time. “Ah. Thank you, Ewan,” she finally said.

He bowed dramatically and then faced me, holding his hand out, palm-up. “May I have this dance?”

“That’ll be us someday,” Ewan said, nodding to a radiantly happy Boone and Timbra Adder.

I pressed my cheek to his chest. “How can you be so sure? How can you say that with such confidence?”

Ewan held me closer, one hand around my shoulders and the other behind my waist.

“Did I ever tell you my mother was a clairvoyant?” His voice was a whisper, the breath of a ghost on the wind.

“No.” I shook my head against his chest. “You’ve never told me much about her.”

“She was so much fun,” he said with a tinge of sadness. “Always laughing. Always teasing me about my “flamethrower.” She said she couldn’t wait until my world was turned upside down by a girl with wild red hair and eyes like emeralds in the tropic sun.

“I knew, Stell. From the first moment I saw you in class, I knew. At first, it was just the hair and eyes, but when I suspected your dragon…well, that confirmed it. I knew you were my flamethrower.”

Epilogue

“Well, this is a delightful side effect,” Emelie said as she inspected her increasingly-robust bosom in the full-length mirror.

“Enjoy it while you can,” Timbra warned. “Pretty soon your stomach will get so huge it’ll dwarf even those bad girls.”

My bark of laughter caused the baby to stir, and Timbra shot me a dark look. “You wake my son, you lose a limb.”

I held up my hands in apology and mouthed, “Sorry.”

“The new school’s coming along nicely.” Emelie said, turning from side to side in awe of her changing body.

“I still can’t believe Rowan Gresham is going to be the new chancellor,” Timbra’s eyes were wide as she shook her head.

“I think it’s a good fit,” Emelie argued. “He’s in a better mood since being freed of Talbot’s curses. Wants to do some good to reverse all of the bad his father did. The kids in Pearl needed a better school, and with all of the new families moving in, there’s a real need for it.”

“I just hate how things have turned out,” I said. “I guess I hoped the people of Thayer would accept couples like Boone and Timbra once they learned the truth, once they learned it’s the way the world should be.”

“Nobody likes change, Stella,” Emelie said sadly. “Whether it’s right or not.”

Timbra stood and held her tiny, perfect child who found yawning too great an exertion and fell back asleep in her arms. “I hold out faith people will come around. Someday.” Her eyes held sadness when she looked at her sleeping miracle and said, “Maybe even my father.”

“Do you guys see much of Ewan’s family?” she asked, changing the subject.

“We do. They’re building a house not far from ours on Jade. Wolves love their wilderness, you know. And I’ve grown to love it out there, too. At night, with no lights to distract from them, I spread my wings and fly amid the stars. Sometimes I meet Bay and Forster and the others. Sometimes I fly alone.”

“And Ewan has no plans to catch his star?” Emelie asked with a sly grin.

“Oh, he has a plan. Ewan Bristol always uses a road map.” I shot my friends my own sly grin. “But we’re taking the scenic route.”

Thank You for Reading!

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed Book Three in the Descended of Dragons series, Betrayal Foretold. Thank you for your support, and for following Stella’s journey.

Be sure to sign up for sneak peeks, news, and giveaways for more from this series, and others in the future.

While Betrayal Foretold offered many answers, you may still be left with questions, and that’s okay. Isn’t one great aspect of reading those lingering thoughts in the back of your mind, like recalling old friends? So many times I’ve wondered what my favorite characters were up to, now that they’d found their happily ever after. I hope these books gave you a little happy, and a little food for thought.

I love hearing from readers. You can write me anytime at authorjencrane@gmail.com or visit my site at www.JenCraneBooks.com. I can be found on most social media sites at @JenCraneBooks.

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Thanks so much for reading.

Sincerely,

Jen Crane

About the Author

Though she grew up on a working cattle ranch, Jen Crane has been into fantasy and sci-fi since seeing a bootleg tape of The Princess Bride.

She has a master's degree and solid work histories in government and non-profit administration. But just in the nick of time, Jen pronounced life too real for nonfiction. She now creates endearing characters and alternate realms filled with adventure, magic, and love.

Jen is happily living out her dream in The South with her husband and three children, striking that delicate balance between inspiration and frustration.

Book 2 in Jen's fantasy romance series, Origin Exposed, was selected by iTunes/iBooks as "Our Pick" in fantasy/sci-fi.

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