Mum curved her hand around his bicep. “He won’t be long.”
I stared at the waves, the hollowness spreading. The fear I’d been holding back for three weeks finally clawed its way out.
“What if they’re trapped in time somewhere?” I swung my gaze to my parents. “What if I never find them?”
Dad came to me and cupped my cheek with a warm hand. “Wheesht with that kind of talk, lass. You’re a king’s daughter with fire in your veins. You don’t give up, ever, aye?”
I blinked away tears. “Aye,” I rasped.
His smile was achingly gentle, his voice soft but firm. “Niall never gave up on me. Not even after I spent centuries in the fire.”
Mum appeared beside him, her expression matching his. “Niall is very stubborn.” She slanted my dad a look. “Most men are.”
A watery laugh bubbled in my throat. “Tavish and Albie suffer from that same affliction.” I wiped at my eyes. “Tavish is always eating. He brought tarts on our trip to see the chronomancer.” The memory of him smiling at me in the hotel bathroom’s doorway made my chest ache. “And Albie is a scholar. He knows something about everything. He would love it—” I clamped my mouth shut before I could finish the sentence.
He would love it here.
Dad tucked my hair behind my ear with gentle fingers. “It sounds like he and Niall will get along just fine.”
“Da will love him,” I said, more memories gathering. “Albie is strong and brave and kind. So is Tavish. They’re both gentlemen.” I looked up at my dad. “They protected me and cared for me. They followed me through time without question even though it meant leaving their own behind.”
Dad took my hand. Fire swirled through his golden eyes, and his pupils narrowed, the shape growing reptilian beforerounding once more. “Fathers are supposed to be wary of the men their daughters fancy. But I confess I’m eager to meet these mates of yours.”
A sudden thought made me catch my breath.
“What is it?” Mum asked.
“They’re not my mates,” I said. “Not yet.” Heat flooded my face. Gods, I did not want to have this conversation with my parents and brother. “We never completed the mate bond,” I finished in a rush.
Silence.
Then Mum said, “You mean you didn’t consummate it.”
Malcolm hooked a thumb toward the castle. “I’m gonna check on the pizza.”
Dad frowned at him. “Did you put one in the oven?”
Malcolm was already on his way up the slope, and he waved a hand in the air without turning around.
“We shared a bed,” I said quickly, desperate to get this over with. “And we…did other things. But we never…” I gestured helplessly. “You know.”
Dad’s expression was carefully neutral. “I see.”
“Maybe that’s why I’m not dying faster,” I said. “The mate bond isn’t sealed.”
My mother grasped my shoulders, and for a second, she was every inch a dragon queen. Fire licked through her eyes, and her voice slid lower. “You arenotdying, Portia. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I said. Only idiots argued with my mother when her dragon showed in her eyes.
She pulled me into a hug. “We’re going to find your men, sweetheart. I promise.”
I buried my face in her shoulder and tried to believe her.
“Niall is here,” Dad said suddenly.
I looked up as my father’s head broke the waves. He emerged from the sea and stepped onto the shore completelydry, his black barasta untouched by the sea. His expression was inscrutable, his shoulders tense as he strode to us.
My heart sank. I didn’t need to ask if he’d found anything. The answer was written all over his face.
