How can she think that?
Another idiot question. He didn’t need his dragon to tell him that. She was a human who’d been thrown into a world she never knew existed—and the person who should have been there to catch her and lead her through it had failed her utterly.
Had failed them both.
He moved beside her, slowly, as though if he moved too suddenly then whatever was already close to breaking point inside Maya would shatter entirely.
“You are doing everything right for him,” he said sincerely. She shivered, and he reached out one hand and laid it on hershoulder. “I don’t know the answers to all your questions, but I know that much. Tomás is healthy. He is happy. He has everything he needs.”
“But what if I’m doing something wrong and I don’t even know it? What if I’m hurting him? He stole your gold watch. If I’d given him a hoard already, would he not have had to steal it off you? And now, all the treasures from your family vault—”
“The gold is my problem.” He couldn’t prevent the trace of a growl in his voice. “You don’t need to concern yourself about that.”
“Because I have so much else to worry about already? No, thank you, I think I can find space to worry about someone stealing from my ex-boss and sending it to me, as well. Especially given—” She sucked in a breath that made her sound like she’d been crying. Christ, had she been crying? No—her eyes were dry. Just hemmed around with tears, not actually weeping. “The circumstances.”
“The circumstances,” he repeated bitterly. “I see.” How often had she cried already, that the tears came so easily and she was so practiced at holding them back?
Coward. Fool. You could have prevented all this.
“You haven’t talked about this to anyone, have you? Your concerns about parenting Tomás.”
She grimaced. “How can you tell?”
“It all bursting out like a dam in flood was a hint. But—” He hesitated. Would saying this help things, or hurt her more? “What about your friends here, they couldn’t tell you about raising shifter children?”
“They’ve already done so much.” Maya wrapped her arms around her knees. “I couldn’t bother them.”
You didn’t want to flounder in front of them, after they’d already seen you at your lowest.Maya had never asked questions—never let herself appear uncertain, or ignorant. Ofcourse she was desperate to correct her reputation with her new neighbors. Corin’s jaw set. “I thought I was the only one you never admitted weakness in front of.”
“You’re not that unique. Sorry.” She shot him a complicated smile. “It wouldn’t have helped, anyway. Apollo’s never met another dragon baby, and he’s a different type of dragon shifter entirely. He—he doesn’t like gold the way you and Tomás do. And he didn’t shift until he was a teenager! That’s so much later than Tomás. I don’t know if that means he was late, or Tommy was early, and what if it’s too early? People say if you learn to walk before you crawl it can affect your coordination later in life. What if he can’t fly properly?”
“He seems to fly very well already.”
“What if he flies somewhere I can’t reach to get him down safely?” she cried out, and slapped both hands over her mouth again. “Ohgod.I didn’t mean to say any of this. I had—”
“You had a list,” he finished for her.
“I left space under each query for when I figured out an answer. I put little boxes to tick off.” She gestured at the notebook, which she’d dropped onto the picnic rug, and made a noise that was perilously close to a sob. “Damn it.”
“And you wanted to ask … me?”
She looked at him for one long, hard moment, then let out a breath that held the weight of the world in it. “Of course I asked you. You’re so conveniently here. And you feel guilty over everything that’s happened, so you’ll tell me anything I want to hear.”
No trace of tears now. She’d banished them—hidden them as neatly as she’d hidden all the secrets and fears that had plagued her the year they had spent together, never knowing one another. His chest ached.
“I can only tell you what I know,” he informed her. “Which is less than you might hope. I haven’t been very involved with anyof the children in my clan. I imagine I know far less about baby dragon shifters than you do. And you’re doing a wonderful job.” He paused. “That should have been the first thing I told you when you brought Tomás to meet everyone at the office.”
Maya went still.
“I made a great many mistakes then.” He turned his gaze away from her with difficulty, and looked out over the sea. The water was still shimmering; he wondered what was hiding beneath its glittering surface. “It is beyond time I changed that.”
Silence hung between them, ready to be broken.
Maya was staring at the ocean, too. Both assiduously not looking at the other.
“I thought this was just a physical thing,” she whispered. “Relieving tension.”
Her eyes lifted, and the hope in them filled his soul.
