“Dear, terrifying Igraine. But think about what I’m saying. The duskfire is our duty, and our weapon. We cloak ourselves in it, but we do not let it consume us.”
Corin stared at him. He couldn’t mean—
Helpless rage surged inside him, a rage he hadn’t felt for years but was still so familiar.
“Careful,” his grandfather growled.
Corin pulled his magic back in, but not before blistered scorch marks appeared on the nearest cabinets and floorboards. He swore.
So this was the truth that had been staring him in the face this whole time.
He had fought all his life to be the leader his clan expected him to be. The powerful dragon his mother had dedicated her life to raising, after she’d lost her own mate.
They’d all backed the wrong horse. His stronger duskfire wasn’t a sign that he was meant to lead his clan—it was a sign he was too broken to offer his people, or his mate, what they truly needed.
He was doomed.
His grandfather leaned forward, frowning. “I don’t know what you’re thinking right now, lad, but from the look of you it isn’t—”
Corin gave a bitter laugh. “I have worse things to worry about than flying through other people’s misery. Someone has breached our clan’s vaults and run off with our most valuable treasures, and I’m as incapable of solving that problem as I am of claiming my own mate!”
The rage rang hollow. What did he need treasure for, if Maya could never be his?
She said you were enough for her,a treacherous voice within him said. He thrust away the thought.
“What?!” His grandfather leaped from his chair, wings spreading like a wall of night behind him. The smell of stale smoke filled the air, quickly thickening to something potent and choking.
Then the old man’s eyes narrowed. He pulled his wings in. “This is about that damned report you’ve been bothering everyone over, isn’t it?”
“I hadn’t realized it was abotherto know a rival dragon had discovered the secret location of our clan’s hoard,” Corin hissed back at him. “Let alonetell me, so I cando somethingabout it!”
“Rival dragon, pah!” His grandfather sank back into his armchair, waving one hand dismissively. “If you’re worriedabout who took those pieces from the vault, you should look a little closer to home.”
23
Maya
Maya stretched, easing the stiffness in her spine. Mrs. H had sent her home early, so she could play hostess for their newest guest, but it was more like going to a second job than actual time off.
Corin’s mother was hard work.
Delightful, but hard. And the longer she spent talking about Tomás with her, the worse Maya felt about how little her own mother had seen of her grandson recently.
And the next time I see her, I’ll have even more news,she thought fretfully.Not just hi, Mom, I left my job and moved to the coast and my baby can turn into a dragon, but hi, Mom, I did all that and now I’m seeing my ex-boss and he can turn into a dragon, too, and we’re looking for Tomás’s actual baby daddy who is also a dragon, and … I’ve been hiding all this from you for half a year.
Probably longer, by the time she got around to actually saying it.
Her shoulders slumped.
“This really is adarlingtown. I met some very interesting ladies earlier. Not at the cafe, which you don’t have, because you’re right, dear, that little ice cream parlor really isn’t the same thing, but outswimming.In this brisk weather! It’s all wonderfully Scandinavian. And I hear the restaurant is worth visiting.” Igraine fussed in her purse.
Tomás had been sitting on the mat, but he perked up, watching Mrs. Blackburn. Maya narrowed her eyes at him. She knew that look.
“She doesn’t have any marshmallows hiding in there, Tommy.”
“Indeed not.” Igraine snapped her purse shut. “Who has been sneaking you marshmallows, little dragon? Someone with a poor grasp of risk management, I expect. Or an interest in filing house insurance claims.”
“Because he’ll toast them?” Maya winced and wondered how much she could say without Tomás catching on. “He’s … been experimenting with, um, that particular skill. We had one very hard day. But he seems to have forgotten about it since then. Another coffee?”
