“Admit it,” she murmured into his chest. “You don’t know how to be happy either, unless I’m around, do you?”
“I—no,” he admitted with a rueful almost-smile.
“Then there’s an easy solution.” She pressed her lips against his again. “I’m sure we can find room in our schedules for a little happiness. Magical or not.”
He gazed down at her, his soul raw in his eyes. “I’ll make it a priority.”
24
Corin
His mate wanted him just as he was. Not his magic, or his fortune, buthim. Corin Blackburn.
His dragon should have shuddered at the thought, but instead, it was … pleased?
The torment he’d flown through to reach his mate seeped away. For one glorious moment, all was right in the world.
But they still had an audience.
He sighed. “That wasn’t all we spoke about.”
He lifted his head. Apollo and his mate Felicity were both hanging back politely from the conversation, while the Dans loitered unhappily where Maya had told them to stay. His mother must be around somewhere, too; he cast out a brief search and found her outside the restaurant, Tomás waddling proudly beside her.
Well, it wasn’t as though she didn’t already know.
“My grandfather wouldn’t tell me much, but he seems to think that whoever stole from our family vault may already be here in Hideaway.”
“Stole—” Braedan said in a strangled voice.
The air around Apollo and Felicity shimmered with the golden sparks of their magic. Apollo groaned and rubbed his head. “No. Nobody’s come in since you that we haven’t seen—”
“They could have been here already.” Felicity swore. “That makes total sense! God. I’m so sorry, Maya, we should have thought of that.”
Maya frowned. “He knew they’d stolen from your family vault, and he waited until you were there in person to talk to you about it? You’ve been waiting to hear back from him for days! Isn’t he meant to be in charge of defending it?”
“Uh,” Aedan gaped, foghorn-like. His brothers punched his arms until he closed his mouth.
“Unless—” Maya’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “Hm.”
“Hm?”
“Hm.”
Whatever his mate was thinking, it was tugging the hint of a smile from her lips. “There’s another reason your grandfather might be right,” she murmured, but before she could say anything else, Caedan jumped.
“Oh, shit, is that him?” Caedan elbowed his brothers. “Look! With—”
“Oh, shiiiit,” Braedan muttered, shoving Aedan in front of them both.
Aedan raised one hand. “Hi, Auntie Igraine!”
“Boys.” Corin’s mother nodded to them. She was walking slowly, keeping pace with Tomás as he stomped proudly towards Maya. Gold hummed from under his shirt and Corin repressed a grin.
His mother’s gaze sharpened as she approached. *How are you feeling?*she asked, and he remembered her concern about him flying through duskfire.
*I’m fine, mother.*
“Hey, uhh, hey uhh—Miss—”
