My raven friend’s words about the rock paper scissors of the supernatural world came back to me, and I worried for Davin and Caspian.
But...one was Davin, so I’d protect him, and the other wasCaspian. No one could kill him. Could they?
CHAPTER 17
Caspian made sure Davin and I had his phone number before leaving, then he nodded to my mother, who returned the gesture stiffly, and he was gone.
“You’re not—” my mother started, but she stopped herself.
She must know that we had to do this. There was no choice.
Our situations were just exactly reversed from yesterday.
I was the one who was taking over, whether that was what I wanted or not, and she was left behind taking care of herself and my father. I imagined it wasn’t a situation she’d ever been in before.
Well, except for the thing people had continually implied to me about my mother having previous children. So maybe they’d gone to fight their own battles, and it hadn’t gone so well.
I rounded the bed to sit next to her and leaned on her shoulder, like I had so many times as a child. “I can handle this, Mother. I promise. Plus Caspian will be there.” I opted not to mention Sexton, since she didn’t trust him, and frankly, I’d been assuming Davin would come, but...he was a computer guy.
Was he also a badass? Sure. But assuming he’d throw himself into danger on my behalf was rude at best.
Davin, who’d followed me to my mother’s side, seemed to be able to read my mind as usual, and snorted. “And me. I won’t be letting you get yourself killed. No betrayals today.”
Mother looked up at him, confused, and he sighed and shook his head. “Something Wu Mei said. She’s got a strange view on what people owe to their loved ones.”
Mother rolled her eyes. “She would. Horrible woman.”
I refrained from pointing out how alike Mother and Mei were, since fighting was not the goal.
“You’re not ready for this,” she finally whispered. “I didn’t prepare you for this. I never wanted—” Her voice broke, and she looked away toward the window, her eyes wet.
I reached up and gently turned her chin till she was facing me again. “I know you didn’t want this. I don’t want you to ever be in danger either. But youdidprepare me for this. You taught me how to take care of myself, even if I was the worst student ever. You pushed me out of the nest, remember? You shoved poor unsuspecting Davin at me. I know you would never want me in danger, but I’m all grown up, Mother. And you raised me to be able to deal with that.”
“I didn’t, though,” she insisted, shaking her head, but instead of meeting my eye, she closed hers. “I...I protected you. I stopped things from hurting you, and now you...you’re so innocent. You don’t know?—”
“Mother. I’m not. I promise you, I’m not.” I leaned in and kissed her forehead. “I doubt anyone’s ever ready to march into danger, but you prepared me for this as well as you could. Plus there’s Caspian and Davin.”
“Against dragons,” she said, almost spat, and it was a denial of sorts. Then she pursed her lips and sighed, before finally meeting my eye. “Take care of them?”
“Of course. That’s how you taught me.” Because if there was one thing growing up my mother’s son had taught me, it was thathelping others wasn’t just the right thing to do, it was necessary. If you knowingly sat back and did nothing while others suffered or died, then you were complicit in their fate.
Every good general was on the front lines with their soldiers. Every good parent stood between their child and the world. If you cared about someone, you tried to take care of them in whatever way you could.
And me? Mother and my raven friend had raised me to care about everyone.
No wonder I was always exhausted.
“Now, unless I misunderstood the conversation I overheard this morning, Davin and I need to go down to the office and put a sign on the door saying we’re going to be closed a few days. And I need to call Bethany to reschedule our appointment to install her system. I think she’ll understand, since I’m sure every vamp in town knows something is going on by now.”
“Except Gerald,” Davin said, a tiny smirk in his voice.
I rolled my neck to look up at him and rolled my eyes. “Seriously? I think now that he’s re...un...dead...whatever. He never knew shit and now he never will.”
The smirk didn’t drop for a second, but Davin glanced over at my mother, then dragged the subject back into the proper direction. “We can also pack some bags and get lunch while we’re out.”
“There’s a dragon out there who wants you dead,” my mother protested. “Everyone is here to protect you.”
It was a fair point, but also, one dragon? One maybe prematurely old dragon, who had already been intimidated by my friends once? I wasn’t afraid of Fearson.
