Ash nodded, taking refuge in her tea.
“I’m still in awe of you.” Darci flashed her a wide smile, her sunflower-hued eyes glowing as she tidied the kitchen island. “The woman who tamed the reclusive dragon warrior.”
“Hardly tamed. More like he knocked me off my feet,” Ash admitted with a wry smile, then grimaced. “Actually, I crashed into him.”
“So, what really happened?” Nia asked, her expression curious. “Kira said it was somewhere in the Himalayas?”
Ash blew on her steaming tea. “I was trying to find a woman who knew my birth mother, hoping to learn why I have these abilities. Instead, I found a village that thought I was a witch after I accidentally made it rain.”
“Oh, I heard about the rain here.” Darci laughed, honey-brown curls slipping free from her messy topknot. “Blaéz still can’t get over how you drenched everyone, and no one dared say a word.”
“They wouldn’t. Race would’ve flambéed them,” Kira said, grinning.
Ash huffed. “Anyway, cue villagers with clubs and me running for dear life, straight into Race, who calmly told them I was his and off-limits. Then he had the nerve to taunt me that I belonged to him—apparently, saving me made it official. I called him an oaf.”
Kira laughed. “Sounds about right.”
Ash snorted. She told them the rest, about the rescue from being tied and burned at the stake.
Darci grinned. “Rescued twice by the same dragon? That’s fate.”
“Or punishment,” Ash muttered, sipping more tea, trying to ease the constriction in her throat.
“Whatever it is, it’ll be okay,” Nia said softly, her amber eyes warm with understanding. “All immortals are like bulls in a china shop in the early stages.”
“I so second that,” Darci said, untying her apron and tossing it on the counter.
“And I third that,” Kira called out, gliding over with a plate. “Here, a true English breakfast. We seldom get to eat this when our mates prefer an entire cow on the spit.”
Despite everything, Ash found herself smiling. Then Kira set a plate with eggs, bacon, sausages, and baked beans in front of her—the same breakfast she used to share with her mum at The Bluebell Tea Rooms on the High Street.
I miss you, Mum.
She blinked her misty eyes. “You shouldn’t have, really. Cereal would have been fine.”
“Nonsense.” Kira waved it off and took a seat at the table. “Going back to the dragon world, you’ll need your strength.”
Ash almost blurted that she wasn’t going—but shame stopped her. These women were so strong, so sure of themselves. They probably wielded their powers with ease.
While she…she was the one who’d nearly electrocuted the whole castle.
Before her stomach sank to her trainers again, she picked up her fork, took a bite of eggs, and changed the subject. “How do you cope with keeping this place tidy?”
She hadn’t seen any staff around.
“Ah, that.” Draci wrapped her hands around her mug and smiled. “Hedori, our butler, bodyguard, and all-around handyman, usually takes care of everything. But he’s gone home for a short break. So we’ve got help for the castle itself, but when it comes to meals, several of us like to cook.”
Kira nodded and drank more of her coffee. “We do. Then there’s Jenna, another psi. She’s currently upstate. Man, thewoman makes the rest of us look like amateurs in the kitchen. You might be gone again when she gets back, though.”
Ash swallowed. She couldn’t keep pretending—not when they’d know the truth the moment Race left.
“I won’t be going with him.” She set down her fork. “He thinks it’s too dangerous.”
Nia stilled, her mug midway to her mouth. “But you just came back from there.”
“Only so he could leave me here.” She shrugged, tried for lightness, and failed.
“No wonder you’re upset,” Kira muttered. “I’d be hopping mad, too. Týr tried that kind of stunt once, but I wasn’t having it—demons or not.”
