“Yes.” Ash grabbed more clothes and dumped them into her backpack, along with personal essentials.
“So, the hair and eyes are real?”
“They are.” Ash grinned. She could talk to her mother about anything, and she hated keeping the biggest truth of her life hidden.
“I suppose it was quite romantic when he saved you from that mob?” Mum lifted an eyebrow.
“Yes. Though I didn’t think so back at the time.” Ash laughed, remembering, then she said quietly, “Mum, I know three weeks sounds insanely fast for all this. But Race…he’s become everything to me.”
She sat on the bed and grasped her mother’s hands. “There’s something else I need to tell you. You can decide when to tell Dad—nothing bad, I promise,” she said quickly at the worry darkening her mother’s eyes. “Every Guardian is given an obsidian dagger. It’s said that when a woman touches one, and it glows, she is that warrior’s destined mate. Race’s dagger—” she took a breath “—glowed for me.”
Her mother blinked, then her mouth fell open. “What?”
“Darn, I forgot the dagger back in New York…” Then she smiled. “Okay, watch this.”
She held out her palm and summoned her dagger. The air stirred, and the obsidian weapon took form in her palm, with a faint glow to it as if to make her mother believe.
A soft gasp filled the room.
“Goodness me!” Mum reached out, hesitated, then she carefully took the blade, and her eyes widened as the truth landed. “Destined mate? So, he’s like a…a husband?”
All the finer details could wait for another time. “Yes. We’re mated.”
Her mother nodded slowly, then slipped the dagger into Ash’s backpack. “Well then, if you have to be with someone, better him—he looks like he could bring down an army singlehanded.” Another smile. “At least I know you will always be safe. You’ve been our gift, Ashaya…and now, Race’s.”
Her throat tightened. She hugged her mother fiercely. “Thanks, Mum.”
She’d been their miracle—born of loss, adopted out of love, the child they’d once thought they could never have.
“When you left to find out where your powers came from, I never imagined your life would change so much.” Her mother sniffed and tucked strands of Ash’s hair behind her ear. “Now we’ll lose you to another world entirely.” She reached for a tissue on the bedside table and dabbed at her eyes.
“Oh, Mum, you aren’t losing me.” Ash wiped her own damp eyes. “I’ll—we’ll both visit, as often as we can.”
She rose and buckled the flap shut, managing a wobbly smile. “Let’s go make sure Dad and Race are both still in one piece.”
Her mother laughed as they headed downstairs.
Ash froze on the bottom step, her mother beside her, gaping at the sight before them.
“The Sumerian tablets suggest these beings walked freely among humans,” Race’s low voice carried to them from the sitting room. “It’s true. I was around when that happened. The later Greek interpretations completely missed the significance of the original text’s distinctions between divine messengers and earth-bound immortals.”
“That’s…that’s remarkably insightful,” her father responded, excitement clear in his usually quiet tone. “Most scholars focus on the hierarchical aspects, but what you’re suggesting is a more complex relationship between realms…”
A half hour ago, they’d left the men in stiff silence. Now, Race and her father were on the sofa, hunched over Dad’s prized first edition of something probably ancient, with him gesturing animatedly over the faded pages.
“Did we enter an alternate universe?” she whispered to her mother. “Dad’s found someone who actually enjoys debating ancient Mesopotamian history?”
No wonder her man wasn’t in her head—he was too busy charming her father through academia.
Her mother squeezed her arm. “I’d say he’s found a kindred spirit, one whoactuallylivedthrough the era. All this is still rather overwhelming to absorb.”
“Believe me, Mum, I was there too.” She huffed, setting her backpack down.
She crossed to them, and her father looked up, his eyes bright. “Ashaya, your young man—” At Race’s faint smile, he cleared his throat, smiling sheepishly at his error. “Race—he’s a fount of genuine knowledge. It’s a pity we must remain silent about this and their existence.”
“It is,” Ash agreed. “But you can pick his brain whenever we come for a visit.”
Race cast her an indulgent look, while her father’s expression brightened at the prospect.
