“Oh, great, I’d have to ask permission to marry you,” Liam teased, tapping her nose with one finger.
She giggled. “Too late! Already asked and accepted.”
“Hopefully they won’t try to kidnap you and carry you off as their new breeder captive,” Liam grumbled under his breath, referencing the caracal shifters.
Flora smiled gently at them. “The High Council of Others is buzzing with the news that your Shifter Council managed to contact a dragon, to determine the guilt or innocence of some of the men involved. I have not run across a dragon in a thousand years.”
“Yes, Kaylee,” Maroulla confirmed. “That was a stroke of luck and due entirely to the Djinn, Jacinth, being involved. She knew a Djinn who had been acquainted with Kaylee for centuries. He pleaded our case to her, and she agreed to assist.”
“A stroke of luck, indeed,” Flora approved.
Naomi stared at them. “A dragon? Like, really, dragon-dragon?”
Liam laughed, and she flushed. “Well, you know what I mean.”
Maroulla laughed also, but kindly. “Yes, a dragon, just as Lady Flora here is a unicorn. And, like Lady Flora and other mythological creatures, Kaylee can assume human form when she wishes, but always she is a dragon.”
Beth looked curious. “What other kinds are there? Are there chimeras, and mermaids, and centaurs and goblins?” She frowned suddenly. “Are goblins mythological creatures?”
Maroulla waved the question away as she rose to her feet, gathering her purse. “Now that we’ve got you cleared, Beth, you’ll want to start thinking about what you want to do next. I’ve arranged for you to have a room here in the Inn with your sister for as long as you need. Your personal belongings from when you were taken into custody are being brought here from our storage facility, and you have money to be returned to you as well. We had closed out the bank accounts of your mother, aunt and sisters, as well, and those funds will be distributed to you both in equal amount. Our Ward’s accountant will be in touch.”
The money would be nice, but…
“But Valerie is not our mother,” Beth vocalized her own thoughts. “So we have no right to their money.”
Maroulla’s smile held more than a hint of satisfaction as she rose from her seat. “Legally, youareher daughters. There are birth certificates, Social Security cards. All perfectly legal. However she managed to get those, from the law’s standpoint, it’s set in stone. Even if some relative were found to challenge it… and the women you have known as your sisters all your life are also imprisoned and unable to make such a challenge… the documents are legal, and you have been raised as Valerie’s daughters.” Her smile turned more kindly. “Think of it as compensation for all you have been through.”
She was gone in a flurry of motion, while Naomi and Beth were still sitting bemused. Naomi felt something akin to panic, and looking into her sister’s eyes she saw her own anxiety reflected there.
“Umm,” she said, brilliantly.
“I agree.” Beth replied. She gave a shaky laugh. “I feel kind of overwhelmed. I’d just begun to get used to functioning as a human, at the Sanctuary.”
“Take it a day at a time,” Flora advised. Her smile was warm, her gaze compassionate. “Don’t be in a hurry to decide what to do. There are no decisions to be made that cannot wait. Go for a walk together, or Change and go for a run in the woods. Have dinner somewhere special, go for a drive. Do whatever strikes you in the moment, and enjoy your freedom.”
Naomi rested her gaze thoughtfully on the unicorn lady sitting across from them. “Was it coincidence that brought you here in time to help us? I mean, it had to have been, because you were here at the Inn before they even knew of me.”
“True coincidence does happen,” Flora allowed. “But in this case, I was drawn here by the gathering of magic in this area. There’s the Djinn woman married to the human, and the growing community of shapeshifters here, as well as Angus and his lovely lady,” she waved her hand toward the lobby. “Not to mention the pixies in the woods, and…”
“Wait, what?” Liam sat bolt upright, startled, just as Naomi and Beth chorused, “Pixies in the woods?”
The two sisters looked at each other and giggled, their palms meeting in a high five. “We’ve still got it, sis!”
They transferred their gazes to Flora, who was looking amused.
“So… pixies?” Naomi asked.
“Oh, yes, they’re there,” Flora assured them. “You won’t see them unless they wish it, however. And I imagine they were drawn here by the magic that Angus and Renee infused into their woods when the caracal shifters were in danger of being kidnapped.”
Naomi shuddered, having heard the story first-hand from Tamera, but Beth, beside her, still had an awed look on her face. Clearly she was lost in visions of pixies, and Naomi couldn’t help giggling. Across from them, Flora got up from her armchair, leaning once more on her cane.
“I will leave you to become reacquainted,” she told Naomi and Beth.
They watched her make her way to the lobby, her cane tapping on the floor as she went. She turned to go up the stairs, and disappeared from their view.
Chapter28
“Pixies,”Beth whispered. Her clasp tightened on Naomi’s hand. “Can we go to the woods and see if we can spot any? Even if we saw just one, that would be so amazing!”
