His uncles shook their heads.
“Magic has been illegal for too many years for us to know,” Amos said.“Our parents may have known where it came from, or our grandparents, but that’s no longer something we know.”
“Could my mother speak to dragons?”Darian asked.“Or my father?Is it something that was passed down?”
He didn’t know much about his father.His uncles claimed they didn’t know who he was, only that his mother said his last name was Emberlin.
“It would more likely be your father,” Uncle Bram said.“If Melody could speak to dragons, she certainly never told us, and I think she would have.We were thick as thieves as children,” he said to Celia with an air of confiding a great secret.“Some siblings may not like their brothers and sisters, but that was not us.We were close—closer than most.And I think we would have known if she was sneaking away and talking to dragons.”
“But you didn’t know she was sneaking away to meet my father,” Darian pointed out.
At the pain that crossed his uncles’ faces, he wished he hadn’t.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“No, you’re right,” Uncle Bram said.“We had started the store by then, and your uncle and I were wrapped up in it and paid less attention to your mother.It’s one of the things we regret most.”
There was a lump in Darian’s throat, but Uncle Amos added, “If she hadn’t, though, we wouldn’t have you.And we don’t regret that for a moment.”
Darian nodded, but the action felt hollow.If his uncles had missed that, who was to say they hadn’t missed his mother sneaking away to see dragons?Perhaps his mother had discovered the nesting grounds the same way Celia had, and perhaps she had discovered the same secret he had.
“Now, Celia,” Uncle Amos said, turning to her with a smile, “tell us more about yourself.I know I’ve seen you around the store sometimes, but you don’t talk about yourself much.”
“For a reason,” Celia said curtly.
And now they were changing the subject.
“Ah yes,” Uncle Bram said good-naturedly as he took another bite of eggs.“But then you barged into our home before all of us were awake and asked us personal questions about our nephew.So I daresay we have the right to ask a few personal questions about you.”
Celia narrowed her eyes at Uncle Bram, and Darian resisted the urge to laugh.If there was one thing Uncle Bram was good at, it was getting someone to talk about themselves—even if they didn’t want to.
“I told you,” she said.“I’m a healer.”
“There must be more to the story than that,” Uncle Bram said.“If you don’t heal humans any longer…”
Celia picked up a piece of bacon and put it in her mouth.
Darian smirked.That was one way to avoid answering the question.
Judging by the way Uncle Amos’s shoulders were shaking with silent laughter, he also appreciated it.
“You can ignore him,” Uncle Amos said, shooting Uncle Bram a look.“He doesn’t understand boundaries.”
“What are boundaries?”Uncle Bram asked with a shrug.“They only work if you want to keep them.”
“I want to keep them,” Celia said with a slight smile as she reached for a biscuit and began to butter it.“I think that revealing I have dragons is enough for one morning.”
“So you’ll be back?”Uncle Bram asked.“I certainly wouldn’t mind it.”
Celia smiled smugly.“I’m sure,” she said.“Who wouldn’t like someone showing up to their house with eggs and bacon and homemade biscuits?I know I wouldn’t mind.”
As his uncles chortled and scooped more food onto their plates, Darian took a mental note of her remark.Perhaps he should show up with eggs and bacon and homemade biscuits—although that would probably scare her off, since his homemade biscuits were nothing like this.
He was not a very good cook.None of them were.Something about being raised by bachelor uncles left him with dismal cooking skills.
This was some of the best food he’d had in years, aside from when he’d eaten dinner with her the other night.
“I thank you for your hospitality,” Celia said with a smile as she finished eating her biscuit and stood.“Would you like me to wash up?”
