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“Yes, sir,” the guardreplied.
“You have your dragon’s sensitivity,” Nate said to me as we headed back to the main floor. “Do you think Orion actually wants to help, or is he just looking for any way to get out of that holdingroom?”
I thought of the former guard’s watery eyes and the wave of feeling that had coursed off of him at the end. “He really does regret what happened. He wants to be part of the kin again. I can’t tell how well his nerve will stand up once he’s out there with the rogues, ofcourse.”
“I guess there’d be no telling that with anyone.” Nate sighed. “Well, we’ll see how he feels to you when he’s totallyawake.”
“How long will it take for the tranquilizer to wearoff?”
“A few hours at least.” He paused when we reached the top of the stairs. “So we have a little time. There’s something I wanted to show you here. It might actually be a littlefamiliar.”
I perked up, my uncertainties about our plan momentarily pushed aside by a spark of curiosity. “What do youmean?”
He smiled. “You’llsee.”
Nate led me through a few hallways and up a broad staircase to the second floor. He opened a door to a large room in what was obviously one corner of the house. The first thing that caught my eyes was the sunlight streaming through two pairs of windows on the south and eastwalls.
I stepped inside, and my breath stopped in mythroat.
It wasn’t just that the room was beautiful, although it was. The walls around the door were painted in reds and golds and glossy greens: stylized animals frolicking through a forest here, an ocean there, and up here by the ceiling puffs of dancing clouds. The designs stretched all the way to the windows, where trees and waves curled around the frames. The floorboards beneath my feet were polished to a shine so soft I almost felt as if I were walking on silkcarpet.
I walked into the middle of the room and turned around. A warm, sandy smell hung in the air, like the kind of rock perfect for sunning yourself on during a hot summer day... if you happened to be a dragon. Like the actual rock that lay on the floor beneath the windows. A few chairs with plump cushions and wooden arms scattered the rest of thespace.
Yes, it was beautiful. And also deeply familiar. Tears had sprung into myeyes.
“When I imagined bringing you to my home for the first time, I pictured the visit being a little more relaxing,” Nate said. “But at least before we go you can spend some time in here. It was your mother’s favorite room in the estate.” He took in my expression. “You rememberit.”
“Yes.” I sank onto the stone slab. The sun-drenched warmth of its solid surface spread up through my hands. “She would bring me and my sisters in here when we complained about being bored. Sometimes my father—my bear shifter father—would come with us. What did she callit?”
“The inspiration room,” Nate said with a smile. “The first time I met her, she called for me to meet her inhere.”
“Even though I couldn’t shift yet, I loved lying on this rock.” I eased myself down on my side, soaking up the stone’s heat and the beams streaming through the windows. “Sometimes she’d curl up around me here. All four of us would squeeze in together, or five if Da wasthere...”
I swallowed hard. Nate’s expression softened. “You don’t talk about them very much—your fathers and your sisters. You can, you know. I mean, if it’s too hard, you don’t have to. But if you want to talk to someone who remembers... I trained with your bear shifter father for four years before the attack took him. I didn’t know you or your sisters well, but I remember watching you playing in the courtyard when you werevisiting.”
Watching us and wondering which of us would become his mate? And now here I was. The only one of my entire familyleft.
I swiped at my eyes and pushed myself back into a sitting position. “It is hard. Not just because it hurts, but also because... The memories don’t come easily. I don’t think there’s any magic suppressing them now, but when it’s been so long since I’ve practiced remembering them—I don’t know where to start unless I see or feel something that triggersthem.”
Like that embarrassing breakdown when we’d first arrived. My face still heated at thatmemory.
But this place provoked better ones. I found, with an ache in my throat, that I did want to share them. To make them more real by conjuring those dead andgone.
I pointed to one wall. “My oldest sister, Temperance—she used to make up stories about all the animals. One time she spent hours connecting every piece of the painting into one epic tale. I never knew where she’d go with it when she started. The story came out totally different everytime.”
My gaze fell on the chairs. “And my other sister—Mom always said she must have accidentally birthed a monkey when Verity came out. Verity couldn’t sit still for more than a few minutes. In here she’d climb up on the chairs and make a game of leaping between them, seeing how long she could provoke her dragon wings outfor.”
“And Da...” I could picture him in my mind’s eye. Big and brawny like Nate, but longer in the face and even darker haired. My chest clenched up. “I always wanted to see more from the windows. He’d sweep me up in his arms and hold me right by the top, and tell me about all the things we could spot from here to thehorizon.”
I felt the giddiness that had run through my little girl’s body. The joy of having my father’s attention focused all onme.
What would he, and my other dads, have thought of me if they could see me now? What would my life have been like if the rogues had never sent it brutally offcourse?
Nate ambled over and sat down beside me. I leaned against his shoulder. He took my hand, rubbing his thumb over the back. “You lost a lot,” he said. “More than any of us can understand. We each lost one mentor. Your whole family is gone. I have no idea what that’s like. But whenever you want to talk about it, you can come to me. To any of us. I think I can speak for the other alphasthere.”
“Thank you.” Now that I had talked about my family, my heart felt a little lighter. “I actually think I’d like to spend a little time in here on my own before we go. If that’sokay.”
“Of course,” Nate said. “I should take care of a few things around the estate before we move on. If you need me, one of the attendants will know where to findme.”
