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Mom nodded, and tears slid down her pale cheeks. But she didn’t make another sound.
Iain limped over to the bed, sitting near Dad’s feet. He cleared his throat roughly, the cough sounding in the room. “Uncle Damon, I... I’m so sorry. It was my idea to check out the abandoned house. I had no idea it was going to collapse. It was my fault. All of this.”
I stared at him, my anger and pain mixing together to become a single arrow of focused fury directed straight at Iain’s heart. My mate had dragged my dad into a situation that may have killed him?
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I hissed at Iain, my hands tightening into fists.
Iain turned bloodshot eyes toward me. “I’m sorry.”
I shook my head and took a step back, away from the bed. “If my dad dies, I’ll never forgive you.”
My father was the sun and the moon for my family, for my kingdom. And more importantly, for my mother.
Iain stood up, his voice imploring. “Veronica. Please...”
I ran from the room. I couldn’t even look at him and my dragon was so fucking angry I could shift this very minute. In fact...
I turned down a hallway, running in the direction of my room, stripping off my clothes as I ran. I couldn’t believe this. Theo had called me back here just in time to save my pain-in-the-ass, supposedly fated mate, only to expect me to watch my father die?
No!
I couldn’t accept that outcome. I refused to watch him die. I wouldn’t let it happen. I ran through my room to the balcony and for the second—or was it third?—time that day, I shifted and took to the sky. My dragon blasted fiery ice as I flapped my wings, ascending higher into the heavens.
I’d thought the year away from Iain would have calmed me, given me perspective. But it hadn’t. Quite the opposite, in fact. I was as angry and confused as ever when it came to him and our connection. I flew until I was exhausted, then spiraled down, down down, until I reached the streets of the town below.
I landed near my uncle and aunt’s house, and shifted back to human before hurrying up to their door.
I knocked once and Uncle Dymitri answered. “Veronica! Oh, God, come in before you freeze.”
I strode inside and he handed me one of the long, thick cloaks that hung by the door. Everyone in our kingdom had such clothing to hand.
“Who is it, Dymitri?” Aunt Sarah’s voice sounded moments before she saw me. “Oh! Come in, you must be freezing.”
She hurried me into their cozy little lounge room where the fire blazed hot.
“It’s beautiful in here,” I said, rushing up to the fireplace to defrost.
Sarah laughed. “Yeah, I’m still human. That fire burns all year round.”
I smiled at her, having a greater understanding now of what sort of temperatures a human was used to. “I can’t believe you chose to live here. Why didn’t you drag Dymitri back to your home town?”
Sarah stared at her husband with a disgusting amount of devotion. “He loves it here. Why would I have made him leave?”
I rolled my eyes at the gooey look they shared, but grinned. “Indeed.”
Dymitri was my father’s half-brother, and I’d grown up with his kids as my cousins. Thoughts of my dad immediately wiped the grin off my face. “Have you been up to the palace? Did you hear about Dad?”
Dymitri sat in a large armchair and Sarah poured tea from a pot already sitting on the nearby table, then handed me the cup.
“Yes, we did.” Sarah spoke up for my uncle, sitting down on the sofa opposite me. “We’ve been up there already but came home a few hours ago. Is there any news?”
“Well, we found Iain and brought him home,” I said, my throat aching with the words. Bastard. “But Dad’s still... asleep.”
“Iain... nice young man,” Dymitri said. “He’s been here for months, on and off. Helping your dad with renovations and plans.”
I gulped. I hadn’t known that. “Really? That’s nice of him.”
Dymitri chuckled. “It certainly is. His castle and lands are much milder than ours. I would have thought he’d prefer to stay home.”
