by Zoe Chant
“First, what was that moon-shaped thing?”
Either he talked for hours, or he kept it simple. If she wanted to learn all the history, it would give him pleasure to make that happen—but at this moment, perhaps simple was best.
“The best translation is an Oracle Stone,” he said.
“So it tells the future?”
“No. The root to ‘oracle,’ I’m told, is ‘speak,’ which is closer to the meaning. At some point, very long ago, some of my people visited this coast. For whatever reason—whatever was here back then—they each spoke their lives, memories, and teachings into the stone, then sealed it and placed it along the shore where the water meets the land, and warded it so that only our kind would find it. But subsequent cataclysms seems to have buried it deep within the ground.”
“This is a quake-prone area,” she said.
“Whether the recent quake that partially revealed it was natural or caused by some force is yet to be determined, but that partial revelation was heard on the mythic plane by the empress of our kind. She lives in the mountains high in the north of China.”
“I think you mentioned an empress before. It didn’t sink in. A dragon empress?” Bird’s lips parted with amazement.
“Yes. It will give me great pleasure to introduce you to one another one day.”
Bird slid her hands up to her shoulders, her brow puckered. “I don’t know whether to look forward to it or dread it. She couldn’t possibly . . .”
He was up and out of his chair so fast that she nearly dropped her cup. He laid a finger on her lips. “Don’t say it,” he murmured into her hair. “There is only one Bird in the entire world. My mate. The empress will welcome you for that alone.” He backed away, lest she take fright at his intensity, and resumed his seat. “I think you will like one another. She, too, is a connoisseur of teas, and she loves opera.”
Bird clearly was dubious, but asked, “What do we have to do now that you have found the Oracle Stone?”
Not we. That was a vow. This was something he had to do alone.“I’ve put a binding on the area, which should hold until I figure a few things out.”
“Like, who sent those creatures to attack us?”
“And why they haven’t done anything until now. My guess is that the Oracle Stone is bound with more wards. I’ll have to determine that before we go breaking apart the cavern wall that still covers it. Other questions: if the enemy knows it is there, do they know what’s in it? Why haven’t they brought it out?”
“That does sound odd,” Bird began.
She jumped as someone rapped at the front door. A female voice called clearly, “Mom?”
Bird shot to her feet, her face draining of color. “Bec!”
She sent a dismayed look at Mikhail. A cold chill struck him. Did she not wish her nestlings to know him? “You do not want her to meet me? I can become invisible.”
“It’s not that, it’s those burns in your jacket,” she whispered.
The cold vanished as he looked down at himself. His jacket was full of charred-edged holes. He smiled even as he yanked it off. He should never have doubted his mate.
“Mom?” the voice called again.
“Coming!” Bird shouted back, and went out.
Mikhail heard Bird’s daughter say, “Mom, you’re covered with dirt! Were you out in that gorgeous garden?”
He checked the black T-shirt he’d worn underneath his jacket. To his relief, it only had one burn hole, over his ribs on the left. He clapped his arm against it, and made a mental note not to rise from the table lest he expose the burns on the right thigh and left calf of his jeans.
Bird reappeared, towing a tall young woman after her, who was still talking, “. . . and Skater is on a training mission, or—well, maybe he wouldn’t have come. He said we just found you again, so it isn’t right to pester you with—”
Eyes very much like Bird’s found Mikhail, and widened.
Bird spoke into the sudden silence, her voice a little breathless, “This is Mikhail Long. He’s my—he and I are dating.”
Bec stuck out a slim hand. “Nice to meet you.” Both her expression and tone were unreadable.
Mikhail clamped down on his dragon’s impulse to scan her thoughts. “Would you rather I go elsewhere?”
“No,” Bird said at the same time Bec said, “Yes.”
Mother and daughter gave one another identical startled looks, then Bird’s cheeks glowed with color as she said firmly, “Mikhail is my—he’s part of my chosen family now. Of course you and Skater are, too, always, always, always. But he and I, we share. And he’s very discreet,” she added with the faintest tremor of laughter and a quick, darting glance at Mikhail brimming with such fun that he fell in love with her all over again.
“Whatever,” Bec sighed, and leaned against the sink. “I mean—oh, sorry, what was your name again?”
“Mikhail,” Bird stated. He loved the ringing tone in her voice.
Bec gave Mikhail an absent nod as she pressed her hands to either side of her head. “It’s not you. It’s just, I’m so mad I could spit. Skater proposed to Dalisay on Valentine’s Day. And she said yes.” She glanced at Mikhail, and said, “Skater is my brother. He’s engaged to an awesome Filipina woman who works at the base hospital while she’s working on getting her medical degree. She wants to be a pediatrician.”
Bec turned to Bird. “But to Father, that’s not enough. She doesn’t come from our kind of people.” Bec made air quotes on every emphasized word. “Skater, excuse me, Bartholomew Waterson III—” The air quotes flashed like blinkers. “—can play around with that kind of girl, but for marriage, he should think of his future career, not waste himself on a single mother with that kind of background who’d saddle him with the expense of raising someone else’s kid. Skater kept his cool until Father said, ‘Don’t make the mistake I did,’ and Skater lost it. We weren’t going to tell him we’d found you again, but Skater lit into him.”
“I’m sorry,” Bird said.
“What have you got to be sorry for? It’s true I hadn’t told him, but that was only because I didn’t want to deal with the nasty comments and then the third degree if Father knew we were seeing you, but you know what? I’m glad he knows. Because it pissed him off—and Grandmother, too.”
Bec curled her lip. “Unfortunately, it wrecked Skater’s plans. Because Father still holds the keys, as sole trustee, to the trust funds the grandparents set up for us when we were small.”
“I remember those,” Bird said softly. “They set it up so that Bartholomew was the only one with access. It was right before he divorced me.”
Bec looked puzzled. “I knew they hated you, but why would they do that?”
“Because it was my royalties that originally seeded those accounts.”
“Damn!” Bec exclaimed explosively. “They always said that was their money.”
“No. But I was glad they’d done it. I wanted you kids to have it. I’ve always liked the thought of my earnings paying for your college.”
“Except it didn’t,” Bec said. “Skater dropped out of UCLA law school the first year and went into the Corps. I guess I didn’t tell you, but I got a partial scholarship and the rest was student loans, which I’ve paid off myself.”
Bird said peaceably, “I’m glad you have the money now.”
“But that’s just it. We don’t! Skater wanted to use his share to bring Dalisay’s parents over from the Philippines for their wedding, and put a down payment on a small place near Camp Pendleton for Dalisay and little Tala. I was going to give them a nice wedding as my gift, but Father has locked our accounts. I am so mad I could—”
From the other side of the thin wall, Bird’s cellphone rang. Mikhail recognized the ringtone as the one that had summoned them earlier to the aid of Bird’s landlord.
Bird looked a bit wild-eyed. “Mr. Kleiner!”
Bec patted her mother’s shoulder. “That’s your landlord, right? Go ahead and answer it, Mom.”
Bec stared at Mikhail. Her eyes were the same color and shape as Bird’s. But their expression—distrust bordering on suspicion—was very unlike her mother’s. Slowly, she said, “Mom’s never mentioned you.”
“Our relationship is new,” Mikhail said.
Bec’s shoulders were tight. “You might have been told that Mom and I pretty much were strangers until a few months ago. So you could say I don’t have any right to poke my nose into her business. But I’m going to anyway. My brother and I just got her back, after we lost her all our lives.”
“I know,” Mikhail said, as Bird’s voice echoed from the front room.
“Maybe we should have figured out there was something fishy when our grandparents kept saying that she wasn’t our kind of person whenever we asked about her. But we were kids. We didn’t understand the kind of battles that go on between adults.” She flung her short dark hair back. “Mom hasn’t a clue about the world, or she would have hurled lawyers at Father years ago. But that’s all in the past. Right now, we’ve got her back, we’re getting to know her, we don’t want to see her hurt. She hasn’t mentioned you, so there has to be a reason.”
Mikhail sensed the worry below the belligerent precision of her words.
“We met very recently,” Mikhail said. “But sometimes all it takes is an hour. A minute. I can promise you this, that I intend to spend the rest of my life making her as happy as she deserves to be.”
Bec’s eyes widened to an expression more like Bird’s: surprised, and a little wistful. Mikhail had a good idea how much damage Bird had suffered from her ex-husband, but now he wondered how much more subtle damage had been dealt to Bird’s children by guardians who seemed to use love as a weapon of control.
“Well, if you’re serious—” Bec began.
“Okay, problem solved,” Bird exclaimed breathlessly, appearing in the kitchen doorway. “Morgana showed up just now. She’s helping him. He’s still sore from his fall.”
Mikhail sent her a meaningful glance as he slowly rose, keeping his folded jacket over one arm to hide the burn on his upper pant leg. He watched Bird get it at once. His adorable, wonderful, clever Bird!
Without missing a beat, Bird said, “I hope you two were getting to know each other. Here, Bec, you must try this tea. It’s really special—”
As she drew her daughter’s attention, Mikhail slipped to the door, hiding the burns in his clothes as best he could.
“I’ll leave you two to chat at your leisure,” he called out, making sure nothing but his head appeared around the door jamb. “I’d better get back to work.”
As he left, his sharp shifter hearing picked out Bec’s whisper from the kitchen. “I hope this isn’t gross, but day-amm, Mom, that guy sure fills out a T-shirt!”
Mikhail laughed as he picked up his swordstick and closed the front door. He ducked around the side of the cottage, looked across the beautiful garden, the roses nodding in the sea breeze.
No one was there.
He wrapped himself in invisibility, shifted, and flew skyward, sending out a mental call.
Joey Hu answered: he was luckily at home, his classes over for the day.
Joey lived on the eastern outskirts of the town, his back fence opening to wide open country. Mikhail brought his dragon down in the yard and walked up onto the terrace, where Joey had a small jug of Bai Jiu waiting.
“Mikhail. I must say, except for those burn holes in your clothes—very artistic—you’re looking quite rested. I almost didn’t recognize you.”
Mikhail could not prevent a smile. “I’ve been enjoying something better than rest.”
Joey chortled. “That’s what I like to hear! So. What brings you here, instead of staying right where you are for more ‘rest’?”
Mikhail thought of the cave, and forced his mind to seriousness. “Joey, I have two favors to ask.”
Joey gravely poured out two tiny ceramic cups, they toasted one another, downed the liquor, and Joey said, “Speak.”
“The first . . . let me fill you in.” Mikhail gave him a succinct report on the morning’s efforts.
Joey’s expression became increasingly more grave. “An Oracle Stone! This is much more serious than I’d imagined. I could almost say it’s way beyond my league. Certainly beyond my experience.”
“It’s my affair to handle,” Mikhail said.
“But you’re one person. I find this deeply disturbing. Someone knows it’s there, or approximately where it is. Close enough to sic those wyrms on you . . . Mikhail, this is beginning to feel more and more like a setup.”
“Exactly,” Mikhail said grimly. “By someone who knows enough about me to try to keep me from getting outside the cavern in order to let my dragon loose. I know I can’t handle this alone. I’m going to call for backup, and go back to investigate.”
Joey grimaced, but he didn’t say anything.
Relieved at not having to argue, Mikhail said, “If this is aimed at me, whoever is behind it might not know I now have a mate. But I won’t risk counting on that knowledge not being out yet. I need to know she is safe before I return to retrieve that Stone if I can. Would you invite Bird over, or think up some excuse to visit her?”
“I’d be glad to do that,” Joey said. “What do I tell her?”
“The truth, of course, but try not to make her worry. We’re still so new to one another—there has not been time enough to introduce her to everything in my past. I believe she thinks of me as a scholar. Though she saw me fight off the lava wyrms a while ago, I don’t think it has sunk in that what I do for the empress is often dangerous. I need to get this resolved fast. Time for me to be active, take the battle to the enemy, before they can form and execute another plan.”
“I’m glad to help,” Joey said, brow furrowed. To Mikhail’s vision, nine fox tails lashed in and out of the mythic realm. “But I confess I’d feel better coming as backup.”
“You’re good in a fight, but not a fighter. An Oracle Stone turning up after millennia really requires me to call on the Guardians.”
Joey grimaced.
Mikhail sighed. “Is this beyond personal? Has Cang done anything untoward? I haven’t heard anything to his detriment, and quite a bit in his favor since he was exiled here. If he hasn’t done anything wrong, I’d like to offer him this chance to retrieve his honor.”
“Very well,” Joey relented. “And your second favor?”
“To introduce me to someone whose profession it is to arrange the acquisition of a house.”
Joey’s smile was wicked. “You mean a real estate agent?”
“That.”
“Nothing easier. Unlike your mission—but you know how I feel about Cang. However, this is your task, and you know your personnel better than I do. Be fast, be well.” Joey poured out more Bai Jiu, and once again raised it. “To your endeavor. Gan bei!”
Clack! They emptied their cups.
Now, we hunt! bugled Mikhail’s dragon.
THIRTEEN
BIRD
Bird’s spirits soared.
At a time of life when she had given up the possibility of finding love, it had come to her, better and brighter and deeper than she had ever imagined, with a man she looked forward to spending a lifetime getting to know. She had found her children again. And now her daughter had come to her as someone who cared, whom she could talk to, whom she could trust. Her life, so parched for so long, overflowed with all the permutations of love, which filled her with wonder and gratitude.
She could not stop smiling as she poured out Mikhail’s excellent tea.
Bec drank it down as if it were water as she worked through her temper with wild talk of suing her father for those accounts. “It’ll be my last act before I give up the law!”
Bird listened with sympathy, knowing that Bec wouldn’t sue him. Though she hadn’t seen him for nearly thirty years, Bird had learned something of Bartholomew
third-hand through her children’s words these past few months. Once his own temper cooled, he would very likely cave in favor of his children, if pressed between his parents and what Skater and Bec wanted.
Bec’s mentions of her grandparents (“They still call me Rebecca, when I asked them to call me Bec when I was thirteen years old! I even legally changed it, but nooo, Rebecca is a proper name. It’s the same with Skater, who had to fight off being called Bart the Fart, and Bart Simpson, through every single year at that prep school . . .”) made it clear that Bird had guessed right. They were the ones pushing for an upscale lifestyle that neither of Bird’s children was interested in.
“We’ll find a way,” Bird said. “I’ve got a lot of friends in town. I can promise this, Skater will have a lovely wedding, even if it’s not fancy.”
“He doesn’t want fancy,” Bec mumbled, wiping her eyes. “He wants nice. He and Dalisay deserve nice.”
“I agree. As for the rest, give your father time to cool down.”
“Father,” Bec grumbled as she headed toward the door. “At least he didn’t insist we call him Pater, the way half the kids in that boarding school had to address their paternal units. Thanks for listening, Mom! I’ll tell Skater everything you said.”
With a kiss on the cheek and a wave, she was gone.
Bird began tidying the kitchen, wondering whom she could talk to about arranging pretty, but cheap, weddings. Doris would be the one to ask, she thought—
And her phone rang, this time the general ringtone. She let it go to voicemail in case it was a scam call. But the caller was Joey Hu, Mikhail’s friend from the university.
“Mikhail gave me your number,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind. I’d love to take you out to lunch and get to know my old friend’s newly found mate. I can fill you in on stories of his past badassery.”
Badassery? Bird looked around her kitchen, laughing to herself. She remembered Mikhail wielding that hidden sword, and felt as if she’d stepped into a runaway train. Was this what life with Mikhail was going to be like?
