“Did you find anything?” Thorn had almost forgotten he’d asked Mr. Tully to go to the basement for him.
“I did. Not much, but it might be a clue.” Mr. Tully took his smartphone out of his pocket and showed it to Thorn.
“What’s this?” Thorn asked, taking a closer look.
“I didn’t find a picture of it. But I did find something else. This is another painting of Peregrine Manning.” Mr. Tully pointed at a small hazy object on the mantlepiece behind Perry.
“What is it?” Thorn couldn’t see it clearly.
“Here, I’ll zoom in.” Mr. Tully made the image bigger and then scrolled across until the dragon was in the center of the screen. “It’s a jade bear. I believe it has runes carved into it.”
“Are they the same runes as on the amulet?” Emilia asked, standing behind them. Her nearness was enough to overpower Thorn’s senses, but he focused on his job. This might not be museum work, but he planned to carry out the tasks as if it were.
“Possibly. Do you know where it came from?” Thorn looked up from the phone and caught Emilia’s frown before she smoothed it off her face. “It’s not a Magnus Dumas painting. Do you know who painted it?”
“I can’t make out the artist’s signature,” Mr. Tully admitted. “I’ll see if I can clean the image up and figure out what it says.”
“Maybe I can clean it up enough to read the signature.” Ruby got her phone out. “Can you send it to me?”
“Sure.” Ruby gave Mr. Tully her phone number and he sent the photograph straight to her phone. “Thanks.”
“Tell me if Magnus recognizes it?” Thorn asked Ruby after they said goodbye to Mr. Tully and left the museum.
“I’ll ask him when I get home. He’s helping Harlan plant the peas this morning. He’s still learning to cope with the new world he woke up in.” Ruby walked to her car and stopped, her keys in her hand. “How are you doing, Emilia?”
Emilia lifted her head and focused on Ruby. “I’m doing o-kay.” She gave a hint of a smile as she copied words that were new to her.
“I think you’ll do better than okay.” Ruby hugged her and then got in her car. “I’ll call you later.”
“Okay, anything Magnus remembers, let me know.” Thorn waved to Ruby as she drove away and then turned to Emilia. “Are you okay?”
Emilia brushed her hand across her face, hiding her unshed tears. “I do not know. Overwhelmed I think explains it best.”
“Want to go somewhere and talk about it?” he asked, and took her hand, leading her back to his truck.
“Where are we going?” Emilia accepted his help to get into the truck. She looked tired, but not from lack of sleep, it was more than that, deeper than that. As if her soul was tired.
“It’s a surprise. If you feel up to it. You look tired.” He leaned against the truck, watching her face as she fought to control her emotions.
“I’ve slept for centuries, but I feel as if I haven’t slept for days.” Her eyes locked onto his. “What if the sleeping spell comes back?”
“It won’t,” he assured her, kissing her lips and stroking her face. “I promise. It’s just going to take some time for you to adjust.”
She nodded, and he slammed the door shut, a little too hard. Thorn struggled with the need to punch something and vent his frustrations over what had happened to Emilia. He had no idea if the sleeping curse had gone for good, or whether it was something that could reoccur at any point in her life. He’d lied when he said she was free of it. In truth, he didn’t know for sure. He had awoken her, but could he keep her awake?
Determined to find the truth and track down whoever enacted the spell and where the amulet came from, he ran around to the driver’s side and got in. He had a lot of research to do, but they both needed some time in the fresh air.
“So, where are we going again?” she asked as they drove back along the main street heading out of town.
“It’s kind of a surprise.” He glanced at her sideways. “Does any of this look familiar?” Some parts of Bear Creek had stood for centuries, other parts were new. For Emilia, the differences must be startling as if the town had changed overnight.
“There used to be a forge here. And over there stood a tanners.” She pointed out what was now a car repair shop. “It’s all changed, though. Except for the outside of the museum, it all looks different. So much brighter, all these signs.”
He drove along the road leading away from town, before turning left and heading toward the creek. “We need to walk from here.” He watched as she looked out of the window, her face filled with uncertainty.
“We’re going to the cottage?” she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.
“Unless you don’t want to.” He covered her hand with his, giving her his strength. “If it’s too hard we can leave.”
“No,” she answered quickly. “I would like to see it.”
“There isn’t much left.” He got out of the truck and went around to the passenger side. This wasn’t a good idea, she was tired and pale and seeing her home in ruins might push her over the edge. He needed to remind himself that time had stood still for Emilia. His mate had gone to sleep one day and woken up the next in a whole new world.
“I need to see it.” Emilia jumped down from the truck and landed next to him. Her bottom lip quivered. “I... I think when I see the house it will finally sink in that this is real. Once I touch my fingers to the stone.” She brushed her hand over her eyes. “Even though Magnus is here, I still feel as if this is all a dream, that I dreamed all these wonderful inventions like your truck.” She reached out and stroked his cheek. “That I dreamed of you to chase away the loneliness.”
He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “I am not a dream.” He placed her hand on his heart. “I’m very real.”
Emilia sighed heavily and looked over his shoulder to where the creek sparkled as the sun glinted off the water. “That is one thing that looks the same.”
“The creek?” Thorn asked. Turning around, he led her toward the water. “It’s the one thing that hasn’t been changed by time. The trees grow, some get felled, some blow over in the storms, the bushes grow thicker and eventually die back. But the sun and the water, they are the same. Unmoved by time.”
“You forget the mountain,” she told him, resting her head on his shoulder as they walked down to the creek and then turned right to follow the bank. He held her close, his arm wrapped around her waist as she watched the water. Eventually, they reached the low stone wall which marked the outside boundary that once surrounded the cottage.
“The mountain has watched over the town since the first bear set foot on the green grass and decided to make his home here.” Thorn looked up at the distant peaks. “I can’t believe that all the times I sat here by the water and looked up at the mountain, you were there. Sleeping.”
“I’m here now,” she told him then stopped as the ruins came into full view. “It’s all gone.”
“We could rebuild it. If you want to.” He took her hand and pulled her forward even though she was reluctant to follow. “We could make it just like it was.”
“I do not have the heart,” she said softly. “Maybe the past is best left in the past.”
“Do you really believe that?” he asked. “This would be a good place to raise our children. We could fish in the creek and swim in the cool water on hot summer days.”
Emilia let go of his hand and approached the cottage alone. He stood back and gave her the space she needed. To him, it was a ruin, the same ruin he’d played in when he was a child. If only he’d known that his mate had once trod on the same grass and leaned on the same wall. He’d always wanted to rebuild it but had obeyed Perry’s wishes just as his forefathers had before him.
However, it seemed right that if Emilia or Magnus wanted to make this their home then they should. It was theirs. And perhaps that was the reason Perry had stipulated no one could build here. He knew one day the dragons who owned this
cottage would return. He would find the original will belonging to Peregrine Manning and get a lawyer to look at it and see if there was a way to break the clause.
“My father tells me the rose that grew over the door is the most fragrant he’d ever smelled.” Thorn joined her as she ran her fingers over the ruined stone walls.
Her forehead creased as she turned to look at him. “How did your father know?”
“Perry grew them on the grounds of his house. When they tore up the gardens to make a parking lot, he took a cutting and planted it in his garden.”
Emilia’s face lit up. “Does it still live?”
“The rose?” Thorn asked. “Yes.”
“Where?” she asked excitedly.
“My father lives over toward Bear Bluff. It takes pride of place in his garden.”
“Can we go there?” Emilia grabbed hold of both his hands. “Please?”
“Now?” Thorn asked as she began pulling him back toward the truck. “I thought you would want to spend more time here.”
Emilia shook her head and looked at the ruins. “This only brings me sadness.” She hesitated. “But I would like to rebuild the cottage. I’d like to raise our children here and have them play with Magnus’s children on the banks of the creek.”
“I’d like that, too.” He pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I want you to be happy, Emilia. I want our children to be happy and not live in fear.”
“Maybe it would be better if they were bears.” Emilia rested her head on his chest, while she looked at the remains of the house. “They would be free.”
“No.” He brushed his hand through her hair and tilted her head, so she looked at him. “It would be a sad world if dragons died out. And here in Bear Creek, they would never be alone. The mountains are your home.”
“And look what happened,” Emilia answered.
“As long as I have breath in my body, I will always protect you.” He kissed her, injecting all his passion and love into that one kiss. He would lay down his life for her, and his children. And if the danger became too much he would take them somewhere safe. “Let’s go meet my mom and dad.”
Emilia nodded. “I hope they like me. I’m such an old-fashioned girl.”
“They will. Once I tell them you are my mate.” He gave her a sheepish grin. “My mom will go crazy that I haven’t told her.”
“She should have been the first to know.” Emilia took his hand and they walked along the side of the creek back toward the truck. “My mom used to tell me the story of when she met my dad. Of how she loved him before he told her his secret. They fell in love like any other couple. At least from her side. My dad knew from the moment he saw my mom that they were fated mates, but he kept his secret.”
“Their love was true. She must have missed him very much.” He slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “I wish I could take away all your hurt and pain. I wish I could bring her back.”
“If wishes were horses then beggars would ride.” She chuckled at his confused expression. “My mom used to tell me that when I told her I wished my father was still here.”
“You must have missed him a lot, too.” Thorn could not imagine life without his parents, they had been his staunchest supporters. Even when he came home and told them he wanted to be a relic hunter. Everyone else thought he would fail until he discovered a lost artifact from a time long forgotten. After that, the Bear Creek Museum contacted him and asked him to hunt for shifter-specific artifacts. Thorn could think of no better way to live, getting paid to do what you love was one of the greatest joys in life.
Until Emilia.
“I missed having a father. More than that, I missed not having a shifter to guide us. Particularly a dragon shifter. My mother wanted to protect us, so she hid our treasure and we led a normal life. When Magnus and I were old enough to shift she made us promise not to. Out of love, she wanted us to deny who we were.”
“And did you?” Thorn asked. For him and his bear, it would be impossible to deny who they really were, but then he had never suffered persecution.
“We did, for the most part, but we were young, and we took risks. Magnus is older than me and we used to go deep into the mountains and camp together. At night he would shift, and I would ride on his back. When I reached maturity and shifted, too, we would play together among the peaks and valleys. But then our mother died, and I was so scared to be alone that I made Magnus make the same promise. I tried to shut that part of me out of my life.”
Emilia stopped walking and stared at the water as it bubbled and gurgled over the rocks and stones on the creek bed. Lost to him, she stared at the water, alone with her memories. Their lives had been so different, his parents encouraged him to take risks, to try and fail, rather than not try at all. Yet he could understand why Emilia was scared. He’d visited countries where people were not free to be who they wanted to be. Even in Bear Creek, they hid the fact they were shifters from the outside world.
“Don’t be hard on yourself, Emilia. This is a new start for you and Magnus. And this time you have other dragons for support. Ruby and her family will help you.” He tugged her hand. “And my mom and dad will love you.”
“I hope so,” she answered shyly. “I wonder what they will think of you mating with an old-fashioned girl like me?”
“As long as I am happy, they will be happy.” They walked hand in hand along the bank of the creek and then finally turned toward his truck.
Behind them, the creek meandered on its way toward town, following the same route it had when Emilia was last here. It was hard for him to comprehend that this was where Perry had put something in Emilia’s drink, so she slept. The creek was the last thing she heard until she woke yesterday.
Perhaps she wouldn’t want to live here and be reminded of that every single day. But that conversation belonged to tomorrow. Right now, he wanted her to meet his parents. Although how they would react to a dragon in the family, he wasn’t sure.
Chapter Ten – Emilia
Sadness resided in her heart as they drove away from the ruins of the home she’d grown up in. Not just sadness for the state of the building, but also over Perry’s betrayal and the memories of her mother.
They are gone, and we are not, her dragon told her. We can either live our lives in sadness or embrace this second chance.
My heart is heavy, Emilia replied.
It was not our choice to sleep for so long, but it is our choice to move on and make the most of our lives now. We have our mate, Thorn, and Magnus by our side. We are not alone.
“Do you know what’s strange?” Emilia asked Thorn.
“What?” he asked as he started the truck and drove away from the creek.
“I don’t feel like the same girl who grew up in the cottage. It’s as if someone told me a story and the main character had the same name as me.” She turned her head away and watched the scenery as they passed by, watching for landmarks she recognized as she compared the past and the present.
“The passage of time might have affected you even if you don’t think it did.” Thorn took a turn toward Bear Bluff, which had been a small market town that traded heavily with Bear Creek and the surrounding shifter towns.
“Hundreds of years of dreaming. I wish I could recall them all. But only fragments remain.” A melancholy mood settled on her. Yesterday she’d been filled with wonder at being alive and out of the cave. But today, the ghosts of the past watched over her shoulder. Would they fade? “After we have visited with your parents, I’d like to spend some time with Magnus.”
Thorn took a sideways glance at her. “You two must have a lot to talk about.”
“We do.” Tears threatened, and she blinked them away. She was scared to face Magnus. This was all her fault. If Perry hadn’t become obsessed with her… How could she not have seen it?
“Are we going to tell my parents everything?” Thorn asked when he turned off the main road and headed toward a large house
with a wrap-around porch, surrounded by the most beautiful gardens Emilia had ever seen.
Perry’s gardens, like many others of the period, were formal and stiff, like the people who lived in them. While the gardens of the lower classes, the poorer people, were filled with vegetables and fruits, there was little room for flowers. The rose outside the cottage door had been her mother’s one extravagance amongst the vegetables she grew in the kitchen garden she tended diligently. Those times had changed, too, and Thorn’s parents’ garden was filled to bursting with flowers and shrubs, trees and bushes. Joy filled her heart, pushing her sadness away.
“It’s beautiful,” Emilia said with awe as Thorn halted the truck under the shade of a large oak tree.
“The house has been in my family for generations,” Thorn said, getting out of the truck. “This was part of Perry’s estate. When he sold the main house, the family moved here. Not as grand but it’s been a happy home, at least as long as anyone can remember.”
Emilia got out the truck and breathed in the scent of flowers warmed by the summer sun. “It’s heavenly.”
“It is.” Thorn turned around as if seeing the garden for the first time. “I never truly appreciated it.”
“Because it’s always been here for you. You take it for granted.” Her eyes lit up as she inhaled once more. “I’d know that scent anywhere.”
Emilia ran to the gate next to the house and leaned over. There, climbing up the side of the house, was the same rosebush that had adorned the cottage. A lump of emotion stuck in her throat. The scent conjured images of her mother, cutting the blooms and smelling their sweet scent.
“Hello, Thorn,” a voice called from the other side of the garden.
“Dad.” Thorn raised his hand and waved, then opened the gate and beckoned her forward. “Coming?”
Emilia took his hand, needing the reassurance of his touch. She wanted Thorn’s parents to like her. More than that she wanted to like them. It was strange how much it meant to her. Perhaps because she missed her parents more than she would ever admit to Magnus.
“You’ve brought a visitor, Thorn.” His father smiled warmly and came to meet Emilia. “I’m Jonathon Manning.” He held out his hand and she shook it, automatically dipping into a curtsey.
Treasure Bear (Return to Bear Creek Book 19) Page 9
