by Tara West
Mother brushed a stray lock of hair behind Safina’s ear. Instinctively, Safina leaned into her.
“Very sure,” Mother said soothingly. “Please don’t fret, darling child. Josef’s power over the elements is strong.”
Safina couldn’t help but think of her sleeping mate. His powers had not been strong enough to carry them to shore. If it hadn’t been for the dragon queen, they would surely have drowned. She hoped her mother was right about Señor Cortez.
“It takes time for speakers to develop their skills,” Mother said as if she’d seen in Safina’s mind the doubts that plagued her. “I have heard tale of the speakers of old parting the seas and moving mountains.” She dropped Safina’s hands and hung her head. “I was a fool to have him sever the bond. He warned me it was dangerous magic, and I’m sorry I did not listen.”
Safina did not like seeing the dragon queen berate herself, as if her spirit had been beaten. This was no way for a dragon royal to behave.
As tired as she was, she threw her arms around her mother, sobbing against her chest. “It’s not your fault, Mother. I’m so sorry for the things I said to you.”
The dragon queen pushed Safina back, gripping her shoulders. “I refused to listen to your needs. Your words needed to be said.” Her voice broke and she shook, but she did not look away. “I cared nothing for your own heart, only mine. I see now how much you and Gabriel love each other. I was selfish to stand in your way.”
Safina searched her mother’s features, sensing a profound sadness and an aching loneliness. Though she was relieved the dragon queen had finally given Safina and Gabriel her blessing, she did not like the feeling that her newfound joy had caused her mother’s sorrow. “But I don’t hate you, and I’m sorry I left you.”
“Hush, darling.” Mother ran her hands down Safina’s arms. “You are a woman now, and your mate will hear you.”
Safina clutched a thin blanket to her chest. “I’m not sorry I’m mated to Gabriel. I just wish I could have stayed with you, too.”
Mother shook her head, a short burst of laughter escaping her throat. “You can’t have it both ways. Either you are at my bosom or in his arms.”
Safina didn’t understand why she couldn’t have both Gabriel and her mother. Was that the way of dragonkind? To turn their backs on their families once they found mates? Perhaps that was the real reason Mother couldn’t be with Safina’s sire—not because he was a danger, but because she had to choose between her mother’s memory or her mate’s love. “Mother….”
“Aye, child?”
Safina wondered why her mother said nothing about her father? She nodded toward the doorway, assuming he was waiting somewhere outside the bedroom. “Why is my father here, and why is he not trying to kill us?”
Wasn’t that one of the reasons they were always fleeing from him? Why they could never stay in one town overly long? Because Safina’s sire was a dragon hunter who had the potential to kill them?
Mother heaved a resonant sigh. “Look into his heart and tell me his intentions.” She turned to Safina with a raised brow. “You two are entwined, are you not?”
Safina did not know why, but her mother almost sounded resentful, as if Safina and her father had somehow conspired to stay bonded to one another. “I did not see any malice in his heart, only longing. Is that how you found us? He showed you?”
“Aye.”
This didn’t sound at all like the monster they’d run from in the old world. “Then he saved our lives.”
She shrugged. “I suppose.”
Safina swallowed a lump of sorrow. All this time they’d hidden from a man who did not mean them harm. Was the only reason they’d run because the dragon queen needed to nurse her broken heart? And how long, if ever, before she would be able to let go of the past? “May we forgive him now?”
The dragon queen stiffened as she slowly stood. “I cannot forgive him for killing my mother, but you may do as you like, daughter. You have already proven you are of a different mind.” Mother’s tone turned harsh, almost shrill, as if the words left a bitter taste in her mouth.
Safina suspected her mother didn’t want her to communicate with her sire, but Safina so longed to speak to him, to find out if he was sorry for having killed her grandmother and if he loved her mother. Why had he come to Galveston? Was he trying to reconcile with his mate? She had many questions for her father.
“The hour is late,” Mother said as she smoothed imaginary wrinkles out of her skirt. “It is time I left. We all need rest. Goodnight.” She leaned over Safina, planting a quick kiss on her forehead.
Safina wasn’t about to let her mother go so easily. She grasped the dragon queen in a tight hug, wishing she could hold her mother for eternity. “Goodnight, Mother.” Safina kissed her cheek.
After the dragon queen left in haste, Safina felt cold and empty inside. Strange how, in the course of a few days, her relationship with her mother had changed so drastically. Safina’s throat constricted at the thought that she might never fully mend the rift she’d created with her mother, especially if the dragon queen was unable to heal their broken bond.
* * *
Fiona was alarmed to find Duncan sitting on the front porch, whispering to Josef. Why was he still there? The hour was late. Did he not have a place to stay? Now that he’d helped her find Safina, did he think that gave him the right to intrude on her life? She had not broken the bond only to have to endure spending time with him.
True, she was indebted to him for saving Safina, but that didn’t mean she trusted him. Moreover, she didn’t trust herself. Duncan’s handsome features hadn’t waned with time. If anything, his full lips and pale eyes were even more alluring. Though they’d only made love that one night so many years ago, Fiona’s vivid dreams had kept the memory of their lovemaking fresh in her mind. Loathe though she was to admit, she longed for another night in his arms. If only he hadn’t been a dragonslayer. If only he hadn’t murdered her mother.
Fiona strode up to the men. She was determined more than ever to make a clean break with Duncan before she lost her heart once again to an undeserving mortal.
Josef was sitting in a rocking chair, breathing out a puff of smoke through a pungent pipe. He looked more relaxed than she’d seen him in a long while.
Her gaze tunneled on the old speaker, as she purposely avoided eye contact with Duncan. “Josef, you need to restore my bond with my child.”
He set down the pipe, his old eyes crinkling as he folded his hands in his lap. “Por Dios mio. I can’t.”
Fear gripped Fiona’s chest. “What do you mean, you can’t?” Anger infused her skull as she balled her hands by her sides. He had known the consequences of his magic, yet he’d doomed her daughter to mortality, anyway. “Have you no spell to reverse the severance?”
His brows hitched, a knowing look in his eyes. “Only you and Duncan can do that.”
“Do what?” she snapped, and then heat infused her skin when the realization hit her. “You can’t mean that Duncan and I must make—” She paused, too mortified to finish. This had to have been a trick. Was that why Josef and Duncan had been speaking in hushed whispers? Had they been conspiring against her?
Her iron-eyed glare shot to Duncan. He shifted in his chair and avoided her gaze.
Heavy lines framed Josef’s features as he gripped the sides of his chair. “I’m sorry, mi reina.”
Duncan slowly stood and squared his shoulders. “Fiona, I have spent the past five centuries trying to atone for my sins, trying to prove how much I love you.” His pale eyes glistened as he placed a trembling hand over his heart. “If you could just look into my heart and see how sorry I am.”
Fiona shook her head, her eyes welling with tears. “I can’t. That heart belongs to the man who killed my mother.”
Josef pushed himself to a standing position, though his back was bent like he carried an invisible burden on his shoulders. “You will kill your daughter if you don’t restore the bond.”
Fiona wiped tears off her face, angry with herself for showing Duncan weakness. “There has to be another way.”
“I’m sorry. There is no other way.” Josef waved a bony hand at Duncan. “You either forgive this man and join with him, or you sentence your child to her death.”
“I cannot live with myself either way,” Fiona cried before racing down the stairs and across the street, needing to put distance between her broken heart and the man she still loved.
* * *
Safina listened intently to the voices that carried from outside, but every word sounded muffled, and she could not tell if her father was among the men. How she longed for her dragon senses once again.
Gabriel stirred beside her, wrapping an arm around Safina’s waist and looking up at her from beneath a mop of messy hair. “That man is your father, the dragonslayer?”
Safina pushed his hair out of his eyes. “Aye, he is.”
Gabriel stretched his arms in their cramped space before sinking back against a pillow. “It did not seem like he wants you dead.”
“He doesn’t.” Safina wondered if her mother had been lying all this time, or if she truly didn’t trust him.
“Good thing.” He coursed a hand down his face before nodding toward his feet. “I doubt I could fight him. My legs are two wet noodles.”
Safina frowned. “What are noodles?”
“It’s a type of food, Safi.”
Safina didn’t know if she was amused or annoyed by his slanted smile, but none of that mattered, for just the mention of food and her stomach growled in angry protest.
She placed a hand over her hollow, aching belly, realizing she hadn’t eaten in three days. “I’m hungry.”
Gabriel draped an arm across his brow and groaned. “I can’t think of eating until the room stops swaying.”
Safina heaved herself from the bed, wrapping a woven blanket around her shoulders. “I need to find food before my gut eats itself.”
* * *
Safina was relieved to find warm tortillas, fried eggs, shredded cheese, and rice on the hearth. She did not know if the repast was meant for her, but she intended to eat it. She piled food on her tortilla, so high she could hardly close it, then sat down and proceeded to stuff it into her mouth. She barely savored the rich flavors, only stopping to guzzle three glasses of juice.
She was surprised to find herself full, and somewhat nauseous, after just one burrito. She leaned back in her chair and belched into her fist, repulsed by the taste of Mexican spices mixed with sea water. Outside, she could hear her mother’s angry voice and wondered what she was saying. It was odd not having the advantage of dragon-touched hearing.
She slowly stood, nearly stumbling over the chair as she pushed it back. The room didn’t rock as much, though it appeared tilted and she had to hold onto the walls as she walked.
Safina was shocked and unnerved to find her estranged sire outside, sitting in a chair beside Señor Cortez. She nervously toyed with her fingers, looking away from her father’s intense, pale gaze. She leaned against the doorframe for support as the room tilted back and forth. A gust of wind blew her hair out of her eyes, reminding her that a tempest was approaching. “Señor Cortez, the hurricane draws near.”
He stopped chewing on the end of his tobacco pipe, looking thoughtfully up at her. “I know, niña. The elements have already foretold of the storm.”
Safina’s heartrate quickened. “Have you warned anyone else?”
Señor Cortez shrugged. “I have warned all my friends and neighbors and the weatherman, Mr. Cline. Only Mrs. Jenkens and her granddaughter believe me. The rest think I’m loco.”
Safina thought of all the people she’d met since she’d arrived in Galveston, and her soul ached for them. What of Abby’s friends? Especially the kind Charlotte Carter and her husband, who were expecting their first child? “Will they perish?”
Señor Cortez’s chest concaved. “Hopefully, they will find their way here before it’s too late. Many will lose their lives tomorrow, and others will be injured. You’ve had a tiring journey. You should be resting, niña. I doubt you will sleep through the storm.”
“I just wanted a word with my father.” Safina cringed. Saying the word “father” aloud sounded foreign and embarrassingly awkward. She didn’t know the man, so he hardly felt like a father to her. Besides, what if he didn’t wish to be called her father?
“Of course.” Señor Cortez set down his pipe and heaved himself out of the rocking chair. “I will go check on Gabriel.”
After the old speaker left, Safina felt even more awkward being alone with her estranged sire, and suddenly she was at a loss for words. The wind was picking up outside, blowing her hair across her face and plastering her gown to her legs. She hugged the blanket tightly to her shoulders, suddenly feeling modest and wishing she had a robe to tie around her.
“Safina, you look ready to fall over.” Her father quickly closed the distance between them and latched onto her elbow, guiding her to Señor Cortez’s rocking chair. “Won’t you sit?”
Safina followed numbly, her feet moving as if she were walking on a cloud. It was so odd this man showed concern, as if he cared for her. Unable to meet his gaze, she toyed with the frayed end of her blanket. “I-I just wanted to thank you for finding us.”
“No need to thank me, lass.” He knelt beside her, tenderly cupping her chin in his hand and forcing her to look into pale eyes that mirrored hers. “A father doesn’t need to be thanked for saving his child.”
She couldn’t help the nervous laughter that erupted from her throat. Her mother had said nearly the same thing to Gabriel, and yet she hardly knew this man. All she knew about him was that he had been the dragonslayer who’d murdered her grandmother and then broken her mother’s heart.
He released her chin, quirking a brow. “What’s so funny?”
“You’re my father, and I don’t even know your name.”
He slowly stood, his mouth tilting in a sideways grin as the breeze ruffled his thick hair. “Duncan. Duncan MacQuoid.”
Safina’s hand flew to her throat as she recalled the surname she’d given Charlotte Carter when pressed for her full name. “MacQuoid? I told the people of Galveston my surname was MacQuoid, but I don’t ever remember Mother mentioning your name.”
His eyes dazzled as his smile widened. “Perhaps it was somewhere in your subconscious. Our hearts are tethered, after all.”
Safina slowly nodded. “I think I remember when I was a child, sensing you whenever you drew near.”
He pulled a chair in front of her, looking intently into her eyes as he lowered himself onto the seat. “I reached out to you, lass. I wanted you to know I loved you. I still do.”
He loves me?
Safina’s limbs shook, and she was grateful for the chair supporting her, for her legs would surely have buckled had she been standing. All this time she’d been hiding from a man who didn’t mean her harm but who loved her? All these years she’d been denied her father’s love and he hers? She wanted to be angry with her mother for keeping them apart, but she reminded herself this man had been a dragonslayer.
“And do you love my mother?” she asked.
He laid a hand across his chest. “With all my heart.”
Safina swallowed the knot in her throat and tried to still her shaking hands by grabbing the sides of the chair. “And you are sorry for killing my grandmother?”
His features hardened. “A decision I’ve regretted every day for five hundred years.”
She dug her nails into the wood. “I’ve spent most of that time trapped in a cocoon beneath the ocean, listening to my mother cry over you.” She paused, trying to push back the rising tide of sorrow. “When we surfaced, I made a vow I would avenge her broken heart.”
His steady stare did not waver. “You have every right to carry out that vow.”
She vehemently shook her head, fighting to speak through a tight throat. “Too many tears have already been shed, and
I am ready to bury our past. You know she still loves you?”
He seemed to age ten years before her very eyes. “I wish it were only a matter of love.”
Safina thought of her love for Gabriel and how her world had transformed in just a few short days. She’d gone from alone and frightened to loved and comforted with Gabriel’s tender touch or soft smile. “Love is very powerful. It can heal almost anything.”
He frowned. “Would you stay with Gabriel if he killed your mother?”
Safina did not know how to answer him, for she could never imagine Gabriel harming another living being, let alone her mother. “Gabriel would never kill anyone. He has a gentle soul.
His mouth hitched up in a sideways grin. He was handsome, with an infectious smile and naturally rugged good looks. Safina could see why her mother had fallen in love with him.
“Then you are a very fortunate young woman, and I wish you both a lifetime of happiness.”
Safina decided right then she was going to like her sire, maybe even love him, despite his past sins. She tried to smile back, but a yawn came out instead. The burrito had sunk to her stomach like a sack of stones, and a thick fog shrouded her mind. She wanted to close her eyes when the room started swaying again, but she feared she’d fall asleep outside. “Thank you. I’m so tired, I can barely keep my eyes open.”
He stood, holding a hand down to her. “Go to sleep, lass.”
She let him pull her up, surprised by his strength when he lifted her as if she weighed no more than a feather. “Will I see you tomorrow?”
He held her hand tight. “I want nothing more than to see you again, Safina.”
“Goodnight, Father.” Then Safina took a chance and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before releasing his hand.
She had no idea what had compelled her to kiss him. When she pulled away, she felt his heart being shredded to pieces. She looked up into his eyes, reaching for him. When their fingers entwined, she sensed the chasm in his soul, so deep she had no idea how he’d had the sanity to withstand such profound sorrow and loneliness. And for five hundred years? True, she and Mother had suffered for just as long, but they had suffered together. Her father had had no one.
