“I think there might be trouble. She’s different.”
“Different doesn’t matter.”
“This different might matter.”
“Love prevails,” Caroline insisted. “Crawford and I—him a creeper, me a dasher. He likes telling stories; I like listening to them. I like opera; he hates it. My parents didn’t care for him at first. Until you were born. Children make all the difference.”
Jonathan thought of the brief, secret marriage to Dianna Wilson and the lost child that ended it all. No sense bringing that up now, he told himself. Not to anyone. It’s over and done with, far away from this house.
“I—I don’t know about children,” he admitted. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to. I think her folks struggled to have more than one kid. She comes from—”
“I thought you said her parents are dead.”
“They are. See, she has—in her family, there’s a tradition—they all—uh—they have a family tradition—”
“What, they’re Lutherans?” she teased in a whisper.
He took a breath, held it. Let it out with a whoosh. “Beaststalkers. Liz is a beaststalker.”
Her golden irises dimmed.
“She’s not like—she’s not a killer or anything. Like I said, she’s going to be a doctor.” He rushed to keep filling the silence. “She’d never do anything awful like—well, like the stuff Dad says she’d do.”
The grandfather clock downstairs chimed the hour. Caroline coughed again. This time she didn’t cover her mouth, and the blood trickled down her lips.
“Mom?”
“Jonny,” her slack jaw barely managed. Her eyes began to roll back.
He stared at her. “Mom?!”
Her head lolled to one side, and she was gone.
Jonathan didn’t dare bring Liz to the funeral ceremony—not the one on this side of the lake, and certainly not the one on the other. In fact, he couldn’t bring himself to discuss Crescent Valley with Liz at all. Instead, he suggested that afternoon on the way back home that she stay away from Crawford Scales’s farm for the foreseeable future. She didn’t argue the point.
His father tolerated his presence at both ceremonies, but did not speak to him at the funeral home, or at the service, or when the next crescent moon came and they carried Caroline Scales’s body together to the massive plateau in Crescent Valley and cremated her body. It wasn’t until the crescent moon had passed, everyone had finally gone home, and the two of them were alone in the lakeside cabin that Crawford finally said something to his son.
“I will never teach you,” he said, “another damn thing about being a dragon.”
“So you’re Jonathan.” The older woman’s disorienting white eyes did not meet Jonathan’s own; instead, they focused on his belly. He could not be entirely sure she wasn’t about to gut him. Her voice dripped with distaste. “Libby speaks highly of you.”
“Mayor Seabright.” Jonathan nodded, but didn’t offer his hand. He and Elizabeth had already agreed that Glorianna Seabright would never take it; and anyway he didn’t feel like touching her. This was a courtesy call, for his wife’s sake. Their wedding had been a small affair, a month or so after the funeral of Caroline Scales. The union ceremony had been conducted by a justice of the peace in a distant town (though not, Jonathan noted to his new wife dryly, the same one who had presided over his first marriage). Only Jonathan’s college friend Jack Alder and his fiancée, Cheryl, attended as witnesses. That was enough for Jonathan, but Dr. Georges (or Georges-Scales, she had to remind him to refer to her now) felt it was necessary to make this visit. She wouldn’t start their honeymoon until this was done; thus their visit to Winoka City Hall and its elaborately decorated council chamber.
The mayor was important in my life, was all he got out of his bride. Beyond that, she wouldn’t say. Jonathan accepted the mystery—Liz would tell him in time—though he already knew enough about Glorianna Seabright to be disgusted and frightened.
There was no weapon visible on her person, which meant nothing. “I hope you enjoy your fleeting visit to our town,” she snarled at him. Then she turned to his wife. “It was good of you to come to city hall, Libby. And to bring your pet. But I’m not sure why you’re here.”
“I wanted you to know I’ll be leaving Winoka.”
“Leaving?” Glorianna’s eyes narrowed. “Where are you going?”
“Not far. Jonathan and I found a nice place in Eveningstar, a short drive away. I’ll continue my studies at the U.”
“Eveningstar.” The mayor bit her lip and strode a few paces away on long, steady legs. “You’re going to go live with them.”
“No one knows who I am there.”
“Perhaps. I don’t suppose you would see that as a tactical advantage we could exploit.”
“No. I see it as a chance to raise a child normally.”
This got the old woman to laugh. “Normally! Do you think anything will be normal about a child the two of you would have? Whatever offspring you produce”—and she glanced at Jonathan again, though still not directly at his face—“will stand out from humankind like a chimpanzee among college professors.”
“I didn’t come for insults.” Elizabeth sighed. “I wanted you to know where you could find me. If you ever wanted to . . .”
“Wanted to what? Talk? Reconcile?” The mayor forcefully stepped into Elizabeth’s frown. “For years, you’ve had little to do with me or anyone else in this town. Do you think I’m shocked that you’re giving up the house your family worked so hard to build and leave for you?”
Jonathan was able to restrain himself only because he and Elizabeth had already discussed this point. He already knew the strange twist of fate that had put his grandmother’s Pinegrove land into the hands of murderers, and then on to the woman he loved. By state law, the property was already half his again—and it would pass to any children they had. There was no need to relive here the town’s bloody history.
“I’m not giving up the house,” Elizabeth pointed out. “We’ll rent it out for a few years. Then, maybe after I’ve completed medical school—”
“Do whatever you want with your land,” Glorianna interrupted with a flick of her fingers. She stepped away from the younger woman and spoke to the ceiling. “Live in Winoka, live in Eveningstar, live in the mountains of Afghanistan for all I care. Live with this reptile and give birth to a clutch of leathery eggs. Or don’t. Obviously, what I say will make no difference. You’ve made it clear what you think of me.”
Elizabeth’s face was hot with frustration. “I’m grateful to you for so much. We’ve had our differences, but I don’t see why—”
“There’s lots you don’t see. But I see everything, Libby. Everything.” She pointed at Jonathan. “For example, I can see the beast wriggling inside this skin you call your husband. Nobody else can see it outside of a crescent moon, but I can. I wonder what Wendy and Hank would say if they knew the truth about him?”
“Please don’t tell them,” Elizabeth begged. “They wouldn’t understand. No one else would understand.”
“I don’t understand!” The mayor’s normally cool demeanor vanished, and Jonathan was surprised to see moisture on the tops of her cheeks. “Everything was going to pass to you, Libby. Everything still can.”
His bride was sobbing now. “I don’t want that. I want him.”
“He will be the end of you.”
“I love him!”
“How touching. And when you’ve completely given yourself up to life with a monster, and let go pieces of yourself to take care of him and the child you spawn, and each day you lose a little bit more of the promising woman you once were—after years of this, what will be left for him to love in return?”
Elizabeth was on her knees now and couldn’t reply through the sobs. Jonathan couldn’t stand to see her like this. He stepped forward desperately in front of Glorianna Seabright.
“What if you hobbled me?”
He could not have stunned either wo
man more than if he had taken two bricks and knocked their heads together between them. Glorianna held him in the eye for the first time.
“What if you hobbled me?” he repeated. “Would you accept her then? Would you love her again? Whatever has passed between the two of you, would making me not a dragon fix it?”
Elizabeth finally found her voice. “Jonathan! Don’t—”
A glimmering sword suddenly appeared in Glorianna’s hand; Jonathan didn’t see where it came from. “A generous offer, worm. Do you mean it, or are you being valiant for show?”
He trembled. Well, right now, I’m thinking I might have been valiant for show. Yet he knew that wasn’t true. “I mean it.”
The sword swayed back and forth, heedless of Elizabeth’s screaming protests. So was he. For several long moments, it was just the two of them in the city hall chamber: the dragon inside Jonathan, and the blade that threatened to take it all away.
Finally, the sword disappeared again. “I’m afraid you don’t get off that easily, Mr. Scales. You and your wife will have to live with the decisions you’ve made. So will any child of yours. Our mistakes are not only for us. They are also for the next generation to bear.”
She sighed at the younger woman. “Get up off the floor, Libby. Get your husband-thing. And get out.”
As he and his tearful wife left the grotesque council chambers, Jonathan kept his eyes on Glorianna’s. He saw something there he didn’t expect. He knew then that this mayor, for all her imposing words, would keep their secret. And in a way, he told himself, she’s even given us her blessing. Or at least the best she can give.
He wondered why.
CHAPTER 3
Schemes
“Honey, I’m home!”
Jonathan landed on the porch of their small townhome and edged the door open with a wing claw. The porch opened up on the living room, which doubled as a dining room. He could see Elizabeth in the small kitchen.
“Crap!” She moved toward the smoking oven, furiously twisting dials. “Crap!”
He slid the door shut behind him, closing out Eveningstar’s February chill. “Dad said you called the cabin. What’s up?”
She finally noticed him, but instead of smiling she rolled her eyes. “It figures. Great timing. I was trying to—”
The smell of burning sugar wrinkled his scaled snout. “Why are you in the kitchen?”
“Hilarious. I was trying to . . . I was trying to . . .” She stomped her foot. “Dammit, never mind what’s in the oven; look on the counter!” She pointed at the kitchen counter with one hand and hid her face with the other.
He circled around the couch and approached the kitchen. There was only one item on the meticulously kept counter. It was white and about the size of a finger, and . . .
“Oh.”
She still wasn’t looking at him. “I thought I’d bake fudge to celebrate.”
“You know I’m allergic to chocolate.”
“Well, you’re not the one who’s pregnant.” She reached up and flipped the fan on, drowning out the rest of her muttering.
He stared at the small, white pregnancy test. “This was quick.” His wing claw fluttered back and forth between the two of them. “I mean, we’ve only been married—”
“Long enough. I warned you this could happen.”
He felt a thrill of irritation down his tailbones. “To be fair, I’ve known all about sex and babies since the third grade.”
“Don’t sass me, Scales. Your constant climbing on top of me was bound to screw things up eventually. If you could have found something else to do—say, work, or eat, or breathe—for even a small portion of that time, we might not be facing this.”
Her fear softened him. “Honey, it’s okay. I know we’ve got lots of bills. All we—”
“I don’t mean money! I mean, we wouldn’t be facing what we’re going to face when . . . when . . .” She gestured at her abdomen, and Jonathan was surprised at how easy it was to imagine a new life within. “When she arrives.”
“She? How do you know—”
“I know my body. We all do. It’s part of the discipline.”
“Would that be the same discipline you’re showing in blaming me for your pregnancy?”
“That’s it. No fudge for you.”
“Again, I’d like to remind you . . .” He trailed off, because she was crying. “Honey, I’m having trouble tracking you here.”
“She’s going to be a target!” Elizabeth’s emerald eyes were wide with dread. “As soon as people learn she’s the child of a dragon and a beaststalker, both sides will come for her!”
“They won’t want to hurt her,” Jonathan tried to convince them both at once.
“Even if they don’t, they’re still going to target her—use her as a symbol, demand she champion their side, destroy the part of her that isn’t them.”
Unable to argue the point, he tried to think of a way to calm his wife down. “Nobody’s going to find out about us. Some people know I’m a dragon, and some people know you’re a beaststalker, but nobody knows both parts of the truth. Without that—”
“Your father, and Glorianna Seabright.”
He sighed. “You’re impossible when you’re like this.”
“You mean when I rip apart your crappy arguments with two examples of reality? Jonathan, what are we going to do?”
He assessed the smoking ruin in the kitchen and came up with a plan. “We’re going to go out to dinner to celebrate. Where do you want to go?”
“We can’t go anywhere, not with you like that.” But she snuggled into his wings. “When the crescent moon’s over, let’s go to the Seafood Shepherd.”
He immediately regretted his offer. “The Seafood Shepherd? Aw, honey—”
“The baby wants it. I can tell.”
“Oh, give me a—”
“Tomorrow is Super Seafood Special Sunday.”
“Every Sunday is . . . look. You realize that’s not an actual, observed holiday, right?”
“Shut up and change back, already. I want my cheap shrimp scampi.”
J Minus Six Months
“You didn’t get any strawberries?”
“Sweetheart, they’re months out of season. The ones at the store don’t—”
“I asked you for strawberries! She wants strawberries!”
“I got oranges. They’re fresh from—”
“Strawberries!” Elizabeth launched herself from the sofa, raced up to him, and shoved the grocery bags out of his hands. “They’re little! They’re red! They’re not orange!”
He pivoted and headed back out the door. “I’ll check the store across town.”
Suddenly, she was wrapped around him. “Drive safe, okay? I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.” She burst into tears. “I really don’t.”
“Huh.” Jonathan gingerly removed her trembling arms and stepped away. “I’ll—”
She grabbed the back of his neck, kissed him roughly, and glared at him with sparkling emeralds. “And when you get back, I’ve got a sexy surprise for you!”
“I can hardly wait,” he assured her, backing down the entryway stairs.
J Minus Four Months
“Honey, where’d you put that ultrasound photo? I want to see it again.”
“It’s already in my cedar chest” came the reply from the loft. The soft clackety-clack of her fingernails on the keyboard didn’t slow down. “With the wedding gown and photo albums.”
He crossed the bedroom and opened the chest.
“Honey.”
“Yes.”
“The pregnancy test stick is in here.”
Clackety-clack. “Of course it is!”
“It’s on top of my wedding suit.”
“So?”
“Well, you peed on it.”
“What, on the suit? Don’t be—”
“No, the stick!”
Clackety-clack. “For heaven’s sake, Jonathan. I washed it afterward.”
&nbs
p; “And yet.”
“It’s a meaningful keepsake!”
“Which you urinated all over.”
Clackety-clack. “Did you find the photo or not?”
“I got it.” Jonathan picked it up, but not before delicately (and without touching) shifting the pregnancy test stick off the suit and onto the wedding dress.
“You know, we’ll get another photo at today’s appointment. You can’t wait?”
“No.” He caressed the edges of the photo, taking in the soft blurs that suggested an infant. “She’s beautiful.”
The keyboarding finally paused. “She’s got big shoulder blades.”
Wings, she meant. Jonathan had assured his wife that weredragons were always born human. She kept worrying, anyway.
J Minus One Month
“Are you nuts?!”
“It’s not as dangerous as you think. I know several of the staff at Winoka from my residency work.”
“If Glorianna Seabright has told them I’m a dragon—”
“She said she wouldn’t. We can trust her.”
“There’s a perfectly good hospital here in Eveningstar we know we can trust!”
“You can. I can’t. Jonathan, I’ve made my decision. I’m having the C-section done in Winoka.”
“No way.”
“No way what?”
“No way am I letting you go there.”
Poison-green eyes narrowed. “Letting me?”
“Th-that’s right. I’m putting my foot down. I forbid it.”
“You . . . forbid?”
“Liz, be reasonable,” he pleaded, resisting the urge to back away. “You can’t trust them.”
“I can. I will. Glory would never harm me.”
“She drew her sword the last time we saw her.”
“At you. I’ll repeat: Glory would never harm me.”
“If you’re wrong, I’m not sure how I can protect you. Your due date is during a crescent moon—and that hospital is full of—”
“Glory would never harm me. That’s it.”
“This isn’t a hormonal thing, is it?” he asked, not entirely without hope. “You might change your mind tomorrow, right?”
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