I walked in on a very cozy scene. The sofas Alys had prepared for our evening with friends were both occupied. On one, Alys lay with her head in her mother’s lap and her legs in her father’s, eyes half-lidded and sleepy as her mother gently massaged her forehead. On the other, The Molten Expanse half-reclined, sprawling in a decadent, careless manner I would typically associate with a cat.

  Shaessath had a cup of juice in hand and was sipping slowly to make it last longer. Everyone else was less fortunate and had finished their drinks already. I guessed all of them were too lazy to get up for more.

  My suspicions were proven correct when Alys came awake enough for her eyes to focus on me.

  “Thorn! More juice!”

  The other two draconic members of our family perked up as well, while Soren sent me a somewhat commiserating smile.

  “Of course, mistress,” I simpered with a dramatic bow. “Whatever this humble kobold can do for you, he will!”

  That woke Alys up the rest of the way.

  “Thorn!”

  I hid my grin of triumph by turning away to fetch juice. “Yes, mistress?”

  “Don’t you ‘yes’ me. Stop embarrassing me!”

  Alys wasn’t quite whining. In fact, she was definitely more relaxed than I usually saw her, and practically melting into her mother’s lap. I carefully filed away what Amara was doing to provoke such a reaction. I wanted to pamper my dragoness, too.

  For now, that meant bringing her juice.

  First, I checked the open jug on the dining table. It was already empty. I bit back a sigh upon opening the cooling cupboard. We were down to a single jug of juice.

  “I have no idea what you are complaining about. I was under the impression you grew up being waited on by kobolds,” I teased, bringing the jug back into the room while Soren and Amara snickered quietly. “Or am I wrong?”

  “You are not,” Shaessath assured me. “I wanted my family to be comfortable.”

  “See? Grandmother agrees with me.”

  Soren choked and quietly whispered ‘Grandmother?!’ Alys, too, was looking at me wide-eyed.

  “Though Alys did quickly grow to want to be ‘independent’,” Shaessath went on. “Were you twelve, my sweetling, when you decided to do most things on your own?”

  “Fifteen,” Amara gently corrected with a dreamy smile. “She was so adorable when she went to bother the kobolds to teach her how to cook.”

  “Mother!” Alys squawked. Then she whirled on me. “And you. You will stop this instant or sleep downstairs tonight.”

  I pretended to wither meekly in front of her glare. Meanwhile, her father kept glancing between me and Shaessath in confusion.

  The Molten Expanse noticed, because her smile got much toothier. “Venture carefully, my child, or my sweetling will have your hide.”

  I knew she was emphasizing the way she addressed me on purpose. Soren briefly looked rather chagrined. Amara didn’t show much reaction, but her eyes did narrow as I refilled her cup.

  Alys just beamed so happily that I felt warmth suffuse me. I suspected her grandmother’s approval of our relationship meant more to her than she was even willing to admit.

  “Not another word out of me, I promise. Before I forget… here. For you.” I handed Alys the vial with the drop of blood in exchange for her cup. Turning away to pour juice, I continued, “I wanted you to test that a bit later, so —”

  There was a small billow of mana behind me, almost like a rush of power. I turned quickly to see that Alys had already swallowed the drop of blood.

  “Alys!” I hissed, rushing over to place a hand on her as I let loose a diagnostic spell. To my frustration and mild worry, my mana bounced right off of hers, which was highly agitated and overflowing.

  “W-What?” She tried to sound defiant, but her words were slurring slightly. “Oh my, this feels nice…”

  I glared at her, but by that point, I could tell she wasn’t hurt in any way. Quite the opposite, in fact. She had gone even more boneless and was cozying up to her mother, once more ready to drift off.

  “You need to stop doing things before I explain fully,” I grumbled. “That could have been a poison.”

  “You wouldn’t hand me poison that easily.”

  “That’s not the point!”

  It was Shaessath’s laughter that cut me off. I glanced at the dragoness to find her watching us with the same sort of fondness in her eyes that that had made me risk calling her ‘Grandmother’ in the first place.

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  There was no denying it. I was coming to care about all three of my new family members a bit too quickly, in my opinion.

  “Leave her,” Shaessath chuckled. “My sweetling has always been too excitable around the people she trusts. She got in more than a few spots of trouble that way when she was younger, and my blood will not harm her.”

  “Your blood?” Amara demanded. Even Alys cracked an eye open to look at her grandmother.

  “Indeed. Thorn here was able to enhance the power of the blood I gave him, making it even more useful for my descendants to consume. We are working on something to boost these benefits even further,” Shaessath declared imperiously.

  Her use of ‘we’ made my lips twitch into a smile. She was already set on helping me make the kind of potion I had described to her. I doubted she would be willing to go back home until that was done and she saw the potion’s effects with her own eyes.

  I found that I didn’t mind the thought of The Molten Expanse’s visit lasting longer.

  Amara hrrrmed, and Alys seemed on the verge of asking something, but I cut in before either could speak.

  “You mentioned Alys used to get in trouble when she was younger,” I said, settling into a chair between the two sofas. “I don’t suppose you would be willing to share a few such stories?”

  Alys gaped at me like I had betrayed her.

  “We don’t have time,” she protested. Standing, she grabbed my hand and dragged me upright. “You and I have to make dinner. We have guests to feed!”

  I bowed to the room as she pulled me towards the kitchen.

  “After dinner, perhaps?”

  I didn’t miss the identical smiles of mischief spreading across Amara’s and Shaessath’s faces.

  —

  “And then my dear little sweetling decided to chase the kobold who dared take her toy away to be fixed, which meant she tried to jump into one of their tunnels the way she did as a hatchling. Unfortunately, she had grown quite a bit since then… and got stuck.”

  The Molten Expanse’s smile was twitching into a grin. Alys was hugging her mother’s tail for comfort while hiding her face in it. I thought I heard some quiet screams of embarrassment over my own laughter, too.

  “Alright! Fine! I did plenty of stupid things when I was a hatchling,” Alys rumbled, ignoring the fact that she was older than that in the latest story. She removed her face from hiding so she could glare at me. “But this is not fair. You need to share some of your own childhood mishaps to make this up to me!”

  I admit that I froze. The sudden invocation of my childhood cut through my mirth more effectively than anything else could have. Alys noticed immediately, if the way her expression fell was any indication. Shaessath did too, most likely, considering the fact that I was sharing a sofa with her after our quick dinner.

  “Ah… well, I don’t have nearly as many humorous memories of things going wrong,” I replied, only a bit woodenly.

  It was Soren who broke the awkward silence that followed.

  “While it’s unfortunate to cut things short here, we did just fly into town early this morning,” my father-in-law said, underscoring the words with a yawn. “Perhaps we can start heading to bed? You showed us that lovely bath too, Alys. I would like to soak a little before sleep. It was cold on the way over.”

  I sincerely doubted that last part. Shaessath radiated heat even in her draconian form. I couldn’t begin to imagine what it was like to be around her when she was her fully draconic self.

  But this was one thing I had noticed about Soren: he was adept at defusing tension among the draconic members of our family. Their tempers were not exactly volatile, but these were still three dragons socializing, even if two of them couldn’t take on the full form of one. Somehow, the knight always knew just when to change the subject to prevent teasing from going a bit too far.

  Perhaps there was a reason Amara had ended up marrying him instead of just eating him, after all.

  “That does sound lovely,” Amara purred, shooting him yet another expression I could recognize from her daughter. This time, though, the comparison made me look away awkwardly while Alys groaned at her parents in theatrical disgust.

  “Hrm. Well, you showed us those guest rooms earlier today,” Shaessath said to Alys. “I presume it is fine for us to pick a room for the night?”

  There was an edge of teasing there, not that you’d know from how Alys quickly sat up and nodded solemnly.

  “Of course. You are always welcome in our home.”

  The Molten Expanse stood to leave with a small smile on her face before pausing and looking back at my dragoness.

  “Before I retire for the night… I want you to know I am proud of you, my sweetling. You have thrived here. Even if I would prefer that you return with me to where I can keep you safe, nothing will change the fact that you have accomplished much here in Swiftband.”

  Shaessath glanced in my direction. It was almost as though she were looking to see if I approved of what she’d said, though I quickly disregarded that notion. Then she strode out of the room.

  My dragoness was left staring after her grandmother. Her shock was so evident that her parents slipped away quietly, choosing not to bother her.

  She only came back to awareness when I moved over to hug her. I expected her to comment on her grandmother’s words, once she finally found her voice again. Of course, my dragoness was fond of surprising me.

  “I’m sorry,” she rumbled, burrowing deeper into my embrace.

  “Hmmm?”

  “For bringing up your childhood. I… wasn’t thinking.”

  “It’s fine, love.”

  “No! I —”

  I shifted enough to steal a quick kiss, then pressed my forehead against hers.

  “I promise you, it’s fine. I was caught off-guard, that is all.”

  That, and I was quite thoroughly certain that they wouldn’t enjoy stories of the times I had made a fool of myself during my childhood. I was, and technically still continued to be, the Belladonna Heir. Excellence was demanded of me.

  It was best to leave that particular topic alone.

  She didn’t look convinced, so I decided a bit of teasing was in order.

  “We just need to make plenty of fun memories with our children to make up for things,” I whispered against her scales.

  She threw her head back dramatically. “Please, not you too! Mother spent the entire day while you were with Grandmother teasing me about grandchildren. At least, I think she was teasing me? She certainly brought up the topic of us having children too many times!”

  I broke down into laughter, dragging her with me onto the sofa as I squeezed her into my chest. “Oh, what’s this? Do you not want children with me, my mate? Woe is me! I am hurt, truly, and —”

  “Thorn.”

  Her tone of voice made me freeze. She gently squirmed around in my embrace until she was facing me, then pushed me onto my back. A moment later, my dragoness was looming over me with a hungry look in her eyes.

  “Yes, my love?” I managed.

  “Be careful with how you taunt me, hrrmm?”

  I swallowed thickly.

  “Yes, my love.”

  “Good.”

  She kissed me deeply enough we were both left sucking in air greedily once we parted. Then I was all but dragged upstairs, away from where visiting relatives might barge in on us.