I didn’t know what to say. The conflicted expression on Soren’s face led me to believe he wasn’t sure how to start off our little talk, either.

  Then he surprised me by speaking first.

  “I do not hate, or even dislike you. Yet I will not lie and say I have felt no resentment towards you.”

  I stiffened, giving Alys’ father the chance to take a deep breath.

  “I apologize for that. You have done nothing to earn it… even though I could have used at least a warning that you were courting my daughter before I arrived here to find the two of you married.”

  He glared at me for a moment.

  “I don’t feel like I was the one dictating the pace of our relationship,” I admitted dryly, with a bit of a smile.

  “I know my daughter, so I understand that once she decided you were hers, there was no escape for you,” he agreed just as dryly. Then humor dried up in favor of a quiet solemnity. “Aesa accepted you. Within a single conversation.”

  It almost sounded like an accusation, though I knew it wasn’t.

  “Aesa?” I repeated. I could make inferences, of course, but the name caught me by surprise.

  “Hmm? She hasn’t told you to call her that?”

  “Ah… I’ve been referring to her as ‘Grandmother.’”

  “Indeed.” That conflicted look, bordering on bitterness, flitted across his face again. “It is not my place to share why she prefers to be called that, but it is why both Ama’s and Alys’ names start with the same letter.”

  I hummed in understanding, still unsure how to contribute meaningfully to the conversation. Ironically, I would have felt better equipped if Soren had started scheming to turn the rest of my newly acquired family against me. I wasn’t trained to handle sincerity.

  “I was a fool when I was younger,” he said wistfully, his gaze distant. “I accept that. I am, after all, the knight tricked into trying to kill The Molten Expanse. I did not even know whose cave I was trying to force my way into, you know? I was also not prepared to be met with Amara. It did not take her long at all to steal my heart.”

  I could sympathize with that. I still couldn’t quite wrap my head around how quickly I’d fallen in love with Alys. Or how much I’d been taken by her from the moment I laid eyes on her, really.

  “Aesa, however, was much slower to accept me. She almost killed me the first time we met. It was months before she calmed enough to tolerate my presence. She was also less than amused by her daughter deciding to take our relationship further…” His gaze sharpened, refocusing on me. “You, however, she spoke with once, and then claimed as family.”

  This, at least, I had an answer for. An answer that made perfect sense to me.

  “I am useful. An alchemist. It is not easy to gain steady access to an alchemist of decent skill, and I am a Belladonna.”

  “Yes.” He winced. “You are. I do not mean this as an insult, but I am still getting used to that. I grew up with far too many warnings about fae… If you ask me, however, her quick acceptance of you has less to do with your alchemy and more to do with you being a fae. And she seems to be genuinely fond of you now.”

  I understood what he was getting at, of course. My lifespan.

  My eyes strayed to his features, observing the signs of age creeping up on him. I forced myself to look away, but not before noticing how decidedly sad his smile had become.

  “I can probably help, you know,” I ventured carefully, unable to look back at him. “There are potions which can restore one’s youth. Others which can delay old age. They do lose effectiveness over the years, but that would buy me some time to find a more permanent solution.”

  “You would do that? For me?”

  Soren sounded so genuinely shocked that I couldn’t keep a hint of disbelief from my own voice.

  “Why would I not? I care about your daughter, and let’s not pretend she wouldn’t be devastated to lose you. Honestly, I am somewhat surprised that Grandmother hasn’t tried to do anything about it… or has she?”

  Because if Shaessath had tried to ‘fix’ Soren’s lifespan, then I needed to know what she’d done.

  “No, she hasn’t.”

  Now that made no sense. Were I to be honest, it made no sense that she hadn’t managed to extend her husband’s lifespan, either.

  My befuddlement must have seeped into my expression, because Soren laughed.

  “Ahh, that is quite the face you made.” For the first time, Soren truly reminded me of his daughter. “It took a while, until we were on much better terms, but Aesa did eventually apologize to me for not being able to help.”

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  “But… why?”

  Soren shrugged. “Talk to her about it, though approach the topic carefully. All I will say is that it is not her fault. The Molten Expanse is powerful, but she has her own obstacles and enemies.”

  Ah, I thought bitterly as I scowled. Politics, then.

  I understood, of course, that Shaessath would have her own opposition, formed of individuals who could actually stand up to her. The fact that they were petty enough to cut off her access to alchemical products like the ones I was contemplating didn’t shock me much. Such individuals, however mighty in their own right, could often be rather childlike. Bitterly hateful, too.

  “I see. Well… I won’t say crafting the relevant potions will be easy, or even that I can do it any time soon. But if you can trust me enough to put your lifespan in my hands, then I will happily do everything in my power to assist you.”

  I couldn’t promise him immortality with any certainty. That was one of the pinnacle achievements of alchemy. As far as I knew, each mortal alchemist who had broken the shackles of time had done it in their own unique way, making it difficult to replicate.

  That wasn’t to say I wouldn’t try. The longer I could delay Alys’ grief, the better.

  I hesitated before making the next offer, but in the end, I spoke.

  “There are other potions I could try to craft, too. Potions that permanently improve someone’s agility, stamina, strength, and so on. Again, they are not easy to make, so it would take me some time. But if you wish, I can look into it.”

  Soren’s gaze was thoughtful. For a moment, I wondered if my offer would be taken as an insult.

  Then, to my relief, he nodded.

  “It has been some time since I could honestly say I am contributing anything to the defense of my wife or daughter.” He sounded resigned rather than bitter. “If you can help me change that, I would be grateful.”

  “Gladly.”

  I beamed, happy I had extended the offer.

  I was also confident in its feasibility. Frankly, Soren’s humanity worked in his favor here. Altering the body of any mortal species was possible, though it was fraught with various possible complications for mortals with innate ancestral traits. Balancing those inherent advantages with the desired enhancements could be tricky.

  Humans, meanwhile, might as well have been blank slates. That was why they could develop and adapt a stunning variety of ways to utilize and grow their mana, too. An elf would be entirely incapable of mimicking the unique relationship a mermaid had with mana, but a human? It wouldn’t be easy, but it was possible, especially if the subject’s humanity was polluted a little…

  Soren’s snort brought me back to the moment. The smile he was wearing left me blinking in confusion.

  “I see now why my daughter was drawn to you. You have that same look on your face she and her mother have when they’re contemplating a new project, or their craft in general.”

  I flushed, feeling a brief spike of shame. After all, I had spent years resenting alchemy. Until recently, I thought my family had soured the art for me entirely, so I sincerely doubted that was what had drawn Alys to me.

  “Thank you for your offer, Thorn,” Soren went on. “And for what it’s worth, you have my blessing to be with Alys. We do not know each other well yet, but I believe we will get along just fine, son.”

  He gave the word a slight teasing lilt, almost like he was gently trying to get back at me for Shaessath having claimed me as a grandson long before he was ready to acknowledge his daughter’s mate.

  Even so, I reflexively turned away from him. I simply had no idea what my expression was like in that moment. I felt the oddest mixture of giddy, terrified, and numb.

  “Thank you.” My voice was steady, at least. All that Court training was good for something! “That means more to me than you might think.”

  I was thankful that Soren didn’t speak again for a moment. For whatever reason, he gave me time to gather myself before he raised the subject of going back.

  As we strolled towards home, the silence of our previous walk replaced by chatter about training and our respective fighting styles, I realized that my desire to keep Soren alive and well no longer came down solely to my fear of Alys’ pain at his passing.

  My mate’s family was worming its way deeper into my heart. There was no denying that. The fact both terrified and excited me.

  We were halfway home before I realized I had forgotten to inspect the manchineel trees and the flowers. Furiously, I scrubbed through my memories of glancing at them. I was fairly certain the younger plants had grown, but I would need to make another trip for a proper inspection. They were far too important to my plans for me to neglect them.

  For the time being, though, I had a cozy evening with family to look forward to.

  —

  That evening and the following day offered me a glimpse of some newly forming habits.

  Alys and I cooked dinner. We all spent time together next to the fire afterwards. The following morning, we were again woken up to a meal Alys found nostalgic. Though I mourned my freedom to sleep in, our home was becoming so lively and warm that I found it hard to keep a small smile off of my face.

  I then spent another fulfilling day working alongside Shaessath towards our goal of crafting the perfect bloodline purification potion for the two draconians in our family. Our hope had been bolstered by the obvious, if minor, effects of the refined draconic materials on Alys after dinner the day before.

  It was a pleasant rhythm. I could feel myself adapting to it.

  So, the next morning, when I started to stir long before Amara decided to impinge on our privacy yet again, I was keenly and instantly aware that something wasn’t right. There was… not quite a tension, but something had definitely roused me, and I couldn’t put my finger on what.

  I kept quiet and still, pretending to be asleep as I cast about my senses for a threat. Failing to discover one immediately just put me further on guard and made me strain my mana senses as far as I could.

  The only reason I caught onto what was happening was my alchemical training.

  One couldn’t become a successful alchemist without a superb level of mana control. So, when I realized that my mana was doing something without any prompting from me, it didn’t take me long to pinpoint and name it.

  Ever so slowly, my mana was getting siphoned away.

  It was a trickle. Less than that, really. Yet the mere fact that something was successfully stealing mana from me was alarming enough on its own.

  In fact, while I could neither sense it nor prove it, I had the distinct feeling that it wasn’t just my mana getting stolen. Something was draining away from me. Something essential. And while I could somehow tell I would suffer no real harm or be reduced by what was happening, I didn’t like the fact that I had no clue what it was in the first place.

  “Alys, love, wake up. Something is —”

  My words got stuck in my mouth as my dragoness began to stir. The moment I turned my attention to her, I realized exactly where my mana was going.

  Now I just needed to figure out why my dragoness was draining mana from me in her sleep.