“Ahem.”

  The rumbling voice attempted to intrude on my dreams. I ignored it, warm and comfortable as I was. My brow furrowed a little, and I shifted, burrowing deeper into Aly’s embrace as her wings tightened around me.

  “AHEM.”

  “It’s still early, Alys,” I mumbled sleepily, knowing that my body would force me to wake up by habit around our normal time. Considering how languid I felt, it wasn’t close to that hour yet. “Can’t this wait?”

  “Hrrrm?” Alys responded, along with a string of adorable nonsense-sounds that tended to escape her when she was just waking up.

  Odd, that, since she was currently trying to wake me up…

  “AHEM! Could you two at least try to show you have some sense? There are practically no defenses around this house of yours, sweetling.”

  I sat up, or tried to. Alys’ wings weren’t quite ready to let go of me yet. Still, I was upright enough to see one of our windows. A window we had definitely closed before going to sleep, but which was now open.

  Yet no light was sneaking into our abode. Probably on account of the massive eye, shot through with silver chips, which was gazing down on us through the open window.

  What I could only describe as choking noises escaped Alys. When I glanced down, I saw her looking at the aforementioned eye with something close to terror on her face.

  The voice outside sighed, and the eye briefly vanished in favor of scales as I caught a glimpse of a massive head shaking left and right.

  “Truly, granddaughter. I come here and find… Never mind. I want you to know I knocked first, but there was no response. I will admit myself into your lair and wait for you downstairs. Do not keep me waiting for too long.”

  With that, the silhouette of the full-blooded dragon outside our home disappeared, finally letting the sunlight reach us.

  We both stayed frozen in shock for a few moments. Then we scrambled for our clothes.

  If Alys’ grandmother had no clue about our relationship before, she certainly did now. Catching us cuddling naked in bed was near the top of the list of undeniable proofs. Judging from Alys’ expression, she was experiencing the same panicked thoughts.

  I didn’t dare curse. The dragoness downstairs might hear me.

  —

  “Ahem.”

  The noise Alys made as we arrived downstairs was so similar to what her grandmother had sounded like, I really couldn’t fault myself for mistaking the two.

  “Grandmother,” she went on woodenly, her eyes meeting an identical pair. “It is good to see you.”

  I was briefly thrown off by the sight. It wasn’t a dragoness sitting at our table, hands crossed primly in her lap. It was a draconian.

  Of course, I thought dizzily. The Molten Expanse couldn’t fit inside this house in her true form. And all dragons have some talent for shapeshifting…

  Shaessath had chosen to appear as an average-sized draconian, wearing a crimson dress wrought out of scales. She resembled Alys so closely that there was no denying the family resemblance.

  Certainly, her features were less refined. Where Alys had curves and some more humanoid features, her grandmother was all sharp and prickly lines. Her scales seemed to angle themselves so that you could cut yourself even trying to grasp her, and her eyes were sharper still.

  Draped about her and infesting the entire room was a sense of pressure. It wasn’t quite Dragon Fear. I’d felt Alys unleash that a couple of times, so I was familiar with it. The air around The Molten Expanse seemed to be pulsing more with displeasure than outright aggression.

  But it was still intense. In fact, it reminded me so forcibly of being in Autumn’s presence that I instantly braced myself.

  A smile broke through Shaessath’s placid expression as she took her granddaughter in. “It is good to see you as well. You look hale and hearty. That is good. I was worried that… Well, I was worried. Of course, I was not entirely wrong to do so,” she hissed, her eyes darting briefly to me.

  “Grandmother…” Alys’ voice was somewhere between a warning and a plea.

  “Really, granddaughter? My dearest? My sweetling? Of all things, a fae?”

  There was enough exasperation in her voice that I winced, despite my best attempts at calm.

  “Yes. A fae,” Alys snarled, crossing her arms over her chest. I hadn’t expected her to be so combative, but I couldn’t lie and say I wasn’t touched. “Is that a problem?”

  “For me? Hrm… perhaps. I do not know yet. There is a reason our people do not typically mix. For you? Yes. I can smell the Autumn on him, and for him to be all the way out here…”

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Her sharp gaze turned again to me. “Tell me, boy: how long have you been running from your Court? I do not know whether to praise or scold you for your choice of hiding place. Winter would love to get her hands on you, and she is closer than you think.”

  “It has not yet been a year. And Winter is not readily welcomed in these lands,” I added, feeling the need to justify my decision.

  “Readily welcomed?” The Molten Expanse scoffed. “As though she and her ilk would care. Counting on the protection of the kingdom whose banner you are currently under is… unwise.”

  “We are not counting on them for anything, and Thorn isn’t advertising he is a full-blooded fae,” Alys retorted, then sighed. “Show her.”

  My features were not concealed like they normally were. I had promised Alys to be myself when we were alone, after all… not that I believed for a second I could have fooled a dragoness as powerful as The Molten Expanse. Still, at Alys’ request, I let my mana creep into my eyes and hair to corrupt their color once more.

  Shaessath raised an amused brow in my direction.

  “I suppose that would be good enough to fool the foolish and the ignorant. What about your presence, hmm? And your mana?” Her tongue flicked out. “Such potent poison… A Belladonna, then. Fleeing their training? Or just their expectations? Did they try to marry you off for some kind of an alliance?” she wondered, not giving me much chance to say anything.

  “Grandmother,” Alys groaned wearily.

  I realized both of us were still standing stiffly at the foot of the stairs, not even having thought to sit. I held back a frown of mild annoyance. Faced by such an intimidating presence, I had immediately defaulted to my customary behavior around Autumn.

  Then the Molten Expanse’s focus snapped to Alys.

  “Come back home with me. You and… your fae, since I assume you have claimed him as your mate already.”

  The offer, sudden and earnest, left me blinking in shock. Alys responded before I even had a chance to think about it.

  “No.”

  “Sweetling…”

  “No, Grandmother. We are making a home here. We have friends. He just opened a shop.” She motioned towards me. “And I have plenty of houses left to build.”

  The Molten Expanse let out a breath of pure frustration. “I cannot protect you here, you realize. I will have to go back to my lair. And his Court will not forget. They will come for him eventually, and then he will either bow or die, and you with him. I would have to go to war then. No one wants a war between the dragons and the fae.”

  She sounded so certain and so reasonable, like she was discussing the weather. I felt vaguely ill.

  My dragoness, though, stood firm.

  “That will not happen.”

  “Correct,” her grandmother replied. “Because if you come with me, I can protect you both. Keep your fae, but let me keep you safe.”

  Alys scoffed, but I thought the sound lacked conviction. “And why would living with you change anything?”

  “No fae would dare enter my lair to make demands of me. I can hide him well enough, because no one will come looking.”

  “So, you want me to be like my mother and just stay hidden inside your lair all the time?” Alys snapped, irritation seeping into her voice. “No. We have a life here. We’ll be… fine.”

  I didn’t know how to feel. Frankly, her grandmother’s offer was something I would have accepted readily not too long ago. Being ‘stuck’ in The Molten Expanse’s lair with Alys wasn’t exactly a horrible thought.

  From what Alys had told me, her grandmother saw to her mother’s whims and provided everything she needed to pursue her art. It would be reasonable to infer that we could convince Shaessath to supply us with woodworking and alchemical supplies, too.

  Yet…

  I understood why Alys continued to reject the offer. For the first time in my life, I had people I truly cared about, and who seemed to care about me in return. I had friends. I had a home.

  I’d also grown incredibly fond of the house I shared with Alys. Some would say that it was silly to attach so much emotion and importance to a building, but I didn’t care. All of my fondest memories, recent as they were, were tied up into this structure now.

  “You…” The Molten Expanse growled, but then the sound turned into a sigh. “Are your mother’s daughter. Though I suppose you were at least somewhat smarter when you chose your mate. Your mother… a knight, of all things…”

  The dragoness trailed off into grumbling as her eyes bored into me. Alys, meanwhile, was so surprised by these comments that she made no sound.

  “Ah… Thank you?” I said tentatively, forced by Alys’ silence to rejoin the conversation.

  The Molten Expanse’s next snort sounded like she was covering up a laugh. “Hrm. You are welcome. Tell me, are you as useless as my daughter’s mate? You are a fae, and my granddaughter mentioned a shop. Some kind of a merchant, are you? Or have you been playing a noble? I know how your kind can get.”

  “An alchemist, actually. I dare say I am good at what I do.”

  She squinted at me and tilted her head ever so slightly. I saw that same expression on Alys whenever she was wondering which choice cut of meat to devour next.

  “A Belladonna alchemist… A member of the main bloodline, then? I doubt you ran from their training, either. Hrm. We will definitely be talking more about moving back to my lair, granddaughter.”

  She returned her attention to Alys, who stiffened slightly.

  “I was hoping you would find a nice young dragon to settle down with, but a fae alchemist is… acceptable. I suppose I have only my own tastes to blame for how my descendants are turning out…”

  The pressure she had been exuding eased slightly, and she rubbed her forehead. I strongly suspected we might have been giving her a migraine. I also had a feeling that final mumbled sentence was something she hadn’t meant to let slip, so I studiously ignored it.

  “You might also be surprised by your mother, my sweetling.”

  “Hrrrm? How? What do you mean?” My dragoness finally came back to herself, her tail and wings twitching in a way I’d only seen from her when she was struggling to contain happiness.

  I felt a smile tug at my lips, along with quite a bit of relief. Her grandmother’s vague approval was clearly enough to put my dragoness into a splendid mood.

  Me as well, to be fair. At the very least, it meant I was unlikely to get immolated on the spot!

  “You said she is content to stay in my lair, did you not?”

  “Yes?” Alys hissed suspiciously, clearly unsure where the conversation was going.

  “Well, I am happy to inform you that is no longer the case. Apparently, her instincts as a mother are somewhat more developed than I thought. When she heard you were in danger, she insisted on tagging along to check on you herself. She is currently in town, examining the houses you have built. Along with your father, of course.”

  Shaessath’s voice was dry, with mere hints of amusement. Not that I was focused on her at the moment. My eyes were fixed on my dragoness and the many emotions slipping across her expression.

  Shock. Giddiness. Horror. Disbelief. They all spilled into each other until she looked like a statue, frozen in that current moment of time with an inscrutable grimace affixed to her face.

  Then I realized the full implication of Shaessath’s words: I would be meeting Alys’ parents soon. At once, I was right there alongside Alys for the paralyzing emotional journey.

  The Molten Expanse’s laughter rang out into stunned silence.