“W-We should go meet them!” Alys stammered, finding her tongue before me.

  Her grandmother’s lips twitched for a moment. Then she gave up control of her expression and let a true smile spread fully across her face. It was almost like the entire room had brightened, now that The Molten Expanse was no longer trying to project malice. Instead, she bathed the air in warmth.

  “Why ever would we?” she replied to Alys’ blurted suggestion. “We still have time to chat, and your mother promised to make her way here quickly. She was merely curious about the town.”

  “We have no idea what they’re doing out there!” Alys protested, eyes wide. “Or what they are saying!”

  The Molten Expanse snickered. Snickered!

  “You won’t be able to avoid embarrassment, my sweetling. This is your mother we are talking about. Besides, should you not be worried about the moment she meets your mate?”

  Her eyes did narrow a little at me as she said that, but most of the initial dismissive hostility in her manner was gone.

  I used that knowledge as a buoy to start moving. First, I drew Alys into a quick hug, pressing a kiss against her cheek. Then I pulled her over to a chair opposite her grandmother and coaxed her into it. When I didn’t move to sit down next to her, she looked at me in confusion.

  “Thorn…?”

  “Just a second, love. We haven’t offered your grandmother refreshments yet.”

  My dragoness glanced at the empty table, tilted her head ever so slightly, then shot me a dazzling smile when she realized what I was doing. Her grandmother watched us both with an intrigued expression all the while.

  Ignoring the eyes of The Molten Expanse fixed firmly on my back, I fetched enough glasses for everyone, then made my way over to the cabinet we used as a cooler. Opening it, I went for a jug in the far back, one of five that Alys had made. Each was sealed by a pane of wood that could be pulled out of the slot on the jug’s side.

  I wrinkled my nose at the smell that still managed to escape the container, but I carried everything over to the table without giving into the need to hold the jug out at a distance.

  The Molten Expanse hissed, her nostrils widening and tongue briefly tasting the air.

  “Hmmm? What’s thissss?”

  “Something my mate made, just for me.” Again, Alys responded before I could, pride and a bit of smugness obvious in her voice.

  “It smells almost like wildefire fruit,” her grandmother mused, giving me an answer to a question that had been bothering me for a while. “But far more potent.”

  I unsealed the jug, and the smell intensified much further. Both granddaughter and grandmother shifted impatiently, their eyes fixed on the jug.

  “Thank you for finally telling me what the fruit is actually called,” I huffed. “Alys didn’t know the name.”

  The Molten Expanse erupted into another laugh.

  “What?” My dragoness went even more scarlet than her scales’ usual color. “Stop laughing! Everyone just called them juice fruits!”

  “Ahhh, yes, the kobolds did stick to that name, didn’t they?” The Molten Expanse was still chuckling. “This, however, smells much more pleasing than even that particular juice. What did you do, fae?”

  The question was asked mildly, and in a much friendlier tone. Progress!

  “We discovered a type of honey here in Swiftband’s forests that intensifies the taste of everything it’s mixed into,” I told her. “But I went a step further with this juice. I used the honey, the wildefire fruits, and a special flame I have access to in order to make the taste all the more potent. The process increases the benefits of the fruit and honey, too, but that was a side effect. I mostly wanted to make something Alys would enjoy.”

  Shaessath’s eyes softened. I dare say she was looking at me fondly from the corner of her eye as she examined her cup. Alys, meanwhile, was already sipping at hers. She had melted back into her chair with a look of pure satisfaction on her face.

  I did process some juice every day so she could indulge, but I’d gone even further with these particular jugs. I had ‘wasted’ some truly impressive amounts of both the fruits and the honey in order to intensify the taste beyond anything I would dare drink myself. Alys had absolutely loved the test batch. If it weren’t for the fact that I’d prepared this juice especially for her grandmother’s visit, she would have raided the supply long ago.

  Granted, I had planned to have a lot more stashed away by the time her grandmother showed up, but The Molten Expanse had surprised us both with the speed of her arrival.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  I stood there, watching silently as Shaessath took one small, careful sip of the juice.

  Her eyes blew wide open. Sparks escaped her nostrils, and she reared back as if the liquid had slapped her. I would have been running for the door already if her eyes weren’t shining with something close to rapture.

  Her next sip turned into a gulp, then several, before the empty cup was placed down on the table. She narrowed her eyes at me.

  “Ah… would you like some more?” I asked awkwardly, receiving an imperious nod.

  “Yes. Right now.” She tapped her cup, making me hurry to refill it. “You, fae… no. Thorn, was it? Hrm. You are far more useful than I thought. Very well, I fully accept you as a member of our family. Do not make me regret this. And keep the juice flowing.”

  “You wouldn’t leave your mate out either, would you?” Alys teased, raising her own empty cup.

  I resisted the urge to sigh, or let my eyebrow twitch in disbelief. In fact, I was a perfect picture of polite happiness as I sent my dragoness a warm smile… and then refilled her grandmother’s cup first, making Alys pout.

  Love was an amazing and heady thing, but her grandmother could still set me on fire if she wanted to.

  As I watched the two compete about who could down their juice first, though, I couldn’t stop myself from commenting, “You know, my love… your mother will probably want some of this juice, too.”

  “Then she should have been here already,” Alys cheerfully declared.

  Her grandmother agreed with an emphatic nod.

  I sighed, resolving to hide one of the jugs so I could earn some goodwill with my mother-in-law… even if getting between this duo and their torture juice seemed like a bad idea.

  Thankfully, the two slowed down around the point they drained the first jug dry. I still took a second one out of the cabinet, but they weren’t racing any longer to see who could drink more. Both had satisfied expressions on their faces.

  I felt entirely justified in the sense of pride that filled me.

  “You know, that is why I brought those fruits back to my cave and ensured my family would have access to them,” Shaessath said, drawing my attention. “They are quite useful. Our reaction to them is not simple gluttony… not entirely, at least.”

  I carefully didn’t laugh at the clarification, but she still shot me an amused look.

  “I did notice the juice has a positive effect on Alys,” I admitted. “On both her mood and her flames.”

  The Molten Expanse laughed, making Alys flush. “Positive effect, he says. I cannot blame you for not noticing, I suppose, but those fruits have properties that subtly help refine our bloodline. It is not an immediate benefit, or a significant one, but over time… it most certainly helps. And you have created a much more potent version of it.”

  “I drank some of the juice, too.” I grimaced, which drew another amused look from Shaessath. “And used the fruit in other recipes, but I never noticed such an… improvement, myself.”

  The Molten Expanse rumbled out another laugh with a small shake of her head. “You wouldn’t. It is only effective for fire dragons. Fae or mortals would see no benefit from it. Not even Summer fae, linked as they are to fire. And as I said, the effects are subtle. Even this refined version of the juice doesn’t make for a significant enough improvement to be noticeable.”

  Her piercing gaze rested on Alys. “Its long terms effects, however, are a different topic. Now that I am looking for it, I can tell my granddaughter has improved more than she should have been able to in so short a timeframe.”

  I licked my lips, feeling a hint of excitement surge through me. It wasn’t because of the pleasantly shocked expression on Alys’ face, though that filled me with a warmth of its own. No, what suddenly occurred to me was the fact that I now had an expert on draconic bloodlines at hand.

  From Alys’ stories, her grandmother had always pushed for her descendants to improve, particularly in regard to their bloodline. Would she be willing, then, to help me brew something to assist Alys? Likewise, she might know what the shift in Alys’ refined blood was all about…

  Quickly pushing past my hesitation, I ventured, “I have been working on a project meant to help Alys with further improving upon her bloodline. However, some of the results of my work have been confusing, at best. Might I perhaps ask for your assistance there?”

  I kept my wording formal and my tone respectful, even if The Molten Expanse didn’t seem nearly as antagonistic towards me anymore. A moment later, when she processed what I’d said and her eyes sharpened, I was thankful I’d done so.

  “What have you tried so far?” she hissed. “Some things are best left alone if you do not know what —”

  The door to our home was pushed wide open with a suddenness that made me spin towards it, halfway ready to resort to violence in defense of my mate.

  A draconian female stood in the doorway. She was wearing a long, flowing dress that seemed far too light for the weather. I glimpsed a tall figure looming behind her.

  The draconian, whose likeness was uncannily captured in the statue Alys had shown me, scanned the room just long enough for her eyes to settle on Alys.

  “My sweet hatchling!”

  With those words, she launched herself right at my mate.

  Alys had just enough time to stand up and come around the table. Then she was enveloped in a hug so crushing, it actually made her grunt. Her expression was a mixture of surprise and happiness as she returned the gesture.

  “I can’t believe you actually came,” my dragoness whispered.

  “Of course we did! Someone dared to threaten you! Why, if I get my claws on them…” Her mother pulled away and began rapidly looking over Alys, inspecting her for damage the way one might a particularly precious work of art. “I can’t believe I wasn’t there to… wait.”

  Alys’ mother froze, then leaned closer to my mate. Her nostrils flared. I felt a prickling of anxiety right before she whirled around, her golden eyes snapping towards me.

  Before she could say anything, however, the large figure made its way inside. I knew him immediately, again thanks to Alys’ exquisite craftsmanship.

  Her father.

  “Let our little girl breathe, Ama,” the human laughed.

  I could admit I was staring just a little.

  While I recognized him just fine, the differences between the statue and his current appearance jumped out at me all the more. The lines of his face. The way his mane of hair wasn’t quite as vibrant as the statue had led me to believe. The slightest hunch to his shoulders, betraying a certain exhaustion.

  Her father was growing old. And as Alys’ eyes flitted over him, her joyful expression tinged by just a hint of worry, I could tell she knew it.

  Her grandmother’s words echoed in my memory:

  “I suppose you were at least somewhat smarter when you chose your mate.”

  “A fae alchemist is acceptable.”

  Shaessath would know, wouldn’t she? Having already outlived her mate?

  An odd emotion, one I wasn’t sure what to make of, settled inside my chest as I watched Alys disentangle herself from her squinting mother and run to give her father a hug.