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‘You may be in the Other realm right now, but you have no magic of your own. You’re vulnerable – weaker than a day-old kitten. As Lucy said, she has enemies. There is an unspoken rule in the Other that the Common realmers are left alone. Many of Lucy’s enemies wouldn’t touch you while you were Common because you were beneath their notice, but now you have those triangles…’
Mum snorted. ‘Triangles or not, some werewolf came here with death on his mind. At least if we know about magic, we can prepare for it. We can get some big shotguns or silver bullets or protective wards – are those a thing? – whatever we need. Remove that knowledge from us and you make us even more vulnerable, not less,’ she argued.
‘I agree,’ Greg said mildly. ‘But if we keep you in the Other, we could be thrown in the Connection’s jail. That’s something to consider.’
Mum chewed on her thumb; I’d inherited my habit from her. ‘I don’t want you in jail,’ she conceded.
‘We’ll do a work around,’ Bastion spoke up. He stood. ‘I’ll see to it.’
‘One of the elders?’ Greg suggested.
Bastion nodded. ‘Darius.’
Greg grimaced. ‘Recent reports suggest he’s losing it a bit.’
‘Exactly,’ Bastion rejoined mildly. ‘He’ll sign something from someone he trusts.’
‘And who is that, exactly?’
The griffin looked faintly amused. ‘You’re not the only one who is friends with Sam Albright. I’ll get it done.’ He walked out.
‘Erm, what? Explain,’ I ordered.
Greg leaned forward. ‘The only way we can keep them here without us all getting in trouble is for them to become brethren because brethren are the only ones in the Other without overt magic. We’ll fudge some papers and get them adopted by Darius. After that, your parents are part of a dragon family and so they become brethren. No one, not even the Connection, will be able to order them out of the Other.’
Relief swamped me so hard that it made me gasp. ‘Thank God.’
‘But until they’re adopted, we need them somewhere safe,’ Greg continued.
As much as it galled me to admit it, the mansion wasn’t that place because it was crawling with people who may or may not want to kill me. ‘Rosie’s,’ I said instead.
‘Rosie’s,’ Greg agreed.
I turned to Mum. ‘You know I found my birth family?’
‘Yes.’
‘How would you like to meet them?’
Chapter 16
The evening was drawing in when we pulled up at Rosie’s. Ben and Roan were still unconscious and it hurt to carry them into the café as if they were a sick dog. Maxwell was behind the counter. As soon as he saw me he grabbed one of his fire elementals to take over and hurried towards us.
‘He’s on fire,’ Dad said faintly. ‘There are flames on his head but he doesn’t seem upset about it.’ He sounded mystified.
‘This is my birth cousin, Maxwell,’ I said gently. ‘They’re fire elementals, remember?’
‘You did say,’ Dad agreed. ‘But it’s somewhat different seeing them.’
I remembered how hard it had been for me to acclimatise and I shot him a sympathetic smile. I’d spent several days coming to terms with the knowledge that werewolves were real, let alone anything else.
‘It’s so lovely to meet you,’ Maxwell said warmly to my parents, brushing aside my dad’s awkward comments. ‘I’m just sorry it’s under such difficult circumstances.’
‘Thank you,’ Mum replied and smiled at him. ‘And thank you to you and your family for taking Lucy into your hearts. I know it means a great deal to her.’
‘Muuum,’ I moaned. She was so embarrassing. ‘Come on, let’s get you somewhere safe until your adoptions have gone through,’ I said.
‘It feels odd to be adopted at sixty,’ Dad muttered, but he followed me into the heart of Rosie’s and up to the guarded apartments above the cafe. Once we were in the suite of rooms, he trundled straight to the kitchen and started opening and closing the drawers to see what cooking equipment he had to work with. Dad cooked for fun and for therapy.
