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“Dad!” Olive yelled, bolting to my side.
I stiffened as my twelve-year-old daughter glued herself to me. This morning, she wore her long, light brown hair in a messy fishtail braid. She buried her freckled face in my shirt. My gaze took in the room around us instantly, but no one focused on our exchange, so I squeezed her back. “You know better than to call me that.”
“But you weren’t at breakfast, and I was so worried,” she said, not releasing me. “You’re always at breakfast at eight-fifteen. You’ve never missed, not once.”
I attempted to pry her off me. “I’m not that predictable, and this is not an excuse to call me dad.”
“You are!” She stated into my shirt. “And you are my dad!”
“But you’re not supposed to know that,” I continued, finally getting her to look up at me. I lowered my voice. “You are a daughter of the community who shouldn’t have hacked into Scalehive to find your biological father.”
She grinned. “I already got punished for that, and I’m glad I did. You are, too, even if you won’t admit it.”
I should have scolded her, but I didn’t have it in me. As the strongest warlock in our element, I’d started donating spermwhen I was viable. Any number of the children running around could be mine… within reason. My dark skin meant anyone too pale probably wasn’t. However, even thinking about this was missing the point. All children were children of earth. We raised them as a community and loved them all equally.
It allowed every earth dragon to keep their isolation while being a part of something greater. Except I didn’t crave the isolation that so many dragons seemed to. My secret friendship with my rebel daughter brought me more joy than I’d ever admit to.
My mind drifted to Jay. I hadn’t left her side for sixteen hours, and I already dreaded the quiet of my cave. She was a mystery who made my blood run in ways I didn’t understand, and I badly wanted to.
Olive released me and stepped back, grinning. “Otis got invited to study with the warlocks.”
I pulled my attention away from the human woman and focused on my daughter. “That’s quite the accomplishment. I hope you congratulated him.”
“He’s one of yours.” She looked at the ground and kicked at something invisible.
I frowned, trying to understand where her sudden insecurity came from. “He might not be.”
“He has dark skin. There are only five dragons in our entire clan with dark skin.” She pawed at her face. “He has magic and fertility.”
Her posture clicked into place as I desperately tried to head off the conversation we’d had too many times. “Even if you never get my magic, you’re still important, Olive. Life’s about more than having babies and messing with the world's natural order.”
She huffed. “This is where you tell me how good I am with technology and how smart I am. But no one else cares, Dad. I’m not a fire dragon. Technology isn’t my future.”
I pulled her into my chest, heedless of who saw. “You’ve got to let what others say go. It’s your life to carve out a place. All we can do is be happy as we are.” I released her and caught her gaze. “Does dwelling on what you don’t have help?”
She shook her head. “Do you dwell on what you don’t have?”
I prodded us toward the buffet. “I try not to.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Why haven’t you ever taken a lover?”
I pulled up short. “How do you even know what that is?”
She grinned. “I listen. Some moms were talking about it this morning while I was waiting for you to show up for breakfast.”
“You should not be cutting classes waiting for me, Olive,” I said in my best fatherly chastising tone. Not that I was good at it.
She put her hands on her hips. “You should answer my question.”
I started walking again. “It just hasn’t interested me.”
Jay’s green gaze drifted through my thoughts, and my dick stirred.
My daughter poked me. “Do you prefer men?”
Rehan’s shoulder brushing mine heated my face and added to the blood rushing down. It shouldn't; the water heir was as straight as they came, but there was nothing wrong with enjoying the view.
I scowled at Olive. “Stop bothering your old man and get to class.”
