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“I’m sorry you left school,” Jhon said, feeling out of his depth.
“I’m not,” she said, her eyes flashing fiercely to his. “Taria is my world. I came here to save her. And if I could give her this luxurious life, and I could go back to the tenements in her place, I would.”
She meant it. He could see the fierce light of love in her eyes. It was almost blinding.
“You must miss her so much,” he heard himself say.
“I miss them all,” she said. “But now, I’m going to be alone on this island.”
“Well, not exactly alone,” Jhon said.
“I’ll have Bo,” she said, nodding. “But he won’t be much company for a couple of years.”
“I know you want your family,” he said. “But I’ll be here to help you, and to keep you company if you want.”
She blinked up at him looking completely confused.
“What do you mean?” she asked, after a moment.
“I mean, I’ll be here,” he told her. “I don’t have to stay in the house if you don’t want me to. But it is my duty to watch over Bo until he is of age.”
“Of age?” she echoed.
“Twenty standard years,” he told her, nodding. “Then I’m free to return to active duty with the Invicta, or retire honorably.”
She nodded slowly.
“You don’t really want my company?” he asked gently.
It would hurt if it was true, but it would be better to know.
“I’m sure you don’t want to be trapped with me in the middle of nowhere. But selfishly, I’m so glad you’ll be here, for me and for Bo,” her voice broke slightly on the boy’s name.
“For Bo?” he echoed.
“It’s not right for him to lose his father,” she said.
Jhon stared at her, unable to process the words, even as the dragon hummed with satisfaction in his chest.
“You do know he was grown in a pod, using Imberian DNA.” he said.
“Of course,” she replied. “And you’re his father. You feed him, and protect him, and make sure he’s warm and comfortable. You clean up after him, and comfort him. You love him. And he loves you. That makes you his father, Jhon, no genetics necessary.”
Something seemed to crack in his chest as he thought about the tiny whelp sleeping in the next room.
“They told me I was here to adopt him,” she said thoughtfully. “They said he was an orphan, but it’s not true. He was your son long before I got here. And if you left, you would both be devastated.”
He nodded, swallowing over the lump in his throat.
“I know because Taria felt like my child,” she went on, her voice softening as she spoke of the little sister she adored. “Because I took care of her.”
“Of course,” he said without thinking. “You dedicated yourself to her needs from the time she was an infant. You have sacrificed your own future for her, twice now.
“But it’s not the same,” Ella said, wiping her eyes and straightening up. “She had parents already. I just stepped up for a while. But Bo had no one and nothing. You are his whole world.”
“We will both be his world,” Jhon told her.
Maybe it was just the starlight from the window, playing in her hair and making her blue eyes sparkle. But to Jhon, it felt as if the universe had a spotlight on her, showing him the way.
