Chapter 17

Chapter

Seventeen

Rose

By the time I got cleaned up and everyone wrangled into John's SUV, my nerves had begun to even out a little. If anyone knew how to interpret this situation, it was my mother and father. With their open minds and open hearts, they were very into the otherworldly. They would likely welcome this lot with open arms.

I often thought it a shame they ended up with a daughter who couldn't quite embrace the unseen like they did.

"We have quicker modes of transportation than this death trap," Magnus grumbled after we hit our twentieth pothole just trying to get out of my uneven drive.

"I hope you're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting." I shook my head vehemently. "No thanks. You can keep your dragon self as far away from me as possible. I want nothing to do with him."

Isaac laughed, the sound of it a sharp rumble from the backseat. "One night, and you've scared off your own?—"

Magnus whipped around in the seat next to mine and must have given his brother a look to shut him up. It was only a guess, since I had to keep my eyes on the narrow one-lane roadway. But all things considered, it was an educated guess, and considering the fact Isaac stopped talking, it seemed a decent hypothesis.

"Are you afraid of flying in general, or just dragons?" Kitra asked as she leaned across my seat from the back of the vehicle. "Because I don't love it, myself. The flying on a dragon part. I've never tried an airplane. I've seen them of course, but it's not on my immediate to-do list to try one."

I shrugged. "Not sure. I've never flown anywhere before. I don't have a lot of time for long-distance travel, and the few times I've gone to London, it's simple and easy enough to take the train."

"Yeah, the train." I caught Isaac glaring at Magnus in the rearview mirror and guessed there was a story in those three little words. I made a mental note to ask later, maybe when we weren't in the confined space of this vehicle with three extra larger than life people giving off weird energy.

"Tell me again where we are going?" Kitra asked.

"Thurso. It's not that far really. About thirty minutes up the coast and slightly inland from my place. It won't take much longer. We've been lucky not to have to pull over for much traffic or animal crossings this afternoon." To my shame, by the time I got showered and dressed, I was more than a little shocked to find it was already half past four in the afternoon. I'd slept most of the day away before Magnus decided to crush my cottage like a wooden model.

My body heated as I remembered why I’d needed that much sleep.

A growl sounded from the backseat and I jerked my head to the right to find Magnus drilling holes into the side of my head. I needed to get myself under control. He'd already explained to me that dragons had heightened senses and with his brother confined in the SUV as well, they probably didn't need enhanced anything to pick up on what was going through my mind. The blush on my heated cheeks said it all.

Kitra cleared her throat, and I glanced her way to find her smiling conspiratorially in my direction. Oh crap. Did they all know what was going on? What if they could read minds?

"You don't think your parents are going to freak out when we all show up unannounced and explain who we are and what we need?"

"It's not as if I could call them. Lost phone, remember?" Normally I kept my phone plugged in next to my bed, but with my cottage currently in shambles, the darn device could be anywhere.

Once I got rid of all my unwanted guests, I'd head home and take stock. Figure out how to go about fixing everything. A shudder snaked down my spine, along with a weird feeling that I didn't want to investigate. I hated those. They never boded well. Intuition, my mother called it. I preferred the heebie jeebies.

"No, my parents will be fine. They specialize in the weird and unusual and are going to love every minute of this. I just hope they have what you need."

"Will the spell use the same portal we came through?" Magnus asked.

Kitra nodded. "As far as I know, it's the only one that still exists between our worlds. I had kind of hoped it wouldn't open again, but I should have known there would be a loophole."

Her words pinged through my mind, and that weird feeling intensified. My pulse quickened, and my hands gripped the steering wheel tighter until my knuckles turned white. Luckily, we were almost there.

'What's wrong?" Magnus was giving me another death glare from the side again and it unnerved me. I got the feeling he could see right through me.

"What makes you think?—"

"Your pulse is racing, and if you don't calm down you're going to have a heart attack."

"You do seem out of sorts."

I looked at Kitra as if she'd grown a second head, rolling my eyes until it hurt. "Out of sorts? Really? Three days ago, I saw a small, pissed off dragon standing over his shoulder, which made me think I was going crazy, then I discover the dragon is real, but he's actually ginormous and basically took out the back half of my home in one fell swoop. Not to mention I accidentally poisoned him, and he lost the dragon for a day or so. But yes, I'm just out of sorts."

"Don't forget that you also kidnapped me. That is an important point. Maybe these weren't the consequences you imagined for your actions, but you had to suspect there would be consequences."

"Oh. My. God. When are you going to stop?" I pulled onto my parents’ road and immediately pulled the car to the edge of the roadside. I slammed the gear in first to park. “Enough. Get over it or I’m done helping you.” I jumped out of the vehicle before anyone could question or stop me. I couldn't take it anymore. There was a pressure in my chest and head that were both building to something explosive. Since we were close to town but still out of earshot, I climbed up the embankment and looked down at the village below us. As I stood there clenching and unclenching my fists, I admired the peace we were about to disrupt.

No one down there deserved what I would be bringing to their doorstep.

Least of all my family.

Heat built in my torso, encompassing me from chest to core. I clawed at my shirt and bra, frantically beating both against my skin. If I was alone, I would have stripped down to nothing to alleviate this misery. But here, with the others very close, I needed to hold it together.

"Rose?"

I didn't answer. I couldn't. Not when all I wanted to do was scream.

"Give her some space." Kitra shoved Magnus out of the way and carefully approached me from the side where I could see every move she made.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Stress. Manifestation. Mating heat. Take your pick."

"It's not mating heat. I think I would know," Magnus snapped back.

“Oh you know. You’re just being an asshole about it.” Kitra yanked the bag she had strapped to her side around and dug through it until she produced a bottle of water. "Here, drink this.” She shoved the bottle in my direction. “Tell me more about your parents. Have they always lived here?"

"My parents? Why?" I guzzled the offered water and tried to focus on her question. When she didn't elaborate I forced myself back to the two most important people in my life.

"All their lives. Even in the same house. It's been passed down in our family from generation to generation. When they adopted me, they put the house in my name. Not only to cement the fact that I was their child, but to ensure it would pass on when the time was right."

"Adopted?"

"Mm-hmm. My bio parents died when I was a baby, and they had no other family, so I was taken in by distant friends of the family."

Kitra's eyes had narrowed, and I could practically feel the wheels turning in her head as she listened raptly to what I had to say.

"I don't know what you're thinking, but I can assure you it's not nefarious. My parents are the most peaceful, non-conflict type of people you could ever meet. They took me in out of kindness and love. My mother couldn't have a child of her own, so I am what she calls her miracle baby. They were sad over the loss of my parents, but grateful that they could keep me in their life. And they have been the best parents anyone could possibly have."

"You are lucky then. Not everyone can be so." The sadness in Kitra's voice led me to believe that there was a story behind her words. But I didn't know her well enough to ask and she probably didn't want me to. I had enough people who came to me for a potion to help them forget to know. Those requests always hurt, but I could hardly fault someone for wanting to escape whatever bad had happened in their lives that they couldn't move forward from.

"I am lucky," I said as I finished the last of the water. Between the cool drink and the fresh air, I could already feel some of the tension inside me easing. Coming home always felt like this. No matter what worries or stresses I carried with me, the minute I got close to Thurso, a sense of peace and calm would settle over me.

I blamed my parents. I often thought they had the entire village bespelled. It was the only thing that made sense. People were genuinely happy here and there was almost no conflict. And when it did arise, it was quickly settled. Also by my parents’ hand. They definitely had a way with the people here. I was proud of all that they'd accomplished.

As a human.

Both Kitra and I stared down at the village while Magnus and Isaac were across the street in what looked like a heated argument. "Do they always fight like that?" I asked.

"Yep. Since the day they met, they've clashed."

I pulled my brows together. "I thought they were brothers."

"They are. Only they didn't know the other existed until recently." That, too, sounded like a complex story. "They are actually two of three. But Magnus was separated at birth from his two brothers. They were raised here while he remained with his uncle in the fae realm."

"I've already figured out the uncle thing didn't work out well. Actually, he sounds like a piece of work."

She snorted. "Pure evil, that one. We barely got away from him. Magnus, for all his faults, had it the worst, and I keep telling Isaac he needs to cut him some slack. We don't even know how long he was bespelled by the king, or what long term repercussions that might have. But I do know he can't continue like he has been. It's just too dangerous. For everyone."

That sounded ominous. I stared at the two brothers, this time really paying attention. I hadn't thought there was anything identical about them and would have never guessed they were triplets, but now that Kitra had pointed it out I couldn't unsee it. The same dark hair, hooded eyes, even the cut jawline and the cheekbones were uncanny in their closeness. But the similarities seemed to end there. They didn't carry themselves the same way. They were both tall men, but Magnus was a couple of inches taller. I'd guess somewhere around six foot six.

Their personalities were different, too. Isaac appeared straightforward and all business, while Magnus had a broodiness about him that I imagined came from whatever he went through with his uncle. I probably didn’t want to know about the kind of secrets he kept. But both men were stubborn. Anyone could see that. No wonder they clashed so much.

"Do they ever get along?" I asked.

Kitra followed my gaze to the two men whose conversation was getting hotter instead of cooling down. "Not really. But maybe with time. Sometimes I see them give each other begrudging respect, but for the most part it’s not a great combo to mix two alpha dragons in the same space. They are never going to agree on anything.”

“Makes sense, I guess, but it also sounds exhausting. How do you deal with it?”

Kitra laughed. “One blessed day at a time. Although maybe once we get Magnus’s dragon under control it won’t be so all consuming.”

“What exactly do you mean by under control?”

She looked at me quizzically. “I’m surprised you have to ask. I haven’t seen Magnus be civil for more than a short period of time in months. And before the spell broke, he was a dick twenty-four seven.”

Whoa. “Uhm. Excuse me?” What in the actual?—

“Sorry. I’ve probably said too much. You should let him tell you the rest. Since I don’t know exactly what is going on in that male’s head, my version might be a little too colorful.”

I scrunched my face as more frustration poured through. I thought it was high time these people came clean with a lot more details. If I was going to keep helping them, I needed to trust them.

But on the other hand, did I want to get any deeper involved? So far, I’d probably lost one of my dearest friendships because of him, and now my home was destroyed.

What the hell were they going to do next?

The moment those words filtered through my mind, I wished they hadn’t. Because my gut told me I would soon regret them.

Kitra and I headed back to the SUV as the pit in my stomach grew. “Let’s go meet the parents, shall we?”

This definitely wasn’t going to go well.