To Hell and Back by L.B. Gilbert
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The dragons didn’t have a direct translation for carpe diem, because they didn’t need one. They seized life every day, whether they were training because they loved their mock battles or snoozing on a rock in the sun.
One would use a complex machine to make art out of a redwood log one day, another would carve a statue with a chisel, while yet another would hunt down a boar and then slow roast it for days just to make the perfect pork sandwich.
After her conversation with Naveen, Valeria decided to stop thinking so much and just enjoy her life. It wasn’t hard. All she had to do was spend most of her waking hours with Rhys.
They walked along the trails near the house and drove to nearby lakes to swim. Well, he swam, and she basked on the shore, sunbathing like a cat. They also visited waterfalls that were only visible in spring because summer was too dry and they froze over in winter.
Every night, they returned to his house to dine with others in the clan, the men and women rotating in small groups. After dinner, she and Rhys would go to the library where she would pepper him with questions about his favorite books.
This list proved to be very short. It was basically ‘The Art of War’ and ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, the first because human’s understanding of war was quaint and the latter because the revenge was quote ‘very satisfying’.
Almost all other classic novels were ‘merely tolerable’. He would have tossed most of the newer novels into the fire after reading them if she hadn’t stopped him. As it was, they would pick a book and sit in front of the fireplace, reading and drinking port or walnut wine. Then she’d fall asleep cuddled on the couch next to him and wake up in her bed the following morning.
It could be that this small oasis was an illusion or the eye in the hurricane that was her life. But Valeria had stopped asking if she deserved the respite. She savored every moment, hoarding each new precious memory like a miser afraid there would be no new ones.
The next one came early on movie night, one of the excuses the clan used to gather in its entirety.
Valeria hid a grin as she tossed the broken Blu-Ray discs into the trash bin. Rhys tried so hard to be gentle, but the fragile discs kept breaking when he handled them.
Jawshad cracked down the middle when he failed to remove it properly from the box. The Godfather had been fragmented into several pieces when he couldn’t figure out how to slot it into the tray of the player correctly.
In the end, Valeria had volunteered to download Jaws online. Predictably, the crowd had rooted for the shark. They’d been rather disappointed when it died, but had cheered up quite a bit when she’d told them about the sequels.
“I can’t wait until next movie night,” Sanaa enthused, bobbing a wide-awake Galen in her arms.
The babes hadn’t watched the movie. They’d played and slept upstairs, where one of the multi-purpose rooms had been converted to a nursery. Thomas, Sanaa, and Aggie had taken turns watching over them.
The brownie had been so pleased to welcome the babies, even after they’d taken a nip out of her hand.
“The series doesn’t exactly improve as it goes on,” Thomas groused.
The bear had finally stopped giving Valeria dirty looks despite Lanaa making a beeline for her when she came in. But the sight of so many new visitors, and the unfamiliar house, had distracted the little one enough that she didn’t focus on Valeria too much. That and she was now fast asleep, her little hand curled around her papa’s arm.
“I don’t know,” Valeria mused after a moment. “I rather like the second movie—teens in peril is a tried-and-true formula.”
“Next thing you’ll be saying is that the third one was better in three-D,” Thomas groused.
“Never.” Valeria took exception to that. “Although, I did enjoy the park storyline.”
The bear reacted as if she’d stabbed him, his dramatics making his mate laugh.
They chatted for a few minutes more before Sanaa took the sleeping boy to their vehicle. Thomas shifted a slumbering Lanaa in his arms.
“I never thanked you for what you did,” he said, looking down at his daughter with a warmth that made her heart ache.
Valeria had never known her father. Ravenna had always refused to discuss him, only telling her that he was dead.
She suppressed a wince. “I didn’t mean to interfere with your bond—”
“I wasn’t fishing for another apology.” The bear scowled. “I meant what I said. Sanaa might not have made it if it wasn’t for you. Complications aside, I will always be grateful.”
He looked up, his face deadly serious. “If you ever need anything I can help with, ask.”
“Thanks,” she said, a little confused but relieved he wasn’t holding a grudge.
Valeria walked him out to the car to say a proper goodbye to Sanaa. Many of the other men said goodbye to Valeria as well, their parting cordial, almost warm.
She walked back into the house, unsurprised to see that Naveen and Rhys were still talking. The clan’s second was a fixture in the house. He came by every day, often multiple times, to make one of the seemingly endless reports Rhys demanded of him.
But they don’t usually make him look like that. The expression on Rhys’ face was troubled.
When they turned to her, she stopped at the threshold of the living room. Murmuring to Naveen, Rhys dismissed him. The second joined Kyrin at the door. The younger dragon gave her a look filled with distrust and suspicion.
Then they were alone. Even the tables were empty, Aggie having cleared them with her magic.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Rhys nodded, holding out his hand. “Come sit with me.”
He guided her to the couch, pausing to grab a decanter from a nearby sideboard and setting it down on a coffee table that suddenly appeared. Two crystal glasses were sitting on it.
“Do you have a mind-meld with Aggie?” she asked, raising a brow. “Is that how she knows what to do without you asking?”
A flicker of amusement crossed his face. “Thankfully, one is not necessary. Brownies anticipate your needs. Picking up the cognac was a signal, telling her to get the glasses ready. When she sensed me putting it down, she shifted a table from another room.”
Valeria frowned. “That must be exhausting, being on duty twenty-four-seven.”
“Not really. Her ability is autonomic, like breathing. Most of the time, she doesn’t have to think about it. And if I didn’t make it clear before—this makes her happy. Brownies don’t reach their full potential without a home to care for.”
He poured her a drink. “But that isn’t what you wanted to ask me.”
Her heart squeezed painfully. Something was wrong. “Do I have to leave?” she asked.
His eyes met hers. “I hope not.”
Her lip trembled. She wanted to cry out, ‘I like it here’. But she’d been to hell and back before and knew pleading just made things worse.
“If you don’t want me to leave, then what is it?”
He took a sip of his drink before leaning over to rest his forearms on his knees, the glass dwarfed by his big hands.
“You know we monitor the world outside for threats. We keep a particularly close eye on the areas just outside our borders…and for good reason. Someone came to the human settlement looking for you. They showed the locals your picture.”
Her breath stuttered. “One of the hunters?”
Rhys shook his head. “It’s a lone woman. She claims to be your mother.”