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“At any rate, what they do is their business. They understand there was a life I wanted to lead that wasn’t, shall we say, as intense. I’m happy. Harden is happy. My mate is happy. It’s all good.”

He licked his dry lips. “Does Harden know?”

She shook her head. “There was no reason to tell him. My family is very busy. Only one of us so far has mated, so there must be a need for them, and they came when I called.”

“I was coming. I swear I was.” And he would never forgive himself for not making it there in faster.

“They were bending time, dear one. You could not have arrived any sooner. It was planned that way. I am eternally grateful for you and the others, but trust me when I tell you, I would never have let anyone hurt my son or my grandson.”

“I can’t believe he’s still alive with a blade in the center of his chest. What happens when he shifts?”

“If the dagger moves, he dies. He has his form as it is now; he can live and die in it.”

“I—You—” She’d stolen the soldier’s wings?

She smiled, and the look in her suddenly black eyes was pure viciousness. “He chose his path, and now he pays the price for walking it. I hope he hurts every day and the specific pain burns. The blade will never be hidden, will never be removed, and everyone will always know that he’s been marked. He left a scar on my son; that, my dear Brayden, will not be allowed.”

Brayden thought he would pass out. He didn’t because this was his mother-in-law, and he was brave and strong and a guardian, but goddess save him, she was scary.

“I would never hurt you either unless you raised a hand against him in some sort of anger or violence. Please know that.”

“I do know that. I do. But I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around it, sort of like I had a hard time wrapping my mind around a unicorn or a dragon as old as Hawk.”

“You’re relatively young. I know you think you aren’t.” She waved a hand in the air. Little trails of dark cloud followed it, making his skin prickle with goosebumps. “But you are. You’re also unused to some of the ways of dragon magic. Just because what you have found here in this mountain and valley is similar to what you had at home does not mean that that is the scope of it. Dragons have infinite variety.”

“I see that now.” That idea made sense to him, framed the situation in a way he could understand. Dragon magic was too big to be contained and not something which could be narrowed down to such a tiny focus.

“I understand the temptation to draw within, to want to look at this one thing. Believe me, I’m married to a farmer. The most exciting thing that happens to me on any given day is that my bread didn’t rise. I understand the temptation, but don’t give in to it. You have children to raise. Your child⁠—”

He chuckled “One or thirteen, right?”

She bobbed her head and laughed. “This one, he’ll test you. He’ll test you, and he has a place.”

“He does. So do I.” And it was here, with Harden.

“Yes, you are the father, the one who will teach him that the world isn’t about being a windrider, but about love.”

“Yes.” Brayden prayed that was true — for him and for his son.

“And that is why you are the perfect mate for my son.”

“How did you meet? You and Arten, I mean.” Now that she’d opened up, he was desperately curious about her.

“I’d been sent to speak to a politician who was...” She tapped her chin. “Let’s say ‘visiting’ a small city. It was market day, and I had done what I needed to do there. My mate was selling eggs because he needed to buy feed for his bocapal. When I met him, he smiled at me and said, ‘You look like an amazing cook, and I sell amazing eggs.’ He smiled at me, and I knew. We talked all night. I flew back to his ranch in the morning, and that was that.”

“That’s an amazing story.” He and Harden had taken a little longer to come to the realization that they were supposed to get together. Brayden had always been drawn to him, but he hadn’t felt worthy of Harden when he first arrived in this world. Maybe if they’d grown up together or both lived in Lunastra for their entire lives, it might have been different.

But that didn’t matter. He had Harden now. And he was so in love with his mate that sometimes when he looked at Harden, his chest actually ached because he felt so much.

“I will be worthy of him, Lady, and I will protect and love our son with everything in me.”

“I’m not concerned. I think you will be perfect, but you do need to get out of your own head, as your brothers would say.” Alina had fallen in love with Riley, especially. She thought he was amazing and she loved his slang. “You have a lot to offer. Harden loves you, and you are part of a very wonderful community, a stunning family — amazing, talented, incredibly gorgeous.” She winked at him. “But I have never regretted a second going with my mate. He’s my world. I love him more than life itself.”

“I understand.” He squeezed her hand because she had kept a hold of his after patting it to soothe him. “Thank you. I needed to hear all of this.”

“You are very welcome.” She tilted her head. “What clutch are you from?”

“Sorry, what?”