“We’re back!” Amara happily declared as she pushed the door open, bustling in as a whirlwind of enthusiasm and not-so-quiet happiness. “And look who’s with us!”

  I turned from my dinner preparations to see that Amara had literally dragged Kiri inside. My beautiful mate was trailing behind the pair with an amused grin on her lips.

  “Um… hello?”

  Poor Kiri looked so overwhelmed and confused that I almost burst into laughter. All that kept me from doing so was politeness, along with a suspicion that she would make a run for the door if I gave into the urge.

  Then I looked again at my friend and just barely fought off an unhappy frown. Kiri wouldn’t look this frazzled simply because she still didn’t know how to handle Amara.

  Not that the draconian couldn’t be a bit intense. I suspected, but had no way to prove it, that the first day Amara had spent with Kiri had begun with ulterior motives. While waiting for me and Alys to return, Amara had been quietly feeling out whether or not the Winter fae would pose a threat to her family. Once deciding that the answer was no, Amara had proceeded to shower Kiri with maternal affection that the Winter fae found utterly bewildering.

  Amara had even managed to convince Kiri to sleep over that evening, and had then proceeded to latch onto her the following morning and throughout the day. Kiri had only managed to slip away after dinner. Amara had pouted up a storm upon discovering this. She’d pouted again the next day, when Kiri did not return. I wasn’t surprised she had decided to take matters into her own hands and was now forcing Kiri to join us.

  I might have gently protested this, and told Amara to give the Winter fae a chance to get used to the idea of being mothered, if Kiri wasn’t so obviously a mess.

  Though it had only been two and a half days, she looked like she hadn’t slept for a week straight. This was almost impressive, considering how hard fae can push ourselves before our bodies start to give out on us. Kiri’s shoulders were also slouched and drawn in defensively, like she had no idea where a strike would come from but expected one anyway.

  For a moment, just a moment, I thought that she had decided to approach Ritsu and been harshly rebuffed. Yet as much as the kitsune annoyed me, I couldn’t believe that. From everything I’d seen, he adored Kiri.

  No, I decided, this is likely Kiri allowing herself to spiral. Which might mean I need to do something about this…

  I quickly forced a smile onto my face and refused to show any hint of negative emotion. If Kiri thought I was unhappy to see her, I would not be able to forgive myself in a hurry. Especially since she was glancing around the room with trepidation, as if she felt like she was intruding.

  She wasn’t.

  Nor did Alys and I feel like she was ‘stealing’ Amara’s time and attention. I knew that because my mate and I had quietly discussed it. We thought Amara might be able to help Kiri open up a little to people who weren’t us and a very small, select number of friends.

  “Kiri! It is good to see you.” I greeted her warmly and gestured at the table that was mostly set, waiting only for the food. “Please join us. Dinner will be ready soon.”

  My hands were busy with the pan and the wooden spatula, and Soren was up to his elbows in flour. He was making some kind of flatbread, presumably for the draconians, as he’d already added far too many spices to for either of us to be able to partake in it. But I didn’t want to leave the table one place setting short for too long. Kiri would take any chance to start second-guessing her decision to stay.

  So, with a mental shrug, I let my mana drain towards one of the seeds I’d taken to carrying around with me, just in case.

  The thorny vine burst out of my pocket and wound around my waist once, then split into four separate tendrils. Two opened the cabinet where we kept dishes and carefully extracted a plate. The other two dipped into the cutlery drawer and took out everything Kiri would need for the meal. Finally, my plant gently deposited everything in front of Kiri.

  Amara’s eyes were wide with shock, and Soren had stiffened. Alys was watching me with a mixture of fondness and exasperation. Kiri just chuckled and gave me a quick, thankful nod, which I returned before making the vines reel back and ball up inside of my pocket. A second pulse of mana made the plant quickly wither away into little more than dust.

  And I never once had to stop gently moving the steaks around the pan!

  The chances of them burning or sticking to the pan were low at that point, anyway. The steaks were practically swimming in marinade. I’d just re-added it for the final few minutes of cooking, both so the steaks could soak up the unique mixture I’d concocted and because Soren would be consuming the marinade, too.

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  The first time I’d made this for the family, wanting to show off the meal Alys had become so fond of, I had almost forgotten that humans probably shouldn’t eat uncooked marinade in which raw steaks had been steeping. That would have been… embarrassing, to say the least. I wanted to find a way to ensure Soren lived for a long, long time, not accidentally poison him!

  “That smells very nice,” my mate purred as she hugged me from behind, making me shiver as her snout brushed against my neck.

  “Why thank you, mistress,” I teasingly whispered.

  “Thorn!”

  Her scales heated up in embarrassment, warm though they already were. I swear I felt her nip my neck in warning before I turned to look at her over my shoulder. This made her flush even harder.

  “What?!” she demanded.

  “Nothing, nothing. Do me a favor, love?” I motioned with my head towards the cooling cabinet. “There’s something nice in the cupboard to accompany our dinner. Would you please fetch it?”

  Thankfully, my distraction successfully stopped my dragoness from focusing on her embarrassment. Her happy rumble when she opened the cabinet and discovered the cheese put a smile on my face.

  “When did you have the time to get this?” she asked, cheerfully extracting some of the cheese from the sizable wooden tub it had come in. “I thought you said you would be in your lab the entire day.”

  “Actually, the cheese came to me. It seems like the elders did their job and finally spread the news about my shop.”

  I launched into an explanation of the Hoffmans’ visit. While Alys was still cheerful over the unexpected treat, her mood briefly dipped at the news of Holly’s injury.

  “We can go check on them tomorrow,” I told her. “The products I gave them should do their work by then, so even if Holly is still a bit weak, her injury will be gone.”

  The offer was half whim and half an attempt to trick myself into solidifying my plans for the following day, but the way my dragoness brightened made me glad I’d voiced it. The rest of dinner flowed with no interruptions in the pleasant mood.

  Even Kiri was gradually drawn into the warm atmosphere, her tentative, sad smile shifting into something genuine. She still froze up and visibly struggled to handle Amara at times, but that was less about her mood and more about her lack of previous interaction with a positive parental figure. The Winter Court was sorely lacking in those, even if you weren’t the daughter of Winter herself.

  Not that I could say Autumn was much better, both the fae himself and his Court. My own parents may not have been actively malicious, but neglect had certainly contributed to the way I’d latched onto any affection Alys’ family chose to show me.

  It was a tiny bit pathetic. The part of me still stuck in the Court upbringing whispered that I would only get hurt by letting this new family of mine worm their way into my heart, which they’d done already with resounding success, but I didn’t care.

  I had a family now. An actual, loving family who accepted me, and I’d never been happier.

  If Kiri could find even a sliver of that, then I would rejoice for my friend.

  “Alright, we are done with dinner. Turn over the juice and the good stuff now, mate of mine,” Alys commanded, collapsing onto the sofa we often claimed for the two of us.

  “Like you haven’t already gone through half a jug,” I grumbled playfully, even as I fetched a second chilled jug of the torture juice from the cooling cupboard. Then, after a brief moment of hesitation, I laid out a collection of refined materials next to Alys.

  Ever since they’d proven to be beneficial for my dragoness, she’d been taking them every morning and evening. But I was still supremely leery of feeding her my own refined blood. The sheer toxicity of the substance meant I had to handle it very, very carefully around everyone who wasn’t Alys. My fear that her immunity would suddenly run out, and that I wouldn’t be able to get an antidote to her in time, haunted me.

  Unfortunately, when I’d tried to weasel my way out of giving her any the morning after she’d had her first taste, my dragoness had made it amply clear that our daughter needed the blood to balance out the refined draconic materials. Alys was taking both, or neither. The fact that I could briefly feel the drain on my mana return every time Alys devoured the materials confirmed her claims beyond any doubt, so I could only set aside my reservations and indulge her.

  I didn’t regret my decision to honor the promise I’d made to Alys’ mother. I had refrained from siding with Grandmother when she’d tried to push for all of us to move into her lair for protection. But that just meant I needed our child to be as powerful as possible so she could protect herself.

  Setting all of that aside, I watched keenly as my dragoness downed the refined draconic ingredients, followed by my blood, then finally one of the spirit-flowers I still badly needed to name. The brief thrum of power as her bloodline was pushed a tiny step further, and our child reaped benefits from the process, was as impressive as always. Yet I couldn’t help feeling disappointed that this was all that happened.

  Ever since our daughter had surprised us with soul-hugs, I’d greedily wanted more of them. From the brief glance Alys sent me, I could tell we were united on that front. Still, it was easy to move past our disappointment when we only had to wait for a bit before we could hug our daughter the regular old way.

  After making sure Amara and Alys had their torture juice, and the rest of us had our wine, I settled in for another pleasant evening with my family.

  The absence of Aesa still grated on my mind. Some greedy, possessive, insistent part of me kept demanding that everyone I cared about should be here, within sight of me. But I refused to let that diminish the moment.

  Besides, my slowly building plans for the following day were a nice enough distraction.

  Kiri was miserable. She was also choosing to stew in her emotions instead of doing anything to improve her life. My growing closeness with my fellow fae, and potentially adopted sister, made that unacceptable.

  If I had to go hunt down an irritating fox to improve things for her, then that’s simply what I would do… regardless of my feelings on the subject.

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