Page 70 of Catastrophe

I hurriedly explained, “Fafnir and the hunters are working together. It’s a long story. Tell me where you are. We need to meet.”

I’d clearly surprised her again, because she stuttered, “I—I can’t tell you. It’s top secret.”

“I couldn’t care less about your stupid task team rules right now,” I huffed out a breath. “If we don’t attack the base, then Clawdia, Zaide and all the witches, including the council, are going to be killed.”

I waited impatiently until she finally said, “Meet us at the dock in Västerås in an hour.”

Elizabeth startled awake as I walked into her cabin bedroom and said, “Come on. We’re leaving. Pack.”

“Leaving? You’ve found Clawdia?” she asked, her voice rough from sleep and her face looking as tired as I felt. But sleep could wait. I had a familiar to save.

“I’m working on it, but we need to get off this cursed island so we can be close if she needs us. When she needs us.”

Elizabeth glared as I opened the curtains and tossed her suitcase on the bed next to her. “You don’t think she’s going to free them on her own?”

“I think she’s focused on Zaide and will get him out no matter what.” I had no doubt about that. Elizabeth slapped my hands as I unzipped the suitcase. Fine. She didn’t want help, but the manic energy swirling around inside me needed an outlet, so I paced as my birth mother hauled herself out of bed. “But she’ll feel bad that she left the witches and the council to be eaten. We can’t leave everything to her.”

“You should look at your cousins,” she said and began pulling everything out of the drawers and onto the bed. “They are working with the hunters, too. I just hadn’t realized it was under Fafnir’s direction.”

“I’m aware. Mary has made herself known to Zaide. She’s told Fafnir about Clawdia and our bond. He’s hunting her. But he attacked us last night, so I can only assume he’s looking for me, too. All the more reason to fuck up his plans. So, chop chop. We need to go.” I clapped my hands and turned on my heel, heading out of the room to pay Sigurd, Daithi, and Savida a wakeup call too.

“Charlie.” I hesitated. I knew where it was going, but I didn’t want to hear it. She hurried to continue. “I’m sorry. For attacking you. For thinking the worst. I didn’t know … Well, I didn’t know anything. It’s proven to me how much I need to learn about the otherworlders, but more than that, it’s proven to me that, in my ignorance, I continue to fail you, and I don’t want to do that anymore. If I’m going to be any kind of mother to you, I should be better.”

A mother to me?

I turned around to see her brown eyes looking solemn and teary. Her hands were knotted in front of her, and her shoulders slumped. She was the picture of apologetic.

“Thank you for apologizing and acknowledging your mistake. I get that. I know you were taught to think dragons are evil, magic-draining bastards. I know you thought the worst happened and that your inability to kill me as a baby meant you’d caused another Fafnir to fly around tormenting people. I understand it all. But I can’t pretend that I’m not … hurt.” I choked out the last word.

It wasn’t easy to admit that this rejection, of all the previous ones, stung worse because this time, she knew me and still believed I could be evil.

She nodded and licked her lips nervously. “I want to make it up to you.”

I shrugged, pretending indifference. “If you figure out how to do that, you can let me know.”

“I am sorry,” she told me again, placing a hand on my forearm. “You might be glad to know that Clawdia gave me a good talking to.”

A smirk pulled at my lips at the thought. “My girl is pretty fierce when she’s defending something.”

Within half an hour, everyone was up and ready to go, so Daithi portaled us all to the dock since he remembered it from when we got on the ferry over with Laurence. Since it was still early, there weren’t many people around, and I herded everyone to the nearest cafe for coffee and breakfast, then texted Arabella our location.

In a large booth at the back of the shop, Savida and Daithi muttered sweet nothings to each over steaming plates of food. Sigurd and Elizabeth sat opposite each other and engaged in magic knowledge sharing, which I would have ordinarily listened to, if only to learn more about our family gifts. But I stared at my new boyfriend-in-law as I poured my second cup of coffee.

“You okay?” I asked in a low voice.

He frowned at me. “I’m well. Why do you ask?”

“You’re … glowing?” I waved a hand at him. I couldn’t put my finger on what looked different, but he had an Edward Cullen shimmer about him. “I don’t know. You’re not smiling, but you seem really happy.” I clicked my fingers. “Are you pregnant?”

Baelen looked genuinely disappointed and remarked dryly, “You are an idiot.”

I chuckled. “And you’re stuck with me, so you’d better get used to it.” I put my cup down and lowered my voice. “Now talk.”

Baelen sighed like I was too much, but I saw the twitch of amusement in his lips. “We aren’t women. We aren’t going to discuss this.”

“Ah, so it’s about feelings. What happened when I left you and Zaide?”

“Stop.”

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