Page 23 of The Queen of Ash and Magic

“Balor Firethorn is a port noble, so he runs the shipyard for fishing,” Eyrx says. “We have no info on if he has anyone living with him.”

“Wouldn’t Unika have been his mate?” I ask.

“If he is your father, yes. When dragons are in captivity or away from their mate, they will unintentionally breed her when he sees her,” Drake says. “I was paralyzed for only a short period of time and I still unintentionally knotted when Eyrx tried to breed you. Generally, that process would have taken several times for me to get there. It wouldn’t have been unintentional that first time.”

“Ah,” I say.

We get to the porch and Eric knocks. A few seconds later, a man opens the door. “Can I hel…” Balor starts to say. He immediately stops when he sees me and tears well up.

“Well, I’ll take that a yes,” Julianna says. Balor is frozen and I’m confused.

“Dragons will always know their young, even if they’ve never met,” Julianna says. I open my mouth to say something, and he grabs me and hugs me tightly. I'm surprised Drake hasn’t said anything, but I realize that not only am I hugging him back, but I’m crying.

“I wanted to take you with us. I swear to the Gods, I wanted to save you,” he says as he pulls away and cups my face. “You look just like your mother, Lysa. I’m so glad you got away from them.”

“Us?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he says, confused. “Your mother and I… she was so close to death. I just wanted to save her, but we couldn’t get to you. I tried, but I nearly got you killed trying.”

“Unika… Mom is… I saw her. She was dead,” I say.

“Baby, you were six,” he says.

“Backup,” Drake says. “Unika is alive?”

“She is. I… didn’t tell anyone because I thought she might get sent back. I didn’t want to risk losing both of them,” Balor says.

“Does she know Lysa is here?” he asks.

“No. We avoid the broadcasts unless it’s marked as urgent,” he says. “Unika. Come to the living room.”

“She’s alive?” I ask tearfully.

“Yes, and you two look identical,” he says. “Come in, everyone.”

When we step inside and my father shuts the door, I see her. She looks older now. Stress lines stretch across her forehead, and she holds grief all over her body. She doesn’t miss a beat when she sees me, and we practically run at each other before colliding into a hug. Sobs rip through me and my legs struggle to support me. We end up sinking down to the floor and she gently rocks up and she strokes my hair. I didn’t know what to say or do because I thought she was dead. I wastoldshe was dead. Do they even know that she is alive?

“Lysa, I am so sorry,” she says as she pulls back and cradles my face with her hands. “I am so so sorry. I couldn’t get to you. Ididn’t want to leave you there. I tried so hard to protect you, but I failed. Didn’t I? They hurt you?”

“Yeah,” I whisper. “I can show you but… it’s bad.”

“I want to see,” she says. “Wait. Do you have powers? Who did you mate to?”

“Drake,” I say. “Technically, Eyrx kidnapped me. I’ll just show you. Can I show B… dad? He is my dad, right?”

“He is,” she smiles. We get up from the floor and I sit between my parents.

“Can I… Can I call you mom and dad? I don’t like them being my parents. I think I always did see you like a mom anyway because you took care of me.”

“We would love that,” Dad says, squeezing me in another hug.

“Uh so. I’m… new at magic. I know almost everything but sorting through thoughts to project is hard. I might unintentionally project… Sorry ahead of time,” I say.

“Ohhh,” Eyrx laughs. “Trying not to show them what you two freaks did on the way over?”

“The king is a wonderful man,” Dad says. “I’m sure other things will take the forefront of these memories anyhow.”

“It’s bad,” Drake says honestly.

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