Page 45 of Lost in Fire

“Not until today.” I swallow hard, hating the taste of my own fear. “I reached out to him. Told him about you. About the danger.”

“Why now?” The question carries an edge that could cut glass. “After all the years of silence, why reach out now?”

“Because I can’t protect you anymore.” The confession breaks something inside me. “The protocols are too sophisticated. The investigation too thorough. I’ve run out of ways to keep you hidden.”

“So you contacted him because you need something.”

The accusation stings because it’s true. And it’s so much like Hargen’s reaction that I almost wonder if it’s written in her DNA.

“I contacted him because you need him. His Aurora connections, his resources—everything I can’t provide anymore.”

“Which is?”

“A way out.” My voice cracks on the words. “A chance at freedom. At a life where you don’t have to hide what you are.”

She stares at me for a long moment, processing everything I’ve told her. When she speaks again, her voice is deadly quiet.

“Where is he now?”

The question I’ve been dreading. The one that will require me to trust—really trust—another person for the first time in decades.

“Waiting to meet you.”

“Okay,” she says. “I want to see him.” Ember’s voice carries quiet determination. “I want to meet my father.”

“Are you sure?” The question sounds ridiculous even as I ask it. There really is no alternative right now. “Once we take this step, there’s no going back. Everything changes.”

“Good.” She stands, moving with the same unconscious grace that marks her heritage. “I’m tired of living in a cage, even a beautiful one. I’m tired of half-truths and careful deflections and being treated like I’m too fragile to know my own story.”

She pauses at the doorway, looking back at me with eyes that carry too much understanding for someone her age.

“I forgive you,” she says quietly. “For the lies. For the isolation. For keeping us apart all these years. I understand why you did it.”

Relief floods through me like physical pain.

“But I won’t forgive you if you don’t trust me now.” Her gaze locks with mine, unflinching. “No more secrets. No more half-truths. No more deciding what’s best for everyone else.”

“No more secrets,” I agree, though the promise terrifies me.

“Then let’s go meet my father.” She’s gone before I can respond to her.

Chapter 17

Hargen

The crunch of tires on gravel pulls me away from the window.

I’ve stood there for what feels like hours, my fingers curling against the worn sill, nails digging into weathered wood. Years of Syndicate service taught me to remain composed in the face of unexpected threats, but nothing has prepared me for this.

The sound of an approaching car shouldn’t make my heart stutter like a faulty engine. Shouldn’t leave me wondering if it might be easier to turn and run.

You’re a father now. Man up.

I take in the sparse furnishings of Vanya’s neat house, the strategic exits, the subtle magical wards woven into the foundation. Even here, at the end of a forgotten dirt road surrounded by dense forest, old habits die hard.

The car engine cuts. A door slams. Footsteps on the path.

I’ve spent decades working with some of the most powerful magical beings on the planet, but now I stand frozen, unable to move as those footsteps approach the porch. My acute awareness catches a hesitation; I’m almost certain I hear a deep breath drawn and held.

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