Page 27 of Dragon Slayer

“Hello? Mia?” her father’s voice asked, and suddenly she was wide awake.

She scrambled up onto her knees and gripped the headboard tight with her free hand. Her lungs contracted, and she fought to keep her breath slow and regular as it left her mouth. She didn’t want him to know that he caused her any kind of anxiety. “Dad,” she greeted, with what she hoped was a neutral tone.

Silence a beat, one she wasn’t willing to fill with idle chatter. She felt a stab of betrayal; obviously, Kate had called him.

“Your mother called me,” he said, finally, in confirmation. “Honey, I’m–”

“No pet names. We don’t have that kind of relationship.”

“Oh.” He sounded startled. Off-kilter. “Oh, okay. Well.” A breath that sounded pained, almost a whimper.

It angered her.Hewas the one who’d abandonedthem. He didn’t get to act hurt.

“Mia, I’m so terribly sorry. This is just…it’s devastating.”

Mia closed her eyes, because the worst part, the absoluteworst, was that he sounded sincere. Actually devastated. And he’d always had this soft, pleasant voice to go with his soft, pleasant face. Not a tall man, nor an imposing one; always smiling, wire-framed glasses always spotless and reflecting the light, screening his eyes – and whatever emotion might have lurked in them – from view. He bore all the superficial markers of a good father, but he hadn’t been one. Not ever. Somehow, she’d always found his unfailing politeness more offensive than outright cruelty.

“Yeah, well, I figured this would happen someday,” she said. “Not a surprise, really. It’s fine.”

“No. No, it’s not fine at all.” Heavy emotion; he sniffled audibly, and her hand tightened on the phone. “But itcouldbe.”

Her anger caught, suspended for a moment in surprise. “What?”

“Mia, I know that you and your mother never saw the importance of my work–”

“You never saw the importance ofus.” A low blow, but a satisfying one.

“That’s not true,” he said, smoothly. “I always loved you both, dearly, but your mother couldn’t be patient. She couldn’t see that I was on the edge of a breakthrough.”

She didn’t snap back this time; what was the use? Every time her mother asked him for even a scrap of time, he politely told her that she couldn’t possibly understand the magnitude of his research. How earth-shattering it would be. But he never told them anything about it; spent all his time at the lab; cut down their intelligence and understanding in a thousand little smiling slights.

“The last few years,” he continued, excitement coloring his voice now, “we’ve made some marvelous progress. There’s a new drug – a wonder drug! Mia, my colleague in New York attached a donor foot to a wounded war vet, administered this drug to her, and her body accepted the new limb. Flawlessly. We’ve returned a man’s sight. We’ve – we’ve–”

“Not interested.”

“No! No, Mia, listen to me, please! Let me explain. This is truly, truly a miracle drug. It’s not chemo, honey. It won’t make you sick. There aren’t any side effects at all! It’s not available to the public yet, but I’m the initiator of the trial; if you come here to Virginia, to the lab, I can administer it. Honey, this serumeats tumors.”

She allowed herself a moment of hope. To imagine that what he was talking about was true. A miracle, tumor-eating drug with no side effects.

She shook her head. “You sound insane.”

“I know I do, I know. And if I told you the kind of research it took to create this drug, you’d think I sounded even more insane. But, Mia, I’m telling you the truth. I can cure you. You’ll be strong, and whole, and you can live your life.”

“I could never get onto the trial.”

“You’re notlistening. You don’t have to be a part of the trial. You can just walk in.”

“That’s not how this sort of thing works.”

“I don’t have to play by other people’s rules.”

Her breathing had accelerated, she noticed, and fought to even it out again. This was…it…

“I don’t believe you.” She meant it as a forceful statement, but it left her lips as a murmur. She’d believed crazier things; she believed Val existed. So why not believe this?

It was more that she didn’ttrustthis. Him. Didn’t trust Edwin Talbot to do anything for her out of the kindness of his heart.

“Please believe,” he pleaded. “Please.”

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