Page 90 of Dragon Fires Everywhere
“I’d be happy to,” my dad tells me. We release each other and smile at each other, wider than ever, maybe because now webothknow that love is a choice. That this love isourchoice. “Come in for tea, princess. I’ve got a new book I want to tell you about.”
And I might be hungry, I might be tired, but that’s just what I do. I follow him into my childhood home. I sit with my dadin the parlor and discuss books over tea while a fire crackles in the hearth. Octavius senses me over here and magicks himselfinto my lap. If my mother is somewhere, she doesn’t make an appearance, and that’s a good thing.
It’s just us. Just like before.
And it’s what I need to really believe what he said.
Factsaren’tthe whole story.
After a while, my father falls asleep in his chair, and I head back outside. I walk through the snow, the porch lights ofWilde House beckoning to me. I carry Octavius cradled in my arms like a baby.
Inside, it’s dark and a little cold. It still feels like home, but it also feels emptier than it should when I’ve been livinghere alone more often than not these days. I look down at the snoozing orange cat in my arms.
I suppose him being here means I’m neverreallyalone.
But there’s no dragon in the newel post, or in my bed. So all that new, wild warmth is just kind of dull and cold now. A bigstone statue outside of town, in fact.
Love is the answer, I tell myself. It’s a voice that doesn’t sound like mine, though it comes from deep inside me. And I know it’s true.
A love that has existed between Azrael and me across lives.
Through too many deaths to count, and yet we always find each other again, following that red thread down through the ages.
Maybe it’s not so much reincarnation as a chance to get it right. In every other scenario, one of us died violently. Maybewe keep coming back until... until we don’t.
Until we find the answer.
23
The next morning we’re all up early at Wilde House before the Christmas Around the World parade. We all have our assigned,volun-told, and occasionally chosen roles.
I’m dressed up like Saint Lucia, complete with white dress, red sash, and wreath of candles on my head. I leave Azrael’s necklacethat he gave me in my jewelry box and ignore the little pang it gives me.
When I get downstairs, Emerson is dressed up like a Victorian Mrs. Claus, and—in a surprising twist—somehow got Jacob to dressup like Victorian Santa.
I do not ask how. I suspect it involves veryprivatepromises.
He looks a little gray, and I have a bad feeling that means another black magic attack. When Emerson gives me a brief nod,I know I’m right. It’s a concern. There have always been hints, here and there, that black magic has reached out and swattedat people this way, but the continual attacks every few days feel like a ticking time bomb.
But what can be done if the archives won’t give me answers?
I try to push this disappointment away and focus on the happy festivities at hand.
Zander is dressed up like Scrooge, which took only a little pleading from Ellowyn—the kind he never would have succumbed to before this year, no matter how many secret Beltane trysts they shared. Ellowyn herself got excused from the usual costuming on account of pregnancy. This year she’ll just ride on our float, decked out in a dramatic cloak decorated with evergreen and berries, embodying Yule and the upcoming solstice while tossing candy to the watching kids.
Frost refused any and all costumes as a matter of course and dignity, as he put it—but that only means he and Rebekah gotput in charge of walking next to the float and handing outpamphlets.
Emerson, Rebekah and I worked hard on them. My historical knowledge, citations, and ability to translate both into simpler,more straightforward explanations work well with Emerson’s uncanny ability to know just what kind of questions people mighthave. And Rebekah makes everything visually pretty with her graphic design wizardry.
Humans who get their hands on a pamphlet will only see a sweet rundown of the different floats and Santa Clauses—or comparablewinter solstice figures—from different countries and traditions.
Witches will see a thorough explanation of fabulae, true covens, and how we intend to proceed with this knowledge. FreeingAzrael, yes, but also finding and freeing other magical creatures. Workingtogether.
It’s been the Riverwood promise since we were nothing but a group of friends.
Emerson was keeping me updated on the votes about Azrael’s fate on an hourly basis until I asked her to stop. Last time shetold me it was close, but still in favor of keeping him imprisoned. I told her to just let me know when he’s free.
When, notif.I’ll deal with him then.
