Page 28 of The Good Daughter

“What?”

“From the siege of Farringcourt,” he continued. “He banished you, but you still came back for him when he was in danger.”

It was the first time we’d spoken of such things. Other than occasionally calling me ‘princess’ he hadn’t really acknowledged the circumstances of our meeting or who I was.

“He’s my father,” I answered, simply.

“You think he’d have done the same for you?”

“I don’t know,” I replied, honestly. “But it doesn’t matter. I love him, and that means I’d do anything for him.” I turned to face him then. “I think that’s a lot more understandable than you coming back for us.”

Devon rocked his head from side to side. “Maybe.” He made no effort to explain why he’d done it. “You’re a good daughter.”

“I was a spoiled daughter,” I smiled. “It’s easy to judge my sisters—the gods know that’s what I’m doing—but their upbringing was different to mine. For whatever reason, I was always Uther’s favorite. Life was very easy… then.”

“You think that if you’d been in their shoes, you’d have been a power-hungry, ruthless dragon hunter like they are?”

“Who knows?” Odd that he should specify ‘dragon hunter’.

Devon absorbed this. “An easy life is wonderful until it’s taken away. You’ve lived rough for five years and you haven’t turned into them yet.”

“I had a place to go, people to look after me.” I forced a smile. “Rescuing my father was probably the first tough decision I ever made. This is the first time in my life I’ve lived without a safety net, and if it hadn’t been for you then… well, I’d probably be dead by now.”

“Hmm,” was all Devon said.

“How do you know Martha?” There were probably bigger questions I should have been asking Devon but that was the one to which I most wanted an answer.

“I knew her husband,” Devon replied.

“Her husband?”

He nodded. “He’s dead. Five years now. So, I come by every now and then just to make sure she and the children are doing alright. Though Martha can take care of herself. Like you.”

I scoffed. “You think I can take care of myself?”

“You walked away from that easy life when you thought it was the right thing to do. You came back to save your father even though he banished you. You looked after him in the wilderness, and even though you got caught, you never stopped fighting. Strong women aren’t necessarily the ones who succeed at everything. The strongest thing you can do is to keep going in the face of adversity.”

I considered this. “Every time I try to talk about you, you turn the conversation back to me.”

“Why do you feel the need to know about me?”

I laughed. “Because you captured me, then you saved me and now my life is in your hands.”

“I wouldn’t say your life is in my hands.”

“I would,” I answered on a sigh, shaking my head. “I try to be independent but I always end up falling back on someone.”

“Why do you do that?”

“I guess I…” I paused. “Son of a bitch, you did it again.”

Devon shrugged and chuckled. “I’m just not a very interesting person. I’m lucky. That’s about it. But go on, ask me a direct question.”

I leveled a stare at him. “Where do you go at night?”

Perhaps there was a little flicker around the corners of his smile, but his face remained its usual amiable expression.

“I’ve seen you come back,” I went on. “Sometimes alone, sometimes with Martha. Where do you go? What do you do?”

---