It was clear Amnan intended they return to the castle. Kailigh approved. A lazy man might have simply located a guard or constable and handed the work off.

“I’ll try to find Sere and we can catch up,” Persia said, then darted off before Kai could comment. Kai wouldn’t have bothered, as she was learning to pick her battles with her ‘‘adult’’ children.

“Hope she’s fast,” Amnan murmured. “Run?”

Kai grinned. “Why not?”

Unexpectedly, he returned the grin. “Let’s see your paces, mistress.”

And he burst into a flat-out run.

Kai lagged for a split second before dashing after him, heart pumping and a fierce smile pulling at her lips. Maybe it was the lowering sun and the energy of the people who exclaimed and flung themselves out of the way. Or the freedom of fully stretching her legs in a way she couldn’t do in a forest with plenty of tree roots to trip over—but she felt exhilarated.

By the time they ran the long walkway up to the castle and burst into the courtyard, her blood was pumping, breath harsh but even. Amnan glanced at her, a glint of respect in his eyes.

“You run like a full-blooded Dwyrkin.”

She snorted. “I run like I’ve spent every day since I was a toddler in physical labor—and too poor to afford a horse.”

“That would do it, I suppose.”

But Amnan looked around, a frown on his face. “Where’s the door guard?”

Kai stared at the front door, a double-sided monstrosity made of carved wood and iron, uneasy. She recalled having seen two posted when they left, men in loose-tailored trousers and jackets, the kind she imagined it easy to fight—or shift—in, their hands clasped in front of them.

“Side entrance,” Amnan said sharply.

Kailigh followed, inner tension sealing her mouth and sharpening her ears. There should be men in the narrow strips of garden surrounding the castle. It wasn’t traditionally large, but with three stories and a half a city block in length, it was big enough. Over the days, she’d picked out Dwyrkin with shiny eyes apparently lounging under her window, strolling through the stone paths, a little too alert to simply be taking in the fresh air.

“Two at the door, two on each side,” she murmured. “An entrance leading to the guest wing by the roses.”

Amnan glanced at her and nodded, increasing his pace. “You’re observant. That’s a good quality for a—”

He cut himself off and she wondered briefly what he would say—then she heard the high-pitched scream.

Kailigh’s heart stopped, then she burst into a sprint, Amnan at her side. She knew Cin’s screams. The girl was angry-scared, cornered in a battle cry. The last time Kai had heard that was right before…

“Faster!”

Kailigh hit something, and her eardrums popped. Amnan swore viciously.

“Sound shield. A fucking sound shield!”

No wonder everything had been quiet. But now the audial debris of a nasty foot battle flooded the air. The hiss of a deadly steam-powered rifle and the pops of gunshot sounded above them. Men shouting and the snarls of at least one shifted dragon. A window shattered above her head. Kailigh covered her head with her hands, jerking backwards as a body flew from the second floor. A human landed with a sickening thud.

She crashed into the side-door entrance and ran up the stairs two at a time, Amnan hard on her heels. The staircase was enclosed, an oddity for a residential home. Kai had the brief, harried thought that this way, the staff could traipse up and down all day and not disturb the members of the household. She nearly laughed from her own mundane musing, recognizing them as a defense mechanism because fear chilled her spine. She didn’t know what she would find. Amnan urged her to go faster and they burst into the hallway and ran to Cin’s bedroom.

The missing door guards and several other staff battled three humans, Cin struggling as a scruffy mercenary dragged her to the balcony, an arm around her waist. She was unarmed and dressed in her nightgown, long hair streaming over her shoulders. Amnan roared, his fury echoing through the room.

“Use your teeth, girl!” Kailigh screamed, incensed when Cin flinched and grimaced. “Fight!”

They would be having a talk about Cinvarra’s prissy attitude. But the girl shifted, lithe and suddenly no longer doing an impression of a flopping damsel fish in distress, and butted her head backwards right into her attacker’s nose. He yowled, his hand coming up automatically to protect his face, and Cin took advantage to grab the appendage and sink her teeth, drawing blood.

Enemies noted Kai’s shout and she threw herself out of the way of sudden fire. Bits of cloth hit her in the face and she glanced over, mouth gaping, as Amnan charged the shooter, his arms and shoulders massive scaled appendages belonging to a dragon, and not a man.

Pushing to her feet, Kai stayed low and ran straight to Cin, cursing her skirts and vowing not to wear them ever again. A roar split the air, like the distant sound of an airbus, coming closer. Fire grazed her thigh and she stumbled, dragging a heavy chair in front of her as a temporary shield. Steam and Stone, all she had was her blade, and a blade in a gunfight was useless.

“Cinvarra, fight!”

“I am fighting!” her daughter shrieked back, incensed. “Stop telling me to fight!”

“If you would fight, I wouldn’t have to scream at you! You’re spending all week in training!”

Kai watched the struggle, waiting until a dragon guard distracted the man who’d shot at her, and then emerged from her hiding spot, running towards her daughter. But she wasn’t fast enough, nor Cinvarra vicious enough. The man dragged the girl onto the balcony, looked down, and tossed Cinvarra over.

“Cin!”

Kailigh barreled into the abductor, pushing him over the balcony and barely managing to keep from falling over. Four men were at the bottom with a large sheet taut between them, Cin stunned but unhurt. They moved as if to swaddle her in the cloth.

“Oh, hell no.”

Swinging a leg over the railing, ignoring that she was two stories up and had mostly human bones, she clambered over and with a deep breath and gritted teeth… jumped.

A heavy burst of wind buffered her, a claw grabbing her out of the air. She flew, momentarily dizzy as the dragon whipped her around—likely inadvertently, but probably not.

Fire roared over the heads of the abductors as they dropped Cin and scattered, drawing weapons to fire. More Dwyrkin arrived, and Amnan stole Kai’s idea and flew off the second floor with the speed of a man who’d had a running start. She resented his grace as he landed, like a damn black cat, on his feet, long hair streaming over his shoulders.

Kailigh was set down on the balcony, the room now quiet, and shoved inside with a hard claw tip. She stumbled, whirled, and glared as Persia leaped off the back of the obsidian-scaled reptile hovering just long enough for that purpose.

“Stairs, Ma,” Persia said, gaining her feet and running. “I don’t think the Lord liked seeing you jump. It looked fucking awesome though!”

Kailigh glared at the dragon, who returned her baleful look then turned away and dived towards the ground. She followed Persia, catching up with the girl in a matter of seconds. She was just slightly faster than all her daughters, slightly stronger.

“Where’s Sere?”

“Hunting humans,” Persia said. “Keep an eye on town.”

Cin was on her feet, the enemy humans quarreled, when they made the bottom of the stairs. Kailigh drew her blade, bared her teeth, and strode forward.

Maddugh turned, tail dropping in front of her with a certain finality, lip drawing up to reveal a fang.

She glared. “Get out of my way, you oversized forest toad.”

Amnan coughed. “Mistress, we have things well in hand. Further bloodshed will—”

“Make my point.”

She danced around the tail, swiping her scarlet skirts out of the way. Maddugh snorted, and his form contracted. Kailigh took advantage and strode past him, Persia going to Cinvarra.

“Father, you mentioned something about chomping if I put hands on your woman,” Amnan said.

“Get out of my way,” she snarled at the Dwyrkin who formed a guard in front of the prisoners.

An arm slid around her waist. “Temper, Kai,” Maddugh said in her ear. “We need to see to your wound, and Cinvarra. Come, let the guards take away the bad nasty humans.”

He continued to talk, in what he likely thought were soothing, persuasive tones, drawing her away. Kailigh didn’t resist because she knew he was right—Cin came before her desire to cut someone. She noted out of the corner of her eye that Amnan gestured hastily, and the guards ushered the prisoners away. Quickly.

“Bloodthirsty wench,” Maddugh said. “I approve the sentiment, if not the practicality of it in this situation.”

Kailigh sheathed her knife and Maddugh let her go. Persia had an arm wrapped around her sister, Cin having shed the sheet meant to imprison her.

“Ma,” the girl said, a plaintive note in her voice. “This is getting old.”

“It is, indeed, getting old,” Maddugh said, nostrils flaring. He rubbed his hands together. “But, patience, my girl. I—”

“Will do nothing.” Kailigh threw him a hard look. “This is my business. I get to slit the varmint’s throat.”

Maddugh rolled his eyes. “Dwyrkin females, admittedly, are as fierce as the males. I was hoping you might have escaped that side of your nature, but clearly I hoped in vain.” He sighed. “I suppose it is well. I wouldn’t want our children to be weaklings.”

Persia coughed. “Cart before the horse, huh?”

Kailigh ignored them all, dislodging Persia’s arm to wrap her own around her baby, and lead her back up the stairs.

“Get a doc,” she said over her shoulder to Maddugh, ignoring that he was Lord here and this was his house. She just didn’t care.

“We will talk, mistress,” he replied, crisp.

But he brought a physician barely a half hour later, and had also taken the trouble to don pants. Cin was given a brief exam while staff cleared the bodies out of her room.

“We’ll prepare a new room for you,” Maddugh said.

Cin blinked, startled. “That’s a waste. A good scrubbing will get the blood up, and I don’t mind the scorch marks on the walls. A patch.”

Maddugh stared at her. “Ah… if you’re… certain.”

Kailigh snorted. “I didn’t raise my girls to be faint of heart, though—” she glared at Cin ”—this one has been known to try my patience with her silliness at times.”

Cinvarra blinked long lashes, wide pansy eyes innocent.

* * *

“Well,” the physician said, a no-nonsense Dwyrkin female with a long braid and trousers, instead of skirts. “Girl’s good. Come, Lady, let me see the leg.”

Kailigh settled on the bed, a slit cut in her skirt to reveal her wound. She winced from that waste, but figured a seamstress could finagle some decorative stitching and make it look like it was done on purpose. Kailigh glanced at Maddugh, who watched with interest. He was walking around bare chested. Kai wanted to cover Cin’s eyes, at the very least, because Maddugh made innocent bare chest look indecent.

“Nice, toned legs,” Maddugh said, eyes roving up and down her exposed flesh. “You should check for wounds higher up.”

Cinvarra made a gagging noise, as only a seventeen-year-old girl could.

The physician glared at the lord. “None of that, my Lord, or you can leave. Stop that, girl. How do you think you got here?”

Kailigh smiled until the woman prodded the cut. It was just a flesh wound, but it stung. A few stitches later and some antiseptic that made her curse, and Kailigh was pronounced fit.

“I think I’ll come to the faire,” Cin told Maddugh. “I’m feeling much better.”

“You’re insane,” Persia said.

Kailigh concurred. “Persia, you go ahead, I’ll stay—”

“No, Ma,” Cin said. “I need some air. I don’t want to be cooped up for the rest of the night. Please.”

Kailigh paused her protest, studying her daughter’s carefully composed face. The wound hadn’t reopened, and despite all the action, Cin was on her feet, and steady.

“Okay. Maybe a little distraction will help us all recover.”

Cin stood. “I’ll go put on that dress.”

The physician gave brief instructions on the care of the wound. “You look like this isn’t your first go around,” she said, wry, “but I have to go through the spiel anyway.”

When she’d left, Maddugh glanced at Persia and Amnan, the latter having entered the room quietly a few minutes before.

“The humans are secure,” he said to Maddugh.

The Lord nodded absently. “Yes, yes, I’m sure you have it well in hand. Will you two excuse us? I’d like to speak to Mistress Kailigh alone.”

Their children paused, looked between Maddugh and Kai. “Father, I don’t think…”

“Amnan.”

Maddugh’s pleasant tone fooled no one. His son sighed, took Persia’s arm, and escorted her out, leaning down to murmur something in her ear to stall her protests. Kailigh watched them go and folded her arms.

“Well?”

The dragon Lord knelt at the side of the bed—nearest her bare leg, placing a hand on the coverlet near her thigh. His eyes remained on her face, but they glowed. A subtle sheen to match the slight smile on his lips.

“What must a man do to earn your favor, mistress? You fought boldly for your child—my desire has only increased.”

Kai’s breath struggled in her chest for a moment. The practiced, silky tone was that of a master, but no one had ever used such carefully crafted words to attempt seduction before. No man had ever been able to pinpoint her weaknesses. Treat her like a light skirt or a damsel, and she’d scoff. Treat her like a warrior, and she’d melt. A little.

“I don’t know, Maddugh. This doesn’t seem to be the time for sport. I still have a daughter running loose around your faire with who-knows-what predators in the crowd.”

“If not now, when?” He took her hand, lifted it to his lips. “Tell me when I may court you.”

“I—” she squirmed a little, as uncomfortable as a teenage girl with her first man. Even though she was a woman grown having birthed three daughters.

Maddugh leaned forward and she was hyperaware of the sensual mouth, his broad shoulders, and the rough silk of his hair. He still hadn’t bothered to don a shirt and she struggled not to drink in her fill of the strong physique. Struggled not to imagine, even if briefly, what he would look like over her, heated with passion.

His other hand cupped her cheek. “You’re nervous. It’s a compliment for a man that he can make a strong woman nervous.” His slight smile broadened. “I can do other things, Kailigh. Your blushes would be unceasing.”

“Enough with you!” she exclaimed. “Yes, I’m blushing, but only because you are as shameless as a gigolo.”

He grinned, unperturbed. “My dear, I could outclass any common gigolo. I’ve lived far longer, and tormented far more women in my time.”

“I’m certain you have.” She regarded him. “Very well, Maddugh. Take me back to the faire and we… will see.”

His lashes lowered over his eyes, but not before she saw the triumphant narrowing of his pupils.