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“Apparently, yes.”

“You don’t know?”

“I never knew my mother, so I only have what Dad and Evan told me about her. She was gone before my first birthday.”

The room fell silent for a bit, except for the sounds of her moving around the kitchen and preparing food. Finally, he asked, “Is it something you want to talk about?”

Astrid kept her head down and worked as she pondered the question. Phoenix waited, allowing her time to think. “I’m not sure. It’s not something that I’ve really considered. I was tooyoung to have developed a more mature opinion,” she turned and looked at him. “Mostly, I just asked why she left and cried when I didn’t get an answer that I could understand.”

She resumed working on their breakfast. “I didn’t talk to my dad about it since he had enough to worry about after Evan died. At this point, I’m not sure what good would come from talking about it. She ran off without any explanation. I don’t know how talking about it with anyone besides her would help. And I’m not even sure that I want to talk to her.”

“If you want, I could find her for you.”

She looked over at him. “Why?”

He shrugged. “It would give you a chance to learn more about her and yourself. Or you can just take on the information and file it away.”

She leaned against the counter as the food cooked. “You know, in all of my time working in cybersecurity, I never even considered looking for her.”

He gave her a soft smile. “That’s probably your answer then.”

After a moment of reflection, Astrid stood up. “Yeah. I think that’s probably… right.”

“But If you do want to talk about it at some point, I’m here for now.”

“So, you are planning on leaving?”

“It’s inevitable, given my job, but once I get this problem resolved, there will be thousands of others that need my attention.”

“Are you saying that you are neglecting thousands of problems to fix this one?”

“Against the wishes of everyone I know, yes.”

“It’s been twenty years since Evan died. Why did you wait until now to start looking into it?”

“My stepmother convinced my father that it was more profitable to be used elsewhere.”

Her head whipped around, and she looked at him. “Your stepmother?”

“Yes. My mother died when I was a few years old, so I don’t really remember her.”

“I’m so sorry – wait, you remember her?”

“Yes. I have a much better memory than most, thanks to my mother’s genetics. I got a lot from her, most of it good.”

“And the curse?”

His cool blue eyes held her gaze. “That’s from my dad, a calculated move on his part. He married my mother because her family was powerful and important in their community of polar bear shifters.”

“Really?” She was surprised by this, but he confirmed it by nodding. “You can’t shift into a dragon or a polar bear, can you?”

He laughed. “No, no. Shifters only have two forms, although I would certainly rather have been a bear because I wouldn’t have to deal with the curse.”

“It’s tied to you being a dragon shifter?”

“Yes, it’s a very calculated move on my father’s part.” His tone had changed, and he sounded bitter.

“How so?”