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The scent of her nemesis all over her godchild had sent Lilith on a furious tirade of curses and death threats.

The mark on Rowan’s collarbone constantly dragging the violet eyes of her godmother in and igniting them with rage.

Axel passed Rowan a glass of water to help her swallow a large bite of steak.

“What exactly did he do to you?” her sister asked. “You’ve never told us the story.”

Lilith took a deep breath. “He’s a constant wedge in my relationship with Luz. If I had it my way, I’d have taken him out the first time he did it, but he is under his protection.”

Rowan highly doubted, even with all of her power, that Lilith could really beat Alessandro if he was really trying.

“He knows Uncle Luz?” Lexine gasped.

Lucifer was an eternal homebody. Rowan had seen him out of his corner of the endless hells twice in her life. Once for hersixth birthday, because six was his favorite number and on her graduation day from Spellcasters Academy.

Any other quality time they’d shared had occurred in the halls of his black glass castle in his chosen corner of the endless hells where Rowan even had her own wing.

“Not as well as I do.” Lilith snarled.

Rowan raised an eyebrow as she took the last bite of her collection. Was that jealousy she sensed from the woman? She never would’ve thought the woman even had the capacity for such a feeling.

“This was my choice, Auntie Lilith. I know it isn’t what you wanted for me, but you are still invited to my formal introduction to the Thunder if you promise to behave.”

Lilith’s magic lashed out, grabbing a blue and green vase from the countertop.

Rowan dodged, and the glass erupted into shards against the wall behind her.

That was enough. “That was an antique!” Rowan hissed as she stood to her full height, though it was nothing on the towering form of her godmother. “Look, it’s done. The alternatives are worse than the reality. I made a choice and you’re the one always saying we have to pay the consequences for our decisions. You might have envisioned something different for me, but I’m not that five-year-old kid who needed you to keep me tethered to the ground when I couldn’t control my magic. I am grown and I want you to see what I become because you were such a big part of my development. So will you stay and see what the product of your hard work is, or will you leave?”

No one had ever spoken like this to Lilith, especially not one of her succubi.

Her bottom lip trembled, carefully looking Rowan over, really seeing her for the very first time.

She took in the horns, wings, and tail that denoted her succubus descent, but her eyes almost always traveled back to the mark.

She held her hand out to the side. Rowan braced for impact, but instead of slapping her, Lilith summoned a small opalescent ball.

“If my lineage converges with that creature’s we’re going to make them realize how lucky they are. This is Odin’s Eye--” She held it out towards Lexine. “--Work on this while Belle and I gather the wardrobe for tonight. Axel, you and your father go pick out the worm’s present. Just remember, he’s a dragon. If it shines, he’ll like it.”

Rowan beamed at the black-haired woman as she palmed the object, warm and full of magic. “And just how do you have Odin’s Eye?”

“I won it during a poker match with the sloppy pervert.” Lilith shrugged. “Do not make me regret this, Rowan Dahl. If he treats you poorly, I will take his head. As your godmother, it is my right.”

A win was a win, right?

XOXOXOXO

“Mother, you said you would control your cousin.” Terra’s voice preceded her appearance in Alessandro’s fitting room.

Naseem worked in a concentrated flurry around him, closing the brown leather straps of Alessandro’s traditional dragon garb.Stone was polishing the black and gold crown that the Dragon King hadn’t laid eyes on in ages. Had it always been so bulky?

“I’ve taken care of it, Terra. She won’t disrupt the ceremony.” The soothing voice of Alessandro’s adoptive father was a balm to the nerves that had settled in the pit of his stomach.

He hadn’t realized how bad they’d gotten until that moment.

A part of him feared Rowan wouldn’t show up. That she would conclude that their union was not what she wanted, that she’d acted out of some insanity.

All day he’d fought visions of his dragons turning to him with betrayal in their eyes. How could he have rejected one of their own for so long only to choose someone who wanted nothing to do with them?