Page 15 of Magic Claimed

So Ishouldbe trying to make them like me. Smoothing things over and being as polite as possible.

Someone should have mentioned that to my mouth.

“Measure all you want,” I said, “but I’m not going to apologize.”

Tairen regarded me thoughtfully from her towering height. “For what?”

“For any of it,” I told her flatly. “For my past, for being human, or for bonding with Callum. I won’t apologize for my magic, for my poverty, or for my family. So if that’s why you’re here, you can feel free to consider your trip wasted.”

She continued to watch me in silence, her expression unreadable.

“I also won’t be bullied into giving up Callum. Angelica already tried that and got sent off with her knickers in a twist, so if you’re thinking about trying again, let’s do it here and now because I’m back on shift in less than half an hour.”

The two dragons continued to stare at me, the silence growing until my own breathing began to sound too loud. Callum’s mother looked as if she were observing some particularly strange new species of bug and wasn’t sure whether to take pictures or squash it under her boot.

“I’ve heard the rumors, of course,” Tairen said at last. “Of the woman who crashed the Symposium and single-handedly either destroyed it or saved it, depending on who’s telling the story.”

I wasn’t sure who she’d been talking to. There weren’t very many people out there willing to defend me.

“I’ve heard that she admitted to being human and wielding stolen magic. That she colludes with our enemies and wants nothing more than the destruction of all Idrian lives on Earth.”

Of course she’d heard that. It was the most popular narrative at the Shapeshifter Court and the primary reason they’d tried to summon me.

“But I’ve also heard that she’s a survivor. One who wields her magic for the sake of others and protects the powerless. Who shields even those who would destroy her and has saved my son’s life on more than one occasion.”

That could only have come from Ryker, Kira, or Callum himself.

“But what I havenotheard”—her tone changed, growing somehow even more commanding and stern—“even from my son, is that he has suddenly entered into something as significant as amate bondwithout a single word to inform his own family.”

Ohhhh, crappity crap.

This was bad. This was very,verybad.

But how was I supposed to know Callum hadn’t told his mother about the mate bond yet? She looked like I’d just announced that we’d eloped with an Elvis-themed ceremony in a Las Vegas wedding chapel. To make matters worse, I’d gone and dropped that information in the middle of a not-very-respectful tirade.

The question was probably no longerwhethermy potential future mother-in-law wanted to eat me, but how long she would wait, and whether she would cook me first.

It was beginning to look like I could officially add this moment to my catalog of absolutely humiliating mistakes. But… I wasn’t sure it was entirely my fault. Why would Callum tell her about me but not mention the bond? Unless…

No, I couldn’t think that way. He wasn’t second-guessing. He’d just told me so last night, and I believed him. So he probably hadn’t told her simply because he knew she would disapprove. He might even have had a plan for the best way to break the news, and I’d just shot it full of holes.

Go me.

It seemed I didn’t have much choice but to brazen it out, so I lifted my chin. “Well, I guess now you’ve heard.”

Skye choked, and her lips twitched as she looked from her aunt to me.

“And, uh, how long have you been together?” she asked, when Tairen seemed unable to find words.

Good question. One Ireallydidn’t want to answer.

“A little over a week,” I admitted.

“And you are bonded already?” Skye seemed startled by that.

“Look, I don’t know how these things work.” I was feeling smaller and stupider by the second. “So I also don’t know how to tell when the bond is complete. Callum said we technically still had a choice whether or not to accept it. But he can sort of sense what I’m thinking or feeling, and I… I can usually tell where he is. And I can hear him talking in my head when he’s in dragon form.”

“That’s…” Skye paused, and I braced myself.