Page 72 of The Silver Spider
“No one has a claim on my wife but me,” Maddugh said. His shoulders swelled, his skin dappling with the color and pattern of his scales.
“Do not make me contain you,” Dawnthorne warned.
Maddugh smiled. “I am no wingling. You can try to contain me, fae. You won’t be able to try very long.”
She looked at Amnan, who stood, arms crossed over his chest, a satisfied expression on his face. “Someone is going to get killed,” Serephone said. Her mother would be reasonable, even if the men just wanted to flash their fangs and fight.
“Maddugh, this may not be the most diplomatic way to resolve our situation,” Kailigh said.
“You know he won’t let Sere leave?” Amnan asked. “She’s bound to the grounds unless he says otherwise.”
Kailigh’s calm temper vanished. She turned on Dawnthorne. “What?”
“What the hell did you do that for?” Serephone snarled at Amnan. “We’re outnumbered.”
“You’ve never seen my father fight. We aren’t the ones who are outnumbered.”
“Another dragon, Mommy!”
Everyone froze as a childish voice rang out in glee. Serephone glanced towards the sound to see Iona skipping across the lawn towards them all.
Anissa swore under her breath. “Her nanny must have lost her again.”
“The nanny is fired,” Dawnthorne snapped.
Anissa strode towards Iona, grabbing her hand to pull her to a halt. Iona protested. “I want to see the dragon! Auntie Serephone!”
“Auntie?” Kailigh asked, turning her head to stare hard at Anissa.
“I have an older sister, from what I’m told,” Serephone said, watching as her mother then looked at Etienne, eyes narrowing.
“She was already an adult when I met you,” Etienne said.
“You never told me you had a daughter.”
“I never told you many things. You didn’t need to know.”
Kailigh stilled. “You son of a bitch.”
Her mother had to have some bitterness, some anger, despite being newly married to a man she loved. Etienne had abandoned her with three children, and they’d never heard from him again. And she’d loved him once, even if her love had been foolish.
Maddugh proved that no matter how jealous he was, he wasn’t a complete ass. He stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Kailigh’s shoulder, turning her away from Etienne, speaking quietly in her ear. After a moment her mother’s tension drained, and she nodded, not looking at her ex-husband again.
“Are we done?” Dawnthorne asked.
