Page 63 of Under the Dragon's Spell
I looked to the door, but Mother had left the room. Perhaps to drown her sorrows in a cup of tea somewhere. I ripped the page with Father's number out of the address book and went in search of her. I found her in the living room downstairs, with the predicted cup of tea in her hand.
"Greetings from your second born," I said.
She looked at me over the brim of her cup and said nothing. Then she glanced at the paper in my hand. "I see you got what you wanted."
"Don't I always?"
She shook her head as if she was tired of my antics. She was an old lady now who had grown bitter over the years, but she was still my mother, and whatever she was doing now, she thought she was doing for me. So I stepped up to her and gave her a short kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you for brunch next Sunday."
She didn't respond, but I knew she'd be ready and waiting for me at our usual time.
"Be careful!" she called after me when I left.
With the page from the address book in hand, I returned to the house I'd rented for me and Adrian. It was empty now, of course, but for a moment, I imagined bringing Adrian and the babies home. Mother was wrong when she said there were no upsides to a bonding for me. A longer life wasn't worth anything if I had to live it the way I had before I'd methim, toying with my partners and growing bored of them quickly. Not even other dragons had been able to hold my interest. Nobody had, until him. And I wasn't going to lose him.
So I went inside and called the man who'd run from me when I was a child.
My father took a long time to answer his phone, but I let it ring for a while, and then called again, until he finally picked up.
He answered the call the same way my brother had. Something about that sent a spark of anger through me, but I suppressed it.
"Hello, Father," I said, not bothering to introduce myself. He'd know from my voice that I wasn't Kylan, and I didn't think he had too many other children.
"Tyrel?"
I couldn't see the man, but from the sound of his voice, I imagined the color draining from his face.
"Indeed." I couldn't help but smile a little. Perhaps I wasn't as tired of toying with humans as I thought. I'd make an exception for him.
"You… You've never called before. You've been avoiding me for ten years."
"Has anyone ever told you how good you are at stating the obvious?"
He snorted. "Why are you calling?"
"Do you know how to do a fate bonding?"
"A fate bonding? Did your mother tell you to ask me about that?"
"Not before I asked her. I need to perform one. Do you know how?"
He took a moment to respond. "Are you sure you want to do that?" Was that concern in his voice? For me? The world was a strange place today, and only getting stranger.
"I'm certain."
He took a deep breath. "I'll show you if you come here."
I gripped the phone a little more tightly. "I don't have time for that." Even if I'd wanted to see my sire, I needed to stay by Adrian's side.
"You're going to have to make time. I'm not doing this over the phone. I'll drive out to the airport. We'll have a cup of coffee. It'll be nice."
It took all my willpower not to yell at him for making this more complicated than it needed to be. If he'd been in front of me, I wasn't sure that I wouldn't have tried to compel him to tell me what I needed to know with my special abilities. "Aren't you afraid I'll use my magic on you?"
"I'm not afraid of you, Tyrel. I was never afraid of you, and if you come here, I will tell you what really happened when you were a kid."
How ominous.
I did the grown up thing and hung up.
