Page 83 of Magic Claimed
He shook his head. “He and Mom… They were close friends, and that was all. They respected each other, but he had his own work he’d dedicated his life to, so he rarely visited the enclave. Their arrangement was based mostly on Mom’s need for heirs, so he wasn’t really a part of our lives.”
“And you’re just… okay with that?”
Callum shrugged as we made our way downstairs. “It was just how things were, so we didn’t really question it. Morghaine was one of the earliest people I remember watching out for us,and in some ways she was more of a mom to me than my actual mom. At least until the fae tried to kill Kira, and Morghaine left with her to keep her safe.”
Suddenly, Tairen’s decision to take the blame for the attack was beginning to make sense. Not just as a mother, but as a friend. As a woman carrying a complex burden of guilt and regret that could never be entirely expunged.
“What do you think they’ll do to her? Is there any precedent for this kind of attack?”
“There have been a few cases, but they’ve almost always been handled internally, with reparations being made to the humans affected. I honestly don’t know how they’ll handle a dragon. Typically, the director of the Bureau of Idrian Affairs would meet with the leader of the court involved, but given that we’re talking about my direct family member…”
And given that she was lying through her teeth about being responsible.
“Don’t worry.” Callum intertwined our fingers and gave me an encouraging nod as we reached the bottom of the stairs. “We’ll figure it out. She’ll be okay. I’ve never seen anything defeat Mom, and I doubt today will be the day that changes.”
I wished I had his confidence, but something told me that it wasn’t going to be that simple—that none of what we were facing was a coincidence and that all of this was going to get worse before it got better.
Whether it was my siren magic, or just my natural pessimism, I wasn’t about to let my guard down.
TWENTY
The local branchof the Bureau of Idrian Affairs was basically a broom closet in a forgotten corner of City Hall. They’d spent fifty years doing their best to ignore the presence of what amounted to aliens in their city, but from the look of the traffic bustling in and out of the tiny office today, it seemed they might be reconsidering this policy.
We got several worried sidelong looks, a couple of eye rolls, and then a death stare from the middle-aged woman behind the office’s sole desk.
“You understand,” she stated sternly, “that we cannot release the suspect until the incident has been investigated by my supervisor. She poses too great a danger to the public and has been placed under forty-eight hour emergency detention.”
I wondered whether they were actually foolish enough to believe they could detain Tairen-li-Corva for even forty-eightsecondsif she didn’t choose to stay.
“We understand,” Callum said patiently. “We aren’t asking you to release her. We just want to talk to her.”
“You will, of course, be searched.” She looked from Callum to me, scanning us up and down as if she had X-ray vision and could tell whether we were trying to smuggle in a hacksaw or a blowtorch under our clothes.
“In case we’re hatching a plot to free your prisoner, who is also a dragon?” I muttered under my breath.
“We have nothing to hide.” Callum sounded remarkably relaxed under the circumstances. “I’m her son. I just want to know that she’s all right and doesn’t need anything while we wait for a representative of the Bureau to arrive from Washington. I’m sure that having a familiar face can only help her remain calm and patient while this case is proceeding according to thelaw.”
He placed enough emphasis on that last word that the woman paled slightly, as if contemplating the consequences should this dragonnotremain calm and patient. Eventually, she gave up the posturing.
“Fine, you can see her. Not likeIcan stop you. Not like anyone can stop you. I don’t even know why they pay me to pretend.”
I looked around, half expecting some kind of silver-barred holding cell, but she pointed us back out the door.
“Down the hall, second door on the right. In the conference room.” When Callum’s eyebrows shot up, she folded her arms defensively. “We didn’t have any other place to put her, and the county jail turned us down flat.”
From their perspective, detaining a dragon must havefelt a little like juggling a live nuke, and a part of me wanted to laugh as we followed her directions and stopped in front of the door she’d indicated. Two security officers stood there, looking decidedly uncomfortable. Probably wondering whether the rumors about Tairen eating someone were actually true.
“We’d like to speak to the detainee.”
They glanced at each other, visibly engaged in a silent argument over who was going to open the door and risk the dragon’s wrath.
“And I solemnly swear,” Callum added, “that she won’t be biting, clawing, maiming, or eating anyone… today.”
Their eyes bugged out a little as their brains insisted they were prey and should probably run.
“She’s mymom.”
The shorter of the two finally blinked, swallowed nervously, and pulled a massive ring of keys off his belt. Selected the right one almost without looking and pushed open the conference room door, making every effort not to be seen by the room’s occupant.
