Stacy stood at the highest window of her home, gazing across her lands. The sky was turning from dark blue to soft gray, the first hints of the coming dawn. Rowan and Amy flanked her. Her green eyes were dark and shadowy this morning, her determination to restore peace reflected in them.
“I want to forge a future that isn’t only beneficial to the people who live here,” Stacy commented. “It has to be good for others, too.” She thought of Spencer and his grieving family. Ethan and her other friends in the city came to mind. She wanted to establish her practice soon while Rowan handled the details of the estate with Kiera and Miles’ help. She approved Rowan’s plan to expand their team as long as the people brought on were as perfect for the estate as his two old friends.
She turned to see Rowan pouring white wine into three glasses. He handed one to her, one to Amy, and kept the last for himself. A smile creased his lips. “To the future of the Thorn estate. And to you, Stacy, its dragon protector.”
Amy chuckled. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I wasn’t there to fight werewolves, but I sort of wish I had seen your new body, Stacy.”
Stacy still hadn’t wrapped her head around the fact that she had transformed. She doubted it would happen again anytime soon and said as much to Amy. “Well, when it does, I want to be there,” her friend quipped.
The trio drank to Rowan’s toast, then Stacy watched the estate spirits floating across the grounds. She had a lot to be thankful for despite the sorrow hanging in her heart. We will make a better future for Spencer’s sake, she promised. Rowan and Amy left her, and Stacy decided now was as good a time as any to call her father.
The call went as well as Khan had expected.
Stacy wasn’t happy with him for going to Ethan’s shop, though she had to admit Ethan showing up for her proved how valuable of a friend he was. They had skirted around the topic of her becoming a dragon until finally, she sighed, saying she needed to come over and ask questions.
“Dinner this weekend?” Khan had asked.
“I’m having friends over then. We can after that. How about you, Regi, and the others come over, too?”
“I’ll ask Esme to make one of her famous desserts.”
They’d ended the call with Khan expressing how proud of her he was and how relieved that she was doing well.
Now, he was sitting in the quiet library, joined by the sounds of a crackling fire and rain pattering against the panes. He allowed himself a rare smile of pride as he glanced at the portrait of his wife. Her eyes seemed to say, See? Good things can happen when you allow your daughter to forge her own path.
I helped a little.
You protected her as a father should.
Stacy was fulfilling her role as the Drakethorn heir well. He could hardly believe she was a grown woman coming into her full potential. It seemed like only yesterday, she’d been a five-year-old stealing pastries from Esme’s kitchen and being chased into the garden by Torin.
He stood, his stomach grumbling for breakfast. “She will shape the world for the better, as she was always meant to do.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“Things might have gotten out of hand,” Jenny admitted over the phone.
Stacy groaned. “What did you do this time?”
Kiera, who stood at the stove stirring a pot of something savory-smelling, cast Stacy a look.
“Well, I may or may not have mentioned at the office that I was going to your place for a ‘small get-together.’ The next thing I knew, I was saying yes to a few others coming by. Now we have a few friends from work, clients, and the firm’s head lawyers excited for this weekend.”
“Jenny!”
“I’m sorry,” she squeaked. “But you said your house was big. It can fit, like…twenty extra people, right?”
Stacy face-palmed herself. She had also invited Ethan and everyone at her dad’s house. Good thing the estate was big enough for a sizeable gathering. “All good,” she replied at last, issuing a sigh. “I’ll have to convince my cook to make enough food, though.”
Kiera raised a brow at this.
Stacy laughed into the phone. “Might as well have all those people here. It can be my coming-out party.”
Kiera snorted, and Jenny declared, “Amy must be your girlfriend! That’s why you haven’t banged that bookshop guy you see all the time. Is he gay, too?”
“No, you jackass! Ethan is straight. I think. And Amy is not my girlfriend. I only meant I could tell everyone what I plan to do next.”
“Bang the bookshop guy?”
“Jenny,” Stacy warned.
Her friend snickered. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it will be great news. See you soon!”
Stacy laughed and said goodbye. It felt good. Exactly what she needed to get her head right. I suppose if I’m going to make the announcement, I should finish the registration forms for my practice, she thought.
“You have already polished the crystal twice today,” Kiera remarked as she strode into the dining room where Rowan had arrayed every piece of crystal in the house and was polishing it bit by bit. He’d even pulled out some they wouldn’t use! “Are you nervous?” she prodded.
“It has been a very long time since we last had guests here,” Rowan returned stiffly.
Kiera bit into an apple and spoke with her mouth full. “Miles and I were guests only a few weeks ago.” Gods, it felt like that first night was months past.
Rowan set down a crystal punch bowl and turned to her. “I meant as in a party. Catherine hardly ever had them. The last party here was in honor of her and Khan’s marriage. That was a long fucking time ago.”
“Are you nervous for how it will go?”
