Jake sat in the house on the lane and told Chelsea and Gran Rosalinda everything.

Well, not everything.

He left out some of the more terrifying parts because Chelsea’s face was already doing something complicated when he got to the part about the cauldron and he didn’t think adding the complete details of what it felt like to have his essence drained while floating above glowing iron was going to help anyone process the situation better.

But he told them about Bearfang. About the jade star mark being more than a lucky charm. About the eastern fighters and the rest stop. About Maudlina and Ankerita and the dragons and the forest chase.

He told them about his parents.

That was the part that sat heaviest in the room.

Chelsea had her hands folded in her lap and she was very still while he talked. The kind of still that people got when they were listening to something that was changing the shape of things they thought they’d understood. Her eyes were on his face and she wasn’t interrupting and that alone told Jake that this was serious because Chelsea always had opinions and she always shared them.

Gran Rosalinda sat in the good chair by the window and listened with the expression of someone who was not surprised by any of this but was maybe surprised by the timing of it. Her silver hair caught the afternoon light coming through the window. Her hands rested on the arms of the chair with the settled ease of a woman who was comfortable wherever she sat.

When Jake finished talking there was a long silence.

Chelsea broke it first.

"I didn’t know," she said quietly. "About your parents. About what they were or where they went or any of it."

Jake looked at her.

"I found you when you were three years old," Chelsea continued. Her voice was steady but there was something underneath it that wasn’t steady at all.

"You were alone. In the lower district. Wandering. You couldn’t tell me where you’d come from or who your parents were. You just kept saying you were looking for someone but you couldn’t remember who."

She paused and her hands tightened in her lap.

"I took you home," she said.

"I thought someone would come looking for you. I waited. No one came. After a month I stopped expecting anyone to come. After six months I filed the guardianship papers with the district office and you became mine."

Jake absorbed this.

He had always assumed Chelsea knew more than she was saying.

That the careful deflections about his early childhood were because she was protecting him from something or protecting something from him. But the way she was looking at him right now was not the look of someone who had been keeping secrets. It was the look of someone who had been kept from them.

"The mark," Jake said.

"You never questioned it?"

"I thought it was a birthmark. Some children have them. I’ve seen stranger."

Chelsea’s voice was quiet. "I called it a lucky charm because you were lucky. You were alive and healthy and you’d been alone in the lower district and somehow you’d survived until I found you. That seemed lucky enough."

Gran Rosalinda made a small sound from the good chair.

Both of them looked at her.

She was looking at Jake with eyes that were bright and clear and seeing something that maybe she’d been seeing for a while but hadn’t said out loud.

"I wondered," she said simply.

"When Chelsea first brought you home. You didn’t move like other children your age. You watched things differently. You processed things faster than you should have been able to."

She paused. "I thought perhaps you’d been raised in an unusual household. Or perhaps you were simply clever. I didn’t think—" She stopped and smiled slightly. "I didn’t think your father was such a big figure."

Jake almost laughed.

It came out as something between a laugh and a sigh.

"Neither did I," he said.

*

The Dragon Maidens arrived at the house two hours later.

Jake heard them before he saw them.

The sound of boots on the street outside. Multiple sets. Moving in formation.

He went to the window and looked out and there they were. Six of them. The same women who had knelt in the hotel room. They were dressed differently now. Not riding clothes. Something more formal. Dark robes with silver embroidery at the hems and collars. They moved with military precision, but their faces were open and warm when they saw him at the window.

Behind them came Ankerita and Maudlina.

Both sisters looked tired but whole. Maudlina had some fresh bruising on her left arm that hadn’t been there yesterday, but she was walking without difficulty, and her expression was as bright and curious as ever.

Jake opened the door before they knocked.

The lead Dragon Maiden bowed slightly.

She was the same one who had spoken in the hotel room. She’d told him that during the long conversation that had followed the kneeling.

"Young master," Raani said.

"We’ve come to escort you home."

Chelsea appeared behind Jake in the doorway. She looked at the Dragon Maidens. Then at Ankerita and Maudlina. Then at Raani.

"You’re taking him to Roakan," Chelsea said. Not a question.

"Yes, my lady," Raani said. She bowed to Chelsea. Deeper than she’d bowed to Jake.

"To House Raikarndel. Where he belongs."

Something moved across Chelsea’s face. Pain or worry or both. Jake couldn’t tell which.

Then Raani did something Jake hadn’t expected.

She went down on one knee in the doorway. The other five Dragon Maidens followed. All of them kneeling on the street in front of the house on Puski Lane while the neighbors watched from their windows and tried to figure out what was happening.

"My lady," Raani said with her head bowed.

"You cared for our young master when he had no one else. You raised him and protected him and kept him safe for fifteen years. House Raikarndel owes you a debt that we can never fully repay."

She raised her head, and there were tears in her eyes again.

"Thank you," she said simply.

"From all of us. Thank you."

Chelsea stood very still in the doorway.

Then her hand came up to her mouth and Jake realized she was crying. Quietly. The kind of crying you did when something you’d been holding for a very long time was finally being acknowledged by someone who understood what you’d been holding.

Gran Rosalinda appeared beside Chelsea and put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder.

"Get up," Gran Rosalinda said to the Dragon Maidens. Her voice was firm but not unkind.

"All of you. You don’t kneel in the street. It’s undignified."

The Dragon Maidens rose.

Raani looked at Chelsea with an expression that was open and genuine.

"Will you come with us?" she asked.

"You and your mother. The young master will need familiar faces during the transition. And House Raikarndel would be honored to host you for as long as you wish to stay."

Chelsea looked at Jake.

Jake looked back at her.

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. The question was in his eyes and Chelsea read it clearly because she’d been reading him for fifteen years and knew exactly what he was asking.

Do you want to come?

Chelsea wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Yes," she said. "We’ll come."

*

Eskar was already outside when Jake went to find him.

He was sitting on the low wall at the edge of the yard with his hands on his knees and his face wearing the expression of a man who had been doing some very serious thinking and had arrived at some very uncomfortable conclusions.

Jake sat down beside him.

They didn’t say anything for a while.

The street was busy with the Dragon Maidens preparing for departure. Horses were being brought around. Supplies were being loaded. Ankerita was coordinating with the iron-suited soldiers who had caught up with them this morning. Everything had the organized energy of a group that knew how to move quickly and was doing it.

"You’re going to Roakan," Eskar said finally.

Jake looked at him.

"You’re coming with us," Jake said.

Eskar looked at him sharply. "Why?"

"I told you I was going to make you regret wanting to live. That’s a long-term project. I can’t do it properly if you’re dead or if I leave you here."

Eskar stared at him.

Then despite everything, despite the shame and the weight and the terrible last two days, he almost laughed.

"You’re a vindictive little bastard," he said.

"I’m learning," Jake agreed.

He stood up from the wall.

"Get your things," he said. "We leave in an hour. You’ll ride with the escort. And Eskar—"

Eskar looked up at him.

"If you ever point at me again," Jake said quietly, "for any reason that isn’t helpful, I will let the Dragon Maidens decide what happens to you. And I don’t think they’ll be as generous as I’m being."

Eskar nodded once. Slowly.

"Understood," he said.