How to Drive a Dragon Crazy (Dragon Kin #6)(48)

Keita shrugged. “Celyn was twice her senior and no one seemed to have a problem.”

Gwenvael sucked his tongue against his teeth.

“What’s wrong?” Éibhear asked him.

“I’m sad Talaith wasn’t here for that one. It would have led to a lovely fistfight.”

“A fight Keita would have lost.”

“Gods, yes. She’s so busy protecting her face, Talaith just hits her with repeated body shots until she passes out.”

Izzy leaned back in her chair and gazed at her mother, her mouth slightly open. “How you can even consider—”

“Izzy, I understand your concerns but—”

“My concerns?” Izzy rubbed her forehead, tried to be calm. “Mum, that bitch abandoned you. She tossed you out, left you defenseless, all because you’d fallen in love with my birth father and gotten pregnant with me. How could you ever forgive her for what she did to you? What she allowed to happen? It was because she abandoned you when you needed her most that Arzhela was able to get to you. To ruin your life for sixteen years.”

“I never said I would forgive her, Izzy. I remember everything. The horrible things she said and did when I told her that I was in love with your father. That I was pregnant with you. How she purposely waited until I was hours away from labor before she told me to get out because I’d betrayed my sisters. And just before I left, news came that your father . . .” Talaith cleared her throat, took a breath. “That your father had been killed in battle, yet she still threw me out of the temple. So understand that I have no intention of forgiving Haldane, Daughter of Elisa for a gods-damn thing. But we have to be realistic about your sister.”

“What can your mother teach her that Rhiannon can’t? That Morfyd can’t? They’re both white Dragonwitches and—”

“Right,” she cut in. “They’re both white dragons. Dragons, Iseabail. Not humans. And Rhi’s half human.”

It was something they never really talked about except as a way to explain how difficult Rhi and the twins could be at any given moment. Because it had never mattered before. Not to Izzy and not to the rest of the family. So why was it important now?

“I know she’s half human, Mum. What does that have to do with anything?”

“It has everything to do with it when it comes to Magick, when it comes to power. And Rhiannon’s ability to control her Magick, to rein it in, was born into her. The control of human Magick, however, needs to be taught.”

“And you can’t do that?”

“Not for your sister. I’ve tried, Iseabail. Gods, have I tried. But her power . . .” Talaith fell back in her chair, her eyes locked on a spot across the room. “Her power has grown, only now it fluctuates with her moods. It wasn’t too bad when she was a child but when she came into her first blood . . .” Talaith shook her head. “She set Gwenvael on fire.”

Izzy’s back snapped straight. “She did what?”

“I know. He’s a dragon, but he was on fire. It was a good thing he is a dragon because he recovered after a few days. Even so, there was a lot of whining for all the females to take care of him, which was actually more annoying than anything else that happened.”

“Mum.”

Her mother looked at her. “Hhhm?”

“She set him on fire?”

“You know Gwenvael. He started it.”

“But if it hadn’t been Gwenvael . . .”

“Exactly, Izzy. And that was when Rhi was barely fourteen winters. She’s been working with me, Morfyd, Rhiannon, Ragnar, a few powerful dragon Elders . . . and although she tries hard, so very hard . . . once her anger or, even worse, her fear and panic come into play”—Talaith wrapped her hands around the mug and gazed down at it—“the damage continues to get worse.”

“What about Talan and Talwyn?”

“They protect her, just like always. That has never changed, I doubt it ever will. They’re equally powerful, but in different ways.” She looked at Izzy, smiled. “Just like you.”

“Powerful? Me?” Izzy shrugged. “Anyone can be powerful, Mum, with three legions at your back.”

“Don’t underestimate yourself, Iseabail. What you lack in Magick, you more than make up for in physical power and skill. Besides, dismissing anyone who lacks Magicks is something your grandmother would do. I’m sure you don’t want to make that same mistake.”

“What do you want me to say, Mum? About this?”

“Help me with your father. He listens to you.”

“I don’t know.” She hated that woman for what she’d done to Talaith. Hated her.

“Izzy—”

“Let me think on it a bit, eh?”

“All right.” Her mother pushed her chair back and stood, leaving her tea and the cake untouched. “But not too long, luv. Your sister tossed the twins around like rag dolls yesterday . . . and she was only mildly annoyed then. I fear what she may do when she’s good and pissed off. . . .”

Chapter 15

Brannie sat beside Celyn on the Garbhán Isle battlements, their legs hanging over the edge, their arms resting on the railing. And together they watched their father, the great Bram the Merciful, stop in the middle of the oversized courtyard. One second he was walking and the next, he was digging through that bag of his. Whenever he traveled more than a hundred feet from his home door, their father had that bag or he went back for it. But he seemed to spend more time going through it, or complaining about what wasn’t in it, than doing anything else.