The Dragon Child caught the look in Ethan's eyes, the way his arm shielded Matriarch Whitmore, and her expression immediately shifted.
"Ethan, who is she?"
Before he could answer, another voice rang out from behind him—just as familiar. Lyla.
For a moment, Ethan froze. He'd only just finished insisting there were eight women in his life, and now another had appeared out of nowhere. How in the world was he supposed to explain this? He had never thought of the Dragon Child as a woman—she had always been, in his eyes, a dragon-shaped companion, a pet even. But now she stood before them, dressed in flowing silken robes, her beauty rivaling Lyla and Astrid.
"She… is a dragon," Ethan managed, his smile more a grimace than anything.
"A dragon?"
This time it wasn't just Lyla and the Dragon Child speaking. Four voices from the Whitmore family joined in chorus, all echoing the same word with wide-eyed disbelief.
