Neither was beguiling, but there was no question that it was the best possible solution.
“Well, you see, officer, there was this party,” he began, keeping his tone deferential as he lit the flames in his eyes.
The younger cop laughed under his breath. “Some party,” he murmured.
“So, there was this party,” the older officer echoed, inviting Thorolf to continue, and he dared to hope that he had a chance of pulling this off.
Hadrian burst through the earth under a million stars in a midnight sky. It was so cold and clear that the wind nearly stole Hadrian’s breath away. He soared high into the sky, Rania safely in his grasp, and only belatedly realized where they were.
“Callanish,” he murmured, then flew low over the standing stones. He circled them, eyed the gaping maw in the earth in the middle of the circle where they had erupted, then pivoted and flew high again. The sky was alight with shimmers of lime green as the northern lights wavered and flowed, seemingly so close that he could touch them yet also far away.
“My brothers,” Rania whispered in anguish and Hadrian realized they were completely alone. The sky was empty in all directions and the ground was still beneath them. He flew over the spot repeatedly and would have gone back into the earth, but Rania shook her head.
“And the Pyr, too. The Others from Bones. I hope everyone got out okay.”
“Me, too. Let’s go home and check on them.”
“Back to my smithy?”
Rania smiled, her fair hair flowing over her shoulders. “No. That way.” She pointed west. “My home.” Her smile broadened. “I’m wondering.”
Hadrian chuckled and turned in a broad circle, taking his directions from his mate. He flew low over the north Atlantic, enjoying their time together and his sense of triumph. He was surprised when she directed him toward Iceland, then realized her choice was perfectly right.
Her home was even more right. It was an ancient cottage, built of stone and settled low against the earth. There was sod growing on the roof so it was hard to discern from above, and she said it was half-buried in the earth. It was the stone circle surrounding it that he spotted first, its shape distinctive even beneath a layer of snow.
The inner circle was a good sixty feet across, and the ring of stone that surrounded it was eight feet wide and eight feet tall. It was all fitted stone and resonant with the songs of the earth. Hadrian felt immediately at home. There was one break in the barrier, and that opening aligned with the cottage set right in the middle of the inner circle. He could see the ocean crashing against the rocky shore in one direction, icebergs in the sea far beyond it, and a wisp of smoke rising from a volcano in the other direction.
“Fire and ice,” he said to Rania as he set her down and she laughed.
“Just like you.” She stepped back and watched as he shifted shape, exhaling with relief when he was in his human form again. Rania cast her arms around his neck and kissed him, then tugged him into her home.
“Someone’s here,” she said softly on the threshold.
Hadrian found himself shimmering on the cusp of change before he realized the visitor might be the result of her wondering.
The man stood in front of her knife collection again, his back to her, his hair a long braid down his back. It was exactly like the last time, his posture identical, the door left open the same increment—but this time, Hadrian was with her.
Rania felt as if she had a second chance to get it right.
“Father?” she said and he glanced over his shoulder, a smile in his eyes.
“Daughter,” he replied, surveying her.
“A second chance?” she asked and he almost smiled.
“You wondered. That was all it took.” His gaze flicked past her and she knew he was studying Hadrian. She knew the moment he spotted his own ring. “You didn’t lose it then,” he said softly.
“My mate had it,” she replied. “It was safe.”
Her father pivoted then and offered his hand to Hadrian. “I am Ulrik.”
“Hadrian MacEwan.”
She watched her father inhale. “More than a man?”
“I am Pyr, a dragon shifter.”
Her father raised a brow, then indicated the ring. “The stone tells me all I need to know.”
“Not everything, Father,” Rania said. “Maeve is defeated and the realm of Fae no more.”