For a very long moment we just stared at each other. In the depths of his mesmerizing golden eyes, I could see my image, dimly. It felt like not only was he seeing me, but he was seeing in me and through me.

“How …?” Joichan’s voice trailed off.

“Queen Melandria of Calia is my mother,” I said.

“Melandria.” The dragon seemed to grow bigger and brighter. “How I’ve missed her. She’s never far from my thoughts, even after all these years.”

“Twenty, at least.” I chuckled. The dragon joined in, a snort of smoke curling from his nostrils.

“Forgive me …”

“Jennica. My name is Jennica.”

“Your friend called you by a different name.”

“Yes. I couldn’t give my companions my real name. It’s not safe for me to use right now.”

Joichan nodded gravely in understanding. “Forgive me, Jennica. I find this all quite hard to believe.”

“I know. It was a shock to me too.” Remembering something, I gasped. “Wait. Let me show you something.”

I hurried to my pack, rummaging around until my hand closed on a packet of paper buried at the bottom. Returning to Joichan, I held out my mother’s letter to him. “Here. My mother—Queen Melandria—wrote this.”

Joichan gingerly took the papers from my outstretched hand. Belatedly, I thought perhaps maybe I should have waited until he was back in human form. But no, the dragon before me was avidly reading the pages, holding them with a single delicate claw.

When he finished, Joichan turned his great amber eyes on me. There was a watery sheen to them, and I realized that the great dragon was about to cry.

“My daughter,” he breathed. “I am truly sorry. Had I known you existed, I would have returned to Calia a long time ago to find you.”

“Mother made sure to hide the truth from everyone,” I reassured him. “She was worried what the king—her husband Hendon, not her late father—would do if he found out I wasn’t his child. Although we think he suspects it anyway.”

Joichan’s countenance darkened at the mention of Hendon. “So, that thief is now the ruler of Calia. And married to Melandria.”

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

“I should have gone back, even without my soulstone. Hendon was able to use my magic against me, but I would have figured out something. Or died in the attempt. But it would have been better than leaving Melandria alone with that man.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just kept silent. His anger spent, Joichan fell silent in his own brown study. His tail twitched, keeping time with his thoughts, and kicked up some dust in the cave. I sneezed. Joichan blinked, remembering that I was there with him.

“No use in regretting the past,” he said. “You’re here now, that’s what matters. Speaking of which …”

The creature in front of me shimmered, and the air in the cave grew thick and opaque. I looked around blindly, but no amount of blinking or straining would let me see anything.

When the air cleared, there was a man standing in front of me.

He was tall, at least a foot taller than me. He looked like fire in human form, from his golden brown skin to his dark honey hair, which changed from light brown to red to gold, depending on how the light from the cave walls caught it. He was dressed in a homespun shirt and trousers, and I idly wondered how he included the clothes in his transformation, since the dragon hadn’t been wearing anything.

The man held his arms open, and I stepped into my father’s embrace.

Even though I had only known Joichan for a few hours at most, hugging him felt like the most natural thing in the world. Hendon was not a warm person, and he had certainly never treated me like a father would his daughter. But something about Joichan spoke to my heart. The missing pieces I had always felt, if not outright acknowledged, suddenly fell into place.

Joichan held me out at arm’s length. In turn, I was able to get a good look at the human side of my father. There were streaks of gray at his temples, something I hadn’t noticed from a distance. He smiled, crinkles reaching his eyes as they flashed gold, then back to a more human brown. The moonstone pendant hung from his neck, half hidden under the collar of his shirt.

“You look just like her,” he said.

“Mostly,” I said. “Apparently I have your eyes.”

His smile grew broader. “Yes, I can see that.”

He walked over to a cupboard in the human-sized area of the cave and pulled down two porcelain cups. “Tea?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Have a seat.” Joichan gestured toward a small table, and I sat down, watching him putter around. He snapped his fingers, and steam suddenly spouted from the teapot on his counter. He added some leaves to each of the cups, poured boiling water into them, and brought everything over on a silver tray. The crisp smell of mint wafted toward me. Joichan gave me a cup of tea, then took the other and settled back in his seat.

“We have a lot of catching up to do,” he said. “Tell me about yourself, your mother, your life in Calia.”

“Wow, where should I start?” I quipped. “Let’s see … well, after you left, Mother married Sir Hendon. Grandfather passed away when I was very young; I don’t remember much about him, but I think he took a lot of the kingdom’s happiness with him when he died.”

“Does Hendon treat you and Melandria well? Does he at least rule the kingdom well?”

“He’s done decently by Calia, I guess. I haven’t heard of any major grumblings against him, just the usual ‘taxes are too high’ or ‘things could be better’ kind of thing. I don’t think he and Mother are truly in love, the way the stories about them say, but they have an understanding of sorts.”

Joichan looked away at that. I knew he was remembering my mother, and wishing he could rewrite history. “And you? Is he a good father to you?”

I laughed, but it was a bitter, forlorn sound. “He tolerates me, I think. He's mostly left me alone, until now. Now …” I sucked in a breath, remembering why I was here in the first place.

“Now?” Joichan prompted me.

“The king promised me in marriage to Prince Anders of Rothschan. Not only do I find the man hateful, but Mother said that Hendon wants to use the marriage alliance as a way to conquer the rest of the Gifted Lands. That’s why she sent me south, to find you, and gave me your necklace. She stole it back from Hendon and told me to keep it from him.”

Joichan growled angrily, an echo of the fierce dragon he was capable of becoming. “There’s more, isn’t there?”

“There is, but I don’t know what to make of it,” I admitted. “I left immediately after the betrothal. Somehow Hendon found out I was gone, even though we tried to hide it under the guise of my being sequestered for the traditional Calian wedding preparation month. But Prince Anders doesn’t know—he went back to Rothschan to prepare for the wedding and bring his family back. And on the road we ran into other nobles who were headed to Calia for the wedding. Hendon is searching for me; we saw Calian soldiers on the road and in Annlyn who were asking around about me. But Hendon hasn’t called off the wedding, or postponed it, or anything.”

Joichan’s rumbling grew louder, and I half-expected him to breathe fire, even though he was in human form. “Whatever he’s planning, it can’t be good. For Calia, or for you and your mother. When is the wedding?”

“I’m not sure. Time seemed to blur when we were traveling down here. I think it took us about a little over a week to reach Annlyn, so … in another two weeks or so?”

“We have a little bit of time, then.” Joichan touched his side gingerly, pressing against the newly closed wound. “Which is good, because I’ll need the time to finish healing.”

“I thought—”

“That I was already healed? Mostly. But magic can’t do everything. Time and rest will do the job better than magic could; magic just speeds things up a bit.”

“Speaking of magic …” I told my father about my lady-in-waiting Taryn back home, how she had helped me escape, and how she had been keeping me informed on what was happening back in Calia. “While you were resting, I tried to contact her. But I can’t get a hold of her. I’m not sure if it’s something I’m doing wrong? But every other time I’ve used that spell I’ve been able to get in touch with her, easily.”

Joichan frowned. “I do have some anti-magic spells on my home, but those spells are to stop intruders or to block visitors from harming me, physically or magically. You should be able to contact your friend within these walls with no issue.”

“Your home? But isn’t the other cave your home?”

He laughed. “I suppose it is, although I hardly ever sleep there. It’s more of a decoy than anything else.”

“Since I wasn’t able to contact Taryn here in the cave, then maybe it is my magic?”

“I doubt it. But let’s go outside to get clear of my protective spells, just in case. You can try your spell again.”

We set our now empty tea cups down on the table, and went to the cave entrance. From our vantage point, we could see the tops of trees as the setting sun painted the sky with pinks and oranges. I looked down and instantly regretted it. The rocky mountain face and the jagged treetops promised a treacherous fall and painful demise for anyone who fell off the ledge.

“It’s better not to look,” Joichan said mildly.

“Now you tell me.”

“We should be clear of all magic on the cave now.” Joichan gestured at me. “Go on, try your spell.”

With practiced ease, I ran through the words and motions of the spell, concentrating on Taryn’s face in my mind. I made the final gesture, but my friend didn’t appear. I held on to the spell for a few moments longer, but released it when it became apparent I couldn’t get in touch with her. Worried, I looked at my father.

He shook his head. “Your spell was flawless. Every part of your execution was perfect. It wasn’t your magic, Jennica.”

“Then what’s wrong? If I did it right, then Taryn should have felt and answered my call. What do you think I should do?”

“I think you—and I—should get back to Calia as soon as we can.”