Chapter 28 28
Annabeth's POV:
I'd been staring at the kitchen table for maybe ten minutes that morning, tracing the grain of the wood with my finger and trying to figure out how to start this conversation. My aunt was making tea, which she only did when something serious was about to happen, and the kettle was taking forever to boil. Or maybe time was just moving weird because I was dreading this.
"You're going to wear a groove in that table if you keep doing that," Aunt Sarah said without turning around.
I pulled my hand back. "Sorry."
"Don't apologize. Just tell me what's on your mind. You've been avoiding me since our last talk and I'm running out of patience."
Right. She wasn't wrong. I'd been taking my meals in my room, leaving early for class, coming home late, anything to avoid this exact conversation. But I couldn't put it off anymore, especially not after texting Kaelen last night that I wanted to talk. I needed to figure out what I was doing, and that meant being honest with the one person who'd always been there for me.
The kettle screamed and my aunt poured water over tea bags in two mugs, setting one in front of me before sitting down across the table. She didn't say anything, just wrapped her hands around her mug and waited.
I took a breath. "Kaelen is a dragon. A golden dragon, specifically. He can shift into full dragon form and he has healing abilities and he's been on the run from the Order for five years with his siblings. And he is the one who helped me to know who I really am."
She nodded slowly, not surprised at all. "I suspected as much. The way you talked about him, the way you avoided talking about him, the frequent outings with friends although Mara isn’t in town, that mysterious dragon friend... it all pointed to something significant."
"There's more." I wrapped my own hands around the mug even though I didn't feel the heat. "We're... I mean, he says we're destined mates, you know, the conversation we had, and—" I stopped because I was rambling and my face was probably bright red.
Aunt Sarah was quiet for a long moment, her expression unreadable. I waited for her to freak out, to tell me I was too young for this kind of decision, to forbid me from seeing Kaelen again.
Instead she asked: "Do you have feelings for him?"
"Yeah. I do. A lot of feelings, actually, which is weird because I've only known him for like almost a month, but it's like... I don't know, like I've known him longer somehow. Like my body recognized him before my brain caught up."
"That's the bond. Your mother described something similar with your father." She took a sip of her tea. "What did Kaelen say when he explained this to you?"
"He said I needed to be sure before we crossed that line. That he didn't want me to feel trapped if things changed or if I changed my mind about us. He was really... I mean, he was respectful about it, you know? Not pushing, just explaining so I understood what I'd be agreeing to."
"And have you agreed to anything?"
"Not yet. I told him I needed time to think." I finally took a sip of my own tea. It was too hot and burned my tongue, but I barely felt it. "I've been thinking about it for a couple of days and I still don't know what I want. Part of me thinks it's crazy, we barely know each other and forever is a really long time. But another part of me feels like this is right, like he's right, and I'm just scared of committing to something so huge."
Aunt Sarah reached across the table and took my hand. "Your mother was scared too. When she found out she was pregnant with you, when your father explained what it would mean to have a dragon hybrid child, she was terrified. But she chose it anyway because she loved him and she wanted you, even knowing the risks."
"And it killed her."
"No. The pregnancy complications killed her, and that's not the same thing as choosing wrong. She never regretted her decision, Annabeth. Not even at the end."
Tears burned in my eyes and I blinked them back. "How do I know if I'm making the right choice?"
"You don't. That's the thing about big decisions, you never really know until after. But you can trust yourself, trust what you feel, and trust that Kaelen seems to be giving you the space to figure it out."
I nodded and wiped at my eyes with my free hand. We sat there in silence for a minute, just holding hands across the table like we used to when I was little and scared of thunderstorms.
Then Aunt Sarah said: "I want to meet him."
"What?"
"Formally. Not just hearing about him secondhand. I want him to come here for dinner tonight so I can look him in the eye and decide for myself if he's worthy of my niece."
"Aunt Sarah, we're not even... I mean, we've kissed but we're not officially together or anything. It's too soon for the whole meet-the-family thing."
"If he's your destined mate, if there's a chance you'll be permanently bonded to him, then it's not too soon. It's actually overdue." Her grip on my hand tightened. "I lost my sister to a dragon she loved, Annabeth. I'm not going to lose you without at least making sure this boy understands what he's asking you to give up."
"I'm not giving up anything."
"You're giving up the option of a normal life. Of dating other people, of changing your mind, of walking away if things get hard. That's not nothing."
She was right. Of course she was right. And the fact that Kaelen had explained all of that to me, had told me to take my time, had said he'd be okay with whatever I decided... that actually meant something.
"Okay," I said. "I'll ask him. But you have to promise not to interrogate him too hard. He's already nervous about us and I don't want to scare him off."
"I'll be gentle. Mostly."
"Aunt Sarah."
"Fine, I'll be on my best behavior. But I'm still allowed to ask the important questions."
I pulled out my phone before I could talk myself out of it and typed: "Change of plans. My aunt wants to meet you. Dinner tonight. I'm sorry in advance."
His response came within seconds: "I'd love to meet her. What time?"
"6:30? And seriously, I'm sorry, she's going to grill you."
"I can handle it. See you tonight."
I showed my aunt the exchange and she smiled, satisfied. "He seems polite at least."
"He is. He's actually really sweet when he's not being all mysterious and brooding."
"Mysterious and brooding. Wonderful. Just like your father."
"Is that a bad thing?"
She stood up and took our mugs to the sink. "That depends entirely on whether he's brooding because he's thinking about how to protect you, or brooding because he likes the aesthetic. I'll let you know which one after tonight."
I laughed despite myself. This was going to be a disaster, I could feel it. But at least it was a disaster I was choosing, and that had to count for something.