Page 119 of Claim the Light
Sophia urges me toward the end of the street. “Our car is this way.”
“Car?”
She gives me a smile. “Micah may have come into some money.”
I blink at her, and she elaborates. “His mother was from a wealthy family. It turns out she set up a trust fund for him before he was born.”
I’m surprised. “Solomon never told him?”
Sophia doesn’t hide her grimace quickly enough. “I think Solomon was concerned that the money would come with strings attached.”
“Does it?”
She’s quiet and I’m not sure how to interpret her silence. I decide not to push it.
“What about the dragon’s light?” I ask, changing the subject.
Sophia took the dragon’s light with her when she left, and it was hard for me to let it go. There was a time when I believed that guarding the light was my responsibility and I still feel that way a little. A few months ago, I decided to remove the golden lotus from my armor—the place where the dragon’s light had rested. The lotus now sits on a table in the living room of my home with Callan. It’s a reminder of how hard we fought for peace.
“The dragon’s light is safe,” Sophia says. “It can never be taken away from dragons again.”
I want to ask her more. I need to know where it is and how she’s so certain it’s safe. It took a lot of faith for me to let her depart with it. But I trust her. She wouldn’t keep information from me unless it was for a good reason.
I also trust the immense power she controls. Particularly because I might need it again soon.
When we reach the car and I slide onto the leather seat, I exhale a groan when the contractions return. Giving Sophia a hopeful look while I try to blink away the sweat in my eyes, I ask, “Any chance you can do that thing again?”
She shakes her head as she slips behind the wheel.
“It wouldn’t be good for baby,” she says, appearing completely calm and confident in her next assessment. “But don’t worry. She’s still two hours away. I’ll get you home in plenty of time.”
I’m not sure if I should be relieved or alarmed.Two more hours of this?
Also… “She?”
Sophia presses her lips together. “Oops.”
A moment later, she puts her foot down on the accelerator, and then I’m on my way home.
* * *
My daughter’s quiet breathing is the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard.
Scarlett sleeps in my arms, her tiny face peaceful and her perfect, little fingers curled around the edge of her swaddling cloth.
She smells like the purest spring and her scent chases away every thought of darkness.
Callan’s calm presence falls over me, drawing my focus upward. He gazes down at his three-day-old daughter with an adoring smile.
“It’s time,” he says.
“Just one more minute.” I stubbornly refuse to break this perfect moment. Even if it’s the same response I gave him five minutes ago. “Everyone can wait for us.”
The smile plays around his mouth and brightens his eyes. “They can, but the moonlight won’t.”
I exhale a sigh, accepting my inability to control nature.
Tonight, we take Scarlett into the moonlight for the first time.
