Ethan smiled at me and reached for the serving tools beside the chicken. “Which part do you prefer?”
“The leg,” I said quickly.
I inhaled the chicken leg in what must have been a minute. I went in for seconds, but with the bottomless pit of hunger taken care of, I could finally focus on the reason why Ethan had brought us here.
He sat directly across from me, and I zeroed in on him, surprised when his eyes were already on mine.
He was looking at me like he had after we’d killed that monster. Like he was amazed.
“You have magic,” I said simply.
“An astute observation.”
I made a face in annoyance.
Mira turned to him, since she was sitting next to him. “How long have you had magic?” she asked.
“My entire life.”
Her face crumpled, and she looked at him like she didn’t know him. “After everything I told you, how could you keep this from me?”
My mom’s sharp gaze went to Mira. “What did you tell him?”
My twin pressed her lips together, refusing to meet Mom’s eyes. “Not much,” she finally said. “Just about the ceremony, and how you thought Gemma and I would get magic tonight.”
“That was a family secret,” my mom scolded her. “Not something you tell a guy you’ve only known for a few months.”
“That’s what I told her,” I said.
“You knew about this?”
I flinched back slightly, since she was right—I’d lied to her by keeping Mira’s secret. But that was how it had always been between me and Mira.
Twins before anyone else. Even before Mom.
“I only told her a few hours ago,” Mira came to my rescue. “And I’m sorry I told him, but I never actually thought anything would happen tonight.”
“How did he even know where we’d be?” she asked.
Mira quickly told her everything I already knew from when we’d talked in my room before the ceremony.
“Don’t blame Mira,” Ethan cut in, and from the way he moved, I could tell he’d reached for her hand beneath the table. The twinge of jealousy that I felt whenever I saw them together passed through me, but I did what I always did and pushed it down. “I knew about the ceremony, even before she told me. And I steered our conversations in ways that ensured I’d know where you’d be tonight, in case you needed my help.”
“Against the griffin,” I said, still processing the fact that the monster had been real.
“Precisely. You used your magic well, but your abilities are still raw. If I hadn’t been there to help you, things wouldn’t have happened the way they did.”
We’d be dead.
The implication hung in the air, although none of us wanted to say it out loud.
Mom raised her chin proudly. “So you’re a witch, too,” she said to Ethan, continuing before he could confirm it. “But how? Male witches barely have any magic.”
“I’m not a witch,” he said simply. “I thought you’d have already figured that out, since no witches—besides the chosen Gemini twins—have elemental magic.”
“Then what are you?” I asked.
He kept his eyes locked on mine, and said, “A dragon.”
7
Gemma
I stared at him, speechless.
Obviously I’d always known the story of my ancestors being gifted with dragon magic over a thousand years ago. And if dragon magic existed, then actual dragons had to exist, too.
But that didn’t make it sound any less crazy.
“A dragon,” I repeated, trying to get it through my head. “How?”
“Yeah,” Mira chimed in. “Because you don’t look like a dragon. Thank God for that.”
“I was born a dragon,” he said. “Same as my dad and sister.”
Mira glanced at the stairs. “Lizzie’s asleep?” she asked.
“Yep.”
“And your father?” my mom asked.
“Away on supernatural business.”
“Hm.” She pressed her lips together, not looking pleased with his answers. Then she looked to Rosella and asked, “You’re a dragon, too?”
“No,” she said. “I’m Ethan and Lizzie’s guardian. I’m from a peaceful place in India called the Haven, where many supernaturals live.”
I sucked in a sharp, amazed breath. Because there was an entire place where supernaturals lived, assumedly undetected by the rest of the world.
Incredible.
“What sort of place?” Mira looked completely dumbstruck.
“More on that later,” Rosella said. “Because when Ethan and his family journeyed to Earth from the dragon realm, I was assigned to look after them to help them assimilate to life here. That was seven years ago.”
“Back up.” I stared at Ethan. “You’re from a different realm?”
“What’s a realm?” Mira asked.
“Another world connected magically to Earth,” I said, since I read about this all the time in fantasy novels. “Like the place they went in the Narnia series when they walked through the wardrobe.”
“Correct.” Ethan nodded. “Although it’s far more difficult to journey to Ember than to Narnia.”
“You mean Narnia exists?”
“No.” He chuckled. “But like Rosella said, I’ve been here for seven years. I’ve read the books, too.”
“Oh.” That was the last thing I’d expected him to say. “You read?”
“Yes, I read.” His eyes sparkled with amusement.
Mira looked back and forth between us and frowned. “The two of you can continue your little book club later,” she said, and she turned back to Ethan. “I thought dragons were big scaly monsters with wings.”
“We can shift into ‘big scary monsters with wings,’” he said. “At least, my dad can.”
“But you can’t?” I asked.
“We’re only able to shift after our eighteenth birthday.”
“But you turned eighteen last month,” Mira said.
“The magic that grants us the ability to shift is unique to Ember,” he said. “We must be on Ember’s land the first time we shift. Once I return home—if I’m ever able to return home—then I’ll be able to shift.”
“If you can’t prove it to us by shifting, how do we know anything you’re saying is true?” I asked.
“Once my father returns, he’ll shift for you,” he said. “But like you saw in the cove, I have elemental magic.”
“Fire magic.”
“And air.” He glanced at Mira, then back at me. “Although fire’s my strongest element.”
“Does this mean that Mira and I are dragons, too?”
“You’re witches whose ancestors were gifted with dragon magic,” he said. “I thought you already knew that.”
“That’s what we’ve always been told.” Mira sounded like she was in a trance.
“But all we’ve known is that the chosen twins in the Gemini line would be blessed with elemental dragon magic,” I said. “We were never told anything about being able to shift into dragons.”