Her daughter had been smart, and completely stupid. She found a partner. Likely the only one that she would find in her lifetime. Instead of letting things py out and letting things fall as they would, she had gone ahead and bonded them together in such a way that there was no going back.

  Likely, she thought it was the only way to prevent him from stabbing her in the back someday. Not that she was entirely wrong. Even if he did decide to turn on her, he would end up following her into death soon after. Whether by my hand or his own, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that he was now a part of this family, whether any of us disagreed or not.

  Then again, it wasn’t like I could be mad at her. She had done what she needed to keep him near her, just like I had done to her father. If only he could see her now.

  I rested for an hour. Just long enough to get some of my power back and to let the two of them go to bed. Stepping out of my room, I checked on hers as I went past it on the way to the stairs.

  There was no sign of her in the overly dragon-covered room. Every time I looked in there, it sent shivers down my spine to see so many dragons. Almost every single one of them was misshapen or completely wrong.

  Closing her door, I made my way to the front room. There they y, Christian holding Victoria against his chest as they slept. Sighing, I got to work warding the property. While it would take me a while to rebuild everything, I could at least get the basics up tonight.