Simeth's Bride (Crystal Glass Dragons 2)

12

Mara

“I’m home!”

“Mara! Where have you been?” My grandma rushed to me as I walked in through the front door and grabbed a jacket from the coat rack.

“I told you I was going to stay with a friend. Did my other friend stay here last night?” I wasn’t sure how else to refer to the maid.

“She did. I got her to bed at a reasonable time.” There was way more pride than necessary in her voice.

“I’m sorry I was gone, I’m not going to do that to you again,” I said, sorting through some clutter on the coffee table.

“What do you mean?”

“The boy and I broke up,” I admitted, taking some used mugs over to the kitchen.

“Before I even got to meet him?”

“Yes, sorry, grandma.”

She frowned, coughing for a moment before she took a deep sip of her tea. “What was wrong with him?” I stopped in my tracks.

“He was already thinking about having kids, and I’m not ready yet.” It wasn’t entirely a lie.

“Don’t you want kids?”

“Yes, but not like this,” I stated, dumping the cups on the kitchen worktop.

“Honey, if he was worth it, you would know. Do you miss him?”

“Yes.” I sighed. “There’s just so much going on with him that it’s not worth it.” I felt like a spoiled child. I couldn’t explain it to her without putting his kingdom at risk.

Unless… I could share the pictures.

“Here, grandma.” I pulled out my phone as I snuggled in on the couch beside her.

“What’s this?”

“I took some vacation photos.”

“Where did you—?” Before she could finish her question, she let in a deep gasp of air. “Oh my god… is this?” Her hands were shaking as she tapped through my screen from picture to picture. I nodded. “How did you get these?”

I considered lying to her and saying it was an amusement park or something, but we both knew that wasn’t true. “That’s where Simeth is from, Gran.”

“That’s why you were asking about dragon shifters,” she muttered. “Was he nice to you? Were you nice to him?”

“Yes, for the most part.” I cringed a little. “It didn’t end well.”

“Did you get to fly?” She had a childlike life and wonder in her eyes that took years off her face.

“I did, he took me flying a few times,” I admitted.

She patted my hand as I recounted our first flight. “You’re such a lucky girl.”

I didn’t feel like one.

“If things ended so poorly, why do you sound like you want to go back there?” she asked. I knew better than to expect my grandma to tiptoe around anything. She had another coughing fit, and I rubbed her back as I helped her drink some more tea. “Why don’t you just go back there and talk things out?”

“I don’t think there’s much to talk about.”

“Look, if he’s half as crazy about you as you’re acting about him, you two have more than a fighting chance,” she said as she squeezed my arm.

“You just want me to take you to the dragon kingdom,” I teased.

“Oh no, you caught me.” The sarcasm was dripping off her voice. “Just promise me you’ll give him a chance if he asks for one.” I could only nod and agree.

There was no way he was coming back for me.

If all he needed was a girl to breed, he’d be over me already.