Erskine gasped. "I am offended. Or possibly flattered. You went and got yourself captured and tortured to within an inch of your life just so you could even the odds? I'm going with flattered. It's a fuzzier feeling."
Des almost missed his wife's look at first. He was a little too stunned to notice it. Barge in and beat the bad guys by the skin of your teeth through sheer talent... Corrival may not have meant it seriously, but all Des could do for a minute was stare at Stephanie, trying to imagine her as that sort of person. It didn't work. She'd never been peaceful, exactly, but she wasn't... she wasn't a fighter. Imagining her with fire in her hands did surprisingly little to make the image any easier to swallow.
If the solution was as simple as a safe apprenticeship, why hadn't it been the solution from the beginning? She was twelve when all this started.
Stephanie noticed him staring at her and managed a weak smile. Des didn't smile back. Instead, he looked up just in time to catch Melissa's look.
It couldn't be that simple. He wouldn't let it be. "That all sounds grand," Des started, "but it wouldn't mean in fifty years. It can't. We have no more authority over her after she turns eighteen." They couldn't even hold her over with financial dependence, because thanks to a certain rich enabling uncle, Stephanie would never have to worry about money. "We only have her for another two and a half years."
Which, he realised belatedly, meant they should agree to this sooner rather than later. Stephanie - Valkyrie? - was going to return to this world and this life the instant she could. The sooner they let her do it, the sooner they could make sure she was actually safe while she learned the ins and outs. That wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that in order to keep their daughter, they had to let her do precisely what he'd promised himself he would never believe in.
"At the very least," Desmond decided, looking to Melissa for support, "she's finishing out this year of school." Whether she learned magic alongside that or not, he refused to budge on that particular issue. Maybe they could figure out some sort of homeschooling after that, when Des was feeling more generous and less angry, and all of this felt less like some type of reward. "You are not dropping out of high school, Stephanie."
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Des almost missed his wife's look at first. He was a little too stunned to notice it. Barge in and beat the bad guys by the skin of your teeth through sheer talent... Corrival may not have meant it seriously, but all Des could do for a minute was stare at Stephanie, trying to imagine her as that sort of person. It didn't work. She'd never been peaceful, exactly, but she wasn't... she wasn't a fighter. Imagining her with fire in her hands did surprisingly little to make the image any easier to swallow.
If the solution was as simple as a safe apprenticeship, why hadn't it been the solution from the beginning? She was twelve when all this started.
Stephanie noticed him staring at her and managed a weak smile. Des didn't smile back. Instead, he looked up just in time to catch Melissa's look.
It couldn't be that simple. He wouldn't let it be. "That all sounds grand," Des started, "but it wouldn't mean in fifty years. It can't. We have no more authority over her after she turns eighteen." They couldn't even hold her over with financial dependence, because thanks to a certain rich enabling uncle, Stephanie would never have to worry about money. "We only have her for another two and a half years."
Which, he realised belatedly, meant they should agree to this sooner rather than later. Stephanie - Valkyrie? - was going to return to this world and this life the instant she could. The sooner they let her do it, the sooner they could make sure she was actually safe while she learned the ins and outs. That wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that in order to keep their daughter, they had to let her do precisely what he'd promised himself he would never believe in.
"At the very least," Desmond decided, looking to Melissa for support, "she's finishing out this year of school." Whether she learned magic alongside that or not, he refused to budge on that particular issue. Maybe they could figure out some sort of homeschooling after that, when Des was feeling more generous and less angry, and all of this felt less like some type of reward. "You are not dropping out of high school, Stephanie."
Stephanie nodded mutely.