“That is up to Osiris, I believe,” Rowan said.
Maat must have heard him, for she glanced over and said with a little smile, “Do not fear that this one will escape,” she said, gesturing with the feather toward Bael. “Once bound to Duat, he cannot leave without extraordinary circumstances happening.”
“And I shall make sure that such a circumstance does not occur,” Osiris said.
Ken plucked at his sleeve and made murmuring noises.
“Ah, yes, a demon, are you?”
“Please, my lord, do not force me to leave. As an unbound demon, I will be preyed upon by any other demon lord who is of that mind, and I will be forced into another life of slavery and torment, and not be allowed to wear the pretty clothes that I did as Ken. If I were to stay here, I could make myself of great service to you. I am very good with decorations and have a keen eye for colors, and I can whip up the most astounding costumes out of nothing.”
“He can,” I agreed, feeling badly for the poor little guy. He truly did seem happier as Ken.
“Very well,” Osiris said magnanimously after a moment’s thought. “My wife did mention wishing to redecorate. You may stay in Duat.”
“Thank you, oh, thank you,” Ken said, on his knees in gratitude. “I bind myself to you most willingly.”
“None of that, now, none of that,” Osiris said, looking embarrassed. “Glad to have you.”
“One last boon, my lord,” Ken said, his lower lip wobbling. “Could you order me to take the form that lord Bael cast on me via the glamour? It was much comelier, and I feel it better suits me than this one.”
“Certainly,” Osiris said, waving a hand. “Be in whatever form you like.”
Ken’s body shimmered and morphed back into that of a plump middle-aged woman. He beamed at us all and ran after Osiris as he and Maat, with the captive Bael before them, left the ship.
“What a very odd demon,” Bee said, watching them leave.
“I like her. She was a little chatty, but seemed nice enough,” May said. “I’m glad she got away from Bael.”
“I do so like a happy ending,” I said, sniffling slightly at the sight of Ken happy again.
Bee leaned into Constantine, who had an odd expression on his face. “And what about you? Are you going to be happy knowing Bael is stuck here?”
“Yes.” He was silent for a moment, at last giving her a smile. “He will hate every second of it to the utmost of his being. I call that penance for all the suffering he’s brought the world.”
“Indeed it is,” Rowan said, then tipped his head a little and nudged me. “And what is your second question?”
I leaned close and said softly, “When you were in dragon form, what did it feel like?”
He took a long, deep breath, his eyes closing for a moment. I felt his fire stirring deep within him, and an answering burn inside of me coming to instant life. “Run,” he said.
Chills ran down my spine despite the heat of his fire. “Really?” I asked, glancing at the other dragons. “Right now?”
“Run,” he repeated, opening his eyes. They glittered brightly with passion and desire… and yes, love.
I felt as if I were drenched in fire. “Okay, but this time, let’s have a game plan. Where exactly do you want me to—”
“RUN!” he yelled, and I didn’t wait; I took off.
But as I skidded through the door, I heard Gabriel say, “A chase! What an excellent idea. We haven’t had one of those in far too long, little bird. Rowan, what say you take the lowest level of the ship. I’ll take the middle for our chase, and Constantine can have the upper…”
Twenty
Fall in St. Petersburg may have been Kostya’s idea of lovely, but it certainly wasn’t balmy by any stretch of the imagination. I shivered in the small anteroom that had been assigned as my dressing room. Aisling (heavily pregnant, but downright glowing with happiness), Ysolde, and May bustled between the three rooms given over to us brides, each updating the other.
“All the grooms are present and accounted for,” Aisling announced, her demon dog padding after her.
“As are their assorted hangovers,” Jim said with a snicker.
I glanced at them in the mirror, which I sat in front of while a stylist fussed with my hair. “Oh, dear. Even Rowan? He’s not really a drinker, although I know he would have had a few drinks last night during their joint stag party.”
“He looks like he was dead, got run over with a heavy cart loaded with oxen, was resurrected, and then the oxen trampled him to death again,” Jim said, sniffing at the table that held a plate of snacks, evidently provided by the caterers to keep the brides from fainting away with hunger. “You gonna eat that cheese and bread?”
“Oh, he does not look anything like that,” Aisling scolded her demon, then gave me a brilliant smile. “Rowan looks dashing, absolutely dashing, and I know he’ll be just fine as soon as the headache meds kick in. Jim, leave the food alone! You’ve already eaten both Bee’s and Aoife’s ‘don’t faint while you walk down the aisle’ snackies, and you don’t need Sophea’s as well. Honest to Pete, I can’t take you anywhere…”
They drifted out the door just as May leaned her head in. “How are you holding up? Oh, your hair looks nice. I like the little leaves twined through it.”
“They’re not leaves, actually,” I said, wincing when the stylist, with a mutter to herself, adjusted one of the metal decorations that curled through my hair. “They’re tiny little dragons.”
“Very nice,” May said. “Almost makes me wish we’d done a proper wedding, not just the civil ceremony that Gabriel’s mom demanded we have. Almost.”
She grinned when I made a face at her. “This isn’t my idea of bliss, but it’s kind of nice having a group celebration with Rowan’s sisters.”
“Gotcha. Oh, you have a visitor.” She pulled back a moment, then poked her head back in. “You up for it?”
“I don’t know,” I said, slightly startled. “Who’s the visitor?”
“It’s me!” Mrs. P pushed past May, rushing to me to give me a hug. “Or should I say, it’s us. The other priestesses are in the hall, getting good seats. What a lovely idea you had to get married in a Russian palace. It’s very grand.”
“It is, but it wasn’t my idea at all. For that we can thank the head wedding planner, and by head I mean just that—Gary might not have much to him, but I’ll admit he whipped together a hell of a wedding. How are you? Where’s your Bo?”
“I’m blissfully happy, and my Bo has just run to town to fetch a tuxedo.”
I thanked the stylist when she murmured the hair was as good as it was going to get, and she toddled off to help the next bride. Carefully, so as not to wrinkle my flowered 1950s style dress with sleeveless bodice, bell-shaped skirt, and crinoline underpinnings, I turned to face Mrs. P. “I’m sure he doesn’t need a tux for the wedding. We’re not really being that formal. Aoife’s dress is more of a short dinner dress than a wedding dress. Bee’s the only one who went in for the full princess-style wedding dress and veil. From what Rowan said, not even the men are wearing tuxes. They have some sort of dragon outfit planned, although he wouldn’t tell me just what.”
“The tuxedo is for your man, actually, in case they can’t get the stain out of his tunic,” she said blithely, wandering over to fuss with the small bouquet of flowers I would be carrying.
“Stain?” I asked, aghast. “What sort of stain? Alcohol? Dirt?”
“It’s nothing, really. I gather dragonweave, that material the men’s tunics are made of, is just a bit hard to clean when it comes to blood, that’s all. The tux is really just a worst-case scenario, so don’t worry at all. I’m sure they’ll get the tunic cleaned in time. And that handsome Gabriel had already fixed the broken noses.”
I closed my eyes for a moment or two, wondering if I should throw tradition to the wind and go check on Rowan. I hadn’t seen him since the night before, when he had kissed me and taken himself off to the stag party
. “I knew they shouldn’t have let those other wyverns plan it. Clearly it got out of hand.”
“I gather,” Mrs. P said, pulling one of the carnations out of my bouquet and tucking it into her chignon, “that there were some words about the past, and the relative merits of a larger sept versus one of the newer, smaller ones, and things got a bit heated. But I’m sure it’s all better now, and you can hardly see Rowan’s black eyes. And that Constantine fellow’s sling is actually made of the same material as his tunic, so you barely notice it.” She paused in thought. “Although Kostya’s missing front tooth is a bit noticeable. Still, if you don’t look right at his mouth, it’s fine.”
“Oh goddess,” I said, dropping my forehead to my hands. “What an auspicious start.”
“Don’t worry,” she said, moving over to pat me on the shoulder. “It’ll all be lovely. The priestesses are thrilled to death to be here—that was very nice of you to invite us all.”
“Well, I’m very glad you’re here. I haven’t had a chance to talk to you at all since you and your Bo left Duat. You look radiant.”
“I am,” she said simply, and helped herself to the bottle of champagne that sat untouched before me.
“Would you mind answering a question?” I asked, relieved that I finally had a chance to learn the answer to a question that no one seemed to be able to answer.
“Not if it has anything to do with my time as hoochie-coo dancer. I’m saving all that for my memoirs, which Bo is going to help me write. He’s literary, you know.”
“No, I didn’t know, but I don’t see any reason why a guard to the lord of the Underworld shouldn’t be literary. My question goes back to that last day of the cruise.”
“Mmm, I do love champagne,” she said, sipping a second glass. “What about that day?”
“You said something about you were told to swap your Ka with Bael’s when you took the ring. Rowan and I tried to figure out what you meant by that, but we could never find a satisfactory answer.”
She gave a delicate shrug. “It means just what it says—I was told to swap my Ka.”
“Yes, but by whom? And how did you know where the Ka would be? I mean, most of us take it with us, or so I gather.”
“You are not allowing for the fact that Bael is a demon lord—he would not keep anything of value or power upon him lest his enemies gain hold of it and use it against him. His Ka, as was the ring, was kept in a strongbox.”
“Right,” I said slowly, giving her a long, hard look. “And how did you know that?”
“I was told, as I said.” She helped herself to a petit four, a silver pen that was intended to be used to sign the register, and my lipstick, tucking the last two items away into her small clutch. “Mmm, lemon.”
“Who told you?” I repeated, ignoring the petty theft.
She sighed and gave me a long-suffering look that she had no right to use upon me, not after all I had to put up with. “The First Dragon, of course. I’ve known him for, oh, ever such a long time, and when I told him that I was tired of the mortal world without Bo, he said he would help me since it would aid his descendants as well. So he sent me to Bael’s stronghold to fetch the Ka and the ring, and then he approached you, since he knew I’d need a dragon, and you were just drifting, and the rest you know.”
My jaw sagged a bit. “He approached me? Jian’s cousin! The one whose name I can’t remember! That was the First Dragon?”
“So I gather.” She rose and leaned in to check herself in the mirror.
“I can’t wait to tell Rowan. That and the reason he summoned Constantine to be there at the last challenge were driving us nuts. Until Rowan finally broke down and asked Constantine, but he, being a typical dragon, wouldn’t give us a straight answer.”
“Oh?” Mrs. P frowned. “Why was he there?”
“According to Gary—you know, the head that drives around on the little radio-controlled car—it’s because Constantine needed closure with Bael. Gary said that Bael killed Constantine’s mother, and Constantine had been angsting over it for centuries, and that his psyche was all tormented about it, and so on. Which is totally understandable—I mean, who’d want a demon lord for a parent? I’d much rather be an orphan than have that blighting my life.”
“Your parents were very nice people,” Mrs. P said, taking another petit four. This one she wrapped in a napkin and stuck in her purse. “I met them once, oh, around the turn of the nineteenth century. Your father was very dashing and had a fine eye for a hoochie-coo. Your mother disliked me, I think, but then she was mortal, and she feared I was trying to steal your father away from her.”
I looked suspiciously at the gorgeous woman standing next to me. “And were you?”
“Maybe just a little,” she said with a little smile. “But not seriously, because that’s when I was involved with my president. Oh, dear, does that music mean what I think it means?”
“Five minutes!” The door opened and Gary rolled in, did a turn, and immediately zoomed outward. “This is your five-minute call. You have five minutes.” He stopped at the door and said in a soothing tone, “And I don’t want you worrying about a thing, Sophea. They got the blood out and set Rowan’s hand. He’s been focusing on healing it for the last half hour, so I’m sure it’ll be just fine when it comes time to exchange rings. Gabriel’s head wound closed nicely, and Baltic insists he doesn’t need the crutches at all, so there won’t be any unwelcome thumping when the wyverns escort the grooms in. One of Gabriel’s men, who is also a healer, took care of Drake’s dislocation, so all is well there, although really, you’d think that beings who could heal themselves would do so rather than drinking themselves into insensibility, not to mention the fact that they were engaging in fisticuffs to begin with. But you know how it is with gentlemen and their stag parties. Still, all’s well that doesn’t end in death and dismemberment, and all that, so don’t worry, Sophea, everything is just fi—what? No, you can’t come in! Don’t you know it’s bad luck—”
Gary was unceremoniously pushed aside as Rowan entered the room. He was indeed wearing a tunic, a gorgeous deep red embroidered with golden dragons on the front. It wasn’t at all traditional bridegroom wear, but then, we weren’t very traditional people. To my amusement, he held a hand over his eyes. “I won’t look at you if you don’t want me to, but I wanted to make sure you were all right.”
“You can look,” I said with a little laugh, then choked on it when I saw the two black eyes that darkened his face. “Oh, Rowan!”
“It looks worse than it—hoo.” He lowered his hand and blinked at me, a slow smile curling his delectable lips. “You look gorgeous.”
“Thank you. I’d like to say the same, and I would except for your eyes. What happened?”
He glanced at Mrs. P.
“Am I de trop?” she said brightly, then got to her feet and patted my shoulder, saying, “You see? I told you they wouldn’t need the tux.”
Rowan waited until she left before closing the door and leaning against it. He looked tired, but happy, beat up, but there was heat in his eyes, and a fire simmering inside him that warmed me to my toenails. “The bachelor party got a bit… contentious.”
“So I gather. Too many wyverns in too small a place?”
He made a wry face. “That, and too much alcohol flowing. My eyes are much better than they were when I woke up this morning. Gabriel says they’ll heal if I have some quiet time when I can focus on them.”
“Well, it’ll make the wedding photos something to remember,” I said, wanting to laugh but not wishing to hurt his feelings. “I’m glad you found me, although from the sounds coming through the door, Gary is having a hissy fit about you seeing me early.”
“He can have any sort of fit he wants. I needed to make sure you were okay with this. With me.”
I looked at him in confusion, unsure why he’d suddenly think I’d changed my mind, then realized what he was asking. I got to my feet, pulling him forward a step as I took his hands in mine and
kissed the tip of his nose. “You’re not replacing Jian, Rowan. You’re the new wyvern of the red sept, yes, and you’re the love of my life, but you’re not ousting him from my heart. I’ll always love him, just as I’ll always love you. What we have is a new start, both for the red dragons and for us.”
His jaw worked. “I want desperately to kiss you. I want to nibble on your delicious earlobes. I want to suck on that spot on your neck that makes you moan with pleasure. I want to lift up that skirt and bury myself in you. But I suspect Gary would have my balls on a platter if I mussed you up, so I’m just going to tell you that you have my heart. And soul. And every other part of me, from now until the end of our days.”
“If you make me cry and ruin the makeup that Ysolde was so careful to apply,” I murmured, tracing one of the gold embroidered dragons on his chest, “I’m the one who will have your balls. Although not on a platter.”
He fought for a good twenty seconds, then swore. “To hell with Gary—” His lips were hot on mine, but not as hot as the fire that swept through him, and into me, binding us together.
“I really must insist—” The door opened behind Rowan, banging him on the back. “Aha! I knew it! Just look at the wrinkles you’ve put into the bodice by grabbing her on the waist like that. Rowan! Let her go!”
Reluctantly, Rowan released me, his eyes lit with love and laughter, and everything I had ever hoped for. “It’s not my fault. She was standing there looking impossibly lovely, and I couldn’t resist her…”
Gary herded him out of the door, returning almost immediately to say to me, “Oh, mercy, look at the time. Three minutes! Everyone, we are at T minus three minutes! Where’s Jim? Is he harnessed to the carriage? For the love of all that’s holy, people, it’s show time! Let’s get this done right!”
The door closed behind Gary as he scattered orders left and right.