“Boy, I had a serious jealousy issue back then,” I mused, but couldn’t keep from wondering if there wasn’t a reason I’d been jealous. I eyed Baltic suspiciously until he laughed and kissed me soundly.
“You have exactly the same look on your face that you did when you threatened the gelding. Must I reassure you again, mate?”
“No. Well…another time. Right now we have to get our butts to St. Petersburg to intercept Dr. Kostich. Maura called him and told him of Thala’s ultimatum, and of the deadline.”
“Why then must we go?” He was back to looking disgruntled.
“Because Dr. Kostich told Maura there was nothing he could do. He was lying, of course. Or not so much lying as avoiding the strict truth. I know how he thinks—he doesn’t want to involve her, and he can’t go against the laws of the L’au-dela, so he’s going to find a way to slip the information about the location to Thala, and be on hand when she arrives at the sepulcher.”
His eyes narrowed. “How do you know he will proceed in that manner?”
“Because it’s what I’d do, and, like I said, I know how he thinks. The man is a master at getting around rules and finding loopholes. Come on. If we get out of here in the next half hour, that will leave us with four hours to lurk around the portal office in St. Petersburg so we can follow Dr. Kostich when he arrives, plus it will give Drake and Aisling time to get there.”
I started to get off his lap, but he pulled me back down onto it. “You will tell me now why the green wyvern is involved.”
“Oh, are we playing sharing time? Excellent. I will tell you just what problem I’ve asked for Drake’s help with, and you can tell me a number of things, starting with how Constantine got your talisman to make his own sept, to how you got it back, how you’re going to get it back from Thala, and what you know about the location of Gareth and Ruth. And don’t deny you know something, because Pavel told me you had people looking into it for you. Do we have a deal?”
He growled deep in his chest, a little puff of smoke lazily wafting from one nostril. But after a moment’s silence, he said, “It’s the light sword. You know I desire to possess it again. Green dragons are notable thieves; therefore, you’ve asked Drake to steal the sword for you.”
“Dammit,” I snapped, getting off his lap and marching to the door in a fine approximation of someone in high dudgeon. “I just hate it when you figure things out! I’m going to call Aisling and tell her to meet us in St. Petersburg. I hope you can be ready to go in twenty minutes, because that’s when I told Pavel to have the cars ready.”
I closed the door on the sound of his swearing in Zilant, smiling to myself. I never doubted that the moment he found out that Drake had something to do with my plans for the sepulcher, he’d realize that the mage sword was my goal. But what he didn’t realize was how I intended on returning it to him. “And I just pray he doesn’t find out until it’s too late.”
“Until what’s too late?” Brom emerged from his room pulling a wheeled suitcase behind him. He looked at his watch. “It’s almost eleven. You said I had to be in bed by ten on weeknights. How come we’re going somewhere now?”
“I’m sorry about keeping you up late, but you can sleep in late in the morning. How would you like to stay with Aisling and Jim for a day or two?”
He shot me a puzzled look. “I like Jim. Aisling makes me play with her babies. All they do is crawl around, put everything in their mouths, and get slobber on it. And they spit their food onto the floor. It’s gross.”
“Babies are notorious for both their slobber and finicky eating habits, and you, my dumpling of delight, were no different. I may not have many memories of the past nine years, but I distinctly remember someone objecting to his strained carrots by spewing them all over his father.”
Brom grinned. “I bet Gareth was pissed.”
I ruffled his hair and smiled with him. “Extremely so. He was just about to leave to meet an important client, as I recall, and had to change his suit. It really was one of your finest baby moments.”
“How come I can’t go with you and Baltic?”
I walked downstairs with him to where a bag with a few hastily tossed-together items waited. “Because I’m not sure how long we’ll be, and Thala is most likely going to be present. When Aisling was here earlier, she offered to have you stay with her and Drake in their house in Moscow, with Jim as company. I thought you’d like that for a day or possibly two.”
His expression turned sober as he gave me a long look. “OK, but it’s not going to be like last time, is it?”
“No,” I reassured him. “Baltic and I won’t be alone with Thala. We’ll have others with us to keep us safe, all right?”
“OK,” he repeated, and dropped his bag at the door, next to the three others already waiting. “I’m going to go see if there’s any more owl barf before we go.”
“I want you back inside in ten minutes. Ten minutes!” I yelled after his swiftly retreating form.
A quick phone call to Aisling later, I was upstairs to inform Cyrene of the plans. “Do you wish to come with us?”
“To St. Petersburg? Are you kidding? That’s where that slimy, scaly, horrible naiad-hater lives,” she said with haughty grandeur. “I’d rather die than let him think I was chasing after him. In fact, if you don’t mind, I’m going to leave in the morning. I think I need a vacation from all this stress and negativity. So thank you, but no. I will go to the Riviera, instead, and be with nice people, not insane black dragons.”
I left her to her own plans, and made a fast perusal of my mental checklist of what needed to be done before we left. I was about to go into the kitchen to see if Pavel was there, but a low moan of pain caught the very edge of my hearing, causing me to whirl around and run for the small, damp sitting room. “Brom?” I threw open the door and came to a skidding halt in the middle of the room, my eyes wide with surprise.
Two people locked together in an embrace on the sofa flung themselves apart with such energy that one of them ended up on the floor.
“Oh,” I said, trying not to grin as Maura hastily tucked one exposed breast back into her shirt. Savian, on the floor, also had an open shirt…and lipstick marks down his chest to his belt line, where they stopped. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“Savian was just…was helping me with…He was—” Maura began an explanation that all three of us knew wasn’t going to go anywhere.
“Give it up, love; she’s cannier than that,” Savian said, buttoning his shirt while winking at me.
“I suppose it is going to be kind of hard to explain why you had your mouth on my boob when she came in,” Maura said, her face beet red. She finished tidying herself up and cleared her throat. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention any of this to Emile, though, Ysolde.”
“Really? Why? Is Dr. Kostich that protective of you?”
Savian rubbed his whiskery cheek and put an arm around Maura. “It’s more that he has a bit of a grudge against me.”
“You’re a thief-taker. One who works for the Committee. Why would he have a grudge against you?”
“He found out I was taking jobs on the side for May and Gabriel, and he felt it was a conflict of interest. The truth is…” He glanced at Maura. Wearily, she nodded. “The truth is, I’ve been stricken off the thief-takers’ roll. I’m freelance now.”
“Ah. So he wouldn’t welcome the news that you and Maura…” I nodded. “Gotcha. I assume those are your bags out in the hall?”
“Yes, we’re ready to go,” Maura said, brushing a hand down her shirt.
“Some of us are more than ready,” Savian growled in her ear.
“Mmm, well, perhaps you can hold that thought until a more suitable time. We’ll be leaving in about ten minutes. You got all the information you needed from Aisling, I assume?”
“I did. I think I’ll go see if there is such a thing as bubble wrap in the house,” Maura said, the sentence ending an octave higher than it started when Savian
’s hand slid down her back to her behind.
“Why bubble wrap?” I asked as I pulled out my cell phone.
She paused at the door and made a little face. “If I have to take a portal to Nepal, which is where your friend Aisling says the aerie is, then I’m going to want a restorative when I get there. If I wrap a bottle of dragon’s blood and hold it tight to my chest, I should be able to bring it through the portal with me.” She looked sadly at Savian. “I just wish you could come with me.”
“I’ll be there just as soon as I locate the sepulcher for Ysolde,” he promised. “I’ll take the first portal out to you and help you beat the daylights out of the dragons holding your mum.”
“Are you sure you’re going to be able to handle all the dragons by yourself?” I asked her, worried that our plan wasn’t as well thought out as it should be.
“They’re the least of my concerns,” she said with a little smile. “One of the dragons at the castillo told me there were only two guards at the aerie simply because it’s so impossible to get to…and get out of.”
“I hope Aisling’s directions were enough to get you there in time.”
“Actually, I’m using her wyvern’s directions. Evidently when Aisling went to the aerie, she took a longer route. It should take me only two hours of climbing, which leaves me enough time to disable the guards and get Mum out of there before Thala can call and order them to hurt her.”
“I’d be happy to send Pavel with you,” I offered for a second time.
She shook her head. “I’ll be fine on my own. You need everyone to capture Thala. She won’t have time to order anyone to harm my mother if she’s fighting off an attack.”
I said nothing but worried nonetheless.
“I’ll help her find some packing for the bottle,” Savian said, following Maura out of the room. He winked as he passed me.
“I just bet you will,” I murmured to myself, then rang up Aisling, apologizing for the second call within ten minutes.
“That’s fine. The twins don’t want to go down for the night, so we’re trying to wear them out. Iarliath and I are having a rousing game of ‘fling the toys against the wall and laugh hysterically when they bounce.’ What’s up? Need more info about the aerie?”
“No, I think that’s fine. I forgot to tell you earlier that I have Drake’s reward, and I wanted to reassure him that it’ll be waiting for him when he has the sword.”
“I’m so glad it’s finally happening,” Aisling said in a confidential tone. “Drake has been itching to do this job ever since we got home. He’s trying to teach Ilona how to use a Wii controller, but she’s teething and insists on sucking on it rather than pressing buttons as he insists she should. This will give him something more constructive to do.”
I heard the masculine rumble of a voice in the background.
“She’s six months old, Drake. She’s not going to benefit from the honed-to-razor-sharpness hand-eye coordination that you get from playing Super Mario Brothers,” Aisling said. “Sorry, Ysolde. You said you were going to leave shortly, yes? We’ll meet you in St. Petersburg in…How long will it take us to get there, sweetie? Drake says it will take two hours to get the plane ready and fly out there, Ysolde, so expect us around one a.m. You’re absolutely certain Dr. Kostich will take a portal at that time of night? He doesn’t seem to me to be the sort of guy to do rash things like take red-eye flights.”
“He has only a few hours to save his daughter, so yes, I think he will. We’ll meet you outside the portal place, then.”
“We? You’re not bringing Baltic, are you?” She sounded appalled. “You didn’t say you were bringing him.”
“I was a bit rushed then, but yes, we’re all going. But…er…Aisling, Baltic thinks I’ve arranged for Drake to steal the blade so that I can give it to him.”
“Ah. Well, you will be, in a roundabout way.”
“Yes. It’s just the route it takes to get to him that will no doubt annoy him. So if you and Drake could keep mum about that, I’d appreciate it.”
“Our lips are zipped. And by that I mean I’ll leave Jim at home, so it can’t spill the beans to Baltic, which we both know it would do in a heartbeat.”
“Thanks. Nico will continue on with Brom to Moscow, if your offer of a pickup at the portal office is still open.”
“Of course it is. We’ll be delighted to have him stay with us for a couple of days. The babies love to play with Brom!”
I giggled to myself as I hung up, and made a mental note to give Brom a bonus to his weekly allowance to compensate for all the baby drool he would be encountering.
Less than an hour later, I grilled the employee at the St. Petersburg portal station about whether Dr. Kostich had arrived.
“No one’s come through for two days,” the man said in a mild Yorkshire accent, eyeing the money I held just out of his reach. “Just you lot, and we don’t normally see dragons using portals around these parts.”
“It’s a bit of an emergency,” I explained.
He glanced to the side, and I turned to consider the sight of two mussed-up dragons sitting on the floor, each clutching a paper cup. Taking a cue from Maura, I also brought a bottle of dragon’s blood wine with me. Holland and Savian were off finding two cars to hire.
“Aye, must be.”
“We’d like to use your waiting room for a bit,” I said, adding a few more bills to the ones I waved at him. “If your portal isn’t that much used, you won’t mind us doing that, I’m sure.”
His gaze snapped back to the money, watching as I gently waved it in the air. “No, I don’t see as that would be a problem. So long as you’re a customer.”
I smiled and handed him the money, then spent the next five minutes coaxing Baltic and Pavel into the waiting room. They were both prone to be a bit snappish, which I put down to having had to use a portal multiple times in the last week. Evidently, the cumulative effect of portalling was a bit more devastating than I had anticipated.
I called Brom to make sure that Nico and he had arrived safely in Moscow, and that one of Drake’s men was waiting for them (he was), answered a call from Maura to assure me that she, too, had (barely) survived the portalling, and then set about rallying my crew.
“Honestly, I don’t know what you’re making such a big fuss about,” I told Baltic, when he refused to get off the couch he had collapsed on some fifteen minutes before. “You’re acting like a big baby. You don’t see Pavel demanding to be left alone so he can die in peace, do you? He’s just fine and dandy.”
Pavel lurched past me, ran face-first into a wall, rebounded off it with a shake of his head, and fell over onto his back with a little gurgle.
Baltic looked up from where he lay prone on the couch, and he glared at me just as if I were to blame.
“Fine! I’m to blame! You can yell at me later if you like, but Savian and Holland are going to be back with the cars any minute now, and I want you up and ready to follow Dr. Kostich the second he arrives.”
He growled. He actually growled.
I bent down and kissed him, saying softly into his mouth, “Just keep in mind that when this is all over, I’m going to be so grateful to you, I’ll be willing to let you be bossy in bed for a long, long time.”
He stopped growling and started looking interested, but I caught his roving hands and stepped backward, pulling him to his feet. “Come along, handsome. We have work to do before we get to the rewards.”
“Rewards, plural?” he asked, giving Pavel a hand up. “It had better be plural, because my temper will need much assuaging after this.”
I pinched his butt as I passed him. “Right. I think a few jogging laps around the block will do much to clear your respective heads. I’ll stay here in case Dr. Kostich shows up. Would I be out of line if I asked you to hold hands so no one gets into trouble? Oh, Pavel, ouch, is your head all right? Yes, I agree, that doorjamb really is in the way. Maybe next time you should keep your eyes open when you walk through a doorway.
And I think perhaps you should walk around the block, not jog.”
Another fifteen minutes later, and not only had Savian and Holland arrived with two vehicles, but the dragons were all more or less operating on all thrusters again, although Pavel’s run-in with the door left him with a nasty cut on his forehead that was taking its own sweet time to heal, no doubt due to his general state of discombobulation.
“Are we late?”
I spun around to see a familiar woman step out of the portalling office. “May?”
“I hope we didn’t miss anything. Aisling said we had to be quick, and here we are.”
“Ah,” a dark-haired, dark-eyed man said as he followed her out onto the sidewalk. He looked around, taking a deep breath, his face alight with pleasure. “St. Petersburg. The pillaging that went on here. The violence that ensued. Surrounding villages fired to the ground…the sweet sound of screams filling the night…the many captives I took back to my palace later, for even more fun…good memories, every one!”
I gawked at the man.
“This is Magoth,” May said with a deep breath. “He’s a former demon lord.”
“The best there was, eh, sweetness?” the black-haired Magoth said, turning his eyes to me. His brows rose as he shimmied toward me, all undulating power and rampant sex appeal. He wore leather pants, and a black silk shirt open nearly to his navel. He reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t put my finger on it until a little breeze caught his hair and lifted it back. “And who do we have here? Sweet May, who is this delicious-looking blonde, and is she into threesomes?”
Baltic was still far enough away down the sidewalk that I risked setting fire to Magoth’s feet.
“Oh, don’t do that,” May said quickly, causing me to tamp down briskly on the fire. “He just enjoys that sort of thing. Trust me on that.”
“Oooh,” Magoth purred, trailing a finger down my arm. His touch was icy, as if he’d been sitting in a refrigerator. “Someone likes to play rough. Go ahead, sweetheart—fire me up!”
“Magoth, you promised!” May said, punching him in the arm. “This is Ysolde. She’s the mate to the dread wyvern Baltic, and he won’t tolerate any crap from you any more than Gabriel lets you hit on me, so stop it right now, or the whole thing is off.”