I looked at Jim. It winked at me. Obvious? What was I missing that was so obvious?
“You had wanted Baltic to take Chuan Ren as his mate.” The words came out slowly, as my brain once again frantically squirreled around trying to piece things together. “But Baltic didn’t care about that, didn’t care that his actions would enrage the red dragons. He didn’t care to the extent that he was booted out of this sept, until Alexei accepted him back as heir when Constantine’s treachery was exposed.”
“Constantine’s treachery?” Gabriel frowned. “What treachery is this?”
“Nothing! There was no treachery,” Constantine said quickly, then glanced at the First Dragon and immediately disappeared. “I’m…er…low on power. I’ll claim you as my mate later, Ysolde, when everyone is gone.”
I waved a dismissive hand, not willing to be distracted. “It’s old history, Gabriel. I’ll tell you later.” I met the First Dragon’s gaze again. “You wanted Baltic to bring strength to the weyr. He was your only living child, and you wanted him to bring stability to a weyr that was imploding upon itself.”
“My children have always been fractious,” he said with the barest hint of a smile. “The dragon fire that burns within us manifests itself in many ways.”
“But Baltic didn’t do that. He didn’t care about bringing the weyr together. He cared about the black dragons, instead. He—”
“He cared about you,” the First Dragon interrupted.
At that moment the penny dropped. Memory after memory tumbled in my mind—Baltic telling me five hundred years ago that the weyr could go about its business so long as it left him alone; Baltic not three weeks ago telling me the same thing. “You want him to care about dragonkin.”
“Oooh,” Aisling said on a long breath.
“He must pay for the deaths of the innocent,” the First Dragon said in that enigmatic way he had.
“You’re really irritating, do you know that?” I squared off as if about to fight him. “You couldn’t just say that—you had to make me jump through five million hoops? I’ve wanted him to rejoin the weyr all along.”
“But you have not accomplished that task.”
“What more do you want from me?” I yelled, slapping my hands on my legs. “I’ve tried and tried and tried, and I swear that I’ll continue to move heaven and earth to make you happy. I swear I’ll redeem Baltic’s soul. I swear I’ll do anything, anything at all. Just bring him back!”
“Mate, do not grovel.”
The First Dragon’s lips tightened, as if he’d heard it all before.
“I can’t offer to do anything more than that!” I grabbed the First Dragon’s arm and shook it. “I love him. Do you understand that? Our love goes beyond death. It’s…It’s…It’s everything to me.”
“Always you must make dramatic scenes. He enjoys them; you do know that, yes?”
“Baltic is the beginning, and the end, and…and…” I stopped, my heart beating wildly as a warm, familiar presence made the skin of my back tingle.
My heart, my soul, the very essence of who I was, came to life once again. I staggered a step to the side with the overwhelming surge of emotion. “When?” I asked the First Dragon.
He knew exactly what I was asking. “When I felt his loss.”
“You bastard!” I swore, slapping my hand on his chest. “You let me go through all that when he was already alive? You heartless bastard! You cruel, manipulative—”
“Chérie, do not finish that sentence,” Baltic rumbled behind me, his arms sliding around me. I turned, tears of happiness spilling over my lashes. “I have already had to endure one lecture from the First Dragon this day—I do not wish to hear another, and if you continue, that is exactly what will happen.”
“You’re alive,” I said, taking his face in my hands and gently kissing him.
“I am.” He brushed away a long trail of tears. “You wept for me?”
“I offered my soul for you.”
“This is the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen,” Aisling said, sniffing and dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. “I wish Drake were here to see it.”
“Serious chick flick stuff,” Jim agreed, nodding.
May wrapped her arms around Gabriel and held him as he stroked her hair.
“It is not good for you to be so upset,” Baltic said, frowning down at me. I could have cheered for joy at the sight of that lovely frown. “You must remember your condition.”
“My—you know?”
“Of course I know. I am not stupid. I can use a calendar as well as you.”
“Congratulations, by the way,” Aisling said, still sniffling.
“Oh boy, another pregnant mate in the weyr. Sárkánies are sure going to be fun.”
“We are not in the weyr,” Baltic said, allowing me to kiss the breath right out of his mouth.
“Oh yes, we are.” I took a step back from him, my foot tripping over something hard. I bent to pick up Baltic’s talisman, leveling him with a look that didn’t just read volumes; it could have filled an entire library with my ire. “We are joining the weyr.”
He crossed his arms.
“Don’t you dare cross your arms at me.” I stormed forward, gesturing toward the First Dragon. “After what I went through with him, we are joining the weyr, and that’s that.”
“Mate—”
“We’re joining the weyr! And you’re going to start caring about other dragons!”
“That madwoman/psycho/scary face is good on you, Soldy,” Jim said, tipping its head to the side. “Kind of a ‘three bread crumbs short of a meat loaf’ look, but effective.”
Baltic sighed, glanced at his father, and made an annoyed gesture. “Very well. I will give in to your demands this time, but only because I do not wish for you to be further upset. I will allow the weyr to accept the light dragons as members.”
“Thank you,” I said, kissing him again before turning to face the First Dragon, Baltic’s arms around me. “And thank you, too. For everything, but mostly for giving me Baltic.”
He was silent for a moment, then smiled, his body shimmering into that of a dragon, one whose scales held all the colors of the spectrum. The colors seemed to dance along his scales; then he was gone, leaving behind nothing but the faintest sparkle of color in the air.
Chapter Eighteen
“Sweetie? Baltic was dead, but he’s alive again. I thought you’d want to know. Ysolde’s talking to Maura now. She says that she has Violet, and they’re starting down the mountain, so assuming they make it to the town OK, Operation Save Violet is good. Oh, you missed Ysolde punching the First Dragon.” Aisling, who had moved a short distance away to speak on her cell phone, listened for a few seconds. “No, she’s alive and well, too, despite the punching and saying some pretty harsh things to him. Did you find Thala? Rats. Well, come on back. Things have settled down here. Is Magoth still with you? Ah. OK.”
Dr. Kostich, who had evidently taken his own sweet time finding us, strolled up as Aisling was finishing her call. “Ah. Here you are. Where is the dragon ancestor? I wish to return to the sepulcher to secure it against thieves.”
His gaze was rather pointed when he looked at Baltic.
“Just a second, Maura. I think someone will want to talk to you,” I yelled into the phone, it being difficult to hear over the howl of the wind on the side of whatever mountain it was Maura and Violet were descending. “Dr. Kostich, Maura has rescued Violet. Would you like to talk to her?”
“I already have. She called me a few minutes ago,” he said with a sniff. “I expected nothing less from my granddaughter. She is very resourceful, if foolish about many things.”
“Never mind, he says you talked to him. My love to Violet. Yes, he’s on his way. He’ll probably catch you guys on the way down, so tell him everything’s fine here. Call when you get back to town.” I hung up the phone and considered my former employer. “I’m afraid the First Dragon has gone back to wherever it is demigods hang out when they’r
e not busy with us lesser beings. Aisling, I take it that Drake and Pavel weren’t able to grab Thala?”
“No. Drake says they were close to tackling her, and she just poof! Disappeared. Oh, and we should be blighted with May’s demon boss any second now. Evidently he decided it was too much work chasing Thala and turned around to hit on us some more. Lucky us.”
May muttered something quite rude.
“Thala,” Baltic said, looking thoughtful. “She must have gone into the beyond.”
“No,” I told him. “Absolutely not. I know you can go in there—”
“Which he shouldn’t be able to do, since dragons cannot wield arcane magic,” Dr. Kostich argued.
“But I don’t want you tangling with her in her natural habitat, so to speak.”
Pulling out a cell phone, Dr. Kostich snapped an order into it for some mage in the region to pick him up and take him to the nearest portal shop.
“Is Thala really that powerful that everyone should be so worried about her?” May asked, rubbing her arms against the chill of the night air. Gabriel immediately moved to her side.
“She destroyed an entire house with her song,” he pointed out. “You saw the damage she inflicted on Baltic. She is to be feared.”
I hesitated, touching Baltic’s shoulder. His muscles tightened in response. “Thala, I think, is not that powerful. Is she, Baltic?”
“No.”
“Then why are you guys so jumpy about her?” Aisling asked, a frown between her brows.
“Ash, babe—”
“Don’t you dare tell me I’m missing something obvious, Mr. Would-you-like-a-demon-sidekick,” Aisling said, glaring at her demon.
“Sheesh! It was just a joke. You know, ha-ha? Man, you used to be able to enjoy a good joke.”
“I used to have a demon that didn’t lip off every five seconds,” she told it grimly.
Jim cocked a furry eyebrow.
“All right, you always lipped off, but at least you used to want to be my demon, and not offer yourself up to every godlike being who wandered past.”
“Aww.” Jim butted its head against her leg. “I still wuvs ya, babe.”
“I have returned,” Magoth announced as he emerged from the shrubs. He was still naked, and he struck up a pose next to Aisling, giving her a thorough examination. She blinked at his penis, which appeared to bear a curse on it. “Who wishes to have a post-fight orgy? I should tell you all that I’m equal opportunity when it comes to sexual congress, so don’t let your gender stop you from initiating the fun.”
Dr. Kostich, to whom the comment was addressed, rolled his eyes and, with a stern look bent upon me, informed us all that he was leaving. “Naturally, the Watch will be pursuing the necromancer who stole the blade belonging to us. As for your attempt to break into the sepulcher—”
“We didn’t break into it,” Aisling said quickly, batting her eyelashes.
“No, we didn’t,” May added just as quickly, an innocent expression on her face.
“That’s right. Thala blew it up. If you want to go after anyone, you can nail her,” I said with a smile so sweet, it could have been mistaken for honey.
“Someone stole the light blade,” Dr. Kostich insisted, his eyes on Aisling. “The green dragons are, I believe, noted for their ability to take things that belong to others.”
She smiled. “Did you see Drake with it?”
“No. But I saw Tully with it.”
I shrugged. “Thala blew up the sepulcher to get the light blade. We all heard her say that. I must have picked it up when the boys jumped her.”
The other ladies murmured agreements. Baltic rolled his eyes and moved off a bit to search the ground. Gabriel nodded, his dimples obviously fighting to come out. Magoth hit on Aisling until Jim lifted its leg in response.
“Bah. Between the wyvern and the doppelganger thief”—May shot Dr. Kostich a bright smile at that slur—“it’s obvious that you’re trying to pull something over on me. I won’t have it.”
“Get it from Thala,” Aisling said. “Unless big bad you are afraid of her, as well.”
“I think Dr. Kostich has every right to approach her with caution,” I said slowly while he sputtered in anger.
Aisling turned to me. “All right, what am I missing? Jim, don’t you dare speak. Yes, it’s an order. Ysolde?”
My gaze dropped to the object I held in my hands, my fingers tracing the intricate design on the flat, golden disk. “Thala is not the danger,” I said carefully.
Baltic glanced over to me. My fingers closed around the disk. He held my gaze for a minute before nodding. “I believe you are correct, mate.”
“Then what’s the big deal with her?” May asked. “I’m just as confused as Aisling.”
“As am I,” Gabriel added.
I bit my lower lip, watching Dr. Kostich as I said, “I asked you once what happens to a mage when she diminishes. You said she goes into the beyond and remains there, unable to return to the mortal world.”
“It is the way of our kind,” he allowed.
“It’s impossible for the mage to ever return?”
“For a mage? Yes.”
“And an archimage?”
Gabriel looked thoughtful, his eyes on Baltic, who had returned to searching the ground for his talisman.
Dr. Kostich took longer to answer the question. “It is not impossible, but very unlikely. The archimage would have to find a willing vessel into which he would place his consciousness—”
“Holy cow!” Aisling gasped. “You mean that Thala…that she’s…”
“She’s Antonia von Endres.”
“Really,” Magoth said thoughtfully. “I do love a woman of power. I wonder if she has a spectral whip.”
Baltic’s black eyes were almost as full of mystery as his father’s eyes. “Antonia always resented the act of diminishing. I’m surprised it took her so long to finally convince Thala to allow her access to this world.”
“You don’t think she was Antonia all along, do you?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “I believe the last we saw of Thala was in Spain, when she raised the dead. Antonia would have no more need of her after that, and she would be content to take over Thala’s body in order to reclaim her sword.”
Dr. Kostich was oddly quiet at this, no doubt chewing over the ramifications of one of the most notorious mages in history having gone rogue. “This is a matter with the gravest of consequences to the Magisters’ Guild. I will have to consult both them and the committee to see what steps should be taken.”
His phone jangled a little Mozart tune. He gave us all his somber consideration for a few seconds, then said, “I will return to Paris. If you locate this individual, inform me at once.”
“Nice seeing you again, too,” Aisling said sotto voce as he strode off into the forest.
“Glad we could help save your daughter from impending death!” I bellowed after him.
May giggled.
“What a pain in the behind,” I grumbled before eyeing Baltic. “You can stop looking for it. I have it.”
His usual frown was in place as he walked over to me, his hand out. “You found my talisman where Thala dropped it?”
“Yes.” I held it up by the chain, allowing the disk to shine in the lamplight.
“Ah. Good.”
I looked at him for a long, long minute, then handed the talisman to Gabriel. For a few seconds, I thought Baltic’s eyeballs were going to pop out of his head.
“Oooh,” Aisling said, her eyes round.
Gabriel smiled as he examined the talisman. “Thank you, Ysolde.”
“Mate!” Baltic, furious and hurt, stood before me, his fire wrapping around us in a manifestation of his anger. “Why do you betray me in this manner?”
“I’m not betraying you. I’m simply forcing you to do something you’ve been too stubborn to do despite my many requests.”
“What—” He stopped, suspicion crawling over his face as he whipped arou
nd to face Gabriel.
“I’ve never seen a talisman of the First Dragon before,” Gabriel said somewhat contemplatively as he admired the object.
“It looks powerful,” May said, touching it with one finger.
“It is. Very powerful.” Once again, Gabriel’s dimples threatened to show themselves.
“Pfft,” Magoth said, absently scratching one naked butt cheek. “Dragon relics. No use to anyone but you scaled ones.”
Baltic’s fingers clenched convulsively. “Ysolde!”
“Oh, you deserve every moment of this,” I told Baltic a second before I slid an arm around his waist.
His fingers twitched again. “No,” he finally managed to say after unlocking his teeth.
“Yes. It’s time. It’s well past time. Gabriel?”
Gabriel held up the talisman. “I offer you a bargain, Baltic. In payment for the act of lifting the curse you placed upon the silver dragons, I will return to you this talisman.”
The look Baltic turned on me warned of all sorts of acts of revenge, but I wasn’t frightened. Oh, he was angry now, but I knew in my heart that he loved me above all else, and sooner or later, he’d accept that this was right.
“You leave me no choice but to accept,” Baltic snarled, facing Gabriel again, but only after letting me see in his eyes just how hot his emotions were running. “I will remove the curse.”
“Oh! I think this is where Magoth comes in,” Aisling said, gesturing toward us.
“Very well, but only because my sweet May offered to build me a film studio of my own.”
“It was the only thing I could think of,” May explained with a little wave of her hand.
“I appreciate you making that sort of a sacrifice,” I told her as Baltic, with a sour look at Magoth, put his hand on the demon lord’s shoulder before growling some phrases in Latin that I didn’t understand.
“No sacrifices?” Magoth asked, disappointed. “You dragons have so much to learn from me. Well, then, so be it.” He spoke a phrase in a language I’d never heard.
Gabriel and May took simultaneous deep breaths, both blinking as if they’d seen something wondrous.
“It’s…It’s gone,” May said, throwing herself on Gabriel. He tossed the talisman to Baltic before wrapping his arms around her and swinging her around in a circle as he kissed her. Immediately, both their phones went off.