Dragon Fall

  “Take down the mage!” Jovana’s voice went up an octave.

  “I’d still like to know why Kostya and Drake aren’t trying to kill each other, and why we can understand Aisling and vice versa,” I said.

  “I suspect it has something to do with G&T,” Kostya answered slowly, giving Jovana a long look. “Perhaps the Venediger has done something to the premises that nullifies the curse.”

  “Can she do that?” I asked quietly.

  “I believe we are looking at proof that she has done so.”

  “Yeah, what’s up with that?” Aisling asked. “Did you magic up a safe zone or something? Drake, is there such a thing as a curse-free zone?”

  “I have not heard as such,” he answered, also giving Jovana a curious look. “However, it would appear that she can. The question is, how did she do it?”

  “And why didn’t she tell us about it? Do you know how hard it’s been for the septs to talk to each other?” Aisling asked that last question of Jovana, who was once again talking quietly to her employee. Aisling sucked in some breath and added, “Oh! That’s why she banned dragons from the G&T! She didn’t want any of us showing up to find out that the curse wasn’t effective here with whatever magic she’s laid down! That’s just mean!”

  Drake slowly walked forward, his eyes on Kostya. I tensed, watching him carefully, just in case he was about to leap on his brother. He stopped about six inches away and stared at Kostya.

  Kostya stared back at Drake.

  Aisling and I held our breaths.

  Jim licked his undercarriage.

  Kostya said something I didn’t understand, then reached out and grabbed Drake.

  I was about to insinuate myself between them, fearing the worst, when I realized that the two men were hugging each other.

  “Oh, that is so good to see,” Aisling said, sniffling a little as she came up next to me. She squeezed my arm and nodded toward the brothers. “They haven’t been able to do that for two years. Not that they’re normally very demonstrative, mind you, but still, you don’t know how much you miss being able to hug a sibling until that person tries to kill you every time he sees you.”

  “Touching,” Jovana said, her face dark with anger. She nodded to her crony, who scooted around Drake and Kostya and disappeared into a back room. “The head of the Guardian’s Guild will be sure to hear my complaint about your misbehavior later, Guardian. The question remains how you entered the club.” She looked at me when she spoke the last sentence.

  Aisling made a surprised face. “I didn’t think of that. How did you get in, Aoife? You’re not a Guardian or a Charmer. You’re just… you.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “I am just me, and really, I don’t see why everyone has their respective knickers in a twist about how we got in. That’s a minor point, surely.”

  “Gotta be the ring,” Jim said, coming over to snuffle my hand. “Magic rings make everything better, huh, Eefies?”

  “Jim!” I glanced at Jovana. She had been about to walk to the bar but stopped at Jim’s words. “You’re not supposed to blab that around.”

  “Ring?” Aisling asked, turning to her husband, who now stood having his own muted conversation with Kostya. “What ring? Drake? Did you know that Aoife has a magic ring? Oh!” She gasped on the last word and whomped me lightly on the arm. “You don’t mean the ring!”

  “One ring to bind them all,” Jim quoted in a sepulchral tone.

  Jovana’s gaze sharpened on me.

  “You have Asmodeus’s ring?” Aisling asked, gawking at me. “The one every dragon, and all of Abaddon, has been searching for? That’s it?” She pointed at my hand. “For Pete’s sake, why didn’t you tell us? Now you can end the curse! Drake, she has the ring!”

  “I know,” he answered, holding out a hand for her, which she automatically took, smooshing herself against his side. “It is that which Kostya offered for us to engineer his woman’s release.” The look he settled on me was decidedly sour. “She later reneged on that.”

  “There was no reneging. I didn’t offer the ring; Kostya did, and it wasn’t his to give.” I clutched my hand to my chest. “The ring likes me. I tried to give it to him, but it didn’t want him, so he had to give it back. Besides, it wouldn’t do you guys any good since you can’t use it while cursed.”

  “Convoluted logic much?” Jim asked, flopping on his side. “Belly rubs!”

  “You are not my belly rub responsibility any longer,” I told him.

  “Jim, really! No one wants to rub your belly or see your outdoor plumbing. For heaven’s sake, stop wiggling like that. You’re making everything shake, and it’s giving Aoife the heebie-jeebies.”

  “It is,” I agreed, giving her a smile of thanks. “But mostly because he paraded around naked in man form so long. Where were we?”

  “You were about to explain why you have come to G&T with the most powerful relic of the reigning prince of Abaddon without bothering to explain such to me,” Jovana said smoothly, gliding over to where we stood. Her gaze dropped to my hand for a moment.

  I braced myself for the inevitable, then decided that offense was better than defense, and said, “I suppose you expect me to give it to you, too?”

  “No,” she said quickly, her expression placid. “I am the Venediger. I have no need for its powers.”

  “Oh dear,” I said softly, moving over to take Kostya’s hand. Just the feel of his fingers on mine gave me comfort. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  Jovana considered me for a few seconds, then evidently came to a decision. “Come to my office,” she told Kostya. “I will look up the information you seek.”

  “You’re going to do what we ask? Without threatening us anymore? Or trying to take my ring? Or attacking Kostya and me?”

  The look of scorn she tossed my way made me feel petty. “Why would I desire to harm you? I have no desire to enter into the dragon war any more than I do the battle within Abaddon. I seek only to protect those in my charge, and since you possess the means to end the war that threatens us all, it is fitting that I offer aid to ensure your success. Come.” She turned and marched to the back room.

  “Well, she sure changed her tune fast enough,” I told Kostya. “Do you think we should trust her?”

  “Of course not,” he said simply, pulling my hand up to his mouth to kiss my fingers before releasing them. “But I will accept the assistance she offers. Drake?”

  “I will come with you.” He leveled a look at his wife that had her making a face in return. “Aisling will remain here with your woman.”

  “I have a name, you know,” I called after them as they followed Jovana, Jim at their heels. “Man, that irritates me. Is he always like that?”

  “Yes,” Aisling said with a fond smile. “He’s annoying as all get-out sometimes, but he truly does love his brother, and I’m sure he’ll come to love you as well.”

  “Yeah, not going to hold my breath on that one.” I looked around the club and pulled two chairs off a table for us. “So, I guess we can use this time to get to know each other.”

  “We could,” Aisling said, wandering around the club, her fingers trailing along the tables as she did so. “Or you can tell me about the ring and how you got it. Also, I’m not exactly sure what it does, so if you can tell me that, I’d be grateful.”

  “I’m afraid you’re getting into the realm of I have no freaking clue on the last item. I can give you a quick rundown on how I got the ring, but anything more is kind of a gray area.” I gave her a brief overview of how I had met Terrin and acquired the ring, although I left out the two years I spent in the madhouse, finishing with finding Kostya on the beach.

  “That is so romantic,” she said, having taken a seat while I was talking. She clasped her hands together, her eyes a bit moist. “I know I’m being emotional now because my hormones are going baby crazy, but that’s just so sweet. You saved his life, Aoife. You truly were meant to be together.”

  “Yes, well, he doesn
’t seem to want to admit that.”

  “He’s had a hard time recently,” she said slowly.

  “With his ex-girlfriend?” I nodded. “I gather that’s the case.”

  “Cyrene? Oh no, that wasn’t what I meant, although we all were surprised when he was so smitten with her. That sounds horribly rude of me, and I know I shouldn’t tell tales to you about Kostya’s previous love interests, but Cyrene…” She bit her lip for a moment before continuing. “Cyrene was kind of desperate to be a wyvern’s mate. You see, her twin is one, and she wanted to be one, too, and so she saw Kostya and kind of got swept up in the whole mate-claiming situation.” She waved a hand and gave a little shake of her head. “I’m not going to go into all that now; it’s a long story and doesn’t have anything to do with you and Kostya. What does is the fact that he was imprisoned so long. He was alone and at the mercy of some very bad outcast dragons for seven years. They tried hard to kill him by starving him, but he didn’t give up. So if he seems a bit stressed, and hypervigilant, and even emotionally distant, that’s probably why.”

  “I can deal with most of that,” I admitted. I certainly had enough experience dealing with my own emotional demons. “But it kind of grates that he refuses to admit that I’m his mate. I mean, I get that this other woman used him, but goodness, he can’t paint all women with the same tar, now, can he?”

  “I guess he can,” she said, shrugging. “Men can be so blind sometimes. You didn’t mention what sorts of things you’ve done with the ring. I take it you have been using it, yes?”

  “Somewhat.” I hesitated, unwilling to talk about it, even to Aisling, with whom I felt an unusual sense of kinship. “It got us in here.”

  “Hmm. I assume you’re going to use it to help the Charmer to break the curse. I wonder…” She bit her lip again, a little frown wrinkling her brow.

  “You wonder what?”

  “I can’t help but think if the ring is as powerful as everyone says it is—and you say that it likes you, although I’ve never heard of a sentient ring—then why can’t you simply use it to break the curse yourself and bypass the middleman?”

  “Aren’t I a dragon now that I’m Kostya’s mate? That would mean I can’t use it to break the curse.”

  “Mates aren’t dragons per se… we can’t shift into dragon form, and we don’t have a love of gold as they do, and all the other things that makes them dragons. We’re just kind of extra bonus humans.”

  “Hmm.” I looked down at my hand. “I wouldn’t know how to begin to break a curse. What if I did something wrong and made it worse?”

  “Oh, that’s not going to happen,” she said with a little dismissive laugh. “Trust me, I’ve done just about everything wrong that you can do, and it’s all worked out for the best. I’m an old hand at this sort of thing. Tell you what, let’s give it a shot while the men are out of the room, and if we are successful, then they can sing our praises for decades.” She got to her feet and pushed a table aside, making a small clear spot in the middle of the room.

  “And if we fail?” I said, slowly getting up as well.

  “You’re not going to fail. You have me to help you, and I’m a pretty sharp cookie when it comes to stuff like this, not that anyone would admit that, because it makes Drake nervous to have me using my Guardian skills. Let me draw a circle and call the quarters, and then we’ll get you set up in it, so that you’re protected.”

  “Protected?” I asked, a sense of hysteria quickly rising.

  She gave me a toothy smile as she drew a circle onto the floor with what looked like a gold stylus. “Just in case something goes wonky.”

  “Eep!”

  She laughed. “Such a worrywart! I’m here to protect you in case something does go pear shaped. Now I’ll call the quarters. Do you have a favorite saying or family motto?”

  I thought. “Live long and prosper?”

  “Works for me. I always did have the hots for Mr. Spock—both original and remake.” She turned to the north and chanted something in what sounded like Latin, then repeated it for the other three compass points before sketching a symbol in the air while saying, “Live long and prosper. All right, Aoife, the circle is sealed. Stand in the center, and tell the ring to do its thing.”

  A little zap of electricity ran down my body when I stepped into the area she indicated. The circle she had drawn wasn’t visible, since she hadn’t used chalk or something that would show up to the naked eye, but the air around it seemed to ripple, and I could certainly feel it when I got near it. Once inside, I felt bathed in warmth, as if the sun were beaming down on me. “I’m not sure I can get it to do that. It seems to like me being emotional before it works.”

  “Then you’ll have to work up some emotions about something. What do you feel strongly about?”

  “A lot of things. Animal abuse, women treated as second-class citizens, genocide—”

  She made a face and began sketching symbols in the air around me. They glowed golden for a moment before dissolving into nothing. “That’s so negative. Negative power isn’t good to channel—I know that from experience. What about some positive things that you feel strongly about? You love Kostya, don’t you? That should give you good grounds for stirring up some emotions.”

  I wrapped my arms around myself, not comfortable with talking about my feelings like that. Aisling might appear to be a reliable person, but she was basically a stranger.

  She stopped, giving me a curious look. “I’m sorry. Did I touch a sore spot? Did I assume when I shouldn’t have? You did say you were planning on marrying Kostya, didn’t you?”

  “I just…” I made a noncommittal gesture. “It’s kind of hard to talk about—”

  “Ah. I see. No, don’t try to explain. I completely understand.” She made a wry face. “Drake is forever telling me that not everyone is as willing to talk about their emotions as I am, not that I listen to him when it comes to making him open up to me, because honestly, if there is anyone more reticent than a wyvern, I don’t know who it is. But still, you’re entitled to keep things of such a personal nature to yourself.”

  “No,” I said, standing tall and proud in my little circle of rippling air. “I’m being silly. I do intend to marry Kostya, and I think I am in love with him, although obviously, I haven’t talked with him about that yet. I will use that emotion to generate whatever power the ring needs. Only—” I stopped to solidify in my head just what I wanted to say. “Only I’m not sure how to get the ring to work once I have built up an emotional head of steam.”

  “How did you get through the ward on the door?” she asked, drawing another symbol.

  “I just backed us through it once I started kissing him.”

  “Did you visualize going through it? Imagine yourself taking him through the door? Picture the ward yielding to you?”

  I shook my head. “I said to myself that I wanted to get through the ward and then backed through it.”

  “Hmm. It must have a verbal trigger, then. All right, put into words what you want, and then let’s see what happens.”

  “I’ll get charged up first,” I told her, and proceeded to close my eyes, envisioning me kissing Kostya. I thought about how he made me feel, how much pain he had in him that I could ease, thought about how I felt when I was near him. I remembered the joy in his eyes when he embraced his brother after two years of the curse, of how the little silver flecks lit up when we made love. I dwelt on the sensation of his flesh against mine, of his scent, of the moment when our bodies worked together to drive us both over the brink.

  “Wow. You’re kind of glowing. Not bright light glowing, but it’s like little motes of light are gathering around you. I assume that means you’re nicely charged.”

  I opened my eyes and smiled at her. “What should I say?”

  “Whatever it is you want the ring to do. I think it’s probably more your intentions than the actual words, but I could be wrong about that.”

  “Well… I want the curse to end,
naturally,” I said slowly, trying to keep the warm, glowy feeling around me as I thought about what I wanted. The ring felt hot on my finger, and heavier than normal, as if it, too, was charging up.

  “That’s a good start.”

  But there was more, of course. “I don’t just want the curse to end… I want everyone to be free of threat from the red dragons.”

  “Good, good.” She nodded and continued to draw symbols every few inches in a circle around me.

  Even that wasn’t enough, I told myself, embracing the tingle of power that the ring was starting to send down my arm and throughout my body. What I really wanted was to get a hold of the root of the problem and stomp it into oblivion. “Only by disabling Asmodeus would the dragons ever really be free,” I said softly.

  Aisling looked at me, startled. “Whoa, now. I don’t think—”

  Yes, the voice in my head said, the thought of Kostya uppermost in my mind. Aisling was still speaking, trying to say something about demon lords and why it took a lot to destroy them, but I paid her little heed. I didn’t want to destroy anyone—I simply wanted the war to end. I want to live with Kostya in peace, I told the ring. I want to wake up with him every morning and be able to spend my days without worry that someone will try to kill him. I want the war ended and the source of all the grief exposed, brought forth in judgment against all those he has injured, and tried for his crimes. “I want him here right now,” I said aloud, my voice raw and trembling with emotion.

  I hadn’t realized that I had closed my eyes, but at a tremendous clap of thunder, I staggered to the side, suddenly horrified to find myself face-to-face with a man.

  A strange man.

  He looked just as startled for a second; then a sly look settled in his eyes, and he smiled.

  Aisling shrieked and grabbed the back of my shirt, yanking me out of the circle. I collapsed, shaking, my body feeling as if all its energy had been suddenly drained.

  Kostya burst into the room, skidding to a stop at the sight of the man in the circle, Drake on his heels.