The Unbearable Lightness of Dragons (25 page)

I gave them a succinct description of my meeting with Violet and her father.

“Dr. Kostich has a granddaughter who’s a dragon?” Aisling’s jaw sagged for a few seconds before she gave a hoot of laughter. “Oh, I can’t wait to tell Drake! To think that Kostich has a dragon in the family—that’s rich. That’s really rich. But who are the ouroboros group this granddaughter is hanging around with?”

“I have no idea. I was hoping that perhaps you two might be able to tell me more about ouroboros dragons.”

“I don’t know much about them,” Aisling admitted, leaning back as she thought. “We ran into some in the aerie in Nepal, but Drake wouldn’t tell me anything other than they didn’t belong to any sept.”

“Yes,” I said slowly, thinking of the vision with a sense of dread that clutched my stomach with cold, clammy fingers.

May watched me with interest. “Is something bothering you?”

The door opened before I could answer, and two pairs of arms shoved Jim inside the room before the door was slammed shut again.

Aisling raised her eyebrows.

Jim grinned. “They kicked me out of their meeting. Something about not contributing to the discussion in a manner that was helpful. Man, those dragons are a pushy lot. Literally. You guys hatchin’ a plan to take down Kostich?”

“Good lord, no!” I said, startled by the idea.

“Crap. That would’ve been fun. So, what are we doing if not taking down Mr. Important?”

“I was about to tell May and Aisling about the vision I had.”

“Did I miss another group one? I’m gonna be pissed if I did, because those are always fun. Cold, but fun. So what was this one about?”

I hesitated for a few seconds, then carefully picking my words, described the scene at the weyr.

Aisling looked confused for a few minutes. “That must have been right when Kostya was imprisoned. But who was the woman? And you said there was a ghost who was her servant? Why would a woman with a ghost be interested in capturing Kostya?”

“That’s a really good question.” I glanced at Jim doubtfully. “You’ll keep quiet about what’s said here, right, Jim?”

“Of course it will,” Aisling answered for it, leaning forward toward me. “Spill.”

I took a deep breath. “I can’t think of any reason someone would be interested in Kostya unless that person was also a dragon. Thus it makes sense that the woman who was in charge of the ouroboros group had to be a dragon, and I can think of only one person who is a dragon and yet has the ability to raise ghosts.”

“Kostich’s granddaughter,” May said, her eyes widening as she thought it through.

I nodded. Jim whistled.

“This Maura person is responsible for Kostya being confined in his aerie?” Aisling asked, her brow wrinkled. “Why? What would she gain from it?”

“I have no idea. That’s why I hoped you two could tell me about this group of dragons.”

“Tribe,” May said absently. “Gabriel told me that ouroboros dragons form tribes, led by a chieftain, instead of forming septs. The question is, why would Maura’s mother make it sound like the tribe is holding Maura against her will if she’s really their leader?”

“Another good question. The Akashic League said she would be in touch with me, but I haven’t heard anything yet. I plan on telling her that I’d like a dragon resurrected, in order to meet with her in person and assess the situation. I have no idea what I’ll tell Dr. Kostich if it turns out she’s leading the band of dragons that’s plaguing him.”

“Yes, that might do very well,” Aisling said slowly, lost in thought. “Resurrecting a dragon is a good excuse, because it’s such an involved act, and it takes time to prepare, which would give you some space to figure out what Maura’s role is in the whole shebang.”

“What dragon?” Jim asked, plopping itself down on the couch next to Aisling.

“I don’t know. Does it matter?” I asked.

“Sure it does. A little itty-bitty dragon wouldn’t be much trouble. What you want is a big dragon, someone important, someone who is going to give this Maura chick some trouble. Someone like Constantine.”

I stared at Jim. “Constantine? Why him?”

The demon clicked its tongue at me. “Ash says the First Dragon wants you to restore Connie’s honor, but you don’t know how to do that, right? So you ask the man himself.”

“Resurrect Constantine?” Aisling asked.

“Sainted Mary,” I said, picturing what Baltic would have to say about that. “I don’t think resurrecting Constantine is going to be a good thing.”

“Not good at all,” May said quickly, a frown between her brows. “Gabriel is wyvern of the silver dragons. If Constantine were brought back to life, he would want the sept, and Gabriel would never give it up. It wouldn’t work out well at all, no matter how much Gabriel respects him.”

“It’s a moot point, I think,” Aisling said. “Maura can’t resurrect, can she?”

“Not rez, no. But she can bring Connie up as a shade,” Jim answered. “That’s what Summoners do.”

I thought about that for a moment. “Ghosts can’t challenge anyone for a sept, can they?”

Aisling looked thoughtful. “I can’t imagine how they could. They’re, you know,
ghosts
.”

I nodded. “If a ghost couldn’t try to challenge Gabriel for his sept, then that would be all right. And it would certainly help if Constantine could give me some pointers on how I go about clearing his honor of my death, but . . . but how do you go about raising a dragon’s spirit? I can’t imagine it’s an easy thing, and Maura is bound to want some help doing it if I ask her. Where would we even start?”

Jim shrugged. “You got me. Kostich’s grandkid is bound to know.”

“Hmm.” I mused on the best way to achieve two goals with one effort. “If I had Maura raise Constantine’s spirit, I could conduct a public ceremony of forgiveness, or whatever it would take to restore his honor, and also spend enough time with Maura to figure out what’s going on with her. Brilliant idea, Jim. I owe you a dinner.”

The demon looked smug. “I’m there, babe.”

We discussed the issue for another half hour, before Maata returned to inform us that our presences were desired.

As I entered the sitting room, my eyes went straight to where Baltic stood at a window with his back to the rest of the company. His body language read annoyance and impatience, but not the fury that would have boded ill for everyone.

“So? Have you guys worked everything out so that you can cancel the war and they can rejoin the weyr?” Aisling asked, going straight to Drake’s side.

“Not as such.” Drake considered me for a few seconds. “Bastian is mounting a search for Fiat. Chuan Ren’s heir appears to have disappeared. Until we can talk to both of them, we are at an impasse.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” I murmured under my breath, moving over to stand next to Baltic. He didn’t take his gaze from the window, but did put his arm around me when I leaned into him. “At least Bastian didn’t claim Baltic is behind it all.”

“Actually, it’s the opposite of that,” Gabriel said, smiling at May. She smiled back, and I thought for a second he was going to kiss her in front of everyone, but he remembered in time where he was. “Evidently Fiat came back to his prison and slaughtered a half dozen of his attendants and guards before Bastian could get to him.”

“Oh, those poor dragons. Bastian must be beside himself,” Aisling said.

“Don’t tell me that Thala was there helping him,” I said, my stomach in my feet.

“No,” Baltic answered before Drake could.

I eyed the man who filled my soul with so much joy. “How do you know that?”

Baltic said nothing.

I poked his arm. “You watched him, didn’t you? Fiat, I mean.”

“Yes,” he answered, finally turning to face me. “He sent me a message telling me he would make me suffer for my part in his downfall. While he was imprisoned, his threats did not worry me overly, but the blue wyvern has been careless in the past with Fiat, and I suspected that the next time he escaped, he would come straight for you and Brom. I was wrong.”

“And how,” May agreed.

“I love you,” I told him, standing on my toes to press a kiss to his lips regardless of the others in the room.

He wrapped his arms around me, hoisting me up so I could kiss him properly, his fire racing through us both, wrapping us in a blanket of arousal, love, need, and a sense of rightness that almost made all our troubles seem to fade into insignificance.

“Given Fiat’s madness, and the fact that he slaughtered four blue dragons who had been tasked with guarding him, as well as Chuan Ren, we are willing to readdress the question of Baltic’s involvement with the slaughter of the sixty-seven blue dragons earlier this year.” Drake’s gaze held impersonal interest as I disengaged myself from the sweet lure of Baltic’s mouth. “For that reason, I have called a
sárkány
to discuss rescinding the declaration of war between the weyr and your sept.”

“Woot!” Aisling said, flinging herself on Drake. “I knew you would make it all right.”

“It is far from all right,” Kostya said as Drake gave Aisling a swift kiss. “The cessation of hostilities is contingent upon agreement of all the wyverns, and that will not be given until we have interviewed again the two survivors of the attack. In addition, an investigation will be launched regarding Baltic’s lieutenant, specifically the reason she wanted Fiat free.”

“But once that’s done, then we’ll be a part of the weyr?” I asked, sighing in relief.

“No.”

The word burst my happy fantasy world where everything turned out all right. “Why not?”

Kostya’s nostrils flared as he nodded toward Gabriel. “Evidently you have an agreement that you have not yet fulfilled.”

“What sort of an . . . oh.” Enlightenment dawned as Gabriel’s gaze locked with that of Baltic.

“The silver dragons are willing to accept, contingent, as Kostya noted, upon a further interview with the survivors, that Baltic’s involvement with the deaths of the blue dragons is circumstantial rather than actual, and for that reason I am prepared to agree to a provisional cessation of the war. However, admittance to the weyr is another subject, and we cannot condone such an act without a good-faith gesture from you.”

“The curse.” I slid a look up at Baltic. “It’s time it ends, Baltic. I’m alive, Constantine is dead, and we’re together.”

I swear he just about turned to stone. “I have no reason to lift it, mate.”

“We won’t get into the weyr if you don’t,” I pointed out.

His gaze was as stony as the rest of him. “The silver dragons were responsible for your death, and the destruction of our sept. I cannot simply forgive that.”

“But—”

“No. About this I will not yield.” He shook off my hand, and with a glower at Gabriel, left the room, a silent Pavel on his heels.

“I’m sorry. I’ll work on him,” I told Gabriel and May. “Don’t give up yet.”

“You are the only hope we have,” Gabriel told me, taking my hand and bowing over it. “Do not fail us, Ysolde.”

“I really wish people would stop telling me that,” I murmured as I hurried after Baltic. “It’s starting to give me a complex.”

T
he drive home was conducted in silence, except for a brief interchange that began with Baltic’s insistence that he would drive.

“I have done as you asked, and against my better judgment, allowed the wyverns to question me about my time in Europe when Fiat was slaying his sept. Now you will tell me about your agreement with Kostich,” he said as he narrowly missed plowing us into an elm tree that grew perilously close to the edge of the country lane upon which we were driving. He shot me an irritated look when I screamed, clutching the seat belt that crossed my chest, jabbing at the window with a frantic finger. Luckily, the ditch a bicyclist flung himself into (rather than be mowed down by Baltic) was filled with tall grass. “Mate, you will cease reacting as if I am not competent to drive this car.”

“Glory of god, Baltic! If you kill, maim, or otherwise injure anyone on the way home, I swear I’m never getting in a car with you again! Stop! It’s not our turn to go!”

Baltic ignored both the blast of a car’s horn and its occupant, who was making several rude gestures as he proceeded through an intersection toward the main highway that would take us home. “I am a wyvern. We do not take turns.”

“For the love of—ack! You almost hit that cow!”

“Cows should be in fields, not on roads,” Baltic said, glaring at the bovine in the rearview mirror.

I watched the cow in the side mirror, relieved to see it moving in a manner that indicated it was startled by its near-death experience but not hurt. “Agreed, but that doesn’t give you the right to almost run them down. Look, you scared the cow and now it’s bolted and knocked down that poor cyclist you flung into the ditch. We should stop and help him. He’s just lying stunned in the middle of the road. He could get run over.”

“You should stop trying to change the subject and tell me what Kostich wants you to do for him,” Baltic countered.

Pavel, sitting in the backseat, had turned around to watch the drama between the cow and the cyclist, but now turned back with raised eyebrows. One look at my face had him hunkering down with a book.

“Are you willing to discuss lifting the curse on the silver dragons?”

“No.”

“I can be just as stubborn as you,” I told him, crossing my arms and trying not to notice how close he came to sideswiping other cars as he merged onto the main road.

“I have had ample proof of that,” he muttered under his breath.

“I am sitting right next to you. I can hear everything you say.” I damned his stubbornness, and wondered how on earth I was going to convince him to lift the curse.

He switched to Zilant before falling silent. Although the rest of the trip was fraught with innumerable death-defying moments, we made it home in one piece.