Panic burst through me, a black, deathly sort of panic as I struggled against the spell he had so easily woven around me. My heart fought to beat, my lungs strained in their attempt to breathe, my brain started to die, and still I stood there, a statue, my eyes locked on those of the man in front of me. With an annoyed sound, he waved his hand at me, turning to stride away as I collapsed onto the chair, gasping for air, my heart racing with the sudden release.
"Who the ... heck... was that?" I asked between gasps, watching the man as he moved through the ballroom. People seemed to melt away before him, no one standing in his path. "He almost killed me!"
"He is one of the few people who could," Monish said, handing me a glass of water. I drank half of it, my hands shaking. I could still feel the horrible frozen sensation. "He is an archimage, a high priest among the mages. He is also on the committee that rules the L'au-dela."
I shuddered. If that was an example of the sort of thing the committee would do to me, there was no way I was going to go against them. "Why do I get the feeling he doesn't like me?"
Monish shook his head slowly, his eyes solemn. "You have not made a friend there, Aisling."
"Great. Just what T need, someone else after my blood." I took another deep breath, just for the joy of feeling my lungs inflate, and carefully set down the glass of water, pushing away the muffin. I had lost my appetite. "Listen, I've been thinking about what Nora said last night. There's no way I could summon an incubus and not know it. There just isn't. I think someone's using me as a red herring to pull our attention away from what's really important."
"What would that be?" Monish's frown matched my own.
"I don't know. That's the problem. But there has to be something that will connect the two women who died, and now Nora. They were all Guardians—maybe they went to school together, or had the same mentor, or had something else in common."
Monish sighed. "I have looked deep into the pasts of both women who died, Aisling. There was no connection. They did not know each other. They were from different areas of the world. I will question Nora today, but when I spoke to her before, she did not mention knowing them."
"You spoke to Nora about the two Guardians?" Monish was silent, his gaze steady and unrepentant. "Oh. You spoke to her about me."
"I had to determine just how powerful you were," he said, a slight apology in his voice. "No one knew you. It was difficult for me to assess the situation. I had to take Nora into my confidence. She was most helpful."
"She's a nice woman. I'm sure she was," I said softly, then caught sight of my watch. "I'm sorry, I have to run to pick up my demon and then hunt down a hermit. I'm supposed to give him his amulet, but if it has something to do with what's going on ..."
Monish's eyes dropped to my fingers, fiddling with the amulet's chain. "I am not convinced that it does, but perhaps the owner would allow you to keep it for another day or two."
"I'll ask. He seemed pretty laid-back." I stood and collected my purse. "I have to go for a bit, but I hope you and your men will keep an eye peeled for Nora. Drake promised to leave one of his bodyguards behind until she wakes up, but I'd feel better knowing someone was watching out for her."
He nodded and stood as well, offering me his hand to shake. "It will be done."
'Thanks. I'll be back as soon as I can to try to figure out what's going on."
To my great surprise, a familiar figure was lounging around the lobby as I passed through it on the way to wait for Rene.
"Hi, Gabriel. Seems like forever since I last had a chance to talk to you." I waved at Maata and Tipene, who were sitting in the coffee lounge. They nodded at me.
"Aisling, I had hoped I would see you. Do you have the time to talk with me?" He gestured toward a chair. I glanced out through the big glass doors and didn't see Rene's taxi anywhere on the hotel drive.
"Never could resist a man with dimples," I said lightly, seating myself across from him. "Where have you been? I haven't seen any dragons around the hotel the last two days other than Drake's men."
"The negotiations have been delayed for a few days while tempers cool. I have been in Germany, seeking enlightenment- I understand Fiat flew home to Paris, but he is expected back. Chuan Ren has remained in residence."
"Hmm, I haven't seen her, but I've been kind of busy. I'm sorry to hear that the negotiations aren't going too well. I'd hate to think it was because of me that things are stalemated."
"You?" Gabriel asked, crossing one elegant leg over the other, his dimples blaring away like mad. I couldn't help but smile in return, despite being fully aware that he was purposely turning on the charm. "Why do you think you are the cause of the problems in the weyr?"
"That depends—what's a weyr?"
A wicked sparkle danced in his silver eyes. "It means a gathering of dragons."
"Ah. In that case, the answer to your question can be summed up in a couple of words: Chuan Ren."
I expected him to laugh, or smile, or at the very least shake his head and reassure me that nothing so absurd was happening, but instead his dimples disappeared as he considered what I said.
"Er... aren't you going to tell me that Fm imagining things?" f finally asked, squirming in my seat. "Or over exaggarating my importance to the summit?"
"You are important to the summit," he said, his brows pulling down slightly. "And I would tell you what you want to hear if it was true, but I do not think you would appreciate a mate who lies to you."
"I don't, and he doesn't," I answered, wondering what Gabriel was up to. "As for being so important—I'm just a wyvern's mate. I don't see how that could make or break the negotiations. I know Chuan Ren doesn't like me, but surely that's not going to hold things up?"
He avoided my question to ask one of his own (a dragon trait, I'd found). "Drake has told you of the role a mate plays in weyr politics?"
"Yes," I answered, uncomfortable with the feeling that perhaps Drake hadn't told me everything.
Gabriel's hands rested on his leg, his long fingers toying with the dark fabric of his pants. At my words his hand twitched slightly. "Then you have the answer to your question."
Why is it that even when dragons answered a question, it was as cryptic as possible? "You don't have a mate," I pointed out. "Neither does Fiat. Yet that doesn't seem to be harming your ability to negotiate."
"A mate is a rare find," he answered smoothly, his voice rich and warm and alive with unspoken laughter. "Most wyverns are content to wait until they find theirs."
"Most?" I couldn't help but ask. "But not all?"
He leaned forward, his fingers brushing my knee. "Some of us prefer to have some say in our lives. Some of us refuse to allow fate to dictate its terms, and we make our own path."
I watched him for a few seconds, unsure if he was really saying what I thought he was saying. "I don't play mind games with people, Gabriel," I said finally. "I prefer people say what they mean and don't hide behind a bunch of hyperbole. Are you hinting that you intend to challenge Drake for me? Because if you are, I'm telling you right here and now that there's no way you can lure me away from him. I like you, I think you're nice, but at the risk of sounding conceited I would like to point out that you are not my mate—Drake is."
He stood up. A brief smile flickered across his lips, his eyes alight with secret amusement, "For now, perhaps. But who can say what the future holds?"
He left while I was still trying to formulate a smart answer. I spent a few moments going back over what he'd said, looking for an instance when he had come right out and told me he was going to try to steal me from Drake, but J couldn't come up with a single one. Had I read something into his manner that wasn't intended?
"Just one more mystery for me to solve," I groaned to myself as I gathered up my things and exited the lobby.
Tiffany was waiting near a bench outside. "Good morning, Aisling. Is this not a beautiful day? The sun is shining golden showers of happiness arid joy down upon the happy faces of all the little f
lowers."
"Uh . . . very poetic."
She slipped her arm through mine as we waited for Rene, who was just turning onto the hotel property. "You look terrible. There is darkness beneath your eyes, and your skin looks unhealthy, and your hair is as a concubine's."
There's just nothing like a perky virgin to make you feel ancient and unlovely. Not to mention trampish. "I beg your pardon?"
She made a spiky gesture with her free hand. "Sticking out in points."
"Oh. Porcupine. Yeah. Well, it's been a long night."
"Ah," she said, nodding her head sagely. "Yes, the attack on the Guardian Nora. I heard of this. It is said you are summoning the bad spirits to attack the Guardians who reject you."
"What?" I shrieked, pulling away from her. "People are saying that?"
"Yes. Didn't you know?" She looked shocked for a moment, then waved at someone behind me and beamed. "Carlos! Do I not look muy bonita chica in this? Yes? I knew you would like it. That is Carlos," she said, turning back to me. "He enjoys much my look Innocent Eyes."
"As do we all, Tiffany, but if you don't mind, can you tell me where you heard the rumor that I was offing Guardians who turned me down?"
"Offing?"
"Killing. Murdering."
"Offing," she said, testing the word carefully. "It is good to learn new things. You will tell me more words I do not.know, and I, in turn, will teach you how to be an ice princess, and if you study hard, I will teach you Shy Eyes."
Rene pulled up halfway down the drive behind a line of vehicles, giving a little toot on the horn. I waved to let him know I saw him. "I'll teach you as much slang as you like, but first, please, who told you about me summoning bad spirits?"
Her head tipped to the side as she considered me. "You have sad eyes. You should smile more and share it with peoples. It will make you happier."
I counted to ten, I really did, but I wasn't any less frustrated by the time I got there. I spoke through clenched teeth, enunciating each word carefully. "Who ... told ... you ... I... was ... killing ... Guardians?"
"That woman with the silent husband."
"Silent. . . you mean Hank the oracle?"
She nodded.
Marvabelle. I should have known. For some reason, she'd had it in for me since the day Moa's body was discovered.
Rene demanded on the ride out to the vet clinic to be told what it was we had been discussing so seriously, and after receiving a detailed summary of Tiffany's virgin duties the previous evening, I told him the latest of what had happened with Monish, Nora, and the dragons.
'There is much to think over, no?" he asked as he pulled into the clinic parking lot. "But one thing is obvious—you must do all you can to make the incubus attacks stop."
"I wish I could," I said a little forlornly. "I wish I knew what it was that I am supposedly doing that's bringing them up. I just don't see how I can possibly be responsible."
"Maybe it's just a coincidence, hetttl Maybe it is what you call fate?"
"Fate," I snorted disgustedly, having had my fill of that idea. "What has fate to do with anything?"
"You are here," he said, getting out of the taxi as Tiffany and I slid out of the backseat. His eyes were serious, his face grim,
"You're saying I'm causing these attacks just because I'm here?" I asked, getting more indignant by the moment. First people accuse me of attacking the Guardians, and now Rene was implying I was the Otherworld equivalent of Typhoid Mary? "You're saying it's something like that thing with Paolo—because he says it, it becomes true, thus because I'm here, the incubi are attacking?"
"No," he answered slowly, his voice gentle. "I am thinking that perhaps you are here because you are the only one who can stop what is happening."
My indignation melted away at what he was saying. "Oh. I hadn't thought of that."
"I thought you hadn't." he said, turning and giving me a gentle push toward the vet clinic. "Now let us retrieve Jim, and then we will discuss the situation more, yes?"
"Yes. And thank you, Rene, for being so patient with me. I didn't mean to snap at you, but it's been a he!) of a last few days."
"You are tired," he said smoothly, walking with us to the clinic's reception area. "And also, you are not French. Allowances must be made."
Jim received a clean bill of health from the vet, a man who lectured me, via Tiffany, about the follies of leaving my dog alone to eat poisonous plants. He held up a bit of greenstuff extracted from the deer food that Rene had scooped up at the feeding station, explaining that it was Chinese yew, a tree that deer loved but that was deadly poisonous to dogs.
I bore his lecture with all due humility, knowing there was no way I could explain the true situation. By the time I had thanked the man profusely for saving Jim's life and paid the hefty bill, I was more than a little anxious to get Jim out of there. The demon had never been one to hold its tongue for long, and I had not had the wits about me when we brought it in the day before to whisper a command of silence in its furry little ear. Since no one looked freaked, I assumed that thus far Jim hadn't said a word, but I knew it was pushing my luck to expect that it could hold out much longer.
And I really didn't want to have to explain why my dog not only randomly ate deer food but also swore like a sailor and was prone to risque" jokes. There was only so much a girl could deal with at any one time.
22
I was right. The second the door to the vet clinic closed, Jim burst into garrulous, if a bit uncontrolled, speech. "Fires of Abaddon, Aisling, could you have left me there any longer? What an awful place! It was a nightmare! It was horrible! They stuck tubes in my front Legs and kept shoving thermometers where the sun don't shine, and worst of all, they wouldn't feed me anything but some sort of horrible watery gruel! Isn't that animal cruelty? Isn't that against some sort of international prisoner law? Is the Geneva convention no longer honored? Just look at the spot they stuck the IV in—does it look infected to you?"
I got on my knees right there in the middle of the parking lot and hugged Jim, burying my face in its thick black fur, so happy to see the demon hale and hearty that my eyes went watery. "Dammit, Jim, I'm a Guardian, not a doctor. It's good to see you up and about. We'd thought we'd lost you there for a little bit."
"You know I can't die." Jim's voice was a bit gruff, but I knew it was happy to see us, too, because it gave my neck a surreptitious slurp.
"Yes, but I also know how much you like this furry form." I gave its ears a rub, smiling when it groaned with pleasure and leaned into my hand. "We have a new rule, demon—no eating food that I don't give you, OK?"
Jim shook, a cloud of black hair falling to the ground. "You'll get no argument from me there. Now, how about a proper breakfast? Something with lots of meat."
I gave the demon one last pat, then escorted it to the car, where Tiffany and Rene were waiting for us. 'The vet said only light food for the next day, just to make sure your tummy doesn't get upset. So no meat, but maybe we can find you some plain toast or something light like that. Rene—the wildlife farm."
Rene nodded as he slid in behind the steering wheel. The conversation in the car on the way to the park consisted of Jim trying to persuade me to let it have a full breakfast and Tiffany telling Jim about her adventures in virginity. I bounced between gratitude that Jim was back where it belonged and worry about what on earth could be going on with the incubus attacks and how I was supposed to figure it all out, not to mention stop it.
By the time we arrived at the wildlife park, Jim had picked up enough from Tiffany to give me a hard time. "So! I go away on an overnighter, and you try to kill a couple of innocent Guardians."
"One innocent Guardian, and I didn't try to kill her." Succinctly, I outlined the facts as we walked to the entrance of the park. "You of all people should know that I didn't summon any of the incubi."
"Hmm," Jim said, but it gave me an odd look.
Tiffany practiced her smile on the few people milling around the entrance wai
ting for the gates to open. "I hope Gyorgy will be in a better mood this morning. I hope he will not frown at me and say unpleasant things again. It is not good for the purity of your soul to say unpleasant things. Not even the blood of an exquisite virgin such as myself can cleanse that."
"When did he have time to say anything unpleasant to you?" I asked, confused. "You were only with him for a few seconds before we ran off to rescue Jim."
"Wasn't soon enough," Jim muttered darkly.
"No, not then. Later." Tiffany pulled a small mirror from her purse and examined herself critically before smiling at her reflection. "Last night, when he came to the hotel to throw himself at my feet and beg me to let him make much love to me. Do you think I look more like a princess with my hair up or down?"
I only just stopped myself from goggling at her. "What? Last night? When did Gytirgy meet you last night? Where did he meet you?"
She looked as surprised as I felt. "It was at the hotel, after I returned from the Mage ceremony. He was in my room, waiting for me. He said many things about how incredible my smile was, and how it lit up his heart inside, and how he would devote himself to me and see to it that I had everything I desired if only I would give myself to him."
Well, this was all news to me! Rene and Jim, ahead of us as the gates were unlocked and opened, entered the park. I grabbed Tiffany's arm to hold her back a moment. "Tiffany, why didn't you tell me this morning that Gyorgy came to your room last night?"
"You didn't ask me who visited my room last night," she answered, giving my cheek a little pat. "You are making the Sad Eyes again. Do not be sad, Aisling. If you were to stand outside the hotel again, I am sure a man would throw himself on your belly and offer to make much loves to you again.I'