'The two deaths were committed to make the watch believe there was a connection, but there really wasn't?"
"Exactly. So you strike again. But this time the woman you pick isn't interested in getting her jollies. I know you don't want to think back on this, but can you remember if when you woke up the incubus was already beating you up, or was he ... well, was he making love to you?"
A faint flush brightened her dark cheeks. "He was attempting to seduce me. I knew at once it must be an incubus because a woman I shared a flat with many years ago was seeing one. She was obsessed with him. He almost consumed her, almost seduced her soul from her, but she realized in time what he was doing and rejected him. She went back home to the States after that, but her will was almost broken. She turned her back on Guardianship, refuted her calling, and devoted herself to a man she met a few weeks later."
"Wow. No wonder you were warning me about dallying with them. But that just proves my point. The incubus who attacked you didn't do so because he had a grudge against you—you were just another cog in his horrible wheel of death."
She frowned at the spoon she'd been using to stir her iced tea. "But then, that means..."
"That means that the true victim of the incubus has yet to be identified. The red herrings have been planted to distract the watch. If he kills again, suspicion will no longer be cast on him because the watch will be focusing on finding something to tie the murders together."
"How very clever," she said, her eyes blank, "How very evil."
"Yes." I waited for her to come back from wherever she'd slipped off to before adding, 'The problem now is that we don't know who the true victim of the incubus is."
She nodded.
My stomach turned over in sympathy for the pain I was about to cause her. "Nora, this is asking a lot, but I need to trap this incubus tonight. Monish and the committee will have my head and all the rest of me if I don't. I have to ask you—will you help me trap him? I swear you'll be perfectly safe, but I need you to act as—"
"I'll do anything you ask," she said firmly, not even letting me finish.
I searched her face for any signs of discomfort or hesitancy. "Are you sure? It won't be pleasant."
"I want this monster caught. Like your demon, I, too, have faith in you, Aisling."
I smiled, all warm and fuzzy inside, crying just a little because I knew that what was going to happen was not going to be fun for her. Or me, for that matter. "Great. Let me tell you what I want you to do ..."
"Sorry I'm late. Had a little trouble with a couple of waiters who got into a bit of a squabble over who would open the door for me." I smiled around the table at the dragons present, noting that it was the same oval table that had been used during the disastrous lunch of a few days previous. "Hello, everyone. What did I miss?"
Drake held a chair out for me, waiting until I was seated before he said, "This meeting is to formally address the complaint made by the blue and red dragons."
"Ah." I folded my hands in my lap and put on my best mediator face. Drake had mentioned the night before that he believed Fiat was secretly working on Chuan Ren in an attempt to divide the septs so that no peace accord could be achieved. If the hostile looks Chuan Ren was shooting at the green dragons were any sign, Fiat had been successful.
"SFiatatoio del Fuoco Blu, the weyr recognizes you."
Fiat stood up, looking slowly at everyone around the table, his crystal-blue eyes settling on me. A slight mocking smile curved his lips at the same time I felt the touch of his mind. Immediately I slammed down my mental guards, shutting him out from reading my thoughts. "Wyverns, mates, and dragons, the bitter words of the last few days might have given some of you the impression that I find the thought of peace among the four septs repugnant and impossible. I assure you now that nothing is more distant from the truth. The blue dragons wish an accord with their brothers and sisters. Contrary to rumor, we do not desire to see the fragile peace under which we've lived the last few years torn asunder. We are simple in our needs and desires and do not unduly seek any power or glory."
Fiat paused to give everyone the eyeball again. I fought to keep the disbelief from my face. As Drake's consort, I was supposed to be as impartial as the front he presented—no matter what his private thoughts.
'The blue dragons have ever abided by the laws drawn by the weyr, laws that we might not wholly agree with, and might work to change, but always have we honored them. To do less would dishonor not just the weyr but our own names."
The red dragons nodded their agreement. I had a sudden, inexplicable feeling that Fiat was about to drop a bomb.
"As law-abiding members of the weyr, we feel it on]y right that all laws set by the wy verns be adhered to, rather than just the ones certain dragons find convenient."
Beside me, Drake's arm tightened.
"As you all know, the taws regarding the rights of a wyvern's mate are few but absolute in nature: A mate must be formally recognized by the wyvern and branded such, a mate must be present at negotiations and approve any acts that have bearing on the welfare of his or her sept, and a mate must under no circumstances have initiated or caused any action to the detriment of the sept to which he or she belongs. You would all agree those laws, set down by our forefathers many centuries before, have stood us in good stead?"
Several heads nodded. The ones owned by green dragons were oddly still. A little whip of Drake's fire flicked along my back, causing me to look at him in surprise. Usually his control of his dragon fire was absolute. His eyes were steady, his body language relaxed, but I sensed the feeling in him of tautly held anger. A matching anger rose within me. Fiat's smooth voice and practiced demeanor might fool some of the dragons, but this mate wasn't buying any of it. I just wanted him to get on with it.
"And yet, despite the fact that every wyvern here has sworn an oath to uphold the laws of the weyr, one has violated them." Fiat's head swiveled to look at Drake, his smile so obnoxiously smug, so triumphant I wanted to smack it right off his face. "Drake Vireo, do you deny that your presence here is an abomination to the laws that we all hold sacred?"
"Yes, I deny it," Drake said calmly, his voice as bland as vanilla pudding. "I have done nothing to violate either my oath or the laws of the weyr. If you have proof of either. I demand you present it now, so that I might dispute your claims."
Fiat strolled around the table to where I sat to the right of Drake, Pal flanking my other side. Fiat's cool fingers trailed along the back of my shoulders. Involuntarily, I shivered, jerking forward, away from those cold, cruel fingers. "Is it not true that your mate, Aisling Grey, did call you to a challenge last month, a challenge in which she fought you for control of the sept?"
"Hey!" I said, twisting around to glare at Fiat. "If you have a problem with something I did, you come to me about it. You don't go running to Drake to blame him. Besides, it's none of your concern what he and I did in the privacy of... uh ... Paris."
"Ah, but sweet Aisling, your actions concerning the sept are of a concern to me. They are a concern to all wyveras, as you sit in a position of power within the weyr. And as I have just stated, our laws—with which you seem to be sadly unfamiliar—state that mates are not allowed to conduct actions that could harm the very dragons they represent."
"Aisling was not formally recognized as my mate when she challenged me," Drake said, his voice still smooth but a green fire now visible in his eyes. "Thus, she could not have impact on the sept, and your point is moot. We have other, more important issues to discuss, Fiat. Your attempts to cloud the issues have been many, but I hope that at last we have reached the end of them and will be spared any further abuse of our valuable time."
"Yeah," I said, feeling it important to show the other dragons that I supported Drake. He put a hand over mine and squeezed it in warning. I took that to mean he'd rather I kept quiet, and although heaven knew it wasn't in my nature to abase myself, I figured this was probably as good a time as any to learn how.
"C
ara, your devotion is laudable, but alas, rather late in coming, is it not?"
"You will address me with your comments, Fiat, not my mate," Drake said, his voice a bass rumble. The heat in his eyes was growing, as was my concern that something would push him over the edge. I couldn't imagine what would happen should Fiat and he really lose their tempers, but I knew instinctively that it would not be a good thing for anyone concerned.
Fiat inclined his head in acknowledgment, and for once I was grateful for the chauvinistic tendencies of most male dragons. "In response to your claim that your mate was not, in fact, formally recognized by either you or your sept, I would like to point out that just a day before the challenge, indeed, hours before she called the challenge, she bore the brand of a mate of the green wyvern."
I touched the raised design on my collarbone. Drake had put it there last month, burnt it into my flesh. At the time I was merely annoyed, figuring it was his way of marking me, but I hadn't known just what sort of a mark it really was. Now I knew.
"Aisling was new to our world. She had no idea what a challenge entailed when she called it," Drake answered. "She used the challenge as a way to force out the person who was tapping into the dark powers to take over control of the Paris Caudela. She had no intention of seriously challenging me for control of The sept."
I nodded my agreement.
"And yet," Fiat said, moving around the table slowly, "if she had succeeded, she would have put the welfare of the sept at risk, since she possessed neither the skill nor the power to control it. Indeed, if she had become wyvern, she would have put the entire weyr at risk, since who knows what trouble she would have started."
Drake's fingers tightened on mine as I bit back a retort. Now was not the time to get uptight over my pride taking a little dinging.
*The point is moof. She lost the challenge, a challenge that I again state she never seriously called. It was nothing more than a ruse to capture a murderer."
Fiat smiled, and my stomach lurched. I was coming to hate that damned smile. P£l rose and silently padded over to the desk at the entrance of the restaurant, pulling from behind the counter a fire extinguisher, which he then carried around behind me. I swiveled in my chair. He flipped a lever and proceeded to put out a small fire burning on a wooden busing station. I turned back to face everyone.
"Sorry," I murmured, knowing full well the fire was a manifestation of my anger. "I'm having a few control issues at the moment, but I'm sure they'll be sorted out soon."
Not one single person there, not even Pal, looked like he believed me.
"You see what sort of havoc might be wreaked if such an inexperienced, uncontrolled mate were to take over as wyvern?" Fiat asked, brushing away the objections Drake started to make. He bowed his head to Drake, saying, "As you know your mate better than I do, I am willing to concede the point that she did not understand the full nature of the challenge when she called it."
Drake didn't relax one little smidgen. Quite the opposite. The feeling of coiled tension in him went up and over the top of my Drake-o-meter.
"However ..."—Fiat came to a stop behind his own chair, his long fingers caressing the black-and-gold upholstery—"that does not excuse you for responding to the challenge. You accepted her challenge. You ... I hesitate to use the word fought, since a game of darts seems to be a singularly nonviolent way to conduct a challenge—you fulfilled the terms set by Aisling and defeated her."
"She had arranged the terms so that I would be sure to win." Drake shrugged with nonchalance that I knew he was far from feeling, "The challenge was not seriously offered, nor taken by me or my clan. The scenario you offer that she posed a threat to the well-being of my dragons is thus negated."
"It would be but for one thing.I' Fiat paused, his gaze sweeping the table again. "Your sept conducted a punishment against Aisling just last night. If you and the green dragons did not take her challenge seriously, why was she formally charged and punished?"
Oy. He had a point. Both Drake and I knew that he was being a little less than honest over the whole challenge thing last month—although it was true I hadn't a clue what I was doing when I called the challenge, he did take it seriously, as did the members of his clan. Hence the punishment. While Drake might have been able to get away with blurring the lines regarding the nature of my challenge, he couldn't escape the fact that his dragons had fulfilled the terms of the challenge.
Before he could respond, Chuan Ren leaped to her feet and pointed to me. "The probity of this summit has been tainted and defiled by Drake's mate. Through her actions he has violated the laws of the weyr and thus has negated the precepts of wyvern. I move that the summit be adjourned until such time as a new wyvern for the green dragons comes forward."
"I second the motion," Fiat said quickly.
Pal leaped up to put out the three fires that suddenly burst up around Fiat. I stood up with him, slapping my hands down on the table, too angry to keep silent any longer. I'd be damned if I'd have everything Drake had worked for fall to pieces just because of something I did. "Look, I appreciate the fact that you two are clearly in cahoots and want to raise God knows what sort of trouble, but you are not using me as an excuse to do it! What I did last month has no reflection whatsoever on Drake! He has worked harder than any of you for this peace, devoted countless hours to keeping everyone happy, jollied you all along just because he feels it's important that you dragons live in peace. So cut him a little slack!"
Drake pulled me back into my chair, giving me a look that let me know he didn't appreciate my attempt to point the finger of guilt where it belonged. "Your motion is illegally presented and thus is not valid. As for Fiat's attempt to hide the truth by slandering my mate—"
"You defend your woman's actions?" Chuan Ren shrieked, her eyes spitting black fire at him. "You would defy the laws of the weyr for her? You are the one who is hiding the truth! This summit is a mockery of truth!"
"I have nothing to hide—" Drake started to say, but Fiat jumped in and added his voice for an adjournment. The blue, green, and red dragon bodyguards all leaped to their feet, yelling at each other, casting slurs and insults across the table while their bosses shouted their own abuse. I stayed in my chair, my gaze meeting that of Gabriel. He and his men were the only ones besides me who had remained sitting. His eyes were unreadable, a polite mask on his face. He reached forward to slap out a little flame that had suddenly come to life.
I wanted to curl up and die, I was so sick with despair, feeling for the first time the full weight of my responsibilities to the dragons. What on earth was I going to do to resolve the situation?
After ten more minutes of screaming from almost everyone present, Fiat regained enough control to demand an immediate vote on whether or not the summit would continue. Drake, cornered, had to allow it despite his obvious reticence. Fiat and Chuan Ren voted to scrap the whole thing and start again at a later, unnamed date. Drake insisted that they had made good progress and would continue if they all remained and dedicated themselves to the cause.
"And you, Gabriel Tauhou, what is your desire?" Fiat demanded hotly, his face flushed, his eyes, like the eyes of every dragon present, burning brightly with his fire. "Do you side with the green wyvern, or will you join us?"
I held my breath, unable to keep the pleading from my eyes as I watched Gabriel. He stood slowly, his face troubled as he looked around the table. Please, please let him do what's right, I prayed, hoping that if there was a tie in the vote, Drake might be able to hammer out some sort of an agreement to move forward.
"Like Drake, I have not been blind to the subcurrents of dissatisfaction that have been a part of these negotiations," Gabriel said in his quiet, warm voice, and my heart lightened. "I find your methods in casting aspersions on a fellow wyvern and his mate heinous and abominable to the extreme."
Thank God. He was going to side with Drake. At least the whole thing hadn't been destroyed.
"However, I believe the damage has been done, and n
o good can come at this time of further negotiations. I vote to continue them at another time, when the situation regarding the green wyvern has been resolved."
My heart fell. I stared numbly at Gabriel, unable to believe he would stab Drake in the back in this manner. The other dragons shouted their triumph, quickly gathering their things and leaving the room until no one was left but Drake, his two bodyguards, and me.
I turned to the man whose life I had just more or less ruined, unable to think of a single damned thing to say to him. He looked at me for a couple of seconds, then stroked my cheek, pulling his finger back to reveal a tear. He examined it carefully for a moment, then brought it to the spot on his collarbone where he bore the same brand I did, tracing the symbol of the green dragons with my tear.
He left after that, none of us having spoken a single word.
25
“Are you sure this is going to work?" Nora asked in a whisper.
"No. But it's all I could think of, especially since time is running out."
"In more ways than one," Jim intoned from where it lay on its bed.
I cracked open an eye and glared at it. "Look, it's hard enough trying to meditate with you licking your privates and getting up to drink water and scratching all the time, but it's impossible with you making snarky comments. So unless you want me to command you to silence, zip it up."
Jim looked over to where Nora was curled up into a ball on the chair in her hotel room- "Isn't there some sort of Guardian rule about demon abuse?"
"No," Nora said softly, not wanting to break my concentration. "There are no such laws binding Guardians."
I flinched at the word "laws"; it still rubbed a raw spot after the scene that afternoon with the dragons. When I had gone later to talk to Drake about what happened— and to offer my help—he hadn't been in our room. Neither had Pal or Istvan. I hunted down Nora (who was demon-silting while I did the dragon thing), and despite my best intentions of not saying a word about what had happened, I ended up spilling every last bean. Nora was subdued and grim when I spoke to her about what had happened, which just deepened my conviction that the situation with the dragons was extremely bad.