“Of course I want something. I want my house back.”
Kostya took a deep breath. “Dragonwood is mine.”
“Baltic built it for me! I designed the gardens!”
“It belongs to the black wyvern, and thus it’s mine now,” Kostya argued. “Unless you have something of equal value you wish to exchange for it?”
“I have money. Well, Baltic does,” I said slowly, knowing full well that all of Baltic’s resources were being funneled into the rebuilding of Dauva. Although it went against the grain to buy what truly belonged to me, perhaps Kostya could be tempted into an arrangement. “How much were you thinking of?”
“I would not sell Dragonwood for mere money,” Kostya scoffed. “You have nothing else of value to offer?”
“Me, personally? I have my love token.” I touched the chain around my neck, the small oval of silver that hung from it tucked warmly between my breasts. “But its value is sentimental rather than material.”
“I wouldn’t take the love token that Baltic made for you,” he said, outrage flitting through his eyes before he added with a grin, “He almost severed his fingers engraving it.”
“He told me it was the hardest thing he’d ever done because he doesn’t have a single artistic bone in his body,” I said, sharing a remembered moment with Kostya, my smile matching his. “He was so proud of it, though.”
The smile faded from Kostya’s face. “You have nothing with which to bargain, then? So be it.” He held up a dismissive hand when I opened my mouth to protest his cavalier manner. “I have relinquished my rightful claim on Dauva; that is as far as I will bend, Ysolde. The matter is settled, as is the situation with Cyrene. I have called next week’s sárkány for the purpose of rescinding my statement regarding her, so after that time, she will have no formal standing either in my sept or the weyr.”
“Kostya, you know how much that house means to me—” I started to say, getting to my feet, intending on pleading with him.
He shot Drake a harried look, then made a formal bow to both Aisling and me. “I will see you later, Aisling. Good day, Ysolde.”
I bit my lip as he strode off, damning him for being so obstinate. “Next time maybe I’ll save Baltic the trouble of breaking his nose and do it myself.”
“It’s tempting sometimes, I admit,” Aisling said.
Drake shot her a look.
“Sorry, sweetie, but even you have to admit that sometimes when Kostya gets on his high horse, he’s impossible to take.”
“And yet right is on his side in this,” Drake said, taking the glass of dragon’s blood wine that Aisling poured for him. “The house does belong to him.”
“It does not—” I started to say.
“Now, hang on here,” Aisling interrupted, suddenly looking thoughtful as she turned to me. “Ysolde, I think we’ve had a breakthrough.”
“In what way?”
“Who’s had a breakthrough?” May asked as she slipped into the room with a muttered apology for her twin’s scene.
“Kostya.” Aisling eyed me speculatively.
I frowned, confused. “I don’t see how.”
“He offered to trade Dragonwood for something. He’s never done that before, has he?”
“No,” I said slowly, thinking that point over. “He’s always been adamant that the house belongs to the black dragons, and as he’s the wyvern, it does. You know, I think you’re right, Aisling. I think this may well be the breakthrough I’ve been looking for.”
“Yes, but now you need something to trade for it. I don’t suppose Baltic would give up Dauva?”
I sighed. “The only things that stand higher than Dauva in Baltic’s affections are Brom, Pavel, and me. So no, trading Dauva for Dragonwood is out of the question. I need something else, something of great value that he would want. Hmm.”
“I’d offer you the dragon shard that chose our sept, but…well, I’m not sure that’s kosher, so to speak,” May said. “Not to mention that Gabriel wouldn’t let the shard go.”
“No, I wouldn’t take your shard,” I said, smiling at May. The fact that she, too, had once borne the same shard of the dragon heart, most important relic of all dragonkin, that I had borne so many centuries ago, made me feel especially comfortable around May, as if we were old, old friends. “I can only imagine what the First Dragon would have to say about the idea of us using the shards to buy something so esoteric as a house.”
“Jim, will you stop it?” Aisling frowned at the big black demon as it rubbed its nose on her hand. “If you need to go walkies, you are excused.”
“Baltic doesn’t have any big stacks of gold lying around his lair?” May asked, looking as thoughtful as Aisling did. “Not that I’m trying to pry, but you know how dragons are about gold—I’d think that even Kostya could be swayed by it.”
I glanced at Drake, who was watching Aisling with a glint in his eyes that hinted he’d rather be alone with her. “Er…that’s pretty much earmarked for Dauva, I’m afraid.”
“No valuable—Jim, so help me, if you wipe your nose on me one more time—no valuable, oh, what do you call them, dragonny things?”
“Dragonny things?” Drake asked her.
“You know, the valuable things. Relics and that sort of stuff. Jim! That’s it! I am sick and tired of you. You can speak again, so go tell Suzanne you need to go for a walk.”
“I don’t have any relics, and Kostya cleaned out Baltic’s lair before we got to it, so I’m afraid anything that was stashed away is long gone,” I said sadly, my heart breaking when I thought of my beloved Dragonwood being inhabited by strange dragons.
“Man, Ash, I’m never going to be on your team for charades,” Jim said with an injured sniff. “I wasn’t doing the pee-pee dance, I was doing the ‘I have something important to say but you keep ordering me to silence because you’re all bossy now that you have spawn to push around’ nose bumps.”
“What important thing do you have to say?” she asked, wiping her hand on the napkin. “And it had better be very important.”
“It’s just a way to help Soldy, that’s all. Just a way for her to get back that house she loves so much, the one that acts as vision central for her,” the demon answered blithely, sitting down and staring at the two remaining pieces of flatbread.
“What is that?” I asked the demon.
It cocked an eyebrow at the food.
I picked up the flatbread. “If your idea of something important is one of your usual, ridiculous ideas, Jim—”
“It’s not! I promise, it’s great,” it answered, a thin line of slobber creeping out of its furry flews.
“Oh, for the love of Pete. Where’s your drool cloth? Not on Drake’s nice carpet!” Aisling whipped a napkin around the dog’s neck, mopping up its wet mouth before nodding to me. “Go ahead and give it to Jim, Ysolde, but that’s your treat for the day.”
I gave the dog the piece of flatbread. “And your idea?”
Jim gulped down the appetizer, licking its lips loudly. “Yum. That ham makes the whole thing.”
“Jim,” I said warningly.
“OK, OK, no need to look like you’re going to turn me into a human again,” it said, quickly backing up until it was pressed against Aisling. “That was sheer and utter hell being out of my magnificent form. My idea is this: you need something to barter with, right?”
“Yeees,” I said slowly, suspicious despite my interest.
“Something fabulous like that thing that May stole from Kostich.”
I looked at May in surprise. “You stole something valuable from Dr. Kostich?”
“Magoth—he’s the demon lord I used to be bound to—had me steal a minor object,” she said with a wry smile. “But I ended up taking a quintessence. For a day. I returned it the next day once I realized what it was.”
I goggled at her. “You stole a quintessence? Those are so valuable that they’re literally priceless.”
“Yes, I know,” May said calmly, a little smile o
n the corners of her mouth. “Kostich set the thief-takers after me for it. That’s how I met Savian Bartholomew.”
“I may have been Dr. Kostich’s apprentice for a long time, but there’s no way he’d give me so much as the time of day, let alone something impossibly valuable like a quintessence,” I protested.
“I didn’t say you should give Kostya that—I just mean that you need something like it, something über-valuable,” Jim corrected me.
“How am I supposed to get something über-valuable? Hmm…Savian…I wonder if he could be of help….”
“He is a tracker,” May said doubtfully. “But I always assumed that meant tracking people or beings or things like that, not so much locating valuable items.”
Aisling started laughing so hard, she had to clutch a napkin and mop at her eyes.
“Mate?” Drake asked, frowning at her. “Are you unwell?”
“No, I’m fine,” she wheezed, dabbing one last time at her eyes. “It just struck me as funny, that’s all.”
“What struck you as funny?” I asked, sharing a look of confusion with May.
“Oooh,” Jim said, then it, too, snickered. “Good one, Ash.”
Drake’s eyes were narrowed on her until suddenly he sat back, his expression unreadable, but his eyes glittering with interest.
“I definitely feel like I’m not sitting with the cool kids,” I told May.
“I’m right there with you.” She turned back to Aisling. “What do all three of you—wait a minute, you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you? Wow, that might…hmm.”
“Great, now I’m it and all by myself.” I sighed. “Would someone take pity on the poor, resurrected woman who clearly has missed something of great importance?”
“I’m sorry, Ysolde, I didn’t mean to make you feel like a pariah. I was just laughing because…Well, it’s kind of ironic, really. What I was thinking is that you don’t need Savian Bartholomew,” Aisling told me. “You need a thief. A really good thief. A master thief, the kind who knows not only where all the über-valuable things are, but how to get to them, and has the ability to do so.”
I glanced at May, who shook her head. “My thieving days are over, thank the gods.”
“You probably don’t remember this, but the green dragons are noted thieves.” Aisling patted Drake’s leg, pride obvious in her voice. “And there are none better than the wyvern himself.”
Drake pursed his lips, idly rubbing his chin. “It is tempting, I admit. I haven’t had opportunity to…liberate…anything in some time. What did you have in mind, kincsem?”
“I don’t know who has all the goodies that might tempt Kostya, although part of me says it would be a blast to grab something from Dr. Kostich. Still, he’d probably know it was us and make our lives hell, and I can’t do that to all the green dragons. We need something that can’t be traced back to us.”
“I’m not really comfortable with the idea of stealing something,” I said reluctantly. “I don’t think I could be happy with the house knowing it came at the price of theft. But I appreciate the thought.”
“Maybe if it was something taken from someone bad?” Aisling suggested. “Like a demon lord? Or maybe something that was taken from you, and was really yours to begin with?”
“The only things that were taken from us were taken by Kostya, and much as I would be happy for Drake to try to steal Dragonwood back, I think it would be beyond even his skills.”
Drake rubbed his chin again, his eyes speculative before he sighed and shook his head. “No, it would be beyond me, despite its being a tempting target. Kostya would not be pleased, either, and although Aisling would not hesitate at enraging him, he is my brother, and I would have peace in the weyr.”
“I suppose that would be the best,” Aisling said with a slump of her shoulders. “There’s got to be something, Ysolde.”
The door opened at that moment, allowing the tall, elegant man with short dreadlocks, bright grey eyes, and lovely warm brown skin to stroll in. He made a beeline for May, stopping next to her to stroke her short black hair, saying as he did so, “Good afternoon, Aisling, Ysolde. Greetings, Drake. What is it Ysolde is searching for?”
“Heya, Gabe,” Jim said, sauntering over to snuffle him. “Still wyvern, huh? That ghost not challenged you for the sept yet?”
Gabriel Tauhou, wyvern of the silver dragon sept, stiffened for a moment, ire flashing in his eyes. “Not for lack of trying.” He turned to me, adding, “Has Mayling spoken to you about Constantine?”
“Not yet,” May said, moving over to sit on the couch, Gabriel at her side. “I was…er…saving that for later. Along with the other thing.”
“Is Constantine still being impossible?” I asked. Weariness swept over me. “I ran into him earlier today and told him again that he isn’t getting your sept, but you know how he is.”
“Oh, we know. He hasn’t left Gabriel’s side for more than an hour or two,” May said, leaning into her wyvern.
“I had to sneak out the back of the house in order to escape without him on my heels,” Gabriel said, looking extremely martyred.
“We’ve tried to explain nicely that we have nothing but the utmost respect for him since he founded the sept, and that we’d be happy to have him visit, and that he’s even welcome to offer advice—”
Gabriel made a choking sound.
“But he keeps insisting that Gabriel stand down and let him take his rightful place as wyvern. He doesn’t seem to understand that he’s a ghost. The only time we get any relief is when he runs out of energy and has to go into an incorporeal state to recharge his batteries.”
Gabriel slid his arm around May. “My guards had taken to challenging him to sword fights in order to facilitate that event, but after a few weeks of that, he caught on to us, and now simply haunts me every chance he gets, attempting to formally challenge me for the sept. I refuse to accept the challenges, of course, citing the fact that he’s not living as my excuse, but it is growing exceedingly tiresome. I wish you would take him back, Ysolde.”
“I think Baltic would kill me himself if I did that,” I said with a sympathetic look. “I’m very sorry, though, Gabriel. Perhaps if someone else was to talk to him…”
“You’re the only one he talks about,” May answered. “If you could try reasoning with him again, we’d be very grateful.”
“I can try, but I’m not sure he’ll listen to me any more than to you. He hasn’t thus far. But I’ll bring it up with him again. Baltic and I owe you so much, it’s the least I can do.”
“About that,” Gabriel said smoothly, his brows rising slightly in question. “Have you approached Baltic about the curse?”
My shoulders slumped as the weariness swamped me. I struggled to keep my head above it, rising from the table and moving over to the fireplace. “Two weeks ago, as a matter of fact. He’s remaining steadfast that there’s no compelling reason for him to lift the curse from you guys. I keep telling him that the whole reason behind the curse is moot now that we know Constantine didn’t kill me, but he just says it’s as good a reason as any, and ignores my attempts to make him understand how it’s hurting all of you.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened as May put her hand on his, obviously reminding him of his manners. I felt bad watching him struggle to keep from lashing out, knowing just how much the silver dragons wanted Baltic’s dramatic curse removed, made at the time of my death, and dooming them all to never having a mate born until a black dragon ruled the sept.
“What I need is some leverage I can use against him,” I said, desperately wracking my brain for something, anything I could use to force Baltic into lifting the curse. “Something that he wants so badly, he’s willing to give up his long-nursed grudge for it. Something…”
The image of an object came to my mind at that moment, a bright, shining object that glowed with white-blue light, something that was indeed so valuable, its reclamation could well force Baltic into a position where he had to lift
the curse.
“You’ve thought of something,” May said, her expression going from despair to hopeful in a second.
“Yes,” I said slowly, turning to look thoughtfully at Drake.
“Something über-valuable for Drake to steal?” Aisling said, leaping to her feet, excitement visible in her expression. “Something that you can use to get back Dragonwood? Or to use against Baltic?”
I was about to explain when Aisling’s words struck me. “Oh. Dragonwood. Yes, it would be valuable enough that Kostya would probably give Dragonwood up for it. But…” I glanced over at Gabriel and May, my heart aching. There was no choice to be made, however. Despite the fact that my very soul cried out for Dragonwood, I could never live there knowing I could have saved the silver dragons instead. “No, that would never do. It will have to go to you, Gabriel. Then you can use it to force Baltic to lift the curse.”
“I thought you said you wouldn’t be happy if Drake stole something for you. Was that just for Dragonwood?” Aisling asked, moving over to stand with me. “Not that I think you’re wrong, because I’d totally steal something in order to save the silver dragons. And I know that Drake is dying to have a go at something really difficult—you wouldn’t believe how happy the thought of a little thievery makes him—but if it’s going to cause problems with you, then we won’t do it.”
“What is this object that has so much power over Baltic?” Gabriel asked, frowning as his thumb rubbed over May’s fingers. “He has Dauva, does he not? He has you….I don’t know what else there is that could hold sway over him.”
The mention of Dauva triggered a memory of a month ago, when Baltic had discovered that Thala, his lieutenant, had stolen a very valuable personal artifact from a hidden lair deep in the bowels of the remains of Dauva. “There are two things, actually,” I said, carefully picking my words. Baltic hadn’t mentioned the loss of his talisman, the item that marked him as a child of the First Dragon, to anyone, not even Pavel. “One is something of which I have little knowledge, and thus wouldn’t be suitable to our purposes—although Drake, perhaps one day—well, we’ll leave that until such time. The other, however, is something that rightfully belongs to Baltic, and was taken from him by a very unscrupulous method. And yes, it has enough value to him that it might just do the trick.”