I flinched at the zing of pain that shot through me when he spoke my full name. Although my history with Dr. Kostich was somewhat unusual, he was the most powerful mage in existence, a fact he didn’t let anyone, least of all me, forget.
“I’ve come to ask you to lift the interdict,” I said quietly, knowing he hated histrionics.
“No.”
“Father!”
“No!” he said louder, his glare shifting to Violet. “You don’t know what she’s done, Violet.”
“No, but I know Tully, and she wouldn’t do any of the things you mentioned a few minutes ago.”
“Well . . .” I gave her a weak smile. “I did actually shoot a few balls of energy at him, and they happened to turn into bananas, but that was only because he was trying to kill Baltic, in the process of which he ruined a couple of chairs and a tray full of antique crystal. And for the last time,” I said, turning back to Dr. Kostich, “Baltic is not fat! He’s a dragon! Their dragon form is bigger than their human form!”
Violet blinked a couple of times.
“Not to mention the fact that Baltic willingly gave up the light blade to you when he didn’t have to. I think it’s only right and fair that since he did that”—I wasn’t going to mention that retrieving the famous von Endres sword was third on Baltic’s list of things to be done, right after freeing Thala and rebuilding Dauva—“then you should take the interdict off me.”
“That does seem only fair.” Violet nodded, looking thoughtfully at her father.
“No. She must be punished for the way she betrayed me. She—what is it now, Adam?”
The young man I assumed was the apprentice who replaced me stood in the doorway, holding a phone. “It’s from the head of the watch, master. He says he must speak to you about an urgent matter in Paris.”
Dr. Kostich sighed and got up, bending a prohibitive look upon both Violet and me. “I forbid you to discuss any more of this, Violet.”
She rolled her eyes and waited for him to leave the room before asking, “Just how did you betray Father?”
I grimaced. “I didn’t, not knowingly. I couldn’t help it if there’s a dragon buried deep inside me and I didn’t know it. I thought I was mortal.”
“Even I could see you weren’t mortal, but you do appear to be human,” she mused, examining me closely. “Clearly Father is going to have to lift the interdict.”
“If you can convince him of that, I would be eternally grateful.”
“Grateful enough to help me?” she asked quickly.
“You need my help? With what? My magic isn’t very good, if you remember.”
“No, no, it’s not your magic we need.”
“What exactly do you need help with?”
“A dragon. No, more than one, a group of dragons.”
“Which sept?”
“I don’t know. That’s part of the problem, you see. Do you remember Maura? No, come to think of it, that was before I met you.”
“I’m afraid I don’t recognize the name, no, but I do recall that you had a daughter.”
“Did I ever tell you that, oh, about ninety-five years ago, I was madly in love with a red dragon named Lao?”
I shook my head, even though I was startled by what she said. “As I said, my memory was pretty much destroyed.”
“No matter. There isn’t much to tell. We lasted for a few years, then parted ways. But he left me with a little present in the form of a baby daughter.”
I stared at her with growing amusement. “Dr. Kostich has a half-dragon granddaughter?” I couldn’t wait to tell Baltic!
“Yes, but he doesn’t discuss her much with people. He doesn’t like to dwell on what he refers to as ‘my little indiscretion.’ ” Violet laughed. “He dotes on Maura, of course, because she is a dear girl, if a bit headstrong, but that she gets from Father, as well.”
I bit back a little giggle at the thought of Dr. Kostich and his headstrong granddaughter.
“Maura is very smart, just like Father. Being part dragon, of course, she didn’t inherit any of his mage skills —well, to be fair, none of us did, although my brother Mark is able to do some simple polymorphs on rocks and other inanimate objects—but Maura did turn out to be the most gifted Summoner.”
“Summoner?” I asked, the word ringing faint chimes in my brain. “That’s something to do with ghosts?”
“Yes, she’s very talented. She raised an entire village of Turks two summers ago, when she was spending some time at an archaeological dig. Not only can she raise ghosts, she can also raise shades, and you know how difficult that can be.”
“Shades? I don’t think . . .” I searched the black mass that was my memory. “Aren’t they ghosts, too?”
“Well, technically, yes. Evidently there are all sorts of flavors of spirits, but where a typical ungrounded ghost is bound to the Summoner until Released, shades have more autonomy. They can become corporeal for periods of time, and usually aren’t bound to anyone. Maura is one of the few Summoners who can successfully raise shades, although she is very careful about misusing her gift. And that’s another bone Father has to pick, since he’d much prefer her to be under the purview of the L’au-dela rather than that of the Akashic League. Still, she’s happy with her job . . . or she was until she fell in with some bad dragons.”
“And you don’t know what sept they belong to?” I wondered if they had something to do with the blue dragons.
“No, that’s just it—they don’t belong to any sept. They’re a tribe of—what do you call them?—outcasts.”
“Ouroboros dragons?” I blinked a couple of times, thinking briefly of telling her that both Baltic and I were ouroboros in the eyes of the weyr.
“That’s the word. Evidently when you’re an outlaw, you form a tribe rather than a sept, or some such nonsense.” She made a dismissive gesture. “And Maura is in up to her neck with those outlaws, Tully. She’s caught up in some horrible tangle and is too stubborn to ask for help.”
“What sort of a tangle?” I asked, still a little bemused by the whole idea of the dragon-hating Dr. Kostich having a half-dragon granddaughter.
“I don’t know,” she said simply. “She won’t tell me. But I know she’s in trouble, and dragons being what they are, it’s impossible for me to get an outsider to help her. But you are a dragon now, aren’t you?”
“Well . . . kind of. My dragon is essentially dormant, but I am a wyvern’s mate, and evidently that’s quite a big deal in the weyr.”
“Yes, exactly.” She nodded. “You’re important, and have powers, and these dragons who’ve waylaid Maura will be in awe of you. You are the ideal person to help us.”
“I don’t quite see how, but of course I’ll be happy to be of any use I can.”
“And you will be rewarded, naturally. Father will lift the interdiction, and you will help keep poor Maura from doing something she would spend the rest of her life regretting.”
Dr. Kostich reentered the room, his eyes snapping with irritation as he glared at his daughter. “I specifically forbade you to mention that subject to strangers, Violet.”
“Tully isn’t a stranger, Father,” she said with a stubborn look that matched his own.
“She is no longer one of us. I do not recognize her as a mage,” he argued.
I sighed. Why was nothing in my life ever easy?
“I don’t care if she’s a demon lord!” Violet said, getting up and marching over to her father, her hands on her hips. “She’s said she would help us with Maura, and that’s all that matters. But she won’t do that if you don’t lift the interdict!”
“I have no intention of doing anything of the kind, and we do not need her help!” he snarled back at her.
The argument went on for another twenty minutes before Dr. Kostich, saying extremely rude things about his daughter in Latin, snapped a very testy “I will not lift the interdict. To do so now would be the sheerest folly. But I will agree that if she can help with Maura, I will remove the interdict then. And I do this only because Maura is foolish enough to get involved with dragons! I hope that will serve as a lesson to you both!”
“I need to be able to perform magic if I’m supposed to put the fear of god into a bunch of outlaw dragons,” I pointed out.
