It took a good half hour for Baltic and me to put out the fire that, sadly, consumed a quarter of the woods. Luckily, the firemen who arrived to assist weren’t wild about entering a forest that had long been known to be cursed, so they and the curious bystanders remained on the fringes, soaking nearby buildings lest the fire jump to them.
My head ached by the time we got the last of the fire tamped down to nothing, and it was with great relief that I sank onto the rocky mound that marked the opening to Baltic’s lair. “I’ve never known your dragon fire to get out of control like that.”
“It doesn’t. It was your arcane power that fed the fire into an inferno,” Baltic told me, pulling out a flask from a small pack and handing it to me. I took a swig of it, relishing the fire of the dragon’s blood wine as it coursed down my throat.
“Oh. I guess that was the Grace of the Magi, because I’ve never seen a reaction like that before.” I glanced to the side, where Baltic had tossed the runed rock. “What are we going to do with Larry?”
“Who?”
“The rock. I call him Larry.”
Baltic shrugged, and pulled out his cell phone. “Leave it. It can do no harm here.”
“It doesn’t seem right, somehow. I mean, he was a man, even if he was trying to kill you.”
“He wasn’t trying to kill Baltic, my adorable one. He was trying to kill you.”
I looked over to where the faintest outline of Constantine was visible as he perched on a boulder. “Me? Why would he want to kill me? Baltic, I understand—everyone wants to kill Baltic.”
The love of my life shot me a look that made me bite back a giggle.
“That is because he is a reprehensible, callous beast with no morals and even less intelligence,” Constantine said coolly.
“Right,” I said, standing up and facing him. “That’s it—do you hear? That is it! No more calling Baltic names. I know you’re all pissed because I chose him over you, but I did so five hundred years ago! I loved him then, I love him now, and I will always love him. Get over it already!”
Constantine’s outline straightened itself up. “Never! You gave yourself to me before he took you, and you will be mine again!”
I narrowed my glare to razor sharpness. “You just don’t listen, do you? I love Baltic. You’re dead. Really, those two things should say it all!”
“I am not dead,” Constantine said with dignity.
I pursed my lips.
“I am simply temporarily without life. If the archimage’s daughter can resurrect that one”—he waved a hand at Baltic—“she can resurrect me as well.”
“Over my dead body,” I muttered.
“He’s already seen to that,” Baltic snapped as he closed his phone and moved closer to me, glaring at the outline of Constantine. “Begone, spirit! You bother my mate.”
Constantine sputtered with indignation.
“I really don’t want to have to fight with you, Constantine, but until you accept a few facts, we’re going to have some issues.”
“Do not attempt to reason with him,
“Like hell I don’t,” the annoyed shade said, getting to his feet. “But Ysolde has a point. I am here now, alive if not quite alive, and clearly things are different than they were in the past. Therefore, I will adapt. A good wyvern is always willing to try new things when necessary.”
“You’re not a wyvern anymore,” I pointed out.
“Of course I am. I was a wyvern when I died, and now I am alive again. Thus I am still a wyvern.”
“Are you not listening? Maura told me you may be autonomous, and you can have a corporeal presence, but you’re not actually a living, breathing person.”
“I’m as good as alive,” he said with a haughty sniff.
“And two, you’re not the wyvern of the silver dragons anymore. A very nice man by the name of Gabriel Tauhou is.”
“Tauhou?” He frowned. “I do not know this name.”
“From what I understand, you knew his father, although I don’t know what his name is. Gabriel lives in Australia with his mate, May.”
“He has a mate?”
I looked at Baltic, who was punching a number into his phone and ignoring us. “Yes, he does. She’s a doppelganger.”
“Ah. Created, not born. Clever, but it doesn’t matter.” Constantine shook his head and his form solidified about halfway. “I was wyvern before this Gabriel Tauhou. Now that I am back, he must stand down in favor of me.”
“Yeah, good luck getting him to agree to that.” Distracted by a glint of anger in Baltic’s eyes, I watched him as he put away his phone. Despite my assumption, his anger didn’t seem to be directed at Constantine. “You weren’t calling Gabriel, were you? It would take him forever to get to Latvia, and I told you that my head has stopped hurting.”
“I was attempting to contact Thala,” Baltic said, his hands on his hips as he scanned the surrounding area. Thick wisps of heavy white smoke still tainted the air, making it a little difficult to breathe, but since we were located in the center of the forest, none of the charred trees were visible.
“Oh. I guess I must have forgotten about her. Where is she? You don’t think Maura and her Three Stooges got her, do you?”
Constantine snorted.
“No,” Baltic said slowly, his eyes narrowed in thought. “I begin to wonder if I haven’t been misled by her.”
“Misled how?”
“I will go find this wyvern and inform him of my return,” Constantine said, becoming solid long enough to suddenly whisk me into an embrace and press a kiss on my lips.
Baltic spun around and started toward him.
“Adieu, my lovely. I will return to deal with your obnoxious mate another day.”
A profanity shot out as Baltic lunged for Constantine, but the latter evaporated into nothing, leaving us alone.
“Dammit,” I said, realizing that in all the confusion I had neglected to pin Constantine down about what I needed to do to reclaim his honor. “He left! I needed to talk to him.”
“Be grateful for small mercies,” Baltic said, continuing to scan the surroundings. “I am.”
“Yes, but now I’ll have to track him down again to find out what the First Dragon wants me to do for him.”
“Bah. He is of no concern. I am more worried about why Thala has abandoned us.”
“He may not be of concern to you,” I said, my shoulders slumping as I made myself comfortable on my rock, “but you don’t go dissing the First Dragon’s son without some sort of repercussions, and I don’t want to think about what those might be. He’s angry enough with me already.”
Baltic, who had been looking out into the distance, turned to pin me back with a look. “Why do you keep saying that?”
“Saying what? That the First Dragon is pissed enough at me, especially after he had to resurrect me a second time?”
“No, before that.”
I thought a moment. “That we shouldn’t go dissing Constantine? I know he irritates you, Baltic, but he’s dead, and is no threat to us anymore, so really, calling him petty names—”
“You said the First Dragon’s son. You think Constantine is his son?”
I looked into those fathomless eyes. “Yes. He is, isn’t he?”
“No.”
