Playing with Fire

more proof do you need? She is a thief, and his mate. Obviously, she stole it to please him!’’

‘‘She couldn’t have,’’ Aisling said, shaking her head.

‘‘Gabriel and May met last night for the first time,’’ Drake explained.

‘‘Bah! That was what they wanted you to think, in order to excite sympathy for their cause. But I am not so easily fooled as you are, brother. They are working together, and I will not allow them to succeed with their infamous plans.’’

The sudden calculating look he shot me sent cold chills down my spine. ‘‘Gabriel,’’ I whispered, leaning toward him, ‘‘I think we may have a problem.’’

‘‘I will not allow him to harm you,’’ he answered in a louder tone of voice than was strictly necessary. ‘‘Do not fear for your safety, mate. He will not touch you.’’

‘‘That’s not quite what I meant,’’ I said, intending on pointing out that as Dr. Kostich hadn’t lifted the price on my head, it was entirely possible Kostya might turn in information about me in order to gain the benefaction. I hated to think what he could do with a powerful archimage on his side.

Before I could mention all that, Kostya started ranting about the injustices done to him. ‘‘I swear to you that the black dragon sept will regain what we once held but was taken from us!’’

‘‘Oh, not that again,’’ Aisling said, whispering to her husband, ‘‘Can we hit a fast-forward button, do you think?’’

‘‘We will face death to restore to the sept the pride, the glory, the true essence, of what it once was,’’ Kostya declared with a dramatic sweep of his hand.

‘‘Enough!’’ Gabriel suddenly roared, taking everyone aback. ‘‘I have had enough of your games, Kostya! I can only assume you are trying to turn Drake against me with these outrageous claims, but I will not waste my time any longer defending myself. There is a more important matter at hand that must be attended to.’’

‘‘Drake-as a neutral party-got Kostya and Gabriel to agree to come here and talk about things,’’ Jim said softly as it ambled over and sat next to me, leaning its bulk against my leg. ‘‘That was before you tried to bash Kostya’s brains out all over the entryway, naturally. Things are probably a bit dicier now.’’

I shot the demon a look. It grinned back at me, pink tongue lolling.

‘‘I suppose now is as good a time as any to begin the talks between you two,’’ Aisling said, looking dubious.

‘‘I will not talk peace with Kostya until he returns Maata and Tipene,’’ Gabriel said, his fingers tightening again on my shoulder.

I could swear there was a momentary flash of surprise in Kostya’s eyes before they returned to their familiar belligerent cast. ‘‘I do not know what you’re talking about.’’

‘‘Maata and Tipene are gone?’’ Aisling asked. ‘‘I wondered where they were. Kostya-’’

‘‘I do not know what he’s talking about!’’ Kostya repeated, louder. ‘‘I have had nothing to do with any of his sept, as per our agreement prior to meeting here.’’

‘‘An agreement you saw no problem in ignoring when you saw the chance to take my guards,’’ Gabriel snapped. I leaned slightly toward him, nudging his leg with my shoulder.

‘‘If I wanted to take out a silver dragon,’’ Kostya said in a low, threatening voice, ‘‘he would not be missing-he’d be dead.’’

Gabriel’s body twitched as he restrained himself. ‘‘I don’t believe you,’’ he said after he got himself under control.

Kostya shrugged. ‘‘It matters little to me what you believe. Perhaps you are simply claiming they are missing in order to garner Drake’s sympathy.’’

Gabriel flinched as his own accusation was flung back at him. ‘‘I see that we are at an impasse again.’’

‘‘And it will stay so until you return my phylactery to me,’’ Kostya almost yelled.

‘‘You will return Maata and Tipene unharmed, or I will finish what was started centuries ago!’’ Gabriel returned, his eyes positively glowing with anger.

I stood up and took his arm as Pal and Istvan closed in on Kostya again. The two wyverns glared at each other. I could feel the dragon fire within him, raging to be freed, but he had immense control, and kept it back when I probably would have burned down the entire block.

‘‘Then there is nothing more to be said. This meeting has been a waste of time.’’ Kostya stiffly jerked his arms from the two green dragons, bowing to Aisling. ‘‘I bid you good day, Aisling, brother.’’

He took a step toward Gabriel, but his ebony gaze was narrowed on me, sending a little skitter of fear down my back. ‘‘As for you, thief…’’

Gabriel stepped in front of me, a ring of fire bursting to life around the two of us. ‘‘Do you threaten my mate?’’

I stared at Gabriel’s back in astonishment. I’d never heard such raw fury in a man’s voice before, and that it came from velvet-tongued Gabriel…

‘‘You should not have a mate,’’ Kostya snarled, spitting little balls of fire at our feet. ‘‘No silver dragon deserves a mate since they are responsible for stealing that of the black wyvern.’’

‘‘We did not steal her! We took back that which was stolen from us! Ysolde de Bouchier was a silver dragon!’’

‘‘That history does not have importance at this time,’’ Drake said, stepping between the two furious dragons. Gabriel immediately backed down, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me tight against his side. Drake sent his brother a warning look, which, after a moment or two of antagonistic posturing, Kostya acknowledged.

‘‘Discussing the issue of a future agreement between Kostya and the silver dragons is useless until Maata and Tipene are returned,’’ Gabriel said.

‘‘I have nothing to do with them!’’ Kostya yelled, slamming his hands down on a metal table.

‘‘If you have not, then who has?’’ Gabriel argued. ‘‘Who would wish to do harm to the silver dragons? Fiat? His battle has nothing to do with us. Bastian and his blues are on friendly terms with the silver dragons. Neither do we have a grievance against the red dragons, no matter if their wyvern is Chuan Ren or another. The green and silver septs have long had a history of mutual friendship and trust.’’

‘‘Which is why you sided with Fiat to destroy Drake and claim Aisling as your mate?’’ Kostya asked in a sneering voice.

My gaze went to the man at my side. He flickered a brief look at me, his jaw tightening as he said slowly, ‘‘My intention was never to destroy Drake or the green dragons. Fiat was intent on doing both, and I simply did what was necessary in order to lessen the massive destruction that was sure to follow if he proceeded unchecked.’’

I looked thoughtfully at the very pregnant Aisling. A faint smile twitched her lips. ‘‘He never really wanted me, you know. He just wanted a mate.’’

A painful knot gripped my stomach as I wondered if it was merely for a mate that he had so enthusiastically embraced me.

‘‘No,’’ he said, watching Kostya.

It didn’t matter… or rather it did, but now was not the moment to examine the basis of the man I’d bound myself to. As Gabriel said, there were more important things at hand, such as the whereabouts of Maata and Tipene.

All the same, the words echoed in my head: He just wanted a mate.

Chapter Thirteen

‘‘Well. I’ll say this for Gabriel-he has good taste in houses.’’ Cyrene dropped the handle of her suitcase with an audible thump on the rich carpet of the entrance hall. ‘‘I hope the rest of the house is as nice as the entrance. It’s much nicer than my flat, and certainly better than that dark little hole you inhabit. How many rooms did he say it has?’’

‘‘Seven bedrooms.’’ I closed the front door, consulting a small card to punch in the code needed to pacify the security system.

‘‘I shall graciously accept Gabriel’s invitation to stay with you until he gets here, then,’’ she said, opening up the door nearest us. ‘‘Sitting room. Kitchen back here, do you think?’’