“Kostya,” I said, the word a whisper on my lips.
He nodded slowly, stalking toward me. “It’s true. They said it was, but I didn’t see how it could be possible. I saw your body. I saw your severed head.” I touched my neck, horror crawling up my skin at his words.
“I… I really don’t know what to say to someone who tells me he saw my severed head,” I admitted. “ ‘Hi’ seems a little bit of an anticlimax.” I swore he was going to bare his teeth at me, but he managed to stop. “A miracle has happened, Ysolde de Bouchier.” “Tully Sullivan. I’m thinking of having it tattooed on my forehead.” “A miracle has happened, and now the time has come for you to pay in like coin for all the deaths, for all the suffering.” “Punky! There you are!” May’s twin appeared at Kostya’s side, alternating glances between me and him. “Hi, I’m Cyrene. You must be Ysolde. May’s told me all about you. I don’t blame you one bit for losing your memory. I would have, too, if I’d had to be mated to Baltic.” “Pleasure to meet you,” I said, unable to break Kostya’s gaze.
He leaned forward, his voice low. “If there is any justice in the world, you will suffer as long as the black dragons have suffered.” “Kostya, I thought Drake said you weren’t supposed to scare Ysolde,” Cyrene scolded, taking his arm and tugging him toward the big table. “Ignore him. He’s a bit grumpy because we ran out of his favorite cereal for breakfast.” He stopped glaring at me and transferred his glare to her. “You did not just tell her that! For the love of the saints, woman, I am a wyvern! You do not tell people I’m grumpy over breakfast foods!” “If someone makes a fuss about not having Cap’n Crunch, then that someone is just going to have to take his lumps,” she said, blithely unaware of his furious gaze. “Come on, I think they’re waiting for us.” Kostya turned without another word and stomped over to the table, Cyrene at his side. I returned to my chair and watched with interest as the wyverns gathered around the table. There were only five chairs there, and before they sat, Gabriel, Drake, and Kostya all made a point of retrieving a chair and placing it next to theirs. The guards and the other dragons in attendance all took up spots on the chairs lining the wall.
Jim gave me a poignant look, but bound to silence as it was, it said nothing. I was grateful for that, since it meant I could try to sort through my mental turmoil while the dragons went through the formalities of their meeting.
“Kostya Fekete,” the blue wyvern named Bastian said. “You have called this sárkány on behalf of the black dragons. State your business.” I looked up from where I’d been sightlessly staring at my hands.
Kostya stood at the foot of the table and looked at all the wyverns present. “I am here to seek reparation. The mate of Baltic has revealed herself, and the black dragons demand that she be held liable for the crimes he committed against the weyr.” “What?” I asked, standing up, so stunned by Kostya’s demand I forgot that May warned me not to speak before I was called upon. “That’s ridiculous!” Bastian frowned at me. “You have not yet been recognized by the weyr. Please remain—” “I will not remain silent!” I stormed over to the table, suddenly furious. “Certainly not while you people accuse me of something I didn’t do.” “You are the mate of Baltic,” Kostya snarled. “By the laws that govern the weyr, you are just as responsible for his actions as he is.” “I am not his mate. I am not even a dragon! I’m human! You all must be able to tell that!” The wyverns exchanged glances.
“You see? No one is denying it, because it’s true. I’m human.” “You appear human, yes,” Drake said in a voice that held an Eastern European accent. “But Gabriel’s mother assures us that your dragon self resides within you, simply waiting for you to waken it.” “Even if that’s true, that doesn’t give you people the right to try me for a crime I didn’t commit! Don’t you watch CSI? That’s totally illegal!” Kostya’s scowl darkened. “You are a mate, his mate. And unless you’d like to bring him before us, then it is you who will pay the price for his crimes.” “What crimes, exactly? The war with the silver dragons that Gabriel said wiped out your sept?” I made a disgusted sound. “If the dreams I had were actually echoes of the past, then you were a part of that sept, too, which means you were a part of the war. How many silver dragons did you kill, Kostya?” He snarled something extremely rude under his breath. “We are not discussing my actions. I have made my peace with the weyr.” “Oh, did you really?” Furious, I did something I never do — I made a scene. I leaped onto the conference table and stomped down its length to stand in front of Kostya. “You supported Baltic in everything he did! Everything! He couldn’t pass gas without you telling him how fabulous he was!” Kostya growled, positively growled as he leaped to his feet, his chair flying backwards several feet. “That is not true!” “Do your friends here know just how much of a yes-man you really were? Do they know how you followed him around like a puppy, doing anything he demanded?” “My past has nothing to do—”
“Do they know how you let Baltic hold a sword to my throat and threaten to kill me just because I was born a silver dragon?” My voice rang out loudly.
The entire room was silent.
“Er…” I cleared my throat as I realized what I’d just declared. “That’s assuming that I am what everyone says I am, which I still maintain is very unlikely.” Kostya, goaded into a fury, yelled at me. “I am not to blame for Baltic’s actions! I kept him in check until he rescued you. He was unbalanced then, but he became uncontrollable after you sided with Constantine Norka against him.” “I what?” I asked, feeling at a loss.
“I might have been able to reason with him if it wasn’t for you!” Kostya accused me. “He wanted you. He was willing to take you despite the fact that you were a silver dragon.” “Should we be offended by Kostya’s implication?” May asked Gabriel. “I have my dagger. I could poke him with it a few times.” Cyrene shot her twin an outraged look.
“Perhaps later,” Gabriel told May.
“But you spurned him, and bound yourself to Constantine Norka instead!” Kostya’s face was dark with anger. “Baltic was furious! His madness knew no bounds after that.” “I really don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, my anger starting to cool. I looked around at the dragons gathered at the table, embarrassed by my show of temper. “Sorry, can I just… thank you,” I said as Bastian stood and held out a hand to assist me off the table.
“You cannot deny what happened in the past,” Kostya said, his voice and face sullen.
“I wouldn’t dream of trying. But I don’t think I’ve gotten to this betrayal in my visions. I assume it will come at some point, but I have to say that I find it difficult to believe.” “Kostya, this is old history,” Drake said, one eyebrow raised at the black dragon. “The blame for the Endless War has long since been settled. You cannot try Ysolde for that crime.” “There wouldn’t have been an Endless War but for her!” Kostya declared.
“I thought Chuan Ren started that war?” Aisling leaned close and asked her husband.
Chuan Ren narrowed her eyes at Aisling, her mouth moving silently as if she was speaking a curse.
Aisling quickly drew protection wards over herself and Drake.
“Kaawa said Ysolde tried to stop the war by bringing the dragon shards together to re-form the dragon heart,” May said. “She would hardly do that if she was responsible for the whole thing.” “That was later, after she realized what she had started,” Kostya said stubbornly.