A low growl of anger came from Baltic, and suddenly, the room was full of a white dragon, fire erupting around him as he slammed into Dr. Kostich, the two of them tumbling to the highly polished marble floor in a confusion of dragon limbs, tail, and flailing mage legs.
“No one touches my mate,” Baltic snarled, pinning Kostich to the ground, puffing a few wisps of smoke a scant inch from Kostich’s face.
“Oooh. He’s drooling on him. That’s just completely gross,” Jim said, watching from the safety of the stairs.
“Those who live in glass houses,” I told the demon before marching over to Kostich’s head and poking at him with the chair leg. “And you owe us for this chair, too! It was an antique!” Kostich squawked something, his face beet red, his body writhing as he desperately tried to get air into his squashed lungs.
No one heard the front door open until the voice spoke.
“Are we early? Oh. Er. Hello, Dr. Kostich.” “Heya, Ash,” Jim said, hopping down the stairs to greet its demon lord. “Lemon sorbet’s not ready yet. Why don’t you come back in an hour?” “Uh…” I blinked at the people crowding the doorway. Aisling, Drake, and his two redheaded bodyguards were crammed into the door, all with the same identical expressions of surprise. “Hi.” “Hi,” Aisling said, looking at where Baltic was flattening Dr. Kostich. “Hello, Baltic. I don’t think we’ve formally met.” “Do you know who I am?” Dr. Kostich spat out, somewhat breathily, to be sure. “I lead the Committee!” I straightened up and smiled at the dragons as Aisling stepped carefully over the broken crystal goblets, Drake right behind her. “You are a little bit early, but that’s all right, although as Jim says, the sorbet isn’t ready yet. Oh, hell! Jim!” “I can have you all banished to the Akasha! I’m just that powerful!” Dr. Kostich wheezed.
I ignored him and turned to glare at the demon. “What? Who? Me? I wasn’t smelling his butt!” Jim said quickly, backing away from where Baltic lay crushing Dr. Kostich.
“You’re all going to be charged for these grievous crimes against my august person!” Baltic swung his neck around to send a little circle of fire at the demon. I caught the fire as it passed me and tossed it back to him with a frown.
“You’re supposed to be elsewhere, so that Aisling has to make Drake do what she says!” I told the demon. “You can’t be a hostage for their good behavior if you’re right here!” “That’s not my fault,” Jim said, sitting on Kostich’s foot.
“Including the demon, who has just broken my foot! Get off, you soulless beast of Abaddon!” “Aisling is the one who came early,” Jim added.
I frowned at the woman as she stopped in front of Baltic and Dr. Kostich. “You did this deliberately, didn’t you? You came here early just so you would catch me in the middle of my preparations, just so you could make me look bad. That’s really not at all nice, and after I went to the trouble of making a cheesecake!” “What sort of preparations?” Drake asked, pulling Aisling back a couple of paces when Dr. Kostich freed one hand and tried to grab her. “Were you setting traps for us? Arranging for an ambush? Another bomb?” “Lemon sorbet and canapés,” Jim said, drooling on the mage’s leg. “Ysolde let me taste-test the smoked salmon rolls, too. Speaking of which, I’d better get back to the kitchen. Brom is in there with Pavel, helping him with the cucumber-crab munchies, and the kid has a hollow leg. I bet he’s getting to lick out the dish.” “I insist that you free me!” Dr. Kostich demanded. “I will not be able to eat canapés if my ribs are crushed into my lungs!” “You’re catering the sárkány?” Aisling asked, looking almost as if she didn’t believe it.
“There, you see? Even the green mate agrees it’s ridiculous to serve food at such a time,” Baltic told me with infuriating self-righteousness.
“I am not catering anything,” I said with a frown at both of them. “I’m just making a few little nibblies to enjoy while we’re discussing this issue of whether or not they’re going to execute me.” “What?” Baltic asked, his head whipping around to me.
“I’ll tell you about it later,” I said, nodding toward the others.
“You’ll tell me about it now!” he ordered, tapping his claws in an annoyed fashion.
“Argh!” Dr. Kostich yelled.
Baltic shifted his forefoot so his claws weren’t directly on Kostich’s face. “What do you mean, whether or not they will execute you? What reason does the weyr have for wishing you dead?” “That’s it! I have reached the end of my patience. I will destroy you myself if no one is going to save me from this fat dragon!” “He is not fat,” I snapped, and thought seriously about kicking the archimage. “All dragons look like that!” “You wouldn’t say that if you were lying here in my place,” Kostich grumbled.
Jim opened its mouth to say something, but stopped when both Aisling and I glared at it.
“Er… why is Baltic lying on Dr. Kostich?” Aisling asked.
“Well, you know, I’ve heard a rumor that Ysolde kind of likes a little mano a mano action—” Jim started to say. I threw the chair leg at it, followed by a small ball of arcane magic. Midway to the demon, it turned into another banana. “Ooh, more snacks. Thanks.” “Mate, you will answer me!”
“I can’t see. Everything is going black. If you kill me, I swear I will haunt you all!” “Did you just conjure a banana at Jim?” Aisling asked, taking a step to the side to watch Jim eat the banana.
“Yes.” I sighed, gesturing toward my former employer. “He put an interdict on me. None of my magic works right.” “You shouldn’t have magic, period, and you won’t by the time I’m through with you and this obese behemoth—” “Oh, for heaven’s sake,” I said, tugging on Baltic’s tail. “Let him up. If we’re going to have explanations, we’d do better having them in a civilized manner.” “With lemon sorbet and bacon-wrapped mushroom caps,” Jim agreed.
Baltic glared down at Kostich, who was moving feebly beneath him, but shifted back into human form, dusting himself off as he got to his feet.
The two green dragon bodyguards helped Dr. Kostich up, half carrying him over to a chair where he collapsed, breathing heavily and spreading fulminating glares amongst everyone present.
Silence fell. Baltic and Drake stared at each other for a few seconds.
“Baltic,” Drake said at last when Aisling nudged him with her elbow.
“Drake Vireo,” Baltic said, acknowledging the greeting.
They stared some more, not outright growling at each other, but I could tell their hackles were up.
“Drake,” Aisling said, the word full of unspoken meaning as she nodded toward us.
He sighed. I tried not to giggle at the martyred look on his face. “You look well, Ysolde. As does your mate.” “Thank you,” I said, glancing at Baltic. He stared moodily at Drake. I pinched his arm. He continued to stare. I dug my nails into his wrist until he snapped, “For god’s sake, woman! I am the dread wyvern Baltic! I do not make polite conversation!” “You do now. Go ahead. It won’t hurt you.” He took Drake’s martyred look to a whole new level of pain. “My mate has decreed that you are welcome in our home.” “You can do better than that,” I said, pinning him back with one of my most effective mom looks.
“One day, mate, you will push me too far!” he informed me with narrowed eyes and flared nostrils.
I kissed the tip of his nose. He just looked even more outraged.
“Go on. You can do this.”
A small wisp of smoke escaped one nostril. I smiled at it; his answering scowl promised retribution at the earliest opportunity. But in the end, he managed to say to Drake, “Your appearance is much as I remember it from the last time I saw you.” “Now that didn’t hur—”