“Well, I might have known this would happen,” I said a moment later as a bone-freezing cold seeped into my awareness. The world shifted and lost color, resolving itself into a grey-toned scene that I realized was colorless because the building in which I stood was made of stone and metal. I rubbed my arms and looked with curiosity around what appeared to be a lobby of some sort. “Brr. Where is this, I wonder?”
“I do not know, but I dislike it.”
I spun around to find Baltic directly behind me. “You’re getting into more and more of my visions. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. I think this is the aerie.”
“What aerie?” His eyes were as unreadable as his expression as he looked around and then grimaced. “Ah. The one that belongs to Kostya. End the vision, mate.”
“End it? How am I supposed to do that? What dragons live in Nepal? Red?”
Noise behind me had me considering the figures of three men who emerged from the other side of the lobby.
“No,” Baltic said, grabbing me and pulling me backward, as if he feared we’d be seen.
“They can’t see us,” I said, escaping his hold, curious now as to who the dragons were. I stepped into the lobby, pausing when a fourth man walked straight through Baltic toward the group.
“Is it done?” the fourth man asked the others.
One of the three nodded. “Aye. We have control of the aerie.”
“Kostya?”
“Locked in a storage room until his cell is readied.”
“Good. I’ll pass that on to the chief.”
“We’re right—this is where Kostya went after the destruction of Dauva,” I said to Baltic. “I remember Aisling saying something about him being held prisoner. But who are those dragons? What sept do they belong to?”
“None. They are ouroboros. Come, mate, we have tarried too long. The wyverns are waiting for us.”
The word “ouroboros” rang in my head like a bell. “I really want to see this, Baltic. I think it’s important somehow.”
“It is not.”
“How do you know that?” A sudden horrible thought occurred to me. “By the saints! Are these your dragons? Was it you who had Kostya imprisoned? It was, wasn’t it? You couldn’t kill him outright because of your past relationship, but you wanted him out of the way, so you had him locked up in his own hidey-hole?”
“I am not responsible for this, no,” he said, his lips thinning.
I avoided his hold and moved closer to the group of dragons. “Then you know who did.”
“—how long we’ll have to stay here?” one of the men was asking the obvious leader. “It’s bloody cold.”
“We’ll stay as long as we have to. You might as well see if there’s any food. The chief will be here at any moment, and I’d like to be able to tell her that all is taken care of.”
“Her? Her who?” I asked no one in particular.
Baltic looked bored and didn’t answer.
“Still say it’s wrong to let her call the shots,” one of the three dragons said in a languid Southern U.S. drawl. “Not like she’s even really one of us.”
“Don’t be such a snob. Her father was high up in the sept, and is said to have had the ear of the wyvern.”
The man snorted. “Red dragons. All they want is to war.”
“Which works to our benefit,” the leader said, cocking his head as if he was listening to something.
“Who are they talking about?” I asked Baltic, a suspicion arising that I hesitated to name.
His expression was shuttered. “Do you wish to stand here all day, or do you want for us to speak with the wyverns?”
“Typical nonanswer, dragon. Who—oh!”
A man appeared out of nothing, seemingly walking through the wall straight into the gathering. I gawked at him, taking in clothing that appeared to be from the turn of the twentieth century, as well as his less than solid form.
“Is that a ghost?” I asked Baltic in a whisper as the figure drifted over to the group.
He sighed. “Mate, we must leave now.”
“Is it?”
“Of a form. It is a shade. Your time is up, Ysolde. End this vision.”
“My mistress comes,” the ghostly man informed the others, and over the howl of the wind beating against the stone of the building, I could hear the growing sound of a helicopter approaching.
“I am leaving now,” Baltic informed me, dropping my hand, which he had grabbed in a futile attempt to pull me away with him. “Either come with me or do not, but do not expect me to agree to another meeting with the wyverns.”
“Just a second, I want to see—Baltic!” I started after him as he strode away into the dimness of a corridor that led off from the lobby. I glanced over my shoulder and said, “I want to see who’s arriving. You know, don’t you? You know who was behind Kostya’s capture? And who these dragons are?”
“They are ouroboros,” he repeated, pausing to let me catch up to him.
“I wonder if they’re the same group as the one I’m looking for.”
“You are not to look for ouroboros dragons,” he informed me in a haughty tone that he had to know would just irritate me.
“Oh, I’m not? And why is that?”
“They are lawless murderers, dangerous, and without any regard for life, be it that of dragons or mortals. They are the single biggest danger to the mortals you care so much about.” He opened a thick metal door and shoved me outside into a sunny but windy snowscape. Immediately the world shifted, and I found myself strolling into the dim coolness of a house that wrapped me in such a familiar embrace, I wanted to sink to my knees and cry with the injustices of life.
“There you are. I was about to go look in the shadow world for you. Is everything all right? You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Ysolde.”
“I have.” I blinked a few times to clear my still-fuzzy vision, it finally resolving itself into the sight of May’s concerned face peering at me. “I’m sorry. We were sucked into a vision in . . .”
The words trailed away at the sight of Kostya emerging from a side room.
“I’ll tell you later,” I finished in an undertone.
May’s eyebrows rose as Gabriel, who had been using his cell phone, hung up and strolled over to us. “Drake and Aisling have been detained, but they are only a few minutes away. Greetings, Ysolde.” A muscle in his jaw twitched. “Baltic.”
“I’m sorry, it seems this house is just vision-central for me,” I said, smiling at Gabriel. “Thank you for coming. I’m sure you have better things to do with your time, but we appreciate it. Don’t we, Baltic?”
“Not in the least,” he said pleasantly, but I could tell his hackles were up by the way he watched Kostya.
Gabriel relaxed at that, his dimples showing as he wrapped an arm around May. “It is good to know that you are running true to form, Baltic. I wouldn’t know what to think should you be anything but hostile and surly.”
“You are welcome to my house, Ysolde,” Kostya said, his intentions clear as he greeted me, taking my hands in his and kissing them before turning to Baltic. “I wish I could say the same for your mate.”
“Sins of the saints, Kostya,” I said, socking him on the arm. “Do you have to bait Baltic every time?”
“No, but it relieves my spleen if I do.”
I glared at him until he snapped. “Very well. Your mate is welcome here as well.”
I smiled and put a restraining hand on Baltic’s arm, which was tense, as if his muscles were poised for attack. “Thank you. We appreciate it, despite the fact that this is really our house.”
“Is it?” He gave a little smirk. “I believe it is held by the wyvern of the black dragons, and that is me.”
“Only so long as I allow you to remain so,” Baltic growled.
Kostya’s eyes narrowed, a little smoke emerging from his nose. “Do you wish to challenge me for the sept?”
“I do not need to. If I wanted it, I would take it,” Baltic answered.
“Oh, lord, please tell me I don’t have to let you two boys break each other’s noses again,” I said, sighing heavily.
Both men turned identical glares on me. “Boys!” Kostya snorted. “We are wyverns!”