Page 33 of The Dragon With A Girl Tattoo
“Dragons always do have troubles,” the woman said in a German accent.“But you made it with all your arms and legs, and that is always good, yes?I will go look in the found-objects box to see if there is a pair of trousers to fit you.”
Yrian wobbled for a few seconds as he stood up, but another—much longer—drink of wine had his mind clearing and his body ceasing its screaming objections.
Five minutes later they exited the shop, and Becket directed them to a car that was waiting.
A man and a woman stood next to it.
“We made it,” Becket told them as she approached.
“So Aisling said,” the woman answered, eyeing him.He studied her for a moment, then transferred his gaze to the man next to her.“Hello, Yrian.I’m Allie.This is Christian.He’s the head of the Moravian Council.”
“Dark One,” Yrian said, giving him a curt bow.He would have made a proper one, but he had a horrible suspicion that should he try, he might end up toppling forward.
The vampire bowed in return.“It is our pleasure to welcome you to Brno, but I believe it would be safer for Becket if we were to get her off the street.”
“Have Candy and Andy returned?”she asked, her normally silky voice now pinched as she climbed into the back seat of the car.
“No, but we’ve caught three other demons lurking around the area,” Christian said as he and his mate entered the car after them.It was of the style that had facing seats, just like one his brother had made available for him, but that vehicle had been defective and ran into various road signs, barriers, and occasionally buildings before Yrian deemed it unusable.“Their forms were destroyed, but the Guardian we brought in to help says they all belonged to the same demon lord.”
“Kashi,” Yrian said, nodding, then stopped himself.“No, my youngest brother says he uses another name since the First Dragon stripped him of kinship.”
“Bael,” Christian answered, his lips twisting in a grimace.
“That is it, although I cannot think of him as anything but Kashi.Baltic said he was confined to the Egyptian underworld.Has he escaped?”Yrian absently cracked his knuckles, his mind fighting its way through the haze caused by the portal to focus on what needed to be done.
After he saw to it that Becket was protected, that is.
“I believe not.The dragon progenitor implied he was still confined to the Duat,” Christian answered.
“Looks like everyone is flying back this way,” Allie said, having studied her phone for a few minutes.She glanced up at them.“Since it’s probably not safe for either of you to hang around an easily accessible hotel, we’d be delighted to have you stay with us at the castle.”
Yrian slid a look toward the Dark One.He looked anything but delighted.Yrian realized with amazement that the odd sensation in his chest was the urge to laugh.He was scandalized by the very idea.
“What’s wrong?”Becket asked, leaning in to ask in a whisper.The Dark One and his mate were distracted by something on his phone, so he answered just as quietly.“I am Yrian Shadowsworn.I do not laugh.”
Becket’s eyebrows rose a fraction.He liked her eyebrows.They were a dark russet, darker than the coppery hair that she liked to hide with a glamour, just as she hid her freckled skin.He really liked her freckles.He had the worst urge to cover her face in kisses, just to see how those freckles tasted.
“OK,” she said, then added, “That’s a shame, really.I think a sense of humor is an attractive quality in a man.Sexy, even.Are you going to answer the vamps?”
“Dragons do not seek aid from Dark Ones,” he told her, loud enough to be heard by the others.He inclined his head toward Christian.“I appreciate the offer of succor, but I have no need of it.I do not fear demons, wrath or otherwise.”
“Bully for you,” Becket all but snapped at him before turning to Allie.“And here I’d always heard dragons had impeccable manners.If your offer extends to me again, Allie, I’d be thrilled to the tips of my toes and back to stay with you.Yrian may not worry about demons, but I definitely do.”
“Why are you angry with me?”he couldn’t help but ask her, trying to puzzle out why she was suddenly as bristly as an aurochs’s tongue.
“Dude!”she answered, shooting a fast look at the others before settling a frown upon him.“I realize you’ve been out of the mortal world for almost two thousand years, but surely even in your time there was such a thing as common courtesy?”
“I thanked them,” he said, pointing at the Dark One, who was now, he noticed, wearing a nobly martyred expression.His mate had a hand over her mouth to obviously contain giggles.“I was courteous.”
“Your idea of courtesy and mine differ greatly,” was all she said before she crossed her arms and looked pointedly out of the window.
He was annoyed with being so ignored, but couldn’t think of a way to demand she stop refusing to look at him without appearing in a bad light.To his surprise, the Dark One, after a few minutes’ study of both Becket and him, gave him a sympathetic look.
Before he could try to figure out what that was about, they arrived at a massive castle that sat atop a low hill.In the fields below, several tents, trailers, and stages lurked, with throngs of people streaming into and out of the venue.
“When do you sing?”Yrian asked Becket when they alighted at a magnificently carved stone door.
She glanced at her phone.“Our rehearsal time is in an hour, but our next actual performance is going to be later tonight.Christian had it moved back in case it took longer to get you out than we anticipated.Why?”
