Page 41 of The Dragon With A Girl Tattoo
We entered the library.The other dragons were already there, and were in the process of arranging a number of chairs around a large oval table.The nine of them looked over when Yrian and I entered, the men giving me what I thought of as a bit of a stink eye, all but Baltic, who instead watched his brother as the latter gestured me toward a comfy armchair.
I took a wooden chair instead, ignoring the look Yrian bent upon me before he, too, sat down.
“Is there something you would like to tell the weyr?”Baltic asked him.
“Yes,” Yrian said, settling into the chair.I assumed the ladies were correct in that he had already healed up the slashes on his back, and had a few moments where I dwelt with much pleasure on the intricate tattoo he bore.I didn’t realize until that moment that I had a weakness for men with big dragon tats on their backs, but evidently that was now a thing.“I must pursue Kashi and destroy him.During those times, I will rely upon the dragonkin to guard Becket.”
I gave him a stiff smile.“I want to remind you that I can take care of myself, thank you, but since Candy and Andy are still hunting for me, I won’t say it.”
Yrian’s brows pulled together as he turned to me.“You just did do so.”
I whapped him gently on his arm.“It’s called irony.”
His eyes narrowed in thought for a few seconds; then his brow cleared, and the corners of his mouth quirked.“Ah.I see.You were being amusing.”
“Not really,” I said with a sigh, and held out a hand when Aisling and Ysolde were both handing out more glasses of wine.“But I appreciate you giving me the benefit of the doubt.Yes, please, Ysolde.I don’t normally drink before a performance, but I think this time I’ll risk it.”
“Er ...”Ysolde hesitated, glancing first at Baltic, then at me.“This is dragon’s blood, Becket.Not normal wine.You’re not mortal, are you?”
“Not as such, no.”
She continued to hesitate.“It’s just ...”
“Give it to her,” Baltic said, his eyes now on me.
She did so, and everyone watched as I slowly lifted it to my lips, wondering if I was breaching some rule of dragondom by drinking their fancy wine.“Bottoms up,” I murmured, taking what I later realized was a foolishly large sip.
Once again, fire seemed to roar through my body, setting every atom alight until all I could hear was a rushing noise, while the air in my lungs seemed to vaporize.I gasped, desperate to both put out the inferno inside of me and get some oxygen into my body, and for one horrible moment, I wondered if I was quite as immortal as I assumed.But the second spots started to dance across my vision, a hand was placed on my back, and with that touch, the inferno became something else.It was ...tamed.Instead of trying to destroy me, it filled me with a sense of power and invincibility, one that coursed through my veins giving me a cockiness that was at odds with my normally hidden personality.
“Again, I am so glad Jim is visiting Amelie, because if it was here right now, it would be making endless comments about the proving of a new wyvern’s mate.Also, holy cow!”Aisling looked a bit stunned.
“Just so you know, Becket, dragon’s blood wine is lethal to mortals and pretty much dangerous to anyone who isn’t a dragon mate,” May explained, then smiled.“And it turns out to be an excellent way to determine wyverns’ mates.Both Aisling and I drank it before we knew it was so dangerous.”
“Drake knew it would kill me if I wasn’t his mate,” Aisling said with a complacence I admired, “but luckily, he is very astute and knew I had to be a mate.”
I dragged in a deep breath now that the fire inside me was dying down, my head turned to Yrian so I could ask softly, “It was bad before when I took a smaller sip, but this ...is this what your fire is like?”
“Yes,” he said, his hand now rubbing my back in an impersonal way, but my inner self didn’t care.It just relished the touch, making me want to arch my back and purr like a satisfied cat.
“Nowdo you have something to tell the weyr?”Baltic asked Yrian.
“I have many things to say, yes,” he answered, his expression serious, but I had a suspicion he was deliberately misinterpreting his brother.Since I didn’t want to deal with any errant emotions, not while Candy and Andy were obviously still on the hunt, I didn’t say anything, just took another—much more cautious—sip of the wine while Yrian continued.“You said Kashi reproduced and his son is a wyvern.We will use him to lure Kashi forth.We will now arrange our plans for his destruction.”
Drake had set up a large tablet on a sideboard, and as Yrian spoke, several people logged on to a video call for the meeting.As Yrian finished, one of the men looked simultaneously horrified and furious.He had shoulder-length dark-blond hair, and eyes that were a dulled version of Yrian’s shiny gold.“Because that’s what I need right now—a deranged Firstborn trying to sacrifice me to Bael.My mate is with child!I’m not going to leave her and our daughter alone, so whatever plans you have for me, Yrian Shadowsworn, can be rethought.I am no sacrificial lamb!”
“You were once,” Ysolde murmured, making her husband stifle a snorted laugh.Ysolde glanced at me and made a rueful face.“Sorry, Becket, that’s tantamount to a private joke.Constantine sacrificed himself due to killing his wyvern, but he was insane at that time, so no one is holding it against him now.”
“That wyvern was my mother’s sire,” Baltic reminded her.
She patted his hand before twining her fingers around his.“Yes, but that was several hundred years ago, and now that Constantine is resurrected, he’s no longer crazy, so all is well.”
I gave Yrian a long look.
“What?”he asked.
“You have an interesting family.”
“And you do not?”he countered.
