Page 47 of The Dragon With A Girl Tattoo
“It comes down to this,” the green wyvern said at the end of another hour of discussion.“Xavier is of direct threat to not just my sept but the weyr and other tribes, while Bael—who, yes, we concede has far more abilities in the Duat than he should, or with which we are comfortable—is the lesser of two evils.”
A wordless protest emerged from the tablet, Kashi’s son clearly objecting.Yrian was sympathetic; Constantine seemed to be the only dragon present who understood just how dangerous Kashi was and the folly that the kin were encouraging by designating him as a lesser concern.
“Will you help us?”the silver wyvern asked, and Yrian felt a familiar trap closing around him.
“Once, I allowed myself to be distracted,” he said slowly, his gaze on the wood grain of the table.It was pleasing, but not enough to drive away the sense of dread and despair that came with the request by the wyverns.“That ended in the destruction of the shadow sept, my mate, and Iceni.”
Silence fell at his words, and despite the distance, faint music could be heard from the field below the castle.He had a sudden urge to be out there with Becket, listening to her, watching her, and sharing cat videos with her.He wanted to hear her sing, and see how much of her mother’s abilities she had inherited.
He just wanted to be with her.
“I’m afraid we don’t know the events you are referencing,” Drake said, glancing around at the other wyverns.All of them but Baltic shook their heads.“And with all due respect, that had to have happened more than a millennium ago, and the weyr is in perilnow.”
Yrian thought about what they were asking of him.His gaze met that of Baltic.It had been two years since the latter had met him at the exit of his griefscape, and during much of that time, Yrian struggled with the madness inherent both in being separated from dragonkin and in grappling with the modern mortal realm.Baltic had aided him as best he could, Yrian now realized, although he hadn’t been so understanding in the past.
“I apologize for the manner in which I dealt with you,” he told Baltic, getting to his feet, his precious phone in hand.“I was mad for a while.”
The corners of Baltic’s lips twitched, but he bowed his head in acknowledgment of the apology.
“I will not, however, allow more innocents to die because my attention was focused on the wrong threat.Kashi is infinitely more dangerous than Xavier.It is he whom I must attend to first.Then I will help you resolve the issue of the tribes, the weyr, and Xavier.”
Several wyverns protested.He hesitated at the door, his gaze once again on his brother.“You know of the events surrounding my destruction?”he asked.
Baltic gave an abbreviated nod.
“You may tell them,” he said, then marched out of the room, and castle, heading down to the field where even now the music swelled and lifted in the late afternoon air.
“What are you doing here?”Becket asked seven minutes later when he found her seated on a blanket with another woman.He recalled the latter’s name was Billie, and she was part of Becket’s band.The former had twisted around to look up at him, one hand shading her eyes from the lowering sun.Her glamour was the same one she’d worn that morning—dark hair and eyes, and no freckles.
He missed those freckles.
“My youngest brother is explaining to the weyr why I must put Kashi first.You do not need to move—I will sit on the grass.”The last was said to the other woman, who grinned and told him she wanted to go watch some friends perform before leaving.Yrian sat next to Becket, his gaze automatically searching the crowds for signs of demons.“Why do you hide your appearance?”
She looked momentarily startled, and it took almost a full minute before she answered.“I started using glamours when I was young.My mother warned me that I needed to hide my true self so that people wouldn’t take advantage of me.Or, worse, use me to harm others.Does it bother you?”
He thought about that while absently watching a couple of blue dragons skirt the edges of the crowd.“Not in the sense I think you mean.I do not mind any of the appearances you don, but I also like the one natural to you.I like your hair and freckles.”
She touched the thick black braid that wrapped around her head.“Have a thing for redheads, do you?”
“I didn’t know that I did, but perhaps it is so,” he answered, noting the arrival of three green dragons.“My daughter Nala joined the blue sept after I retreated to the griefscape.Some of her kin are over there behind the food stall.”
She craned to look around him, her arm brushing his as she peered at the green and blue dragons, now clustered together.“Do you want to tell me what Baltic is spilling to the others about your past?If I’m being nosy, just ignore that question.”
He examined her face.“My brother Kashi corrupted my mate, Amice.She betrayed me.With the help of our mother, Kashi slaughtered all of the members of my sept, two of my four children, and Iceni, the Life Mother.”
The band playing reached the end of their song just as he finished speaking.For a few seconds, the air was full of applause; then silence drifted softly down upon them as the band left the stage for the next group.
“Your brother did that?The demon lord Bael?”Shock was evident in Becket’s expression, but that quickly melted to one of sympathy as she carefully leaned to the side and gave him what he considered a far too impersonal hug.“What happened to your wife ...er ...mate?Regardless, I’m so sorry.I know this was a long time ago, but it’s still a horrific tragedy.No wonder you want vengeance against Bael.”
“I don’t want vengeance.I want him destroyed so that he cannot harm anyone else,” he answered, the familiar sense of being encased in ice creeping over him ...at least it did until she leaned in closer, her breast pressed against him in a manner that threatened to end in another erection and circle of dragon fire.“Amice bound herself to Kashi after the death of the sept.He killed her, of course, and dragged her mutilated corpse to lay at my feet.I took her into the griefscape along with all the members of my sept whom I failed.I could do no less.She wasn’t to blame, not really.Kashi wanted to destroy me just as he wanted to destroy our siblings, but they were still under the protection of the First Dragon, so he struck at me, instead.”
“Jesus tap-dancing Christ,” she swore, her upper body now pressed against him in a manner that left him in profound admiration for her curves.“Like it couldn’t get any worse?Yrian, I may not have known you for long, but I can tell you are a protector, someone who clearly devotes himself to the care of others.You aren’t to blame for your sadistic brother’s actions.And I’m sorry, but your dad was an asshat for not protecting you, too.”
He mulled that over for the time it took Becket to release him, his body mourning her removal.“The First Dragon is many things, but I do not think asshat is fitting.”
“You just said he let your insanely homicidal brother kill off your sept and wife while protecting the rest of your family.That’s asshat territory right there,” she insisted, her expression dark with sorrow.
“My siblings were still young, and I had just formed the weyr.Kashi was furious with the First Dragon because he wasn’t allowed to form a sept of his own.It was needful that they—my two brothers and sister—were protected from his wrath.The First Dragon knew I could stand against Kashi, while they could not.”His gaze dropped to the grass, regret swamping him just as it had for every day of the last sixteen hundred years.“He was proven wrong when I went to help my sister, not knowing that Kashi had lured me away in order to destroy my sept.It’s why I will not allow the same to happen again.”
