Page 56 of The Dragon With A Girl Tattoo
“That’s the length of time you have to convince me not to banish you to the Akasha for the next month,” she said in a tone that would have had me toeing the line immediately.
Evidently Jim thought better of continuing down its path of mischief, because it plopped down next to Yrian and said, “You want to tell them, big guy, or should I?”
“Jim!”Aisling said with an edge to her voice that could have cut cement.
“Demon lords,” Jim said with a roll of its eyes at Yrian.“Can’t live with ’em, can’t live with ’em.I’m talking about just why Xavier is after Drake’s shards.None of you seem to be asking why he wants them.”
The dragons all exchanged glances, then turned en masse to Yrian.Just as they did so, I could see enlightenment striking Baltic.
“Ah,” he said, his gaze on Yrian.“You think he wishes to re-form the dragon heart?”
“Why would he do that?”Gabriel asked, his brows pulled together as he obviously tried to follow that line of reasoning.“How could he benefit from re-forming and resharding the heart?”
“Hecouldn’t,” Yrian said, starting for the door, but I didn’t move, wanting to hear what the dragons said about their big, bad enemy.
“Then who—” Drake started to ask, but stopped, a horrified expression crawling over his face.
“Bael,” Baltic said, his eyes still on Yrian.“You think Bael wants it to get out of the Duat?”
The other dragons didn’t exactly gasp in horror, but I got the feeling they were doing so mentally.
Yrian’s expression turned sour.“I think he’s using Xavier to gather up the things he needs to escape, yes.But that would do him little good if he arrived in the mortal world without any power.”
“Which he’d have if Xavier attacked the septs in order to steal or force the delivery of the dragon shard like he did Bastian.With that in his hands, he could effectively destroy us all with it,” Drake said, putting his arm around Aisling when she pressed tighter against him.
“Oh my god, he could be targeting the children,” Aisling said, worry and distress evident in her eyes.“Maybe we should fly home tonight rather than tomorrow.”
“The children are safe,” Drake said in a smooth tone, but it was a bit crackly on the edges.“There are twelve guards on top of the electronic security.No one can as much as step on the grounds without us knowing.”
Despite his words, I noticed his gaze met Baltic’s for a few seconds, and I realized that Ysolde and Baltic had sent their young son to stay with Aisling and Drake’s kids.
“While I agree it’s entirely possible he would target weaker members of your septs in order to force you into compliance, the rest of what you describe doesn’t sound like Xavier,” Archer protested.“He’s no one’s lackey.Taking the shards fits in with his motive of destroying us.”
“This has the stink of Kashi all over it,” Yrian insisted.“It’s likely that Xavier has no idea he is playing into Kashi’s hands, but that doesn’t negate the point.This is why I have wanted to attend to Kashi before your sire.Xavier may be a threat, but it is not as dangerous as that hatched by Kashi.Stop resisting me, Becket.You are tired, and need sleep.”
I slid a glance up at him.“You really are an annoying man sometimes.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t change the fact that you need sleep.Come.”He tugged at my hand again, and I decided the dragons would probably prefer to discuss things without me, so I let him lead me out of the library.
“You know, I am a big girl, and I can put myself to bed just fine all on my lonesome, in case you wanted to stay with your family and work out the next move.”
“I don’t need to discuss it with them.I know what we need to do next.”
“We?”I asked as we mounted the stairs.In the distance, I could hear the sound of a TV and children singing along to it.
Yrian opened the door to my room.“Yes.I will need your assistance in the Duat.”
