Page 63 of The Dragon With A Girl Tattoo
“And he murdered your Life Mother, did he not?”Parisi asked him.
“Bael killed Iceni?The First Dragon’s mate?”Aisling looked astonished, her gaze slipping to Yrian for a few seconds.“I always wondered why the First Dragon stripped Bael of his dragonness, but now I can see why he did.Holymerde!”
“With the aid of our mother, yes,” Yrian answered before considering Desi.“You think Kashi has the blood moon with him?”
“He would be foolish to leave it,” Desi answered.
The two men stared at each for about ten seconds before Yrian nodded.“You wish for the return of your relic.What will you give the dragonkin for it?”
“Oh, for the love of Pete ...”Aisling had to bite off her objection at a sidelong look from her dragon.She leaned to me and whispered, “If you haven’t noticed by now, dragons love to bargain.”
“Peace,” Desi said.“If you fail to return it to us, then we will have no choice but to reclaim it however we can.”
“I mean ...you said when we rescued you, you were grateful for the dragons and the others.You can’t attack if you owe Ash and Drake and everyone else a debt,” Jim pointed out.“It’s just not cool, and honestly, I don’t know how I’m going to hold up my head the next time I’m in Abaddon, and everyone knows that my own dad didn’t honor his word.”
Desi’s lips thinned for a moment as he glared at Jim, but at a touch on his arm from Parisi, he sighed heavily, and said, “You are correct.We do owe a debt for your care, as well as aiding in my release, but I must have my blood moon back, or we will never be able to destroy the Court of Divine Blood.”
“My love,” Parisi said slowly, her expression thoughtful as she looked at Jim.“If we are unable to punish the Court for their actions until you have the blood moon—and Jim’s family is agreeable to returning it should they manage to destroy Bael—then perhaps we could turn our attentions elsewhere.”
“If Kashi still has your relic, we will discuss the terms of its return to you,” Yrian told Desi, but the latter was distracted by Jim’s mom.
“Of what do you speak?What could be as worthy of our time as the punishment of the Court for leaving me in the Thirteenth Hour, and you in the Beyond?”
Parisi smiled, but this time, I felt a chill grip me.“Did you not say that Abaddon was in disarray?Who better to put it to rights than the man who created it?”
Jim sucked in its breath at the same time everyone present froze.“Oh, man, that’s not gonna be good.”
“You wish for us to rule Abaddon?”Desi asked, his frown smoothing out until he almost looked happy.“The idea has much merit.It is obviously being mismanaged, and needs for us to take command of it, but this time, I will not give control of it over to others.”
“Who better to ensure the downfall of the Court than us?”Parisi asked, leaning forward to press a kiss to his cheek.“With your demon dog at our side, they will have no defense against us.”
“Aisling?”Jim’s voice rose as it pressed itself into her leg.
“No one is taking you away from us,” she said, and, to my amazement, moved forward to stand next to Drake.“I get that you guys are pissed at people in the Court, but we’ve had the discussion about Jim remaining with us before.It may be your child, and we’re happy for it to have a relationship with you, but there will be no talk of it being at your side unless that’s what it wants.”
“I’m all over visiting you guys in Abaddon, because I’d give a lot of money to see what the premiere prince is going to say when you roll into town, but yeah, as Aisling says, I’m happy with her and Drake and the spawn,” Jim said.
Desi and Parisi exchanged looks.
“We did allow him to remain with the dragons last year,” Desi told her.
“I hate for you to miss your dog, but if you are agreeable to him visiting us in Abaddon, then I don’t see that it would be harmful,” she answered.
“Very well.”He eyed all of us.“We will renew the terms of our agreement for our son to reside in peace in the care of the green dragons, but only so long as you bring the blood moon to us.”
Drake started to protest, but Yrian gave a sharp nod.“I agree to your terms.In return for your relic, you will agree to not harm the dragonkin.”
“You have a knife?”Desi asked.
Yrian plucked one from the sideboard, and before I could ask him what he was going to do, he slashed his palm and handed the knife to Desi, who repeated the action.Then the two men clasped hands, clearly making a blood bond.
“That was intense,” I whispered to Yrian when Desi and Parisi, with a few hugs and words of farewell to Jim, headed out, escorted by Christian and Allie.No doubt the vampires wanted to make sure the obviously volatile pair were fully out of their hair.“Is your hand OK?”
“Of course.”He showed me his palm before pulling out his phone.“You must rehearse shortly, yes?”
I glanced at the clock.“Shit!Yes, and I need to eat or I won’t have the oomph later for the glamours.”
“I’m so confused,” Aisling complained as Drake hustled her out.“Do you think Jim’s parents are going to involve us in their war against the Court?Because we have enough on our plate as is.It’s like we keep going from the frying pan to the fire....Good luck, Becket!Text us the results of the contest!”
