Page 82 of The Dragon With A Girl Tattoo
The ladies murmured their agreement while I thought about that.
“So, does the fact that you glamoured Hunter and Archer into toads when they got shouty about Yrian mean you’ve accepted him as your mate?”May asked.“I realize that it’s prying, but I’m acting secretary for our Mates Union, so I need to know if I should add you in to our group chats and private Zoom sessions.”
“Also, we are nosy and want to know,” Aisling added, shouting a warning to her children to stay in the section of the yard in front of us.She was clearly still concerned about the safety of the green dragons even though Xavier was no more.“Not that you’re obligated to tell us, but we do like to keep track of all the mates.”
I touched my hair.Thesárkánywas the first time I appeared in public without a glamour, knowing Yrian preferred my true appearance, a fact that spread a lovely warm glow inside me.“Yes, I’ve accepted the fact that I’m bound to a man who is obsessed with cat videos, and who also just happens to be six or seven thousand years old, which let me tell you, is a bit of a mind ...er ...rush.”I censored myself when Aisling’s youngest ran up complaining that the others weren’t letting her shoot Anduin.
“Wow, he’s really that old?That’s like ...caveman times, isn’t it?”May asked, watching as Ava ran back with a fresh water pistol.
“Stone Age,” I answered.“He says he remembers when the mortals saw people he called proto-mages wielding metal weapons, which they then copied.I believe that was the start of the Bronze Age.”
“Proto-mages?”Aisling asked at the same time Ysolde said, “Someday, you should sit Yrian down and have him dictate the story of his life.I bet it was fascinating.”
“I plan on doing just that—” I started to say, but paused when Aisling’s phone sang out a chorus from a popular Romanian song I recognized from some twenty years before.
“I think I’d better take this.It’s Dr.Kostich,” she said, getting up and moving a few yards from the table.
“Have you met him yet?”Ysolde asked, not waiting for me to answer.“I used to be his apprentice, so I feel I have the right to say he is the biggest pain in the butt ever.”
“What?”Aisling almost shrieked the word, spinning around to look at the French doors leading into her house.“Right now?How many ...yes, but it’s not our fault....Well, that’s true, but ...fuck!”
The last word was spoken after she’d clicked off the call, her eyes scanning the yard.“Who wants cookies?”she bellowed across the sound of the kids playing.
All four of them turned with hopeful faces and cheers.
“Cookies and ice cream in the playroom,” she said, her eyes filled with warning as she herded the kids into the house, pausing to stick her head into the kitchen, no doubt to have her housekeeper send up the treats.
“What’s going on?”I asked when she raced down a back set of stairs after getting the kids upstairs to their play area.
“Grace is with them,” she told Ysolde before grabbing my wrist and hurrying toward the big room where thesárkánywas taking place.Grace, I knew, was her nanny.“Houston, we’ve got a problem.”
“What?”both May and Ysolde asked, but she just shook her head, releasing me to dramatically throw open a pair of pocket doors.
Hunter was stalking around the room, clearly expounding on some point, but he paused in midstep when we burst into the room.
Drake rose at once, his eyes locked on Aisling.
“The kids are upstairs,” she told him, and something about the timbre of her voice sent goose bumps down my arms.“But I think they should go to the château.Ysolde, Anduin is welcome to join them, if you don’t want to send him home.”
Drake half turned away, making a fast phone call, while the other dragons all demanded to know what was going on.
“I don’t know,” Ysolde told Baltic, who’d moved over to stand next to her, a question in his eyes.“It’s something to do with Dr.Kostich, so it’s bound to be highly annoying.”
“Tell us what has happened,” Drake said, finished with his call.
Aisling took a deep breath, her gaze slipping from me to Yrian before it turned to her husband.“Dr.Kostich just called me to demand we do something about the mass of demons that have descended upon Suffrage House.”
Drake said nothing, just waited, but his eyes were narrow green slivers.
Her mouth tightened for a few seconds before adding, “He said that Bael was there, too, along with a woman he claims shouldn’t be in the mortal world.”
I’d moved over to lean into Yrian, but froze at her words, my gaze on him.Instantly, his fire roared to life, spreading out from his feet until I tamped it out by doing a little dance on it.
“Tenite,” he said, his eyes blazing a brilliant gold.“What is this Suffrage House?”
All the wyverns were on their phones now, obviously notifying people and hopefully rounding up help.
“It’s the Otherworld’s headquarters,” May said, looking worried.“Dr.Kostich is based there, although why Bael would want into the building is beyond me ...oh.”She exchanged a meaningful look with Gabriel.
