Nora looked after Jim, a thoughtful look on her face. I was
pleased to see that a reapplication of Gabriel's fix-it gel (the source of which
I did not share with Nora) had healed the abrasions and scratches to the point
where they were easily covered by a little judicious application of cosmetics.
"That is a very interesting demon you have. It's not like any other I have
seen."
"A pain in the butt, you mean?"
"Evil," she corrected, giving me a mild look.
"Oh. Yeah. Jim's not that. I think that's why it was banished
from its former demon lord's legions, to be honest. It never really has talked
about why it was kicked out, and since it gets kind of embarrassed whenever the
subject swings that way, I've let it go."
A variety of emotions mingled in her eyes, but in the end
humor won out. "You have a unique relationship, one that you should value. I
can't think of another demon that demonstrates such loyalty as Jim does to you."
"Loyalty? Are you kidding? Do you know what it did? It
blabbed to Monish that the Venus amulet was inscribed with two pentacles, and
while it's true the damage was already done when I slipped up and told Monish
about the incubi visiting me before Drake and I did the oath thing, Jim
definitely did not help the situation by mentioning just how powerful the amulet
was."
"On the contrary," Nora said, leaning back so Zaccheo, with
many fervent and poignant looks at me, could clear away the lunch plates. "Jim
telling Monish that indicates the demon's belief in you. It knows, as does
Monish, that if you were destroyed, it would suffer the same fate. For a demon
to present such a damning piece of information—damning at first look, that
is—when it knew you were at risk showed that it knew you were innocent. I'm sure
you plead most eloquently, Aisling, but I suspect Jim's show of loyalty gave
Monish pause for thought and is likely what changed his mind."
"Well, how do you like that?" I said, glancing fondly over to
the big black lump stretched out on the lawn. "And here I thought it just liked
to see me in hot water."
Nora laughed. "I'm sure it does. It is a demon, after all.
Just not a terribly effective one, so to speak."
"I see what you mean." We fell quiet for a moment, enjoying
the summer breeze as it caressed us, the afternoon air heavy with the scent of
jasmine, Around us, people talked and laughed and ate, as many different
languages audible as there were voices. Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful
conference—but then, they weren't once again cast in the role of murder suspect
number one, I hated to ruin such a peaceful moment, but the clock was definitely
ticking, and I had a lot to talk over with Nora. "Tiffany said something today
that had me thinking, but I'm not sure what to make of my deductions. There is a
very wise woman in Paris who, when I was having difficulty seeing the obvious,
told me that I wasn't looking at all the possibilities."
"Ah. Yes. That is an important part of being a Guardian, and
one of the hardest elements to learn." She hesitated for a moment, her fingers
tracing the edge of her iced tea glass. "I feel as if I know you well, Aisling,
so I hope you will not take offense if I speak frankly."
"No, of course not." Uh-oh, She looked serious and
uncomfortable. That didn't bode well.
"I... the truth of the matter is that I am not sure why you
are desirous of seeking a mentor. You know much of the things that apprentices
do not learn for several years."
"But there's more that I don't know," I pointed out, warmed
by her praise despite the fact that I knew she'd definitely wiped me off the
candidate list. "I couldn't close that portal that opened during the dragons'
lunch. And I don't know a lot of the stuff that the rest of you guys seem to
have learned when you cut your teeth. I had no idea that incubi really existed
until one of them showed up in my bed!"
"Yes, but you dealt with them well. Almost instinctively, you
solved the problem before it became too great. With the incubi, you sought
refuge in a place you knew they would not follow. With the demon at the lunch,
you had it held hostage before it could harm anyone. I don't doubt that had you
had an appropriate grimoire, you could have returned the demon to Abaddon and
closed the portal."
"I'm not very good at controlling Drake's fire. And I don't
feel like I have a handle on even a tiny fraction of the Guardian stuff. And I
don't know how to draw wards."
"All things that will come to you with practice, Aisling. The
elements of knowledge are there within you— you simply have not recognized
them."
I thought about that for a minute, but decided that was a
conversational path that I really didn't wish to go down. "Thank you for the
cheerleading, Nora. Given the ineptness you've witnessed, I appreciate it."
She smiled and kindly changed the subject. "What did Tiffany
say?"
I gave my lower lip a little nibble as I worked out how best
to explain something I didn't fully grasp. "She said that maybe the things that
have been happening aren't really connected after all, Maybe they were meant to
look like they were, but really weren't."
"Hmm." Nora looked thoughtful. "I see why that made you stop
and think."
"Yeah.Monish is ready to swear that Moa and Theodora, the two
Guardians, didn't know each other. He said you told him you'd never met them."
"I hadn't. I saw Moa talking to you that first evening here,
but there are some seven thousand registered Guardians worldwide—I know only a
very small fraction of that number."
"Right. And yet you three were attacked by the same incubus,
and every other Guardian here was left alone. Which means that if there was no
connection between the three of you, you were random victims."
She pursed her lips a little as she thought that over. "I see
your point, but I don't understand how that is going to help find the incubus."
"Well, I did a little opening-myself-to-the-possibilities
exercise before lunch, and what I came up with was this: Imagine you want to
kill someone, but you have a connection to the person you want to kill—a former
lover or companion or even a master. If you kill that person, everyone is going
to know that you have a good motive for doing it, and since you're on the
premises, the odds are probably pretty good that Monish and the watch are going
to come after you."
"Yeees," she drawled, her confusion evident.
"But now imagine that you're one of a couple of thousand
people at a conference, and whammo! Someone dies—someone wholly and completely
unconnected with you, someone you randomly picked out because you had never met
her. Attention immediately is centered around the victim's past, who she knew,
who had appointments with her, etc."
"Ah," she said, enlightenment dawning in her eyes.
'Then a second murder victim is found. Yes, the watch now has
your means of destruction—in this case, they know you're an incubus—but once
again there's nothing about the second victim to lead to you."
"
The two deaths were committed to make the watch believe
there was a connection, but there really wasn't?"
"Exactly. So you strike again. But this time the woman you
pick isn't interested in getting her jollies. I know you don't want to think
back on this, but can you remember if when you woke up the incubus was already
beating you up, or was he ... well, was he making love to you?"
A faint flush brightened her dark cheeks. "He was attempting
to seduce me. I knew at once it must be an incubus because a woman I shared a
flat with many years ago was seeing one. She was obsessed with him. He almost
consumed her, almost seduced her soul from her, but she realized in time what he
was doing and rejected him. She went back home to the States after that, but her
will was almost broken. She turned her back on Guardianship, refuted her
calling, and devoted herself to a man she met a few weeks later."
"Wow. No wonder you were warning me about dallying with them.
But that just proves my point. The incubus who attacked you didn't do so because
he had a grudge against you—you were just another cog in his horrible wheel of
death."
She frowned at the spoon she'd been using to stir her iced
tea. "But then, that means..."
"That means that the true victim of the incubus has yet to be
identified. The red herrings have been planted to distract the watch. If he
kills again, suspicion will no longer be cast on him because the watch will be
focusing on finding something to tie the murders together."
"How very clever," she said, her eyes blank, "How very evil."
"Yes." I waited for her to come back from wherever she'd
slipped off to before adding, "The problem now is that we don't know who the
true victim of the incubus is."
She nodded.
My stomach turned over in sympathy for the pain I was about
to cause her. "Nora, this is asking a lot, but I need to trap this incubus
tonight. Monish and the committee will have my head and all the rest of me if I
don't. I have to ask you—will you help me trap him? I swear you'll be perfectly
safe, but I need you to act as—"
"I'll do anything you ask," she said firmly, not even letting
me finish.
I searched her face for any signs of discomfort or hesitancy.
"Are you sure? It won't be pleasant."
"I want this monster caught. Like your demon, I, too, have
faith in you, Aisling."
I smiled, all warm and fuzzy inside, crying just a little
because I knew that what was going to happen was not going to be fun for her. Or
me, for that matter. "Great. Let me tell you what I want you to do ..."
"Sorry I'm late. Had a little trouble with a couple of
waiters who got into a bit of a squabble over who would open the door for me." I
smiled around the table at the dragons present, noting that it was the same oval
table that had been used during the disastrous lunch of a few days previous.
"Hello, everyone. What did I miss?"
Drake held a chair out for me, waiting until I was seated
before he said, "This meeting is to formally address the complaint made by the
blue and red dragons."
"Ah." I folded my hands in my lap and put on my best mediator
face. Drake had mentioned the night before that he believed Fiat was secretly
working on Chuan Ren in an attempt to divide the septs so that no peace accord
could be achieved. If the hostile looks Chuan Ren was shooting at the green
dragons were any sign, Fiat had been successful.
"Fiatatoio del Fuoco Blu, the weyr recognizes you."
Fiat stood up, looking slowly at everyone around the table,
his crystal-blue eyes settling on me. A slight mocking smile curved his lips at
the same time I felt the touch of his mind. Immediately I slammed down my mental
guards, shutting him out from reading my thoughts. "Wyverns, mates, and dragons,
the bitter words of the last few days might have given some of you the
impression that I find the thought of peace among the four septs repugnant and
impossible. I assure you now that nothing is more distant from the truth. The
blue dragons wish an accord with their brothers and sisters. Contrary to rumor,
we do not desire to see the fragile peace under which we've lived the last few
years torn asunder. We are simple in our needs and desires and do not unduly
seek any power or glory."
Fiat paused to give everyone the eyeball again. I fought to
keep the disbelief from my face. As Drake's consort, I was supposed to be as
impartial as the front he presented—no matter what his private thoughts.
"
The blue dragons have ever abided by the laws drawn by the
weyr, laws that we might not wholly agree with, and might work to change, but
always have we honored them. To do less would dishonor not just the weyr but our
own names."
The red dragons nodded their agreement. I had a sudden,
inexplicable feeling that Fiat was about to drop a bomb.
"As law-abiding members of the weyr, we feel it only right
that all laws set by the wy verns be adhered to, rather than just the ones
certain dragons find convenient."
Beside me, Drake's arm tightened.
"As you all know, the taws regarding the rights of a wyvern's
mate are few but absolute in nature: A mate must be formally recognized by the
wyvern and branded such, a mate must be present at negotiations and approve any
acts that have bearing on the welfare of his or her sept, and a mate must under
no circumstances have initiated or caused any action to the detriment of the
sept to which he or she belongs. You would all agree those laws, set down by our
forefathers many centuries before, have stood us in good stead?"
Several heads nodded. The ones owned by green dragons were
oddly still. A little whip of Drake's fire flicked along my back, causing me to
look at him in surprise. Usually his control of his dragon fire was absolute.
His eyes were steady, his body language relaxed, but I sensed the feeling in him
of tautly held anger. A matching anger rose within me. Fiat's smooth voice and
practiced demeanor might fool some of the dragons, but this mate wasn't buying
any of it. I just wanted him to get on with it.
"And yet, despite the fact that every wyvern here has sworn
an oath to uphold the laws of the weyr, one has violated them." Fiat's head
swiveled to look at Drake, his smile so obnoxiously smug, so triumphant I wanted
to smack it right off his face. "Drake Vireo, do you deny that your presence
here is an abomination to the laws that we all hold sacred?"