"Yes, I deny it," Drake said calmly, his voice as bland as
vanilla pudding. "I have done nothing to violate either my oath or the laws of
the weyr. If you have proof of either. I demand you present it now, so that I
might dispute your claims."
Fiat strolled around the table to where I sat to the right of
Drake, Pal flanking my other side. Fiat's cool fingers trailed along the back of
my shoulders. Involuntarily, I shivered, jerking forward, away from those cold,
cruel fingers. "Is it not true that your mate, Aisling Grey, did call you to a
challenge last month, a challenge in which she fought you for control of the
sept?"
"Hey!" I said, twisting around to glare at Fiat. "If you have
a problem with something I did, you come to me about it. You don't go running to
Drake to blame him. Besides, it's none of your concern what he and I did in the
privacy of... uh ... Paris."
"Ah, but sweet Aisling, your actions concerning the sept are
of a concern to me. They are a concern to all wyveras, as you sit in a position
of power within the weyr. And as I have just stated, our laws—with which you
seem to be sadly unfamiliar—state that mates are not allowed to conduct actions
that could harm the very dragons they represent."
"Aisling was not formally recognized as my mate when she
challenged me," Drake said, his voice still smooth but a green fire now visible
in his eyes. "Thus, she could not have impact on the sept, and your point is
moot. We have other, more important issues to discuss, Fiat. Your attempts to
cloud the issues have been many, but I hope that at last we have reached the end
of them and will be spared any further abuse of our valuable time."
"Yeah," I said, feeling it important to show the other
dragons that I supported Drake. He put a hand over mine and squeezed it in
warning. I took that to mean he'd rather I kept quiet, and although heaven knew
it wasn't in my nature to abase myself, I figured this was probably as good a
time as any to learn how.
"Cara, your devotion is laudable, but alas, rather late in
coming, is it not?"
"You will address me with your comments, Fiat, not my mate,"
Drake said, his voice a bass rumble. The heat in his eyes was growing, as was my
concern that something would push him over the edge. I couldn't imagine what
would happen should Fiat and he really lose their tempers, but I knew
instinctively that it would not be a good thing for anyone concerned.
Fiat inclined his head in acknowledgment, and for once I was
grateful for the chauvinistic tendencies of most male dragons. "In response to
your claim that your mate was not, in fact, formally recognized by either you or
your sept, I would like to point out that just a day before the challenge,
indeed, hours before she called the challenge, she bore the brand of a mate of
the green wyvern."
I touched the raised design on my collarbone. Drake had put
it there last month, burnt it into my flesh. At the time I was merely annoyed,
figuring it was his way of marking me, but I hadn't known just what sort of a
mark it really was. Now I knew.
"Aisling was new to our world. She had no idea what a
challenge entailed when she called it," Drake answered. "She used the challenge
as a way to force out the person who was tapping into the dark powers to take
over control of the Paris Caudela. She had no intention of seriously challenging
me for control of The sept."
I nodded my agreement.
"And yet," Fiat said, moving around the table slowly, "if she
had succeeded, she would have put the welfare of the sept at risk, since she
possessed neither the skill nor the power to control it. Indeed, if she had
become wyvern, she would have put the entire weyr at risk, since who knows what
trouble she would have started."
Drake's fingers tightened on mine as I bit back a retort. Now
was not the time to get uptight over my pride taking a little dinging.
"The point is moof. She lost the challenge, a challenge that
I again state she never seriously called. It was nothing more than a ruse to
capture a murderer."
Fiat smiled, and my stomach lurched. I was coming to hate
that damned smile. Pal rose and silently padded over to the desk at the entrance
of the restaurant, pulling from behind the counter a fire extinguisher, which he
then carried around behind me. I swiveled in my chair. He flipped a lever and
proceeded to put out a small fire burning on a wooden busing station. I turned
back to face everyone.
"Sorry," I murmured, knowing full well the fire was a
manifestation of my anger. "I'm having a few control issues at the moment, but
I'm sure they'll be sorted out soon."
Not one single person there, not even Pal, looked like he
believed me.
"You see what sort of havoc might be wreaked if such an
inexperienced, uncontrolled mate were to take over as wyvern?" Fiat asked,
brushing away the objections Drake started to make. He bowed his head to Drake,
saying, "As you know your mate better than I do, I am willing to concede the
point that she did not understand the full nature of the challenge when she
called it."
Drake didn't relax one little smidgen. Quite the opposite.
The feeling of coiled tension in him went up and over the top of my
Drake-o-meter.
"However ..."—Fiat came to a stop behind his own chair, his
long fingers caressing the black-and-gold upholstery—"that does not excuse you
for responding to the challenge. You accepted her challenge. You ... I hesitate
to use the word fought, since a game of darts seems to be a singularly
nonviolent way to conduct a challenge—you fulfilled the terms set by Aisling and
defeated her."
"She had arranged the terms so that I would be sure to win."
Drake shrugged with nonchalance that I knew he was far from feeling, "The
challenge was not seriously offered, nor taken by me or my clan. The scenario
you offer that she posed a threat to the well-being of my dragons is thus
negated."
"It would be but for one thing." Fiat paused, his gaze
sweeping the table again. "Your sept conducted a punishment against Aisling just
last night. If you and the green dragons did not take her challenge seriously,
why was she formally charged and punished?"
Oy. He had a point. Both Drake and I knew that he was being a
little less than honest over the whole challenge thing last month—although it
was true I hadn't a clue what I was doing when I called the challenge, he did
take it seriously, as did the members of his clan. Hence the punishment. While
Drake might have been able to get away with blurring the lines regarding the
nature of my challenge, he couldn't escape the fact that his dragons had
fulfilled the terms of the challenge.
Before he could respond, Chuan Ren leaped to her feet and
pointed to me. "The probity of this summit has been tainted and defiled by
Drake's mate. Through her actions he has violated the laws of the weyr and thus
has negated the precepts of wyvern. I move that the summit be adjourned until
such time as a new wyvern for the green dragons comes forward."
"I second the motion," Fiat said quickly.
Pal leaped up to put out the three fires that suddenly burst
up around Fiat. I stood up with him, slapping my hands down on the table, too
angry to keep silent any longer. I'd be damned if I'd have everything Drake had
worked for fall to pieces just because of something I did. "Look, I appreciate
the fact that you two are clearly in cahoots and want to raise God knows what
sort of trouble, but you are not using me as an excuse to do it! What I did last
month has no reflection whatsoever on Drake! He has worked harder than any of
you for this peace, devoted countless hours to keeping everyone happy, jollied
you all along just because he feels it's important that you dragons live in
peace. So cut him a little slack!"
Drake pulled me back into my chair, giving me a look that let
me know he didn't appreciate my attempt to point the finger of guilt where it
belonged. "Your motion is illegally presented and thus is not valid. As for
Fiat's attempt to hide the truth by slandering my mate—"
"You defend your woman's actions?" Chuan Ren shrieked, her
eyes spitting black fire at him. "You would defy the laws of the weyr for her?
You are the one who is hiding the truth! This summit is a mockery of truth!"
"I have nothing to hide—" Drake started to say, but Fiat
jumped in and added his voice for an adjournment. The blue, green, and red
dragon bodyguards all leaped to their feet, yelling at each other, casting slurs
and insults across the table while their bosses shouted their own abuse. I
stayed in my chair, my gaze meeting that of Gabriel. He and his men were the
only ones besides me who had remained sitting. His eyes were unreadable, a
polite mask on his face. He reached forward to slap out a little flame that had
suddenly come to life.
I wanted to curl up and die, I was so sick with despair,
feeling for the first time the full weight of my responsibilities to the
dragons. What on earth was I going to do to resolve the situation?
After ten more minutes of screaming from almost everyone
present, Fiat regained enough control to demand an immediate vote on whether or
not the summit would continue. Drake, cornered, had to allow it despite his
obvious reticence. Fiat and Chuan Ren voted to scrap the whole thing and start
again at a later, unnamed date. Drake insisted that they had made good progress
and would continue if they all remained and dedicated themselves to the cause.
"And you, Gabriel Tauhou, what is your desire?" Fiat demanded
hotly, his face flushed, his eyes, like the eyes of every dragon present,
burning brightly with his fire. "Do you side with the green wyvern, or will you
join us?"
I held my breath, unable to keep the pleading from my eyes as
I watched Gabriel. He stood slowly, his face troubled as he looked around the
table. Please, please let him do what's right, I prayed, hoping that if there
was a tie in the vote, Drake might be able to hammer out some sort of an
agreement to move forward.
"Like Drake, I have not been blind to the subcurrents of
dissatisfaction that have been a part of these negotiations," Gabriel said in
his quiet, warm voice, and my heart lightened. "I find your methods in casting
aspersions on a fellow wyvern and his mate heinous and abominable to the
extreme."
Thank God. He was going to side with Drake. At least the
whole thing hadn't been destroyed.
"However, I believe the damage has been done, and no good can
come at this time of further negotiations. I vote to continue them at another
time, when the situation regarding the green wyvern has been resolved."
My heart fell. I stared numbly at Gabriel, unable to believe
he would stab Drake in the back in this manner. The other dragons shouted their
triumph, quickly gathering their things and leaving the room until no one was
left but Drake, his two bodyguards, and me.
I turned to the man whose life I had just more or less
ruined, unable to think of a single damned thing to say to him. He looked at me
for a couple of seconds, then stroked my cheek, pulling his finger back to
reveal a tear. He examined it carefully for a moment, then brought it to the
spot on his collarbone where he bore the same brand I did, tracing the symbol of
the green dragons with my tear.
He left after that, none of us having spoken a single word.
Chapter 25
"
Are you sure this is going to work?" Nora asked in a
whisper.
"No. But it's all I could think of, especially since time is
running out."
"In more ways than one," Jim intoned from where it lay on its
bed.
I cracked open an eye and glared at it. "Look, it's hard
enough trying to meditate with you licking your privates and getting up to drink
water and scratching all the time, but it's impossible with you making snarky
comments. So unless you want me to command you to silence, zip it up."
Jim looked over to where Nora was curled up into a ball on
the chair in her hotel room- "Isn't there some sort of Guardian rule about demon
abuse?"
"No," Nora said softly, not wanting to break my
concentration. "There are no such laws binding Guardians."
I flinched at the word "laws"; it still rubbed a raw spot
after the scene that afternoon with the dragons. When I had gone later to talk
to Drake about what happened— and to offer my help—he hadn't been in our room.
Neither had Pal or Istvan. I hunted down Nora (who was demon-silting while I did
the dragon thing), and despite my best intentions of not saying a word about
what had happened, I ended up spilling every last bean. Nora was subdued and
grim when I spoke to her about what had happened, which just deepened my
conviction that the situation with the dragons was extremely bad.
With an effort, I pushed down both the sick feeling of
despair that roiled within me whenever I thought of the events of the afternoon
and the worry about how I was to find an unknown murderer who was targeting
someone equally unknown, and focused instead on summoning a known entity.
Twenty minutes later a thin eddy of grayish brown smoke
trickled into the room from under the doorway, cohering into the familiar form
of a brown-haired, brown-eyed naked man,