“Yes,” she cried. She was taking that tooth home; she didn’t care what Rowena had to say about it. And she spotted movement from where Sydney had taken cover. She ran closer, trying again not to feel her arm. Sydney stood from behind a soot-covered jar. Her tabard was scorched, and her face and hands were far redder than they should be, but she seemed all right.

  It was shaping up to be a good day after all.

  When Sydney gave her a shaky smile, Ember made a decision. If they both lived, if they were both not too injured, and if Sydney was amenable, they were totally having sex.

  And falling in love.

  Or maybe they were already there.

  Either way, Sydney needed to know about it.

  “Don’t die,” Ember yelled. “I love that you’re alive, and I want to have sex with you and cuddle you and sleep together, and I don’t care who knows.”

  Sydney’s face seemed to morph when lots of emotions passed across it. Then she laughed, and it was the sweetest sound. “I love you, too, and all the other stuff. Don’t die, either.”

  Ember beamed, then tried to put a serious expression back on as she faced down Dragon Sir Robert, ready to punch every part of him she could reach.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Camille wondered just how many times she’d be floored by disbelief that day. Searching for a magical necklace Ember and Rowena had thrown away took the prize so far.

  “Why the fuck would she throw it away?” she grumbled as she shifted through scraps of table and bits of spell components. At least when the dragon had destroyed several tables in this corner of the room, there hadn’t been anyone nearby. She didn’t know if she could have handled sifting through blood and body parts.

  Though she was angry enough to do almost anything.

  The roar of fire had made her look up briefly, and her heart thumped painfully as Sydney dove to avoid a blast of flame. She looked for Rowena, but she was also on the floor, searching, seemingly ignoring the fight.

  And it was so wrong that Camille felt happy Sydney was the one in danger and not Rowena. The wrongness didn’t stop the feeling, though. She feared for Sydney, but the thought of Rowena in peril left an ache that felt like a wound.

  By the seven bells, she was in love.

  She growled. “All the fucking women I’ve been with and I have to fall in love while fighting a dragon.” Why couldn’t it have been Cristine in references? Janie from the post office? Leila, who’d frequented Hetty’s bookstore? Someone whose life was nice and sedate and dragon-free?

  “Shut up, Camille,” she said to herself. “She’s a wonderful woman, and you’re lucky to have her.”

  “Are you looking or just muttering to yourself?” Rowena called.

  Maybe lucky wasn’t the right word. “I’m doing the best I can. Why did Ember throw it away?”

  Rowena grumbled something. The fight between the knights and the dragonkin was dying down, but the residual clatter still made it hard to hear anything else. Camille continued to turn over shattered planks of wood and bits of whatnot, searching for the glint of metal. As she crawled past an overturned table, a hand shot from the dark and grabbed her ankle.

  Camille gasped but held in a shriek. She began to jerk away, then paused, thinking it might be an injured knight, but just as she registered the golden skin, the claws bit into her, and she cried out at five little points of pain.

  “Let go!” The rational part of her brain tried to think tactics, but the primitive part was happy to kick with her free foot. She tried to twist and pull away, but the grip was like steel, and she had a sudden vision of her foot parting from her body as the pain grew.

  A boot slammed down on the reptilian arm. It was Rowena, stomping for all she was worth. The grip released, and Camille dragged herself backward. Holes in her flesh dribbled blood, leaving a trail on the floor. The clawed hand swung for Rowena, and the top half of a dragonkin eased into the light.

  It bled from nose and mouth, its expression dim, even thoughtless. Still, it swung its sharp claws as if seeking any target. Camille pitied it; it seemed no more than a husk, but life glimmered in its half-lidded eyes. Sadness nearly overwhelmed her as well as hatred for Sir Robert for giving these things such stunted life, programmed only to hurt and maim and kill until the spark of life fled.

  Rowena picked up a piece of detritus and swung at the creature. Camille hobbled to join her, bashing the dragonkin’s skull in and putting it out of its misery. The expression on its face didn’t change as it made the transition from life to death; only the eyes shifted from glassy to dull.

  Camille looked away, eyes stinging with tears.

  “Are you all right?” Rowena asked softly.

  “No.” She began to wipe her eyes, then spotted a gleam of metal from where she’d been sitting. She limped to it and picked up a silver medallion dangling from a long chain. “Let’s go get that motherfucker.”

  * * *

  Sydney’s anger was still alive, but she didn’t know how much more her body could take. It wasn’t just the damage; she’d never tapped into her…magic so often before. Her chest ached as if she’d run for miles, and her head throbbed with every heartbeat.

  She supposed she was dashed lucky her body wasn’t worse. The gout of fire would have finished her if she hadn’t found a gooey, half-formed dragonkin corpse to roll over herself. A table was on fire behind her, and several of the jars had been scorched or knocked over. Sydney’s limbs felt leaden, and she wondered if whatever toxin Camille had warned her about was affecting her. The dragon seemed slower as it recovered from Ember’s punch.

  That had been the sexiest thing Sydney had ever seen. When Ember declared her feelings and intentions, all Sydney could do was return her love. By the flame, she hoped they all lived.

  But what were they going to do against a dragon?

  Punch him again, obviously.

  Sydney moved toward Ember. Every inch of her ached, but she couldn’t have stopped herself if she’d tried. Ember stood awkwardly, right arm bent against her chest, probably broken or dislocated.

  The dragon straightened and narrowed his eyes. “I will kill you all.”

  “Going to be harder with one less tooth,” Sydney shouted.

  Ember roared with laughter and moved to meet Sydney. They no doubt painted quite a sorry picture, wounded and singed as they were. Would Sir Robert try to squash them? Bite? Cast another spell? It depended on whether or not he still cared about saving the rest of this workshop.

  The fire had spread. If they drew this out, everything would be consumed, dragon and all. Even the knights, even the Hawk and Camille.

  And Ember.

  “If I’m going to die, I’m glad it’s with you,” Sydney said.

  The look Ember gave her was full of love.

  Sir Robert didn’t seem to care about love. His clawed hand lashed forward, forcing Sydney to dive out of the way. Even wounded as she was, Ember was still fast. She sidestepped Sir Robert’s giant hand, rocked back on a foot, and kicked him. He grunted and snarled but came at her with his other hand. Sydney pushed up and leaped. Her force power built, coiled within her emotion, but she kept it in until the last moment, until she actually touched him, then she let it out in a focused rush.

  Scales splintered, and his golden skin peeled back under the strength of her force. She fell away as Sir Robert screeched, blood pouring from his hand. He jerked it to his chest, and Sydney hoped she’d broken a few bones.

  Ember pulled her up and grinned like a maniac. “Now we can both punch him.”

  Sydney returned her smile but doubted her words. She didn’t know if she had too many of those bursts left. The dragon was scowling, but he wasn’t striking again, no doubt considering how he could best do so without being hurt.

  Maybe this was the first time anyone had ever hurt him. At least in a long time.

  “Wait,” someone behind them said as Ember took a step. The Hawk pushed a necklace into Ember’s hands. “We need to put this on him.”

  Sydney’s brain seemed to stutter. “You want to give the dragon jewelry?”

  “He took it off before he transformed,” Camille said. “It’s probably how he changed so quickly.”

  Sydney barked a disbelieving laugh. “Which part of him do you think that’s going around?”

  “Anywhere on his head should do,” the Hawk said with a snarl. “Now, are we going to work together or keep flapping our gums in front of the buggery dragon?”

  He was watching them, and as if guided by her words, he seemed to notice the necklace. He snarled and backed up a step.

  Maybe it would work.

  “We split up,” Camille said quickly and softly. “I’ll knock over one of the jars to get his attention.”

  “I’ll throw fire at the back of his head,” the Hawk said.

  Sydney nodded. “While I come in from the front and hit him in the belly with force.”

  Ember clutched the necklace. “Then when he’s low enough, I’ll leap onto his head and put the necklace over one of his horns. Or maybe an ear. Whichever. I’ll decide in the moment.”

  That was more information than they needed, but they had a plan. “Go,” Sydney said.

  * * *

  Rowena hoped everything would go as planned but knew it wouldn’t. As Camille ran toward the jars, however, the dragon turned his back on her, picked up one of the empty, tipped over jars, and flung it at Ember.

  She dodged, but she was getting slower. They all were. And she clearly couldn’t use her right arm anymore. With a roar, he charged her, leading with his unwounded hand.

  Rowena had prepared a few spells, the reagents ready in her pockets. She picked out a wad of snake scales, earth, and wood, and slapped it on a broken table. She shoved, infusing the wad with her life force, and the table flew from the floor and smacked the dragon in the shoulder.

  He grunted but appeared unharmed. It did get his attention, and she gave him an obscene gesture. With a snarl, he picked up the table and threw it back.

  “Shit.” She dove for cover, but she wasn’t as fast as Ember, and the table clipped her hip, spinning her around and to the side. She landed badly, wrenching her back. With a groan, she pulled herself up, her hopes falling.

  “Hey, asshole,” Camille yelled from across the room. She held a flaming brand, and when the dragon turned, she ran from jar to jar, igniting them. Whatever it was coating the outside seemed to be extremely flammable.

  Thank goodness.

  The dragon screeched and started for her, but Sydney darted into his path. Hazy waves of force radiated from her as she punched the dragon in the belly.

  He whooshed like a bellows and went double, mouth and eyes wide open as if surprised. The sound of Ember’s bare feet slapping past made Rowena turn in time to see her leap atop a table and then the dragon’s neck. She grabbed one of his spines with her left hand and pushed off, angling for his head, her form nearly a blur.

  The dragon stood and whirled, shaking his neck. Ember grabbed another spine, not yet at his head, and he would throw her soon.

  “No, you don’t.” Rowena pushed through the pain and sent another bit of junk into one of the dragon’s feet, making him stagger. She threw whatever she could lift, anything to keep him distracted and off balance. Sydney attacked from his other side, and Rowena heard a many-throated roar come from the front of the cavern. Camille had rallied the knights, and they waved their arms and called out to distract the dragon or flung things at him to keep him dancing.

  Ember inched along, clinging with her unwounded arm until she finally reached his head.

  Sydney circled around the back, and waves of force cascaded around her again as she delivered a hit to the dragon’s spine, stiffening him long enough for Ember to loop the medallion around one of his horns just as she slid off and fell to the ground.

  He blurred, fading, wavering and shrinking until he was no more than a wounded, naked man wearing only a necklace, shuddering amidst a pile of wreckage and goo.

  The knights swarmed him, binding his hands behind his back.

  “Just kill him,” Rowena yelled, but they didn’t listen.

  They carried him from the cavern along with Sydney, who’d collapsed, and Ember, who could barely walk. Camille limped to Rowena and tried to help her, but Rowena could hardly move. She didn’t even complain when a pair of knights lifted her and carried her away.

  * * *

  Dragon Sir Robert was a dragon no longer, and everyone was still alive. All in all, Ember thought it was a pretty good day; even if she was broken, Sydney was unconscious, Rowena was hurt, and Camille was hurt and bossy.

  Ember supposed it was the good kind of bossy. The knights seemed as if they needed someone to tell them what to do. Even Sergeant Bennia obeyed as Camille directed them to tend the wounded who’d been rescued and set up camp. The knights were all together again. Well, those who were alive and not at the camp Sydney had set up, but they’d be all right for the time being. Camille would no doubt send someone to get them as soon as she knew where they were.

  And Ember had managed to grab her dragon tooth before the knights helped her out. She cuddled it to her chest, letting it infuse her with happiness. And for the moment, it was enough to sit in the sun next to where Sydney was sleeping and let one of the knights set her arm.

  “This will hurt,” he said. His eyes seemed nervous.

  “That’s okay. I won’t hit back,” she said. He didn’t seem comforted, so she tried to smile. “All the people I love are alive, so it won’t hurt as bad as if that wasn’t true.”

  Again, he only seemed confused, but he pulled on her arm, complaining loudly when it didn’t “act like any arm I’ve dealt with.” He did what he could, and Rowena would do the rest later.

  Rowena rested nearby, lying on her belly while Camille massaged her back under a healer’s direction. Camille had a bandage around her ankle and another around her arm, beneath a patch of singed sleeve. She smiled at Ember, and Ember knew Rowena couldn’t be that bad if Camille was smiling.

  Sir Robert wasn’t smiling. He had a blanket wrapped around him and was bound hand and foot and mouth. One of the knights said something about taking him to Kingston to stand trial.

  A trial for a dragon. She wanted to see that.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Even though Camille knew it wasn’t far, it seemed like a long walk back to the village at the base of Rowena’s mountain. It was the closest settlement, and the knights needed to rest and tend their wounded. Camille had to admit that she and Rowena needed some rest, too, never mind Ember and Sydney.

  The villagers were reluctant to welcome them at first. They’d heard about the knights’ anti-witch sentiments, and the villagers were very pro-witch. The knights seemed mystified by the reaction, by the idea that the villagers might not let them enter, but when Rowena said the knights would behave themselves under the new leadership of Supreme Commander Sir Sydney—as soon as she woke up—everyone seemed happier.

  Sir Robert’s senior staff didn’t argue with her promotion. They’d thought their leader had some top-secret mission to rid the world of witches. They’d never known he was a dragon, and they should have guessed something odd was happening. They were getting off easy just having someone promoted over their heads.

  At least for the moment.

  Rowena was granted a bed in the way station, and Camille joined her in her room without hesitation, certain she’d be welcomed, and she was. The tub and hot water she’d asked for were already in place. Rowena stared at them in surprise.

  “How did you manage that?”

  “A sense of purpose and a tone of authority.” She lifted an eyebrow before she started undoing her dress.

  Rowena swallowed visibly, watching every movement of her hands with rapt fascination. It stirred Camille deeply, making her feel even more naked, more desirable.

  “I thought you might need some help bathing,” she said, noting the huskiness in her own voice and loving that just Rowena’s gaze could make her feel such need.

  “I…yes…” Rowena tried to undo her own garments, but a pained look crossed her face.

  Camille moved behind her, chuckling when Rowena tried to keep staring. “Let me.” She took her time, careful of Rowena’s injured back and hip but delighting in every shudder and gasp. She soon lowered Rowena into the large tub before joining her, kneeling before her. She winced at the slight pain in her injured foot.

  “Let’s see if I can make you feel better.” Camille kissed her, delighting in the fact that Rowena returned her kiss with more passion than Camille expected from an injured person.

  “You already have,” Rowena said when they broke apart. She pulled Camille close, and the heat from the skin-to-skin contact seemed hotter than the water. “Stay with me?”

  Camille knew she wasn’t talking about just right then. The possibility of forever would have scared her before, but now it seemed right, natural. She kissed every inch of Rowena she could reach. “I will,” she whispered as she traced Rowena’s ear with her tongue. “Be my milkmaid?”

  Rowena laughed, and even that sound was laced with desire. “I will.”

  * * *

  Sydney woke and stared for a moment at the roof over her head. She blinked, trying to place it before she finally sat up and jumped at the sight of Ember sitting cross-legged on the end of her bed, watching.

  She beamed, lighting her brown face and wrinkling the scar that ran across it. “You’ve been asleep for two days, and everyone is alive and okay, except for some of the knights, who were wounded, but they’re all together now in the village by my home mountain, and Robert isn’t a dragon or a sir anymore. He’s locked up in a cellar.”

  Sydney blinked again, trying to process. “Oh?”

  “Yes, and you’re bandaged up, and the healers from your order washed and changed you. I didn’t do it because I thought you’d want to remember the first time we were naked together.”