“You have something I want, Drake,” I said after a moment’s rummage through my memories of my first time in G&T.

  His lips quirked in the way that never failed to make me weak in the knees. “I have many things you want, kincsem. But a gold aquamanile in the form of a dragon is sadly not one of them.”

  “Then I’ll just have to make do with the real thing,” I said, taking the glass from him and setting it on the counter before sliding my hands up his chest. He was clad in the usual suit he wore when he was in Paris—Drake had impeccable fashion sense, but he tended to be a century behind the rest of the world when it came to informal wear out in public—and I rubbed myself against him, leaning forward to say against his lips, “Perhaps I just want to role-play a little. You can be the big, bad dragon, and I’ll be the feisty yet highly professional Guardian who you love beyond all reason.”

  Dragon fire roared to life in him as he pulled me tighter, his lips burning on mine when he growled, “I told you how much I loved you this morning, when you were waiting to leave London. I am not obliged to say it again, especially not here, in front of everyone. It is not seemly in a dragon’s mate—”

  I laughed out loud, so happy to see him again in person after my two weeks away that I ignored a very familiar lecture on the proper behavior of a mate in public, and instead bit his lower lip, sucked it for a second to remove the sting, then kissed him soundly before leaning to the side to say around him, “Hello, Pal. I talked to Nora this morning, and she sends her love. And, István, I like the goatee. Very dashing. Don’t pay attention to anything that Jim says about it. You know how jealous it can be whenever it thinks you’re outshining it.”

  The two men greeted me warmly, asking a few questions about our trip back home. Drake reclaimed his glass and was about to order another one for me, when I held up my lemonade. “I have one, thanks. Oh, just a second. It looks like Carmina is about to explode with concern, and she’s really very sweet. A little odd, but eh. Who isn’t?”

  I turned when Carmina, pushing an obviously reluctant Javier in front of her, approached us.

  Drake left one possessive hand on my back as I reassured Carmina that I wasn’t at any risk. “We’re married,” I said, holding up my hand to show her the wedding ring. “So it’s OK that he gets all bossy dragon on me. Well, it isn’t OK OK, and trust me, we’ve had words about that, but all the same, it’s nothing that I can’t handle.” Drake’s fingers twitched on my back, but he made one of his polite bows.

  Despite the fact that I wanted badly to have time alone with him, I felt it important to reassure Carmina and Javier that all was well in Aisling-land. “We arranged to meet here after I got back to Europe, but I took an earlier flight out. That’s why Drake wasn’t expecting me to be here. Am I babbling? I feel like I’m babbling. And man alive, am I glad Jim isn’t here, because it would tell me that in an obnoxious manner.”

  Carmina had a bit of a glazed look about the eyes, while Javier squinted as if he was concentrating very hard. I beamed at them. “Jim’s my demon, by the way. But you don’t care about that. I just wanted to tell you that it’s perfectly fine that Drake is standing next to me glowering.”

  “I am not glowering,” the love of my life said in a voice tinged with martyred outrage. “I never glower. I assess in a coolly analytical and wholly glower-free manner. Also, you are babbling, but no one will hold that against you, since we have been parted for two weeks, and it is your way to tell me everything you’ve been thinking.”

  I decided he meant that as a compliment, and after a few more reassurances that Drake posed no threat, my handsome green-eyed dragon and I settled at a table in the corner, while István and Pal went to schmooze with friends.

  Drake eyed my beverage. “Did David and Paula convert you to teetotalism while you were staying with them?”

  “No, although Dad only drinks one bottle of beer after mowing the lawn, and Paula ... well, Paula is Paula. She doesn’t need booze to enhance her life.” I glanced around the room, but Drake’s favorite table on those rare occasions when we visited Paris was suitably private. Regardless, I gave him a long look, my inner Aisling squeeing softly to itself that even after several years, Drake still had the power to make my innards turn to lust-riddled goo. “Remember that little talk we had before you went to Hungary to take care of business, and I allowed Paula and David to spoil the twins rotten?”

  Drake’s eyes narrowed for a moment as he thought; then suddenly he sent me a look that smoldered to the extent that the table in front of us started smoking. “You stopped your birth control?”

  “You bet your scaly green tail I did.” I leaned forward and licked the tip of his nose. “Paula said I shouldn’t drink any alcohol just in case things happen. So it’s lemonade and grapefruit juice for me until the next little dragon arrives.”

  For a moment, Drake’s body went absolutely still, but his eyes, oh, his eyes. They were like an emerald blast furnace.

  “You’re trying very hard to not jump to your feet, scoop me up in your arms, and cart me off to the nearest bed to make smokin’ hot dragon love to me, aren’t you?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he answered, his voice rough with passion. “Although I would not require a bed. A strong wall would suffice. Perhaps even an unoccupied hallway if it was sufficiently dark.”

  I laughed again, and patted the white-knuckled hand that gripped the table. “Not that I want to dampen your libido, because I really do think it’s time we enlarged our little family, but I want to talk to you before you make me mindless with pleasure.”

  “You are my mate,” he said in that gravelly tone that hinted at the iron grip he had on his desires. “We have been parted. You know I must claim you as soon as we are reunited.”

  “We have been parted, but we’ve also FaceTimed three times a day, not to mention indulged in copious texts, and conducted numerous daily phone calls.”

  “The FaceTimes do not count,” he said stubbornly, but I was pleased to see his fingers relaxing on the table. He glanced at his watch and added, “Those were so the children would not forget me. You may have four minutes, at which point I will either escort you home, where I can claim you as is right and proper, or I will carry you into one of Jovana’s offices, pin you up against the wall, spread your legs, and—”

  “Drake!” I squelched down the burble of laughter that wanted to rise. For some reason I had yet to understand, Drake was convinced that two weeks away visiting my family would erase him from the children’s memory. I suspected it had a lot to do with his own mother, who frequently forgot she had two sons, and thus I didn’t raise a fuss at his insecurities where the twins were concerned. “Fine, I’ll subtract the chats with the kids.”

  He glanced around the club. “They are at home?”

  “Of course. They were just going down for their naps because we decided to fly rather than take the train. Iarlaith was happy to play with his tablet, but Ilona was a wild beast and would not settle on the flight from Seattle to London.” I lifted my brows. “She’s very much your child.”

  Drake, who never saw much use for modesty, attempted now to don a modest expression. It failed miserably. “They carry my nature. It is the way of dragonkin.”

  “Uh-huh. Well, let’s have a little chat before we return home and let your mini-me hellions tell you all about the octopus they freed from the Seattle Aquarium, and why we are banned from ever returning there. Has something been going on here? In Paris, I mean.”

  “I have been in Paris exactly forty-seven minutes. If there is, I have had little time to be made aware of it. What has you concerned?” he asked, his fingers now stroking mine in a way that reminded me the clock was ticking and I had three minutes left before I would (happily, and with ecstasy) allow him to carry me off home, where we could reacquaint ourselves with the steamy lovemaking abilities of dragons.

  “First, the guy at passport control just about had a meltdown when he saw my name on my passport, and ran off muttering that the end was nigh. Then Rene wasn’t around to drive us, and you know Rene always finds us when we’re in Paris. And lastly, Carmina and Javier mentioned something about an influx of imps as well as what I gather is a general sense of things not being right, and you know how both of those can be a portent of trouble.”

  “Hmm,” Drake said, pausing in the finger stroking to consider the information. “That all seems rather nebulous, but I will call Kostya if you like. Until last week, he was in Paris for the last few months.”

  I smiled at him and stood up, brushing down my gauzy sundress, and reveling in the approving way Drake’s gaze crawled over it. “Maybe call him after we get home and have some quality time together.”

  “It shall be as you like,” he said, getting to his feet with a very lascivious look in his eye, one that sent little shivers down my spine. “Perhaps a bath is in order, as well.”

  I thought of Drake reclining seductively in his massively oversized tub, his body slick and warm with bath oil. I thought of how much I wanted to touch all those slippery expanses of flesh, and what I would do to him. Then I dwelt on what he’d do to me, and the next thing I knew, I was running for the door.

  He beat me to it, his passion so great that a scorched imprint of his hand was left on the door as we raced out into the street.

  * * *

  It took a full two months before I could pinpoint what it was that was making me uneasy. “It’s all the imps, Nora,” I said into my phone, watching absently as the children romped in the tiny garden space that came with Drake’s Paris house. “I would have thought the couple in G&T were exaggerating, but since we’ve been home, I’ve seen seven different imps out in public. And you know the little buggers seldom hang out in open spaces.”

  “That is very unusual,” Nora agreed. She hesitated a moment, then added, “I have not noticed any undue activity here in London, nor have I heard anything from the guild about an influx. We get such things at Vexamen, of course, but that is not pertinent to this situation.”

  “Vexamen? I’m so glad Jim isn’t here, because it would give me endless grief for what I’m about to ask, but what exactly is that?” I asked, the word sounding familiar, but I was distracted by keeping an eye on the kids as they splashed in a wading pool, and couldn’t pull the definition to mind.

  “It is the time of upheaval in Abaddon. You were not a Guardian when the last one happened?”

  “I don’t think so, no,” I answered, ignoring when the twins threw grass into their blow-up pool.

  “Ah, well, in a nutshell, Bael should have stepped down from his position of premiere prince, which meant the other princes would have fought for the job, but Bael is ... well, Bael. He did not step down.”

  “That definitely sounds like it was before my time. Interesting. And there were lots of imps then?” I asked, relieved to know that Bael was now safely contained in the Akasha.

  “Not during Vexamen per se, but during Salvaticus, which occurs before it. It is the time of rebirth for revenants, and imps seem to use that as an excuse to pour into the mortal world. But we will not have another Vexamen for, oh, many centuries.”

  “Well, it’s got me beat why the imps are everywhere. I know they come out when the dragons are warring, but everything is peachy keen in the weyr. Oh, there’s Drake. He looks a bit smoky about the nostrils, so I’d better go see what has riled him up. If you hear anything, let me know, OK?”

  “Absolutely. My best to you all.”

  “Likewise.” I hung up, greeted the nanny Grace, who followed on Drake’s heels, and gave her swift instructions about watching the children. “They can have another ten minutes splashing about—Iarlaith! We do not take our swimsuit off and hit our sister on the head with it. But then they’ll need sunscreen again, and if they insist on having naked time in the wading pool, don’t let them go over to the far side of the garden where people can see through the fence. All right, munchkins! Grace is in charge until it’s time for lunch.”

  The twins cheered, and immediately starting slapping each other with their wet swimsuits. I looked at Drake.

  He watched them with pursed lips for a moment, saying merely, “All green dragons prefer to be in the water without the constriction of clothing.”

  “Uh-huh. Why do I have a feeling you encourage that behavior when I’m not looking?”

  He tried very hard to arrange an innocent expression on his face, but failed miserably.

  I took his hand and returned into the house with him, asking, “Did you get hold of Kostya?”

  “I didn’t have to.” He opened the door to his study. A tall, dark, and intensely scowling man paced past the door, his hands clasped behind his back.

  “So I see. Hello, Kostya. What brings you to Paris?”

  “Baltic, naturally.” Kostya said something profane, then continued, “As ever, he brings nothing but grief to the dragonkin and weyr.”

  “Baltic? He’s with Ysolde in Dauva. She’s going to have her baby soon, and there’s no way he’d leave her. Wait, you’re not still bitching because he’s so close to your home in Saint Petersburg, are you?” I asked, curling up next to Drake when he sat on the couch. Kostya never lost the opportunity to complain about what he deemed an ulterior motive for Baltic reclaiming his home in Latvia.

  “I don’t bitch! I’m a wyvern! Wyverns don’t bitch!” he said (in a bitchy voice), storming past me trailing dragon fire. Luckily, our carpets are fireproof. “If I complain—righteously and in an extremely justified, masculine manner—then it is because once again we are left to clean up after Baltic’s blunders.”

  “What blunder?” I asked Drake, knowing that I’d get a more understandable answer from him.

  “Thala,” Drake said, his hands teasing the hairs at the back of my neck as I slid him a look that warned I wouldn’t be able to stand much without jumping him.

  “Oh, her.” I wondered if Kostya was here for any particular reason other than complaining to his brother, or if there was a chance I could hustle him out of the house and get Drake into the basement, where he had a pool that we both greatly enjoyed.

  “Oh, her? Oh, her?” Kostya struck his usual dramatic manner, one hand waving in the air. “You speak of her as if she is nothing but an inconvenience, but because Baltic couldn’t hold on to the mage sword Antonia von Endres had given him, now we must clean up his mess and find Thala.”

  “Huh?” I stopped thinking about exploring naked time with Drake, and turned around to look at Kostya. “What are you talking about?”

  Drake looked annoyed. “Dr. Kostich, apparently, has sent word to Ysolde as the weyr representative that since the sword was held by dragons—”

  “Stolen by Drake, I believe, were his words,” Kostya said with a look at his brother.

  “Since the sword was held by dragons when it was stolen by Baltic’s former lieutenant, then it falls to the dragonkin to reclaim it.”

  “That’s just bull,” I said, getting annoyed right along with Drake. “Didn’t Dr. Kostich make some big song and dance about it belonging to mages, and thus they would find it?”

  “They haven’t been able to locate Thala,” Kostya said, pacing past us again. “Thus he has seen fit to blame us for the mages’ incompetence, and insist that we locate and return the sword, or pay.”

  “Pay what?” I asked, a little ball of worry forming in my stomach. “Surely the sword is priceless. He can’t expect us to pay for something that’s priceless.”

  “He’s not asking for payment in coin, kincsem,” Drake said, his fingers still stroking the back of my neck. Drake was never one for public shows of affection, but I knew by the way his fire was simmering inside of him that he, too, was thinking of the pool. “Evidently he told Ysolde that if the weyr does not produce the sword, our agreement with the L’au-dela will be broken, and we will be considered outsiders.”

  I blinked a couple of times at the audacity of the man. “He’s out of his ever-lovin’ mind.”

  Kostya snorted, and stomped back across the room to the fireplace. “That is the biggest understatement I have heard. He is mad if he thinks to blame us because his mages cannot catch one simple half-dragon.”

  “Thala is many things,” I said slowly, digging through my memories to what I knew about her. “But she’s a dirge singer, and the daughter of an archimage and a dragon. I don’t think simple is a word one could use about her. OK. So, being kicked out of the L’au-dela is not an option.”

  “Technically we are not in it,” Drake pointed out while Kostya muttered a few more rude things about Dr. Kostich. “But it would void our agreement with them, and that is an event I am loath to see happen. Especially now.”

  “I agree in general, but why now in particular?” I asked. “You mean because of all the imps?”

  “That and ...” Drake was silent for a moment, his gaze on Kostya, who had stopped pacing, and was wearing an almost identical expression of introspection. “I believe I was too hasty to dismiss your misgivings two months ago, Aisling.”

  “There’s a rumor that some dragons have been seen in Paris,” Kostya said slowly, meeting Drake’s gaze.

  “So? There’s lots of dragons here, of all the septs.” I waited for them to spill and, when they weren’t immediately forthcoming, nudged Drake. “What’s so important about these dragons that it brought Kostya all the way from Saint Petersburg?”

  “I’m not absolutely certain they are dragons,” Drake said. “The report we’ve had is that they are somehow ... tainted.”

  A cold chill skittered down my spine. It wasn’t Drake’s words so much as the worry evident in them that gave me a bad feeling.

  A very bad feeling.

  My dear Friia,

  I have not intentionally “teased” you, as you claim in your latest electronic message. It has been a very long time since any of my siblings have expressed anything beyond a mild interest in the dragonkin, but since you wish to know more about the peril hanging over my descendants, I will naturally acquiesce to your wishes for further information.