Light Dragons 01 - Love in the Time of Dragons

started chatting in voices that I couldn’t help but overhear.
    “I can’t believe that he had the balls, the steel balls, to tell me he’d rather go visit his parents in Malta than go with me to Rome, but he did, and that was it, that was just it as far as I’m concerned. I mean, Rome versus Malta? Rome absolutely wins.”
    “Absolutely,” the second girl said. “You are so right to dump him. Besides, that leaves you free for doing a little shopping in Italy, if you know what I mean. Italian men are so lickable, don’t you think?”
    “Some of them,” the first girl allowed. “Not the really hairy ones. They are just . . . ugh.” She shuddered and I started glancing around to find another spot. “I mean, my god, the things they stuff into their Speedos! It’s positively obscene!”
    My phone burbled at me just at that moment, causing me to send up a prayer of thanks as I flipped it open, expecting to hear Brom asking if he could have another advance on his allowance for some horrible instrument of mummification. “Hello?”
    It wasn’t his voice that greeted me, however. “Sullivan? What the hell are you doing still in England? Brom said you were staying there! Is this some sort of a joke?”
    “Gareth.” The two girls glanced over their shoulders at me. I half turned away and lowered my voice. “I wondered when you would think to call me.”
    “Think to call you? Are you daft? I’ve been trying to get hold of you for weeks. What is Kostich making you do?”
    “It’s a bit complicated,” I said, mindful of the girls, although they seemed to have moved on to judging the qualities of every male who wandered past. “I’m still here because I had an episode.”
    “What?” His shriek almost deafened me. “When? How? What the hell are you thinking?”
    “I wasn’t—I was asleep. And I don’t know how or why, it just happened. I’ve been staying at the house of some people Kostich was working with. They took me and Brom in.”
    “Did you manifest?” he asked quietly, but I could hear the eagerness in his voice.
    “No. But that brings up a very good question—how long have I been doing that?”
    “What?” His voice was wary.
    “How long have I been making gold for you? Dr. Kostich says you’re immortal. How long have we been married?”
    “You know how long we’ve been married—ten years. You’ve seen the license.”
    I had? “I don’t remember any of that. Have you been doing something to my memory?”
    “What the hell are you talking about?” He sounded furious now, speaking in a low, ugly voice that sent goose bumps up my arms. “If you’re trying to distract me because you manifested for some bastard who took you in—”
    “I just told you I didn’t. Fortunately, no one had large chunks of lead lying around.”
    “Fortunately? You stupid bitch. Do you have any idea how much that’s going to cost us by missing it? How the hell am I going to tell Ruth?”
    “I don’t know, and I don’t appreciate being called names. Look, Gareth, things are a bit confused right now. Dr. Kostich kicked me out of the magister’s guild, and I—”
    “He what ?” Profound swearing followed, for a good two minutes. “What did you do?”
    “Nothing, I swear.”
    “Then why did he kick you out?”
    “It’s because of these”—I cast a glance over my shoulder, but the girls had their heads together, watching as three young men in soccer outfits strolled past—“because of some dragons.”
    “Dragons?” he repeated, his voice suddenly very small.
    “Yes. The people I’m staying with are dragons. They’ve asked Brom and me to stay with them for a bit while I try to figure things out.”
    Silence filled my ear for a good minute. “Get out,” he finally said.
    “What?”
    “You heard me—get out. Get away from the dragons.”
    “Don’t you think that would be rude? They’ve given me a lot, Gareth. The wyvern’s mother herself tended me while I was in the fugue—”
    “Get out, you stupid woman! Do I make myself clear? Get out before they kill you!”
    “You are watching way too much TV, Gareth, you really are.” I kept my voice low, but allowed anger to sound in it. “If these people wanted to kill me, all they would have had to do was to dump me in the Thames while I was asleep.”
    “Listen carefully to me, Sullivan,” he said, breathing heavily. “You may think they’re your friends, but they aren’t. You have to get away from them, today, right