Light Dragons 01 - Love in the Time of Dragons

bryony and honey that would kill the head lice. “I suspected he would, although I had not thought he would involve you.”
    I said nothing for a few minutes, rubbing the paste into his hair, then combing it over and over again until I was satisfied.
    “You do not leap to his defense?” Baltic asked as I washed the paste out of his hair.
    “What is there to say that I haven’t already said?” I asked, pouring the last leather of water over his head. “He believes you to be a madman, willing to throw away the lives of everyone in the sept in order that you might rule supreme over the weyr. I don’t blame him for leaving you—if I were he, I would do the same.”
    He shot me a look that sought reassurance. I leaned forward and gently kissed him, taking his breath into my mouth as my lips caressed his. “I am not Kostya, my love. I will never leave you.”
    “If I can’t stop Constantine, you will not be left with the choice.”
    “There is always a choice,” I said, holding up a cloth for him. “We just need to find it.”
    The heat of the fire melted away, easing into a different sort of warmth. Sunlight poured over me as I sat on the stone front steps of Baltic’s house. I blinked as my mind was once again returned to the present, no longer disconcerted by the ease with which I slipped in and out of the visions.
    “Whatcha doing?”
    I looked up from where I had been hugging my legs, my chin resting on my knees, and moved the pad of paper upon which I’d been making a list before I’d slipped into the vision.
    Jim plopped its big butt down next to me.
    “Making a to-do list. I thought you were out with Brom.”
    The demon made a face. “He found a dead mouse and is looking it over to see if it’s too far gone to mummify or not. Kid’s a little weird, Soldy—you have to admit it.”
    “ ‘Eccentric’ is, I believe, the term you meant to use,” I said with a gimlet glance. “He is very intelligent. He has interests beyond those of lesser children.”
    “Whatever. What’s on your list?” It peered at the tablet. “ ‘Call Aisling.’ You better put on a pair of asbestos earplugs, ’cause she’s going to be Miss Pottymouth of 2010 when she hears what you did to me.”
    “She seems like a reasonable person,” I said with complacence I did not feel. “I’m sure I will be able to explain.”
    Jim snorted. “That’s not a word that’s often applied to her, but you’re just going to have to find that out for yourself. What’s next on the list? ‘Call May and apologize for disappearance.’ I like May. She feeds me.”
    “That is an excellent pointed look, but it is wasted on me. I’m sure you already had breakfast, and it’s not lunchtime yet.”
    “You think this fabulous form stays looking this way without any help? Nuh-uh! I gotta give it all sorts of vitamins and minerals and fresh, lightly grilled cuts of beef.”
    “I’m sure you’ll survive until lunch.”
    “I wouldn’t count on it. Number three . . . oooh. That’s going to be a doozy.”
    “Yes, it is.”
    Jim’s face screwed up as it thought. “If I was you, I’d try and find a neutral place to meet the wyverns. Because if you just march into a sárkány with Baltic, they’ll grab you both.”
    I gave the demon a long look. “Why are you being helpful?”
    Its eyes opened wide. “Me? Helpful? Not on your shiny pink ass. I’m a demon, remember?”
    “Yes, but you’re being helpful. That is totally against the norm so far as demons go.”
    “Yeah, well.” It paused to suck a tooth. “I’m more than just a normal demon. I’m like Demon Plus with super whitening power. How’re you going to get Baltic to agree to meet with the other wyverns?”
    “What makes you think he wouldn’t?” I asked, quelling a feeling of worry about that very subject.
    It rolled its eyes at me. “He’s the dread wyvern Baltic! The big kahuna during the Endless War. He’s probably killed more dragons than everyone else put together.”
    “Oh, he has not!” I said, shifting uneasily.
    “You kidding? Mr. ‘We use his name to scare little dragons into being good’ Baltic? He’s like Genghis Khan and Vlad the Impaler and Stalin all rolled into one scaly package.”
    “Baltic is not scaly! Almost never!”
    It cocked a furry eyebrow at me. “Face it, Soldums—you don’t get the kind of reputation Baltic has by working well with others, and that’s what number three on your list is asking him to do.”
    I looked