Light Dragons 01 - Love in the Time of Dragons

down at my list, sighing to myself as I admitted the truth. “He used to be scary. Now he’s different.”
    “A kinder, gentler maniac is still a maniac, chicky. Tell you what—you send me back to Ash, and I’ll tell her and Drake that Baltic isn’t the hyperderanged, mass-murdering psycho bastard they think he is, OK?”
    “No,” I said firmly, putting a little tick mark next to item number three. “We’re not going to tell them that. We’re going to prove it, and the only way we can do that is to get everyone together, the wyverns and Baltic and me, so we can work things out in a civilized manner.”
    The demon eyed me curiously as I stood up, filled with determination. “You think you got a way to make all that happen?”
    “I think I have a way to make Baltic understand that he will have to speak with the wyverns, yes. You forget there’s a death sentence hanging over my head. He may be adorably arrogant, but I doubt very much if he will allow the weyr to kill me. I’ll simply point out that if he wants that sentence lifted, he’s going to have to go with me to speak to the wyverns.”
    “Uh-huh. That’s just part of it, though, the Baltic side. How are you going to get the wyverns to talk to him?”
    “That’s the easiest part of all,” I said, patting it on its head.
    “Yeah? What do you have up your sleeve? A magic mongoose or something?”
    “Nope.” I paused at the door and tossed the demon a smile. “I have you.”
    I closed the door gently on the sound of its sputtering.
    The phone calls, as I suspected, weren’t the most pleasant ones of my life.
    “Ysolde!” Aisling gasped when I got through to her. “Are you all right? We just got home. May’s here, and she said you’ve been kidnapped. Did you get away from Baltic? Has he hurt you? If he has, you just let me know. I’m a professional—I’ll take care of him. I’ll just summon Jim from Paris, and we’ll—”
    “Er . . . I appreciate that offer, but it’s not necessary,” I interrupted. “About Jim . . . Aisling, Jim is with me.”
    “It’s what? Why is it with you? Oh my god! Baltic kidnapped Jim when he grabbed you, didn’t he? That bastard! That fire-breathing bastard! He had just better watch out the next time I see him, because I will do all sorts of evil things to him. He won’t ever have children, for a start. And I think I know of someone who can curse him—”
    “I would really appreciate if you didn’t do any of that,” I said, laughing. I could feel her surprise at the laughter, which, I admit, died quickly as I confessed, “Baltic didn’t kidnap Jim—I did.”
    The silence that followed the statement was broken only by the noise of another receiver being picked up. “Ysolde? It’s May. You’re all right? Are you hurt in any way?”
    “She said she took Jim,” Aisling said, breathing somewhat heavily into the phone.
    “She did? I thought it went to Paris.”
    “It was supposed to.”
    “Then why did Ysolde kidnap it?”
    I sighed. “Because it saw that Baltic was with me. Look, this is going to be impossible to explain over the phone. I just didn’t want you thinking that Jim was in any danger. It’s here with us—”
    “With you and Baltic? What the hell?” Aisling said, her voice rising.
    “Oh, knock it off,” I said irritably. Although I knew I had committed the wrong, I had expected that they would understand why I had done it.
    “Did she just tell you to knock it off?” May asked Aisling.
    “Yes, she did,” Aisling answered, sounding rather bewildered.
    “I’m sorry for my rudeness, but honestly! I thought if anyone would understand what’s been happening, two wyverns’ mates would,” I said firmly. “Surely you two understand the strength of the bonds that tie you to your particular dragon. The same applies to me, no matter if I am in human form or not.”
    “But—” Aisling started to protest.
    “No, there are no buts. You’re the ones who were so bent on insisting that I’m Baltic’s mate! For the love of all that’s holy, you were ready to condemn me to death because of that!” My own voice was rising now. I made an effort to stem my growing anger.
    “I never wanted you to die,” May said quietly.
    “Well, me either! I may be a demon lord, but I’m not a bad demon lord,” Aisling said quickly.
    “You accepted Baltic as your mate?” May asked.
    I rubbed my forehead. Another headache was blossoming. “Yes, I did. And because of that, I want to