Light Dragons 02 - The Unbearable Lightness of Dragons

and me long gone—but certainly not anything to do with her mother. “She wants to resurrect her, too? The famed Antonia von Endres? The archimage who was so powerful, she once bested the ruling prince of Abaddon? The one you slept with?”
    He made a face. “I knew you would not forget that.”
    “Of course not. I also haven’t forgotten that you slept with Thala.”
    “That was a good century before I met you, mate.”
    “Which is why I’m not belaboring the point, although how she has the nerve to tell me she’s not in love with you . . . well, that’s another subject. Surely Antonia von Endres is in the beyond?”
    Baltic looked unconcerned, his fingers idly tracing patterns on my leg. “She went wherever mages go when they diminish.”
    “That’s the beyond.” I frowned, remembering something May had told me. “But you can go there, too. Have you been there to see her?”
    “We are light dragons, Ysolde. We both are able to access the beyond in a limited fashion.”
    “Did you go to see her?”
    He sighed yet another of his put-upon sighs that didn’t garner any sympathy from me. “It is hard for me to compare, but I believe you are even more jealous now than you used to be, which was then of a level that made it uncomfortable to have any female around me who wasn’t human or ugly enough to make you retch, and even then there were a few instances when you insisted that I lusted after leprous hags.”
    “Nice attempt to change the subject. Answer the question, dragon.”
    “I have not seen Antonia von Endres since she diminished some six hundred years ago. You may now kiss me and beg my pardon for suspecting me of an interest in any female other than you.”
    I couldn’t help but smile at his demand, and did, in fact, kiss him, giving him just a little taste of his own dragon fire before apologizing for my dark suspicions.
    He left me off at Dr. Kostich’s hotel with a word of warning. “Do not do anything that will result in you dying again. I have reached the limit of the number of times I can survive your death, no matter how short that period lasts.”
    “I promise I won’t do any magic that threatens my life,” I said solemnly as he walked me to the elevators, fighting hard to keep my lips from twitching. “Did Pavel say he had any leads on Thala?”
    “No, but she had an interest in a building here in London. Pavel is waiting for me there.”
    “All right. Baltic . . .” I bit my lip, unsure if my uneasy feeling was justified or not. “I’m grateful that you had Pavel remove Brom from the house just in case Thala went there and was out of control, but do we really need to hide out at a hotel? She seemed very reasonable the last time we talked, not at all like she used to be. I’m not saying she doesn’t have something up her sleeve, because I can well believe she does, but if she’s not jealous of me because she’s in love with you, then she really doesn’t pose a threat to Brom or me.”
    “I will not risk either of your lives until I speak with her,” he said firmly. “It goes against my desire to have my son placed with the green dragons, but at least I know he will be safe there.”
    “It was nice of Nico to ask Aisling to take them in for a few hours,” I said absently. “I’ll pick up Brom once I’m done here. But do you really think—”
    “Yes.” Ignoring the stream of people entering and exiting the elevators, he pulled me to his chest. I melted against him, as I always do, the sensation of the hard lines of his body against mine never failing to send a little zing of pleasure down my spine. “Be cautious, Ysolde. You are everything to me.”
    I defy you to not turn to mush at a man declaring such a thing, doubly so if you know it’s the literal truth. “Likewise. If she’s got an axe to grind, I’d rather it not be upside your head.”
    His head dipped down to claim my mouth, dragon fire whipping through me. Mindful of the people around us, I tamped it down so that it wouldn’t manifest itself visibly, feeling that we were drawing enough attention without setting the lobby on fire.
    I watched him walk away, aware that he didn’t even notice the women who stopped and stared at him with mouths agape and eyes bugged out. Still shirtless, his hair loose around his shoulders, with a determined set to his jaw, and a powerful stride that was downright feral, he was indeed a sight to behold.
    And I would do anything to keep him safe.

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