Light Dragons 03 - Sparks Fly

answer to the question is yes, you’re all in time. We haven’t seen hide nor hair of Dr. Kostich.”
    “What is this?” a male voice asked behind me. “Why do you concern yourself with my hair? Why are you and that behemoth of a dragon lurking in wait outside the portalling office? And what are they doing here, too?”
    I turned around slowly, slapping a pleasant smile on my face. “Hello, Dr. Kostich.”
    Dr. Kostich’s expression, lit by the soft yellow glow of sodium lights, was grim to start with, but it became even grimmer on beholding me. “I might have known I’d find you here. No doubt you intend on getting in my way.”
    “Hey now,” I said, about to tell him a thing or two, but then I remembered that he was probably quite worried about Violet. There was a strained look about his pale blue eyes that hinted at emotions not evident on the surface. Instead of protesting his slur, I simply said, “We’re here to help you. As a matter of fact, we’ve gone to considerable expense, and quite a bit of personal discomfort, in order to do that-something you would do well to remember when you start calling Baltic’s dragon form fat. Which it isn’t, but I know you have an issue differentiating between a really buff dragon form and Jabba the Hut.”
    Dr. Kostich’s eyes narrowed as he looked from Baltic and me to the others. “You’re not here to help me,” he said slowly, his head whipping around until he could pin me back with a glare that came close to stripping my eyebrows right off my head. “You’re here to steal the von Endres blade!”
    “Now why would you think that?” I asked, trying to force an innocent expression to my face.
    He pointed at Drake. “The green wyvern is here, the only being who has ever been able to break into the L’au-dela vault until last year, when my misbenighted granddaughter and her band of lunatic dragons repeated the act.”
    Drake pursed his lips. “Someone else broke into the vault?”
    “In a manner of speaking. Maura bribed a guard to allow her and her band of thugs into it.” Dr. Kostich looked about to explode at the memory.
    Aisling patted Drake’s hand and said softly, “It’s all right, Drake. Your record still stands. You can stop thinking about new ways to top Maura’s break-in.”
    “Hmm,” he said thoughtfully.
    “Yes, well, we have more important things to focus on right now,” I said, taking Baltic’s wrist to look at his watch. “When do you expect Thala to arrive?”
    Dr. Kostich looked at me as if I had suddenly turned into a tiny pink elephant.
    “Look, we know you’re here to trap her at the sepulcher. We also know you must have given her the information about its whereabouts. We’re here to help you make sure that you do, in fact, capture her. Er ... just for curiosity’s sake, how did you get the information about the location of the sepulcher to her?”
    “That is my business, Tully Sullivan. Do not try to deny that you are here so that you can pretend to assist me in rescuing Violet, but secretly plan to steal the von Endres sword,” Kostich countered.
    “We promised Maura to help, and by the saints, we are going to do so.”
    Dr. Kostich’s gaze shifted to Baltic, who was looking somewhat bored. “You planned this, didn’t you? You planned it when I took the sword away from you months ago. Don’t deny you had a hand in this-it was your lieutenant who kidnapped my daughter. You swore to have the sword back, and this is your way of achieving that goal, isn’t it?”
    “It’s a way, yes,” Baltic said.
    I looked at him in outright surprise. “You didn’t tell Thala to kidnap Violet, did you?”
    “No. I thought simply to rob the sepulcher to reclaim my sword. But so long as Thala did kidnap the archimage’s daughter, we might as well take advantage of it.” He turned back to Dr. Kostich, his gaze shrewd. “As my mate has said, we will help you capture Thala, and force her to return your daughter ... for a price-my sword.”
    Gabriel made an unhappy little noise. I shot him a warning glance, which was fortunately enough to keep him from speaking up.
    Kostich was silent for a few seconds, but after some general seething, finally said, “I would not risk my own daughter’s life for something so trivial as a sword. But neither will I give it up to a dragon. It belongs to a mage, and you are not one. I refuse your offer.”
    “What?” I cried as he pushed past me, and with a quick glare at Savian, strode