Light Dragons 03 - Sparks Fly

my vision a few months ago?” I asked, remembering the cold, bleak stone building.
    “That is the aerie, yes. It used to be held by Kostya, before Thala confined him there.”
    I shivered at the thought of being held prisoner in such a stark location. “All of that notwithstanding, I will ask Dr. Kostich, but I can tell you now there isn’t anyone else to help us. And stop looking at me like that-I don’t want to have to deal with him any more than you do, even though he’s really not the horrible person you think he is.”
    “He is responsible for your death, mate.”
    “You know as well as I do that he wasn’t responsible for my dying a second time. Well, not directly responsible. Besides, I apologized about that, so you can stop looking like you’re going to yell at me again. It’s not as if I die so often that I deserve a lecture. Honestly, Baltic, you really are becoming just as bossy as Drake, and you know that only irritates me.”
    “I do not like your going where I cannot protect you,” he said in a low grumble that was softened by the look of love in his beautiful onyx eyes. I melted against him, unable to resist the emotions I knew bound us so tightly together. “The other mates should come here, instead of you going into London.”
    “It’s Aisling’s turn to host the Mates’ Union meeting, and even if it wasn’t, I’m not going to live my life hiding in the shadows because Thala is on the loose.” I kissed him quickly so as to avoid the temptation his mouth offered, then climbed into the back of the sleek dark blue car. “I’m going to do a little shopping before I meet with Aisling and May, and yes, I’ll be careful, so you can stop fretting. Thala is in Nepal, not here in England.”
    “There is nothing to say she hasn’t escaped.”
    “You left a whole bunch of Drake’s guys to watch the borders, didn’t you? Stop worrying. They’ll tell you if she leaves the aerie.”
    “Assuming they see her,” he muttered darkly.
    “I’m the first one to admit she’s powerful, but I don’t see her getting out of the country without someone noticing. I’ll be back before dinner. If Brom and Nico come home early, remind them that Brom’s vacation was officially over yesterday, and it wouldn’t hurt them to start on his lessons this afternoon. Oh, and Baltic?”
    “Yes?” He leaned into the car.
    I grabbed his head and pulled hard on the little core of dragon fire that slumbered inside me, letting it flow out to him as I kissed him again. “Perhaps later we can explore some more of your secret fantasies,” I whispered, smiling to myself at the look of mingled surprise and passion that flitted through his eyes.

Chapter Two
    “T o the Wyvern’s Nest?” asked Ludovic, the dragon whose services the blue wyvern Bastian had offered as a gesture of peace (and more likely, of apology for believing Baltic had killed so many of his sept members), as he pulled out into the sparse traffic of the tiny little suburb of London and headed in the direction of the main roads.
    “Not yet. I’d like to do some shopping first. Er ... some special shopping.” I cleared my throat. “After that, I’ll be going to Aisling’s house, not the blue dragon pub. The meeting has been moved since Baltic had a hissy fit at the thought of it being held out in public where anyone might happen to sing a dirge and thereby blow up the building with us in it. Do you know where Aisling lives?”
    “Of course,” he answered, his light brown eyebrows rising. “We blue dragons make sure we know where all the wyverns live.”
    “That sounds like something Chuan Ren or another red dragon would have said, not the peaceful blues.”
    Ludovic shrugged. “It is the truth nonetheless. I’m sure you will realize this is not meant to shame or embarrass you, but we trust no one outside the sept.”
    “And yet you’re working for us,” I pointed out gently, not wanting to offend him. Ludovic was a nice young man, probably only a few hundred years old, with a personable smile, and a penchant for the latest in high-fashion clothing. He always looked as if he had just stepped off the runway, something I’d noticed had applied to most blue dragons-male and female-that I’d seen since my latest resurrection. “Surely Bastian wouldn’t have volunteered you to drive us around if he didn’t trust us.”
    He shrugged again. “It is not for me to question the wyvern; he gives the orders, and I follow them.”
    I