Light Dragons 03 - Sparks Fly

Constantine, breathing heavily as he wiped blood from his eyes and shifted back into human form. “What ... happened?” he panted, looking around for his missing challenger.
    Baltic swore profoundly. “I knew he would do that before Kostya failed and I could take over.”
    “Will you stop saying I’m going to fail!” Kostya snapped, wiping the blood flowing from his nose.
    “I’m sorry that you can’t vent your animosity a bit by beating him up, but I’m not sorry that you can’t fight,” I told Baltic, somewhat confusedly.
    “I did not fail!”
    “You will cease being concerned that I will be hurt. Unlike you, I have not died repeatedly,” Baltic said with lofty disregard.
    “I would not have failed, either, which you would see for yourself if Constantine had not disappeared!”
    “Neither death was my fault, I’d like to point out,” I said with much righteousness. “It’s not like I go around getting killed just for the fun of it.”
    “I am wyvern! I do not fail!” Kostya weaved as he staggered toward us, suddenly sitting down very hard.
    I sighed and looked over to him. “I suppose I’m going to have to call the healer again.”
    “I am not hurt. I don’t need a healer,” Kostya said, and promptly fell over onto his side as he moaned softly to himself.
    “Take him into the sitting room,” I said with a dispassionate eye as Drake, looking somewhat annoyed, scooped up his brother, tossed him over his shoulder, and started for the house, Aisling and Jim trailing behind.

Chapter Fourteen
    “I knew I would find you here. Always when you are upset, you retreat to the garden.”
    “You know me so well.” I moved the camping light a foot to the side and knee-walked after it to settle in front of a choked tangle of weeds and daisies. “If we’re going to stay here for a while during the rebuilding of Dauva, I’d like to be able to enjoy the garden area. It will be quite a nice little spot once the beds are weeded, although not many of the flowers have survived. Just a few aphidy roses, and what I suspect are wild daisies.”
    “We will hire someone to do this work,” Baltic told me in his usual bossy tone.
    I slanted a look up at him and sank my fingers into the earth, gently separating the roots of the weed from that of a daisy. “I enjoy weeding, as you well know.”
    “I know it, but I do not wish for you to overwork yourself.”
    I looked up again, searching his face, but there was nothing there to indicate anything other than mild concern. I murmured something noncommittal before asking, “Did Kostya take off?”
    “The green wyvern took him once the healer was done. Why did you leave? Pavel was distressed that you missed the meal he prepared.”
    I yanked out a few more weeds, trying to find the words to explain the sense of despair that had come over me while the healer was fixing Kostya’s ills. “Does it ever seem too much to you, Baltic? All the death and betrayal and inevitability? And don’t tell me you don’t care-you may have the reputation of being a heartless fiend, but you feel things just as deeply as I do.”
    He knelt beside me, not touching me, but close enough that I could feel his warmth. “I should not have allowed that vision to continue. It distressed you.”
    “It isn’t that. Well, yes, it did distress me, but only because I don’t like seeing anyone die, even if that event was almost a thousand years ago.” I jerked out a clump of crabgrass and swore when the tough fibers of the plant slid along my hand and cut my palm.
    “You always were fairly squeamish despite your bloodthirsty nature,” Baltic said, taking my hand and blowing a little fire across it.
    “I am not bloodthirsty! Nor am I squeamish. I’ve never been squeamish. I just don’t like people killing one another. Is that so wrong?” Another wave of despair washed over me, causing me to lean into Baltic, needing him to bring hope and happiness back into my life.
    “This is not about Alexei’s death,” he said, brushing a tear off my cheek. “What distresses you, chérie ?”
    “Everything.” I made a vague gesture. “Your refusing to let me make the First Dragon happy. Constantine’s fighting everyone for a sept. The business with Kostya and stealing back our shard from him. And having Drake-” I stopped.
    “I wondered when you were going to tell me why the green wyvern came to visit you,” Baltic said with deceptive mildness. He kissed the palm of my hand, now