Light Dragons 03 - Sparks Fly

that if he makes an exception for Mum, then he’ll have to make exceptions the next time someone comes to him with a family member or loved one held hostage. He said there was nothing the Committee could do to help my mother. It breaks my heart, but I understand why he has refused to tell me the location. I just ... I just wish they would make an exception for me.”
    I was silent for a few minutes, the soft sounds of the night surrounding us. An owl hooted in the distance. A low drone indicated a car passing on the borders of our property. A high-pitched whine warned of a mosquito in search for a warm meal. At last I said, “I assume you told all of this to Savian?”
    “Yes. I didn’t want to, because I felt it would add unnecessary stress to ... things.”
    “A relationship?” I asked with arched brows.
    Even in the dim light of the camping lamp, I could see a faint stain of color on her cheeks. “Such as it is, yes. But when I got this message, I knew I had to get some help.”
    She pulled out her phone, punched a few buttons, and showed me a text message that read simply “You’re out of time. You have eight hours to find it, or your mother will pay.”
    I handed back the phone. “That sounds like Thala. How long ago did you get it?”
    “About two hours ago. It took me some time to get here. I was in St. Petersburg.”
    “Why there?” I asked, wondering if everyone was in St. Petersburg at that moment.
    “Thala told me that was where she thought the sepulcher was. There or outside of Moscow, but she felt St. Petersburg was the better choice due to the number of watch members in the area.”
    I bit my lower lip in thought, then patted her hand in a reassuring fashion. “Don’t worry. We still have six hours, and we’re going to make the most of them.” I got to my feet and gathered up my bag.
    “If Savian couldn’t find it in the three days he said he’s been looking-” she started to say.
    “We don’t have time for that. I don’t say he wouldn’t find it, but he himself would be the first to admit that sometimes it takes a while to locate objects that have been hidden well. No, we’re going to go to the source for the information.”
    “The source?” Her forehead wrinkled as she followed me back into the house. “What source?”
    “Dr. Kostich.”
    She put a hand on my arm to stop me. “Ysolde, I just told you-”
    “I know what you told me, and I also know what your grandfather didn’t say. I may not have many memories, but I know this-he loves your mother, and there’s no way he’d sit around and not take any action when her life was threatened. We just have to get around that whole “no negotiation with terrorists” thing, and I’m confident we can do that.”
    “How?” she asked, standing in the doorway to the kitchen when I headed up the back stairs.
    “Leave that to me,” I said with calm reassurance, and hastily trotted up the stairs before she could ask me for details.
    The truth was, I hadn’t a clue how I was going to get Dr. Kostich to give me the location of the sepulcher. I just knew that somehow it had to be done.

Chapter Fifteen
    “E xplain to me why I must do this.”
    Ten minutes after my conversation with Maura, I sat on Baltic’s lap to keep him from getting out of the chair and leaving the room, as he had threatened to do just a moment before.
    “Because it’s important to me. Surely that is enough?”
    “The archimage’s daughter is nothing to me.”
    “No, but Violet is my friend, and she helped me before, so I’m not going to turn my back on either her or her daughter.”
    “The same daughter who led the attack on us at Dauva,” he pointed out.
    “She’s explained that, and apologized, so move on.” I kissed the tip of his nose. “It’s important to me, Baltic. But mostly, it’s important to us .”
    He frowned. “How is taking a portal to St. Petersburg to locate my mage sword important to us? You do not like the sword. You are jealous of it because Antonia was my lover when she gave it to me. You told me that you would skewer me with it yourself if I ever so much as thought of her, which was ridiculous since I have never thought of any woman but you since I took you from the humans.”
    “I miss my parents,” I said, suddenly homesick for a home that hadn’t been mine in five hundred years. “They may have been human, but they were very nice people. Wait ... When did I tell you I’d stab you with it?”
    He gave a little