Katie MacAlister - Playing with Fire

‘‘You admit you were in there!’’ Kostya said, storming toward me. ‘‘You admit you stole my phylactery!’’

Instantly Gabriel was on his feet in front of me, István and Pál moving in. I stopped Gabriel as Kostya backed off, snarling.

‘‘Yes, I did take it,’’ I said with a little glance at Gabriel. ‘‘But I didn’t know what it was at the time.’’

‘‘I think perhaps you’d better explain again what happened while you were in the lair,’’ Drake said slowly.

‘‘It’s nothing beyond what I told you before. But those alarms were disabled, and someone had to do it. I can’t see Porter doing that without just taking the phylactery for himself.’’

Kostya shot me a fierce look. ‘‘That’s ridiculous! That alarm is always set! You lie.’’

‘‘Mayling never lies! Well, almost never,’’ Cyrene said with a cutting look.

‘‘Thanks for the support,’’ I murmured, my lips twitching wryly before I continued. ‘‘I found it hard to believe that you’d leave the window unprotected that way. But when I looked at the alarm, it had been disabled.’’

‘‘You disabled it!’’ Kostya accused.

I shook my head. ‘‘I didn’t. I couldn’t-it’s inside the window.’’

That stopped him for a moment.

‘‘But there’s more than the window alarm that doesn’t make sense. Why did you leave the phylactery in an unlocked chest?’’

‘‘I don’t have an unlocked chest. You broke the wards binding it, and unlocked it three nights ago, when you stole the phylactery.’’

‘‘Three nights ago I was in Greece,’’ I said thoughtfully.

‘‘You stole the phylactery then!’’ he insisted. ‘‘Then you returned to steal more of my treasures. I found the chest you’d broken into days earlier nearly empty after you leaped out of the window,’’ he snapped, making short, jerky little motions with his hands as he paced back and forth in front of the window. ‘‘You stole many things from me that night, but it’s the phylactery that matters the most. I want it returned!’’

‘‘If May is speaking the truth-and I do not doubt for a moment she is-then I begin to see the point of her question,’’ Drake said. ‘‘Kostya claims the phylactery was stolen three days ago. You are certain of that, brother?’’

Kostya snapped a ‘‘yes’’ at Drake.

Aisling breathed a little ‘‘ahhh’’ of enlightenment. ‘‘So, if the phylactery was stolen when we were all in Greece, then someone else must have taken it.’’

‘‘And if May didn’t disengage the alarm and unlock the chest, and likewise Kostya didn’t…’’ Cyrene said, frowning in puzzlement.

‘‘Then who did?’’ I asked, looking around the room. ‘‘And is the person who burgled Kostya the night I paid his lair a visit the same one who took the phylactery? Was it Porter? If it was him, why did he blackmail me? How did the phylactery get back into an unlocked chest? Why was it returned? And most importantly, is the person who did all that also responsible for the disappearance of Gabriel’s guards?’’

‘‘I don’t believe these lies,’’ Kostya said, shooting me an evil look. ‘‘She is the thief Mei Ling. She admits to taking my phylactery. She has concocted this smoke-screen to hide her actions.’’

‘‘If May had given me the phylactery, do you think I’d be sitting here now tolerating your abuse of her?’’ Gabriel asked, his muscles tensing up again.

Kostya was about to answer, but stopped, clearly baffled.

‘‘Despite my better judgment, I am willing to concede that I was wrong about Kostya,’’ Gabriel continued. ‘‘At least so far as him having the phylactery was concerned, although I reserve judgment about Maata and Tipene. It would seem that there is another player to this drama, one who has not yet unveiled himself. Someone who first removed the phylactery from Kostya’s lair, then returned it for some unknown reason. Someone who has employed the thief taker Porter, although whether he ordered Porter to retrieve the phylactery is not known. It could be Porter was acting on his own. Whoever is behind it, he had no difficulty in disabling either Kostya’s alarms or the protections he bound into the chest containing the phylactery. In other words, someone who appears to be manipulating us all without our knowing it.’’

‘‘Who?’’ Cyrene asked.

The dragons all exchanged glances.

‘‘No,’’ Drake said, shaking his head. ‘‘What you suggest is impossible.’’

‘‘Who?’’ Aisling asked, pinching the back of Drake’s hand. He covered her hand with his, still shaking his head at Gabriel.

‘‘It is not impossible. You found signs in Fiat’s house,’’ Gabriel said.

‘‘Signs of whom?’’ I asked Gabriel.

‘‘He’s dead,’’ Drake said, still shaking his head. ‘‘We all know he’s dead… Kostya most of all.’’

Kostya looked frozen, his face a mask. The two bodyguards had a similar frozen look. Who was it who could make two wyverns and a couple of dragons react in such a manner?

‘‘Who?’’ Cyrene and I said at the same time.

The dragons were silent.

‘‘I’ll say it if no one else will,’’ Jim announced, standing up and shaking itself. ‘‘The person in question is a wyvern, reportedly killed a couple hundred years ago by his right-hand man and heir to the wyvern throne, and is, in fact, the same wyvern who stole a silver dragon’s mate and made her his own. He is also the one responsible for the deaths of thousands of dragons, and not incidentally the one who cursed the silver sept. Yes, it’s the big kahuna, the whole enchilada, the dread wyvern himself-Baltic.’’

‘‘Baltic is dead. Kostya cleaved him in two long ago.’’ Drake’s voice, pleasant enough although not even close to being as delicious as Gabriel’s, seemed to hang in the thick silence that followed Jim’s statement.

‘‘That would seem to me to be pretty final,’’ I agreed. ‘‘I haven’t known anyone who could survive it.’’

‘‘That doesn’t explain the fact that someone is manipulating events to his wishes,’’ Gabriel said.

‘‘I don’t claim it does, but it doesn’t necessarily imply that the person behind the recent movements of the phylactery is Baltic,’’ Drake answered.

‘‘There is someone out there leading a group of dragons with no known sept or affiliation. You know that yourself, since you and Kostya were held prisoner by them,’’ Gabriel said.

I looked with wonder at Drake and Kostya. ‘‘Someone held you both prisoner?’’

Drake made an impatient gesture. ‘‘That was an isolated incident.’’

‘‘They were up a mountain without a paddle,’’ Jim said with blithe disregard. ‘‘Aisling had to save their butts.’’

‘‘It’s my job,’’ Aisling said with a humble smile. ‘‘I’m a professional.’’

‘‘You do it well,’’ Cyrene said. ‘‘I wonder if I could have your autograph later?’’

Aisling looked pleased.

‘‘So who are these dragons, then?’’ I asked the room at large.

Silence weighed heavy before Gabriel spoke. ‘‘No one knows. I thought they were ouroboros-outcasts, septless dragons who banded together for strength- but now I am not so sure. The way they took over Kostya’s aerie, the manner in which they dealt with Drake, and now this matter of the phylactery… it would take more than a small group of lawless dragons to coordinate those activities. There must be someone guiding the group, Drake, someone with a wyvern’s experience at leadership. It has to be Baltic-it can be no one else.’’

‘‘That does seem to make sense, sweetie,’’ Aisling said, leaning into Drake.