Page 24 of Dragon Fires Everywhere
But right now I need him to understand, truly, that he’s a target. And that we need him to live.
ThatIdo, though I’m not ready to think about that either. “And, Azrael, you’re the only magical creature we’ve got.”
8
Frost and I spend the afternoon working on the spell while Rebekah, Smudge, and Octavius do their best to keep Azrael occupied.
I remind myself, repeatedly, that while he didn’t exactly pledge himself to our cause earlier when I pointed out that he wasour only magical creature, he... looked at me, very intensely, for a long while. Then nodded—a quiet acquiescence thatwould be a whole pep rally of support from someone else.
Though I can’t think of anyone else who’s ever simplynoddedat me and made me feel something alarmingly close to giddy.
Even hours later.
When Emerson gets home from Confluence Books, I’m alone in the kitchen making brownies for the meeting we’ll have—by hand,not magic, as handmade brownies are a critical component of all coven gatherings. Grandma Wilde passed this recipe on to me,and I take the making of them as seriously as she did.
I am definitely not avoiding Rebekah’s too-knowing glances my way, or any dragons or post-immortals.
My best friend comes charging into the kitchen the way shehas a million times before in our lives, and we fall into the patterns we’ve had as friends and housemates. She tells me about her Black Friday sale as a small, independent bookstore owner, and the crowds on the street that make her hopeful that more people are shopping local this year.
There might be a few fist pumps, as punctuation.
In turn, I catch her up on the happenings of the day. Not just the spell Frost and I have worked on for hours, but thetrue covenandfabulaebusiness. I draw her the diagram we found, there in the air between us.
Emerson leans against the counter, running her finger through the batter in the bowl now that I’ve got the brownies in theoven, then licking it off. “The dragon really wasn’t making that up.”
She sounds surprised. I tell myself I have no reason to bethissurprised at her surprise, but I am. “Why would you assume he was?”
Emerson laughs. “It’s been a long year, Georgie. Even I can’t drum up automatic trust for a dragon that pops out of my newelpost. Particularly when he spent the morning telling me howimportanthe is. That’s rarely the case for truth.”
I have to nod at that. “Fair.”
We shift back to a discussion of chamber of commerce concerns—concerns I suspect Emerson will have to set aside once she’sfully vested as the new head of the ruling coven, but no one dares get between Em and her beloved St. Cyprian festivals. Orskyrocketing tourist rates. And as she’s telling me her plans for this year’s Christmas Around the World extravaganza, I feelAzrael coming before he appears.
Don’t be so silly, I chide myself. It’s just a prickle on the back of my neck. It’s late November, and this is an old house, so it’s probablyjust a draft.
But then there he is, prowling his way into the sweet old kitchen that holds approximately 98 percent of my happy childhoodmemories, thanks to Emerson’s late grandma.
The remaining happy memories from way back involve libraries.
“Are we ever going to get this nonsense started?” he asks.
“Some of us have jobs, Azrael,” Emerson responds, but merrily, as if he should think that’s fun and wish he had a job too.
I doubt very much he thinks or wishes anything of the kind when he studies her the way he does. “Howhuman.”
He peers at the bowl in Emerson’s grasp, but most of the leftover batter is gone. I swear I see his wide shoulders sink fractionally,so I hand him the mixer paddles, and he lights up again.
I will not analyze why that gives me the warm fuzzies.
And themuch hottersalong with it.
After more Azrael complaints in the same vein—through mouthfuls of batter, which somewhat undercuts themighty and terrifying dragonthing—the rest of the coven begins to trickle in. As he often does, Zander comes last and on the verge of late, mutteringthat the ferry schedules are demanding. We all know that’s true. Since witches first showed up here, his family have beenguarding the three rivers that form the confluence that gives this area its power and magic.
But he’s also gotten more help in the nearly six months since his mother, Zelda, died. These days, his dad is doing much better,and they’ve hired a few more Guardians to help with things. That means Zander is looking ahead and making time not just tobe part of the leading coven, but to be a father to the baby he and Ellowyn have coming.
If I think about how much things are changing, I might get dizzy—actually dizzy, not Georgie ditzy—so I don’t.
We meet in the living room the way we always do, and everyone settles into their typical positions throughout the space. Everyoneexcept me, that is. The leather armchair I usually curl up in with Octavius is just... not there.
