Page 25 of A Vampire in a Pear Tree
Owain knew how they felt.
“And my point still stands—it’s not polite to tell strangers about intimate situations.”She looked so self-righteous he wanted to give in and kiss her the way his body had been demanding since he first saw her standing at the entrance to Abaddon.
“Technically, they are family,” he said, pointing to the two men before asking Christian, “Do you know which of the four of us you are descended from?”
“No,” he answered, his expression changing quickly from surprise at the question to speculation.“But it is something I now wish to determine.The Moravian Council archives are seldom consulted, but I believe your return to the mortal realm gives us a good reason to go through the documents we have.”
“I will help you as best I can,” Owain promised.
The men hesitated, sending each other glances filled with meaning.
Owain sighed, and retaking the hand that Berry had snatched from him when she tried to downplay the attraction between them, he said, “Our attempt to remove evil from the world was born of good intentions, but the centuries I’ve spent imprisoned in the Hour has led me to realize such an outcome would never have worked.There must be darkness in order to have light, and to extinguish one would doom the other.I do not seek revenge against anyone, not even Desislav, although I can’t allow him to regain the blood moon.Since it is not safe for the relic to be at large, I will devote myself to locating it, and removing it from Desi’s sphere of influence.”
“And that is where we have a problem,” the dragon named Yrian said as he strode over to them, followed by the woman introduced as Finch’s Beloved.“The dragonkin have need of the blood moon.I must use it to make changes in the weyr, and to stop my mother from rescuing my brother Kashi.”
Owain eyed Yrian.He hadn’t had time at their arrival to do more than note that the dragons had a demigod in their midst, and that Yrian had a golden aura that made Owain feel as if he were standing in direct sunlight.
He took a step backward, as did the two Dark Ones.
For a moment, something flared in Yrian’s eyes.
“We mean no disrespect,” Owain said, feeling it would be best not to anger his host.“Your aura affects us in a not pleasant manner.”
“His aura?”Berry asked, her attention now on Yrian.“He has an aura?I don’t see anything.”
“That’s because you are not a grandson of the druid Cailitin,” Owain told her.
“Ah.”Yrian’s gaze shifted to that of Christian.“Is that why you backed away from me when we were at your castle?”
“I didn’t realize you had an aura, as I am also not the grandson of a famed druid,” Christian answered.“But as I am apparently his descendant, yes, I could feel heat radiating from you, and it grew to be quite intense when you were near.I assumed it was an artifact of being the son of a fire fury.”
“A fire fury would explain some of it, but not all,” Owain said, now also studying Yrian.The latter’s mate—Becket—and the other dragons joined them.
“He’s also the firstborn son of the First Dragon,” Becket said, giving Owain a warm smile.“That might account for the gold part of it.”
“It seems to me we are at an impasse,” Owain said, considering the dragons.“I have no animosity with your kind, but should you seek to keep the blood moon from me or, worse, to use it against me, I will be forced to take action.”
The dragons didn’t like that, and he could sense them closing ranks against him.To his surprise, the two Dark Ones didn’t ally themselves with the dragons, but instead shifted subtly to indicate their allegiance lay with him.
“For Pete’s sake, why is everyone suddenly going to war against us?”one of the female dragons asked, glaring at her dragon, who had exceptionally green eyes.“I’m not going through this stupid cycle of dancing around war with other beings, not again.We are older and wiser, and more importantly, we have children now.I’m not putting them at risk for a power struggle over a ridiculous relic!If you guys can’t figure out how to work things out, we mates will.”
Her dragon looked mildly shocked.“Kincsem,”he said, frowning at her.“The relic is anything but ridiculous.And we do not wish for war, but we will protect the kin against threats, just as the Dark Ones wish to protect their people.”
“Pfft,” one of the other mates, this one a blonde, said as she pushed past the dragon to stand next to the first female.In addition, she shot an indignant look around at the rest of them, the Dark Ones and Owain included.“Damn straight, Aisling.Baltic and I don’t mind helping Yrian get back on his feet and find his place in the modern world, but Bael is well and truly out of our hair, and frankly, I’d like it to stay that way.If we get the blood moon, you’ll mess around with his imprisonment, and then somehow, he’ll miraculously escape again, and we’ll be back to the start of this whole mess.”
“Brava, Ysolde,” Becket told her, applauding lightly, also now standing with the other two dragon mates.“I may not have kids, but as someone whoreallydoesn’t want Bael to get out of the Thirteenth Hour, I’m with you on the whole let sleeping murderous whoresons lie.”
Everyone looked in surprise at her.
She cleared her throat and shot the demigod a tiny smile, adding, “Sorry, Yrian referred to him by that sobriquet a few days ago, and I thought it was fitting.Name-calling Bael aside, I don’t see that youneedto have the blood moon.”
She’d spoken the last sentence to Yrian, who answered, “You forget that without it, I can’t change the weyr.I have sworn to do so, and I will not forswear myself.Not to anyone, and especially not to kin.”
“Yeah, but do you really have to do that?”The woman who spoke was the Beloved of Finch.Owain narrowed his gaze on her.
“What do you mean?”Finch asked; then suddenly his eyebrows rose.“Ah.That is a good point.”His gaze shifted to Owain.
“Seriously, can we look into being able to do the mind talking that the vamps can do?”The dark haired mate asked the blonde.“Because it would be the end to so many arguments if we could know what each other was thinking.”
