Me and My Shadow - Katie MacAlister [104]
“Are you in pain, kincsem?” Drake asked.
“No. Just need to use the expectant Goodyear blimp’s room. Help me up?”
He lifted her up, watching with worried eyes as she toddled out the door.
“Gabriel would be happy to check her over if you’re worried,” I told Drake, feeling a slight pang of betrayal toward Aisling, since I knew she hated to be fussed over.
He actually thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. “Our midwife will be here in a few hours. If Aisling goes into labor before then, we will have Kaawa attend to her.”
I’d forgotten that Gabriel’s mom was a midwife, as well. “I’m sure she’ll be happy to be of help. I’m afraid I’m utterly useless when it comes to this sort of thing, but I want you and Aisling to know that if I can do anything to make her more comfortable, I’ll be delighted to do it.”
Drake thanked me, and moved toward the door, ostensibly to greet Fiat, but clearly waiting for Aisling to return. I wandered over to where Kaawa and Nora were chatting.
“Do you mind if I watch the shard being re-formed?” Nora interrupted herself to ask me, her eyes bright with interest behind the red rims of her glasses. “From what Kaawa tells me, it’s truly a remarkable occasion, and I would dearly like to witness it, if I may.”
“Of course. I don’t know that there’s going to be any fireworks, but you’re welcome to stay and watch. I just hope I don’t bungle the ceremony.” I hoped no one saw quite how nervous I was about the upcoming event. My stomach felt like it was filled with jumping beans, and I had an uncomfortable presentiment that something was going to go horribly wrong.
“You’ll be fine, I’m sure,” Nora said, flashing a smile at me. “I have no doubt Kaawa prepared you well for it.”
“My daughter could do no less,” Kaawa said with simple majesty, making me feel simultaneously unworthy of such trust and filled to overflowing with a determination to do both Gabriel and her proud.
A persistent worry soon took care of any warm, fuzzy feeling I might have had at Kaawa’s praise.
“Are you sure now is a good time to do this?” I asked Gabriel, pulling him aside for a moment. “Kostya is here, and Baltic is still out there doing god knows what, and now Fiat is here and is pissed as hell. Maybe we should do this later, when no other dragons are around.”
He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me to him, speaking into my temple. “Do not fear, little bird. I won’t let anything happen to you or the dragon heart.”
“I know you won’t, but . . .” I stopped, unable to put into words the heavy feeling that hung over my heart. The dragon shard had been oddly quiet inside me, much to my surprise. I had been grateful that it hadn’t tried to get me to throw myself on any of the other wyverns present, but now that I had a chance to think about it, it hadn’t been prompting me to do anything particularly dragonish. It was as if it was holding its breath in anticipation.
That thought made me more nervous than anything else.
“No, I will not sit down! I have had enough of this treatment ! You will release me now or pay the consequences!” Fiat yelled, jerking his arm out of István’s hold.
Everyone stopped talking to eye him.
“I have been unfairly detained by Drake and Gabriel,” Fiat yelled. “You are all witnesses to this fact! I demand that a sárkány be called to punish them!”
Chuan Ren’s eyes narrowed on him. When Fiat had entered the room, both her son and her husband had been blocking her, obviously intending to prevent her from killing him dead on the spot. “You have no status in the weyr,” she said now, pushing aside her son to stride forward.
I saw the glint of metal in her hand before I could speak, but she wasn’t fast enough.
Drake had just unlocked the handcuffs that held Fiat, which was a lucky thing considering Fiat caught Chuan Ren’s wrist just as she was about to plunge the dagger into his heart.
“Oh, please,” he said, scorn dripping from his voice as he twisted her wrist. “Do you think I have been wyvern as