Me and My Shadow - Katie MacAlister [106]
Silence held the room in its grip for a few seconds, long enough for the sound of a door closing in the back of the house to reach us.
“There was no challenge,” I said, meeting Fiat’s furious gaze. “He simply grabbed a sword off the wall and hacked off her head, then told his men to clean up the mess—meaning, we supposed, her guards.”
“Why did you not come forward with this information earlier?” Bastian demanded to know just as Chuan Ren spat out some extremely rude words toward me.
Instantly Gabriel moved between her and me. “May was silent at my request. Drake and I discussed the issue, and decided that it would be better to keep Fiat in a position where he would be visible, and thus monitored.”
“And look what a fine job you did of that,” Chuan Ren snarled, turning her back on us all. “How many dragons did you let be murdered by him?”
Bastian’s face was pale, his expression anguished at Chuan Ren’s words, but that was nothing that came close to touching the pain I felt within Gabriel.
“We did not anticipate Fiat going on a killing spree,” Drake said quickly when Gabriel faltered. “The blame lies on both of us for that. I should have guessed that Fiat would retaliate for Chuan Ren returning.”
“This isn’t going to end easily,” I whispered to Gabriel.
“No, it is not.”
“He’s going to fight no matter what the outcome.”
“I know. Drake will not be happy with Aisling present.”
“I can take care of that.”
Gabriel slid me a questioning glance. I leaned into his side and said almost silently, “Aisling gave me a Taser this morning, in case something like this happened.”
A slight frown marred his brow. “I do not like it, little bird.”
“I know. But it’s better than someone getting hurt.”
“All this is unimportant except for one thing,” Chuan Ren said, interrupting Drake as he continued to explain why no one had thought to watch innocent dragons. She spun around, her long black hair whipping out behind her, and stalked forward until she was a few feet away from Fiat, her eyes snapping with pure, undiluted hatred. “As rightful wyvern of the red dragons, I demand that Fiat be turned over to us for punishment for his attempted challenge to my control of the sept.”
“No!” Bastian took a deep, shaky breath, then stepped forward to stand next to Chuan Ren. “Fiat was my problem, my responsibility. He escaped from us, and it was blue dragons he so brutally slaughtered. He must face the penalties for the crimes he has committed against my sept.”
Fiat shot his uncle a poisonous look. “You don’t even have the ability to keep your precious dragons safe. How do you expect to punish me, old man?”
“He is ours, not yours,” Chuan Ren snapped at Bastian.
“I beg to disagree with you. The most heinous of crimes were against blue dragons, not red,” he argued.
“This is ridiculous. I will not stand for this,” Fiat said, and started to shift into dragon form.
I was ready for him this time. Before he got so much as a toenail transformed, I shadowed, slipped behind him, and had the Taser planted at the back of his neck.
“Not again,” he managed to get out before he fell to the floor, twitching and spasming as the electric charge coursed through his still-human body.
“Consider it poetic justice,” I told him before turning off the device.
“Brava,” Bastian breathed, giving me a profound look of appreciation. That look died when Chuan Ren gestured her menfolk forward.
“Take him.”
“No! He is mine!” Bastian straddled his nephew’s body.
“I do not acknowledge your claim,” Chuan Ren said stubbornly.
Bastian hesitated a second, then turned to Drake. “I will let the weyr decide who shall receive Fiat if Chuan Ren swears to abide by the decision.”
She looked like murder for a moment; then her face became as implacable as ever. “Very well. The weyr shall decide.”
“Kostya?”
Kostya and Cyrene had been silent during the entire scene with Fiat, a fact I found interesting given suspicions about Kostya’s involvement with the rogue blue wyvern.
His black eyes moved from Fiat to his