Up in Smoke - Katie MacAlister [63]
“Well?” Cyrene demanded, following me. “Don’t you have anything to say to that? Like how you feel about him?”
“My feelings aren’t important at this point. What is important is what bull Kostya is trying to pull now. Where are they?”
I paused at the foot of the stairs. Cyrene pointed to the door to the right, which I remembered from past visits had led to a large sitting room.
“Mayling,” she said slowly as I was about to open the door.
I cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at her.
“You do love him, too, don’t you?” She took a couple of steps forward, her gaze searching mine. “I mean, you wouldn’t want to trade him in for another dragon, would you?”
A little smile curled up the edges of my mouth. “I can assure you that I have no designs on, desires for, or even patience with Kostya.”
“Good,” she said, her chin lifting. “Because he’s mine, and although I understand him challenging Gabriel and all, I wouldn’t want to have to do something serious if you were willing to switch allegiances.”
“Serious? Serious like what?” I asked against my better judgment. “Cy, are you saying you’d take me down if I messed with your boyfriend? You’ve never been like that.”
“This is different,” she said firmly. “And no, I wouldn’t take you down, as you put it. I’d just . . . well, I’d make things miserable for you.”
I bit back both a comment and a smile, contenting myself with a brisk nod before I opened the door.
“I refuse to discuss this any further,” Gabriel was saying as we entered the room.
“I refuse to let you refuse my challenge! I, Konstantin Fekete—”
“No!” Gabriel said in a louder voice. “You may not challenge for her!”
Kostya stormed over to him (he was always storming places), his nostrils flaring as he stopped. “I challenge you for—”
“May is a wyvern’s mate,” Gabriel interrupted. “Only a wyvern may challenge for her, and when last I looked, you were not included in the weyr.”
“I would be if you hadn’t stopped me!”
A voice spoke from the far side of the room. “Oh, blow it out your—”
“Jim!” Aisling squawked from where she sat on the couch. “Out!”
“Man, I never—”
“Out!”
“That baby is making you really mean. Can I just say Rosemary’s baby, here? Because . . . All right, all right, I’m getting! Sheesh! Hiya, Cy. How they hangin, ’ May? Boy, some people really take the term ‘demon lord’ to heart.”
“Are we interrupting?” I said, taking in the scene as Jim shambled out of the room, muttering to itself.
The conversation came to an abrupt halt. Instantly, Gabriel was at my side, his eyes filled with concern. “Your twin was supposed to tell me when you’d woken,” he said, taking my hands in his.
I curled my fingers around his, unable to keep from smiling up at him when Cyrene said abruptly, “Gabriel, May is awake. Pookie! Has he been mean to you?”
The expressions that crossed Kostya’s face as Cyrene hurried over to him were comical, but I had better things to do than watch him be embarrassed by love talk.
“Would it shock you to the tips of your dragon toes if I kissed you in front of everyone?” I asked, leaning into Gabriel.
“No. It would, however, violate the strictest dragon etiquette,” he answered, his eyes lit with passion and laughter.
I grabbed two handfuls of the soft brown dreadlocks that hung to his shoulders, and pulled his head down for a kiss that was guaranteed to raise the temperature of the room at least five degrees.
“I like her,” Aisling said with approval.
I gave Gabriel’s lower lip a little nibble. “Perhaps this should wait until there is less of an audience?” I whispered.
“She knows what she wants, and she goes after it. I like that,” Aisling said again. “Drake, you’ll notice Gabriel isn’t lecturing her about what’s proper and what isn’t proper.”
“You tempt me beyond reason,” Gabriel responded, pulling me to him so that we fit together as if my curves were specifically designed for his hard lines.
Drake raised his eyebrows at his wife. “Are you implying you actually listen to those lectures?”
“No. Arm.” Drake rose and bent over her, obviously about to lift her off the