The look of scorn she tossed my way made me feel petty. “Why would I desire to harm you? I have no desire to enter into the dragon war any more than I do the battle within Abaddon. I seek only to protect those in my charge, and since you possess the means to end the war that threatens us all, it is fitting that I offer aid to ensure your success. Come.” She turned and marched to the back room.

“Well, she sure changed her tune fast enough,” I told Kostya. “Do you think we should trust her?”

“Of course not,” he said simply, pulling my hand up to his mouth to kiss my fingers before releasing them. “But I will accept the assistance she offers. Drake?”

“I will come with you.” He leveled a look at his wife that had her making a face in return. “Aisling will remain here with your woman.”

“I have a name, you know,” I called after them as they followed Jovana, Jim at their heels. “Man, that irritates me. Is he always like that?”

“Yes,” Aisling said with a fond smile. “He’s annoying as all get-out sometimes, but he truly does love his brother, and I’m sure he’ll come to love you as well.”

“Yeah, not going to hold my breath on that one.” I looked around the club and pulled two chairs off a table for us. “So, I guess we can use this time to get to know each other.”

“We could,” Aisling said, wandering around the club, her fingers trailing along the tables as she did so. “Or you can tell me about the ring and how you got it. Also, I’m not exactly sure what it does, so if you can tell me that, I’d be grateful.”

“I’m afraid you’re getting into the realm of I have no freaking clue on the last item. I can give you a quick rundown on how I got the ring, but anything more is kind of a gray area.” I gave her a brief overview of how I had met Terrin and acquired the ring, although I left out the two years I spent in the madhouse, finishing with finding Kostya on the beach.

“That is so romantic,” she said, having taken a seat while I was talking. She clasped her hands together, her eyes a bit moist. “I know I’m being emotional now because my hormones are going baby crazy, but that’s just so sweet. You saved his life, Aoife. You truly were meant to be together.”

“Yes, well, he doesn’t seem to want to admit that.”

“He’s had a hard time recently,” she said slowly.

“With his ex-girlfriend?” I nodded. “I gather that’s the case.”

“Cyrene? Oh no, that wasn’t what I meant, although we all were surprised when he was so smitten with her. That sounds horribly rude of me, and I know I shouldn’t tell tales to you about Kostya’s previous love interests, but Cyrene…” She bit her lip for a moment before continuing. “Cyrene was kind of desperate to be a wyvern’s mate. You see, her twin is one, and she wanted to be one, too, and so she saw Kostya and kind of got swept up in the whole mate-claiming situation.” She waved a hand and gave a little shake of her head. “I’m not going to go into all that now; it’s a long story and doesn’t have anything to do with you and Kostya. What does is the fact that he was imprisoned so long. He was alone and at the mercy of some very bad outcast dragons for seven years. They tried hard to kill him by starving him, but he didn’t give up. So if he seems a bit stressed, and hypervigilant, and even emotionally distant, that’s probably why.”

“I can deal with most of that,” I admitted. I certainly had enough experience dealing with my own emotional demons. “But it kind of grates that he refuses to admit that I’m his mate. I mean, I get that this other woman used him, but goodness, he can’t paint all women with the same tar, now, can he?”

“I guess he can,” she said, shrugging. “Men can be so blind sometimes. You didn’t mention what sorts of things you’ve done with the ring. I take it you have been using it, yes?”

“Somewhat.” I hesitated, unwilling to talk about it, even to Aisling, with whom I felt an unusual sense of kinship. “It got us in here.”

“Hmm. I assume you’re going to use it to help the Charmer to break the curse. I wonder…” She bit her lip again, a little frown wrinkling her brow.

“You wonder what?”

“I can’t help but think if the ring is as powerful as everyone says it is—and you say that it likes you, although I’ve never heard of a sentient ring—then why can’t you simply use it to break the curse yourself and bypass the middleman?”

“Aren’t I a dragon now that I’m Kostya’s mate? That would mean I can’t use it to break the curse.”

“Mates aren’t dragons per se… we can’t shift into dragon form, and we don’t have a love of gold as they do, and all the other things that makes them dragons. We’re just kind of extra bonus humans.”

“Hmm.” I looked down at my hand. “I wouldn’t know how to begin to break a curse. What if I did something wrong and made it worse?”

“Oh, that’s not going to happen,” she said with a little dismissive laugh. “Trust me, I’ve done just about everything wrong that you can do, and it’s all worked out for the best. I’m an old hand at this sort of thing. Tell you what, let’s give it a shot while the men are out of the room, and if we are successful, then they can sing our praises for decades.” She got to her feet and pushed a table aside, making a small clear spot in the middle of the room.

“And if we fail?” I said, slowly getting up as well.

“You’re not going to fail. You have me to help you, and I’m a pretty sharp cookie when it comes to stuff like this, not that anyone would admit that, because it makes Drake nervous to have me using my Guardian skills. Let me draw a circle and call the quarters, and then we’ll get you set up in it, so that you’re protected.”

“Protected?” I asked, a sense of hysteria quickly rising.

She gave me a toothy smile as she drew a circle onto the floor with what looked like a gold stylus. “Just in case something goes wonky.”

“Eep!”

She laughed. “Such a worrywart! I’m here to protect you in case something does go pear shaped. Now I’ll call the quarters. Do you have a favorite saying or family motto?”

I thought. “Live long and prosper?”