“Oh. Sorry.” I adjusted my grip, my legs tucked back underneath his arms as if we were in a pool playing chicken fight.

“Here we go. Flame on!”

“Ha ha ha, very funny. I just hope—aiee!”

Rowan stepped down into the fire, his body up to his adorable belly covered in dragon fire. I curled my toes into his sides and clutched his hair as he walked toward the far shore, praying to any and all gods I could think of (including the First Dragon, should he be listening) that the lake got no deeper.

It didn’t.

“Well now,” Rowan said twenty-three minutes later when he deposited me on the bank at the other side of the lake. He leaped up to join me, the sweat beading on his brow the only sign that he was as nervous as I was. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

I stared at him. “It’s as if you are a normal person, and yet you’re speaking utter and complete tripe. Not so bad, Rowan? Not so bad? We could have died out there! Immortally died!” I clutched the dried grasses of the bank and contemplated just what we’d been through. “I almost fell off you seven times.”

“Six. I wouldn’t count the time I stumbled as being your fault.”

I held up my foot, which was now sans one tennis shoe. “I’m lucky that it was only my shoe that got it when you almost fell and I slid around the front of you.”

He had the nerve to smile when he pulled me to my feet, wrapping an arm around my waist and turning me so the fire lake was to our backs. “Ah, but I greatly enjoyed you twisting around my body to get back into place. I would have liked it more if you’d done as I suggested and gone commando.”

I glared at him and limped forward. “It’s bad enough I’m just wearing your shirt, and don’t you think I’m not going to have a lot more to say to you about your fantasy about me going commando, but right now, I just want to get back to the ship, take a very cool shower, put on my Xena outfit—assuming the laundry people finally got to it—and make sure that hussy Mrs. P and her gaggle of sexy girls haven’t had some horrible accident while we were stranded. Following which I may lie down and refuse to deal with any more shenanigans of this type.”

Rowan took my hand, whistling softly to himself. Part of me was annoyed that he wasn’t as traumatized by our near miss as I had been, while the other part was filled with admiration. I hadn’t been sure when we started across the lake, but now I had every confidence that Rowan would make an admirable wyvern. If the man could handle walking through a fiery hell with a panicky woman clinging to his head and still make it out alive, then he could handle anything other dragons threw at him.

The bank rose in a gentle slope, and as we crested it, we could see the ship sitting placidly on the river some two hundred feet away.

Cheering broke out on board the ship as we approached, all the passengers lining the upper deck waving and calling congratulations at yet another challenge bested. I glared at them all, making a mental note to speak to them about someone else taking a turn, but realized as we entered the relative coolness of the lowest level of the ship that the final challenge was personal to each individual.

And as soon as it was over, Mrs. P would present the ring to her boyfriend.

As we stepped on board, the captain greeted us, saying, “You completed the challenge.”

“We did,” Rowan said, and I felt a little flame of ire within him.

I couldn’t blame him. The way the captain stated the obvious made my hackles go up a bit. If I didn’t know better, I’d have sworn he would have liked us to fail.

Captain Kherty watched us for a moment, his expression completely unreadable, before giving a brief nod, and gesturing us toward the stairs. “You will no doubt wish to celebrate your accomplishment at the party later this evening. You will be my guests of honor.”

It was a statement, not a question, and although I wanted to tell him that we might have other plans, I reminded myself that antagonizing a man who could quite probably toss us off his ship wasn’t the best policy.

Besides, I had a couple of questions for him.

“One moment, please,” I said, pausing at the bottom of the stairs. “Have you found out who killed Ipy?”

“No.” His black eyes were as unreadable as his face. “We have not discovered a weapon or motive for the assault. The lady’s spirit has returned to the ship, and she herself does not know who her attacker is.”

“Doesn’t that concern you?” Rowan asked. “Were I in your shoes, I’d be more than a little worried about a murderer running rampant on my ship.”

“But you are not in my shoes,” the captain replied. “And this is Duat. All who travel here—all who are rightfully here—are not among the living. What is another death when you are already in spirit form?”

“Ipy wasn’t dead,” I argued. “Neither are any of the other priestesses, or Mrs. P, or May and Gabriel, and of course Rowan and me. There’s lots of non-dead people here, and as one of them, I’d sure as shooting appreciate it if you could get off your ass and find the mad decapitator, so he can’t go around lopping off anyone else’s head.”

“Get off my ass?” the captain asked, his voice filled with menace. “You dare speak to me thusly? I will not have it!”

Instantly, Rowan kicked into high dragon gear. He moved in front of me, his body language reading irritated aggression. “Do you threaten my mate?”

“I will not be addressed in that manner. I am captain of this ship.”

“Then do your job and keep your passengers safe,” Rowan snapped.

The captain growled and took a step forward.

Rowan’s body tensed, as if he was getting ready to spring.

“Whoa now,” I said, realizing that my ill-advised comments had pushed things too far. I insinuated myself between the two men, using my body to force Rowan back a few steps. “I may have been a little rude with the ‘get off your ass’ comment. If so, I apologize. Tempers are a bit frayed what with the whole escaping near-death in a lake of fire situation, so why don’t we all just agree to move past this, hmm?”

The captain glowered at Rowan, but after a moment in which I thought the two men were going to get into a physical altercation, the captain gave a sharp nod. “Your apology is accepted. The party starts at eight p.m. I will expect you there.”