Gabriel looked for a moment like he was going to explode, but suddenly relaxed and managed a wry smile. ‘‘Drake told me you were going to drive me insane. I thought he was basing his opinion on the fact that Aisling often puts him in that state of mind, but now I begin to see the true wisdom of his words.’’

‘‘Except you are much more flexible and not nearly so stodgy as Drake is.’’ I answered him with a smile of my own, drawn as if by magnetism across the room until I stood in front of him. I put my hands on his chest, stroking the soft material of his shirt, my fingers leaving little trails of fire. ‘‘Which means that once you realize that we were in no danger at all, you will stop feeling the need to do the protective male thing, and will sit down and listen to what we have to say. Am I right?’’

‘‘Grrr,’’ he said, his fingers still flexing.

‘‘Am I right?’’ I cooed, rubbing my nose against his and biting his lower lip.

‘‘If you’re going to attempt to seduce me into a good mood, it’ll take quite a bit more effort than that,’’ he answered, his eyes lighting with renewed interest.

Inside me, love, lust, desire, need . . . a whole swirling mass of emotion flared to immediate life, powered by the dragon shard.

I stepped back, dropping my hands, not wanting to lose any more of myself. ‘‘Perhaps later. We have some important news to tell you, and I really don’t think it can wait.’’

A curious look passed over his face but was gone before I could try to figure it out. ‘‘I have news for you as well, but by all means, tell me about the dragon you followed.’’

Maata murmured a few words and slipped out to change her clothes.

‘‘She’s been through a lot, you know,’’ I told Gabriel as he led me over to a couch. ‘‘The only way we could get into Fiat’s underground area was via the lake.’’

He refrained from shuddering, but I suspected it was a close thing.

‘‘We’ll skip over the part detailing how we got her through to the tunnel’s entrance,’’ I said, smiling as she emerged from her room, pulling on a dark sweater.

She made a face and took up a second laptop, sitting next to Tipene at the table.

I went over our actions that led us to the underground chambers, reporting most of the conversation between Fiat and the other dragons.

‘‘You saw the man fully this time?’’ Gabriel asked.

‘‘The dark-haired one? Not his face. He had his back to me in the room underground, and when we saw him earlier, in the square, he was partially in shadows.’’

‘‘Interesting. Describe him to me,’’ Gabriel said, one hand resting on my knee as he closed his eyes in thought.

I went over a description of the man, pausing as something occurred to me. ‘‘Something doesn’t mesh. I think I’m wrong. He can’t be Baltic.’’

One of Gabriel’s eyes opened to consider me. ‘‘Why not?’’

I sorted over the conversation again, picking out pertinent points. ‘‘Fiat made the comment to Bao about hearing the power-flowing-to-wyverns advice before, from Baltic. If the man was Baltic, then why would he say that?’’

Gabriel shrugged, his fingers gently stroking my knee. I fought hard to stifle the fire that wanted to burst into being within me. ‘‘He also called him old friend, and the dragon made reference to Fiat providing him with succor. That fits with what Drake found a few months ago, when he and Aisling made an attack on Fiat’s lair.’’

‘‘That doesn’t explain how Baltic could be, period, given that Kostya swears he killed him.’’

‘‘No, it doesn’t.’’ Gabriel looked thoughtful for a few minutes. I was about to broach the most important bit of news when he said, ‘‘Tell me about the female who was with him.’’

‘‘The redhead?’’ I frowned, trying to pull together my memories. ‘‘I don’t know what there is to tell about her. She looked perfectly normal, a little on the tall side, with coppery red hair and a slightly German accent. And she was a dragon.’’

‘‘No,’’ Maata said, looking up from her laptop.

‘‘No what?’’ Gabriel asked her.

‘‘No, she was not a dragon.’’

I looked at her in surprise. ‘‘Are you sure? She felt to me like a dragon.’’

‘‘She was not a dragon. She had dragon blood, yes, but she was not a dragon,’’ Maata insisted.

‘‘Mixed heritage, you mean?’’ I asked, looking back at Gabriel. ‘‘But isn’t that the definition of a wyvern?’’

‘‘Not necessarily,’’ he answered. ‘‘A wyvern must have one human parent and one dragon parent.’’

‘‘I don’t see the difference.’’

‘‘The woman with the dark-haired one was not human,’’ Maata said, looking rather cryptically at Gabriel.

‘‘Oh, I understand now. You mean she might have a dragon father and a nonhuman mother, say like a sylph or something?’’

Maata nodded.

‘‘You seem really interested in her,’’ I said, eyeing the man at my side. ‘‘Should I work up a jealous fit or just go invest in a case of copper hair dye?’’

His dimples flashed for a moment. ‘‘Neither. If I am interested, it is simply because of what the woman is not.’’

‘‘Meaning she wasn’t a wyvern’s mate named Ysolde?’’ I asked, wondering whether he’d been thinking about that, as I had.

He nodded. ‘‘This female, whoever she is, was not Ysolde. Which I admit makes your case for the dragon not being Baltic a bit stronger.’’

‘‘Because Ysolde was his mate, and if she died, then he’d be dead, too? I agree.’’ I twined my fingers through his, momentarily comforted by the contact before the dragon shard decided I needed more.

I stood up and went to the window to look out on a rainy Paris.

‘‘Ysolde was believed to have been Constantine Norka’s mate, not Baltic’s,’’ Gabriel said in a neutral tone.

I leaned against the window and cocked an eyebrow at him. ‘‘That sounds like you’re not sure she was.’’