“I believe this is yours.” I pulled the fabric off the sword. The blade burst into flame. I tossed it at Teddy Jo.

He caught the blade. His whole body realigned itself, standing straighter, taller, his shoulders wider, the color of his skin brighter. Teddy Jo a second ago was a pale shadow of the one standing in front of me now. I never realized how much the sword meant. And he’d let me borrow it once to pull a prank on Curran.

“What did you trade?” he asked.

“Nothing important.”

He glanced at Roman.

“I’ll tell you later,” the volhv said.

“Nothing important,” I repeated. “Let’s get home. Tell me about the pegasi, Teddy Jo.”

He held out the swing and I wedged my butt into it. Now we had to go home and sort out what had happened to Christopher. If he was even Christopher anymore. At least we’d gotten the dragon out of the way. Thank the Universe for small favors.

CHAPTER

9

ROMAN HAD DECLARED that turning into a crow for the second time in one day was above his pay grade. He whistled, made some kissy noises with his lips, and a black horse trotted out of the woods. He mounted bareback and headed to the house.

I climbed back into the swing. Flying really was overrated, but it was fast, and beggars couldn’t be choosers.

According to Teddy Jo, the pegasi couldn’t be tamed, but they could be enticed.

“They’re curious and they like adventure,” he said, as we flew southwest. “You’re going to walk up to the herd and offer them a gift of some sort. Carrots, sugar, whatever. If you’re interesting enough, one of them might come over and decide to go adventuring with you.”

“And if none decide to adventure?”

“Then there’s nothing we can do.”

Oh boy.

“Why do you need a pegasi, Kate?”

“I need to get to Mishmar.”

“What is Mishmar?”

“My father’s magic prison in the Midwest.”

Teddy Jo chewed on that. “Why?”

“I’d rather not say. But I need to get there as soon as possible.”

“Well, they are damn fast. Faster than me flying. I took one to Miami the other week. Made it in six hours. You need one as soon as possible, I take it?”

“Yes.” It had been three days since I found out about Saiman’s kidnapping, which left us with twelve days until my wedding. In Sienna’s original vision, I had married Curran and our wedding led to the battle. But with the way I was altering the future, I had a feeling the battle would happen before that.

“Then we’ll do this tonight. I’ll pick you up around eleven. Can you be packed and ready?”

“Yes. Can I ask you to drop me off at Milton’s ER? I need to check on a patient there.”