“I don’t want to seem rude, but is this a social visit, or are you going to talk dragon business?” Aisling asked, sighing as Drake stuffed a pillow behind her back. “If it’s the former, no sweat, but if you’re going to talk about Fiat or Kostya, I’d appreciate it if you can do it in the next twenty minutes.”

“Why twenty minutes?” I asked, puzzled by such an odd request.

“Baby’s right on my bladder,” she said, patting her bulging belly. “You’ve got my undivided attention until she makes it impossible for me to sit still any longer.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you decided to find out the gender. A girl! How exciting,” I said.

“Aisling is having a boy,” Drake said, seating himself next to his wife. “Everyone knows that girls are nothing but trouble. We will have a son.”

“Ha!” Aisling elbowed him in the ribs. “You are so delusional. It’s girls who are easy, and boys who are trouble. We will have a daughter, a lovely girl who won’t put up with any of the medieval bossiness you’re sure to try to pull on her.”

Drake sent Gabriel a long-suffering look that had me smiling. “I would caution you to wait before having children, but I suspect that May will do exactly as she wishes, including deliberately having a female despite the well-established fact that male dragons are much easier to raise.”

“The father determines gender, which you well know,” Aisling said complacently, beaming at us as we sat across from her. “So are we chitchatting or dragon talking?”

“Dragon talk,” Gabriel answered, his gaze flickering to Drake. “There is a situation with regards to the red dragons.”

“I suspected as much,” Drake said easily. “Fiat’s reappearance and claim are a bit too pat for my liking.”

With admirable brevity, Gabriel recounted the experiences of Cyrene, Maata, and myself in Fiat’s underground environs. By the time he was finished, Drake was pacing the length of the room.

“I’ve never seen people pace as much as dragons do,” I was moved to say in an aside to Aisling.

She nodded. “It’s all that pent-up energy—they have to move, or it manifests itself in fire, and frankly, I’d rather put up with a stiff neck from watching them march back and forth. Our fire-retardant bill is high enough as is.”

“Why didn’t you mention any of this at the sárkány ?” Drake demanded to know.

Gabriel glanced to me. Drake stopped in midpace.

“Ah. The shard. Yes. I see you had little choice but to allow Fiat to continue unimpeded.”

“I don’t get it,” Aisling said, looking confused. “But wait, potty break. Explain it when I get back.”

Drake hauled her out of the couch and sent her on her way.

Jim watched me with an avidity that made me uncomfortable.

“Stop doing that,” I told it.