“Possibly,” Drake said, his fingers caressing the back of Aisling’s neck. I was struck once again by their bond, by the deep love the two shared. Would the dragon shard let me love Gabriel the same why? Or had it already changed me so that I would never have that kind of quiet contentment? The dragon emotions were so volatile, so explosive, so totally at odds with my normal, placid self, I couldn’t help but mourn what couldn’t be.

“He’s got it coming to him,” Jim said, plopping itself down on the floor. “I bet he would have had a blast in Abaddon. Not that Chuan Ren is much better. She killed her whole family, didn’t she?”

“It’s possible that Chuan Ren may attempt to kill Fiat,” Gabriel said thoughtfully, his fingers stroking mine. “But it’s also quite possible that the reverse may be true, as well. Fiat seems each day to become more and more unhinged. It would be madness to try to eliminate Chuan Ren, but if his ability to reason is gone, then he may try it.”

“Which would be his own destruction,” Drake said, nodding. “Chuan Ren is too strong to take by a coup. It will be interesting, however, to see what happens.”

“I don’t honestly care so long as she doesn’t try to declare war again,” Aisling said, patting her belly.

Drake smiled. “I believe Fiat will be the target of her spleen for a while. And after that”—he glanced at me—“we shall see.”

“So what exactly happened after Bael chased you back into the shadow world?” Aisling asked, making herself comfortable.

I went quickly over recent events, recounting faithfully everything Baltic had said.

“You’re sure he was a white dragon?” Drake asked, frowning.

I glanced at Gabriel, whose lips had thinned. “That’s what I saw, but admittedly, I had just cracked my head on the stone wall and was a bit muzzy still.”

“He was white,” Gabriel agreed. “I was expecting black, not that he looked anything like the portraits of Baltic. Still, he might have changed his appearance. But he was white, Drake, white.”

“Is there a white sept?” Aisling asked her husband. “Or rather, was there at one time?”

“No to both questions,” he answered.

“This is really confusing, then,” Aisling said, and I wholly agreed with her.

“It does seem somewhat conflicting,” I said. “On the one hand, he didn’t deny being Baltic, but he also said something about appearances being deceptive, and he was definitely not a black dragon. Which he would be unless he was made ouroboros, wouldn’t he?”

Gabriel’s fingers tightened around mine. “Yes. Baltic wasn’t ouroboros.”

“White’s the opposite of black. Maybe he’s the anti-Baltic,” Jim said.

We all looked at it.

“What?” it asked, its eyes wide.

“Can there be such a thing?” I asked Gabriel.