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.