He wrapped her up in his arms, crushing her to him. In the periphery of his vision, he could tell many others in the clearing stared at them both, but they counted as nothing to him. “I will find you armor, and you will stay surrounded in the middle of the army.”
“Whatever you say,” she said meekly. “As long as you agree with me.” She laid her head on his shoulder.
What a sneaky tyrant she was turning into. Actually, she wasn’t all that sneaky. He was utterly enchanted with her bossiness.
Yes, for the first time in his existence, he was truly vulnerable. He cradled her close, savoring the weight and feel of her in his arms. He only lifted his head again when a stir passed through everyone in the area.
He turned to look and Pia did too, as Calondir exited his damaged home, along with a dozen Elven warriors. The High Lord was dressed in plate armor and armed with two crossed swords at his back.
He smiled at the sight. Who would have thought it? For once he and Calondir were going to fight on the same side.
While he had come to treasure the profound differences in nature between him and Pia, Dragos also would not be who and what he was if his blood didn’t quicken at the possibility of an upcoming battle.
Payback and death weren’t the dragon’s only companions. He was on intimate terms with chaos and strife too.
FOURTEEN
Pia shivered and pulled her anorak closer around her torso as she watched Dragos stride over to Calondir. The chill wind felt much colder once he stepped away from her. He seemed to take away all the light and warmth with him.
The Elves around the High Lord bristled as Dragos approached. Their animosity had been entrenched for so many years that she didn’t see that changing anytime soon, current alliance or not. Nobody was going to walk away friends from this interaction, not with so many years of conflict between Dragos and the Elves. The best she could hope for was that they achieve a guarded peace.
At worst . . . well, she didn’t want to consider the worst.
She sensed someone coming up on her side and turned her head. Eva raised her eyebrows and held up a dirt-streaked crossbow. “Look at what one of the kids found. Does this look familiar to you, princess?”
Exasperated, she said, “Stop calling me princess.”
Eva scratched her nose. “You prefer Tinker Bell?”
“Just use my name, dammit!” She snatched at the crossbow.
Eva held on for a second while Pia tugged uselessly on it. Then the other woman let go, and she staggered back a step. “You know,” Eva said casually, and Pia tensed. She had learned to be wary of Eva’s ultracasual tone of voice. “If you were in my unit, I’d be all over your ass for losing your weapon, and I wouldn’t let up until I’d chewed off a good ten pounds or so of flesh.”
Pia scowled as her face turned warm. “Well, I’m not in your unit, and in case you don’t remember, I got grabbed and shoved around a lot in the dark. As I recall, you were the one who did most of the shoving.”
Eva slanted a look at her. “That make it okay? You gonna drop your weapon whenever you sneeze too? Maybe when somebody gives you the stinkeye?”
“The stinkeye?” she said, her embarrassment and annoyance successfully diverted. She covered her mouth to muffle her snort. People had died tonight. Laughter wasn’t appropriate. “All right, no matter how crowded, confused, dark or fiery it got, I should not have dropped my weapon.”
“That’s more like it. Sort of.” Eva punched her in the shoulder, and she staggered again. “Stick with me, Tink. I’ll get you sorted out.”
“Well, isn’t this too cute for fucking words,” said an all-too-familiar voice. “Apparently you two got a little girl-bonding time in. How does that saying go? It isn’t really cheating when there isn’t any penis.”
Both Pia and Eva turned to stare at Aryal, who stood a few feet away with her arms crossed, regarding them both with stormy gray eyes. The harpy wore her usual outfit of fighting leathers, but this time instead of holstered guns, she had two swords strapped to her back, along with long knives at her thighs. The harpy looked lean, muscled and all too eager for some kind of fight.
Aryal said to Pia, “You are the worst goddamn trouble magnet I have ever seen, and coming from a harpy, you know that’s actually saying something.”
Pia sighed and rubbed her eyes with thumb and forefinger. “Hello, Aryal.” Nice to see you too. Not.
When she dropped her hand again, the world had shifted. Eva had moved to stand slightly in front of her instead of at her side. Eva was staring at Aryal with a cold expression on her bold features.
“Are you that insolent when you talk to Dragos?” Eva said between her teeth. “Because you sure as hell shouldn’t be talking to his mate that way.”
Wait, what? Pia did a double take at Captain Psycho. Eva was defending her to Aryal, and talking about respect?