He and Aryal had returned to Cuelebre Tower in New York.
There were seven demesnes of Elder Races that overlaid the human geography of the continental United States. The seat of the Wyrkind demesne was in New York City. The seat of Elven power was based in Charleston, South Carolina. The Dark Fae’s demesne was centered in Chicago, and the Light Fae in Los Angeles. The Nightkind, which included all vampyric forms, controlled the San Francisco Bay Area and the Pacific Northwest, and the human witches, considered part of the Elder Races due to their command of magical Power, were based in Louisville. Demonkind, like the Wyr and the Vampyres, consisted of several different types that included Goblins and Djinn, and their seat was based in Houston.
Upon their return, the first thing Rune and Aryal had done was debrief the Lord of the Wyr, Dragos Cuelebre. A massive dark man with gold eyes, Dragos’s Wyr form was a dragon the size of a private jet. He had ruled over the Wyrkind demesne for centuries with seven immortal Wyr as his sentinels. Rune was Dragos’s First sentinel, and among his other duties, he and the other three gryphons—Bayne, Constantine and Graydon—worked to keep the peace in the demesne. Aryal was the sentinel in charge of investigations, and the gargoyle Grym was head of corporate security.
They had just lost their seventh sentinel, who had not yet been replaced. Tiago—Wyr, thunderbird and long-time warlord sentinel—had walked away from his life and position in the Wyr demesne in order to be with his newfound mate, Niniane.
Dragos’s temper was not the most even at the best of times. At first he had not been pleased with the debriefing. He had not been pleased at all.
“You promised her what?” The dragon’s deep roar rattled the windows as they stood in his office. Dragos planted his hands on his hips, his dark, machete-edged face sharp with incredulity.
Rune set his mouth in the taut lines of someone struggling to hold on to his own temper. He said between his teeth, “I promised to go to Carling in one week and do a favor of her choosing.”
“Un-fricking-believable,” the Wyr Lord growled. “Do you have any idea what you gave away?”
“Yes, actually,” Rune bit out. “I believe I might have a clue.”
“She could ask you to do anything, and now you are bound by the laws of magic to do it. You could be gone for HUNDREDS OF YEARS just trying to complete that one fucking favor.” The dragon’s hot glare flared into incandescence as he paced. “I’ve already lost my warlord sentinel, and now we have no idea how long I will have to do without my First. Could you not have come up with something else to bargain? Anything else. Anything at all.”
“Apparently not, Dragos,” Rune snapped, as his already shortened temper torched.
Dragos fell silent as he swung around to face Rune. It had to be in part, no doubt, from surprise, as Rune was normally the even-keeled one in their relationship. But Dragos was also taking a deep breath before releasing a blast of wrath. The dragon’s Power compressed in the room.
Then Aryal, of all people, stepped in to play her version of peacemaker. “What the hell, Dragos?” the harpy said. “It was life or death, and Tiago was bleeding out right in front of us. None of us actually had the time to consult our attorneys about the best bargaining terms to use with the Wicked Witch of the West. We brought you a present. Here.” She threw a leather pack at Dragos, who lifted a reflexive hand to catch it.
Dragos opened the pack and pulled out two sets of black shackles that radiated a menacing Power. “Oh, now, there’s finally a good piece of news,” he said.
The three Wyr stared at the chains in revulsion. Fashioned by Dragos’s old enemy, the late Dark Fae King Urien Lorelle, the chains had the ability to imprison Dragos himself, the most Powerful Wyr of them all. Dragos listened, his outburst of anger derailed, as Rune and Aryal finished telling the story of how Naida Riordan, wife of one of the most powerful figures in the Dark Fae government, had used Urien’s old tools in her attempts to kill Niniane and Tiago.
“The shackles prevented Tiago from healing,” Rune said. “We nearly lost him while we were figuring how to get them off. That’s when I had to bargain with Carling.”
The dragon gave him a grim look. “All right,” he said. “Use the week to get your affairs in order and delegate your duties. And when you get to San Francisco, try like hell to persuade Carling to let you do something quick.”