Last Dragon Standing (Dragon Kin #4)(100)

“Oy!”

Éibhear looked across the courtyard and smiled at the sight of his cousin Celyn. He and Celyn used to be quite close when they were both younger until…well, until Celyn had met Izzy. But that didn’t matter now.

“Celyn?” Izzy asked, gazing at Éibhear’s cousin as if the dragon had somehow magically appeared. “What are you doing here?” Celyn stopped in the middle of the courtyard, gave a “why do you think?” shrug that had Éibhear’s back teeth grinding a bit. He wasn’t still trying to seduce little Izzy, was he? He had to know that was wrong and that Briec would kill him. He couldn’t be that stupid, could he?

“I came here to check on you, didn’t I?” Yeah. That’s right. Celyn could be that stupid.

Izzy placed the puppy down on the step and stood. She kept standing, too, the human female having grown at least three or four inches since Éibhear had last seen her. That didn’t seem normal for a human female, but Izzy was far from normal. Even worse was that her height wasn’t the only thing that had continued to grow on little Izzy. She’d filled out—a fact that made Éibhear hate her just a little because no one who called herself a warrior should have those kinds of curves.

Izzy charged over to Celyn and launched herself at the idiot. Even more offensive was how her legs went around Celyn’s waist and her arms around his shoulders while Celyn used Izzy’s innocent and playful show of affection as an opportunity to put his hands all over her ass.

What in all the hells was Izzy doing anyway? Without even realizing it, she was giving Éibhear’s lecherous cousin all the wrong signals. And, as usual, Izzy was completely oblivious!

“Oh,” Celyn said to Éibhear as if he’d just spotted him. “Hello, cousin.”

“Celyn.”

Celyn’s grip must have tightened on Izzy’s ass because she squealed and slapped at his hands. “Stop that!” She jumped down and laughed, punching Celyn in the shoulder.

“Ow.”

“Did you come alone?” she asked.

“Fal came with me. He’s around somewhere.” He tapped the tip of her nose with his forefinger. “But I came looking for you. You all right?”

“Did you know? About the baby?”

“You know I would have told you if I had. I would have risked my mother’s wrath for you, my sweet Iseabail.”

Izzy rolled her eyes, not believing the lying bastard any more than Éibhear did. “Somehow I doubt that.”

“True enough, but would you have blamed me?”

“Not really. But I am glad you came.”

“Me too.”

Éibhear knew he couldn’t stand any more—not without throwing up first—so he gave a little wave. “I’m off,” he said.

“I thought we’d track down Brannie and go get something to eat together,” Izzy offered.

“Not right now. I have to be somewhere.”

“That’s too bad,” Celyn said. And, yeah, he looked completely destroyed by that.

But Éibhear wasn’t going to get into it here, now, with his cousin. He didn’t have to. He’d simply talk to Izzy tonight. She was still an innocent, that one, and she didn’t understand that she was getting in way over her head with his idiot cousin. But Éibhear would put a stop to that. Because he should. He was still her uncle, wasn’t he? Not by blood, of course, but he was her uncle. And because they weren’t raised together as uncle and niece, it would be easier for him to explain to her the way of things when it came to dragons like Celyn.

Until then, he’d get a few books, some food, and something from the local healer for this bloody headache that had tragically returned.

Ragnar had no idea where she was going, but he knew he had to follow. It was too frightening to think of the trouble she’d get into without him. And he could no longer escape the fact that he found Keita more entertaining than anyone else he’d known.

She was stalking after some human female, following from a distance.

Any time the human stopped and looked to see if she was being followed, Keita blended into the shadows of a building or into the crowd. After a while, Ragnar had to admit that she was very good at what she did, each day moving farther and farther away from the image he’d originally had of her as a dim-witted royal.

She abruptly stopped and held up her hand to halt him.

“What are we doing?” he finally had the chance to ask.

“She’s the slit that killed Bampour,” Keita replied in a whisper. “Now she’s here. It can’t be a coincidence.” She carefully looked around the corner of a building and gasped, glancing back at Ragnar.

“What?” he asked. “What is it?”

“I don’t believe him!”

“Who?”

Rather than answering as any logical dragon would do, she shot off, forcing Ragnar to follow her since he had no idea what she was up to. She slid to a stop in front of what appeared to be an old warehouse. She held the door with one hand, waited a few seconds, then snatched it open.

“Whore!” she accused, which Ragnar thought a little harsh since Keita didn’t actually know this woman. But when he stepped into the warehouse, he saw who the woman was standing with and knew that Keita was right.