Light My Fire (Dragon Kin #7)(104)

“Daddy!” Izzy admonished her adoptive father.

“What?”

“The twins are kin as much as Rhian is.”

“Those two vipers can take care of themselves just fine. But my sweet, perfect daughter—”

“Can handle herself quite well,” Talaith cut in. “Leave them be.”

“With Brigida the Foul?”

“I don’t know who that is and stop yelling at me!”

“She’s one of our great-great-great-aunts,” Morfyd replied. “Although at this point, we should probably just call her our ancestor. That’s how old she is.”

“So?”

“Dragons live for centuries, Talaith. Not eons.”

“What about those Immortal dragons?”

“They survive by eating their own. Is that what Brigida is doing?”

“I don’t know what she’s doing. But knowing my daughter, I doubt she’d align herself with someone who did. She’d find that in poor taste.” Talaith blinked. “No pun intended.”

“Everyone in the Cadwaladr Clan feared Brigida. Many of them thought she’d aligned herself with the less-balanced gods. And her impossibly long life suggests there’s truth to that. What I’m saying, Talaith, is that she’s dangerous.”

“Well, you two met her,” Izzy pointed out. “And have no family members telling you about how terrifying she was since you were born. What did you think of her?”

It took a moment before the Steppes sisters realized that Izzy was talking to them. Celyn glanced at Brannie, and they grinned at each other, already anticipating what direction the discussion was about to take.

Kachka asked Elina, “Why do they stare? Are they planning our death?”

“No,” Elina replied after removing more cloth from the pouch tied to the belt around her waist and wrapping a fresh bandage into place. “They ask our opinion.”

“Our opinion? Why? Is it trick? So they can plan our death?”

Brannie quickly looked in another direction and Celyn dropped his head.

“I do not know.” Elina looked at Talaith. “Do you plan our death?”

“No, no!” Talaith exchanged confused glances with Morfyd and Izzy. “We just want your opinion about this Brigida. As outsiders.”

“Oh.” The sisters looked at each other, back at everyone else.

Elina spoke first. “Everything about Brigida the Foul drips with disdain and hatred of all living things.”

“Yes,” Kachka agreed. “Evil seems to come from every pore. She clearly has great plans for the whiney little brown girl and the unholy twins that the horse gods should have destroyed at birth.”

They looked at each other again, nodded, and said together, “We like her.”

Izzy, as confused as everyone else in the room, threw up her hands and said, “Like her? How could you like her?”

Kachka answered for both of them. “She is straightforward. If she were going to kill us all, she would tell us so that she could bask in our despair and cries of suffering. Do you not think, Elina?” she asked her sister.

“I agree, Kachka.”

“That’s great,” Talaith said. “That’s so great.” Then she hissed, “You two aren’t helping me.”

Kachka stared at Talaith for a long moment, then asked, “Who are you?”

That’s when Celyn realized he couldn’t take any more. Neither could Brannie. They both stood at the same time, and he said, “My parents are near. They may want to be part of this.”

He quickly cut across the room and went out the door, Brannie right behind him. Once they were down the hall, they both stopped and laughed. Laughed so hard that Celyn slid down the wall and Brannie just stretched out on the floor, rolling back and forth. They couldn’t stop. Even when their cousin Keita walked past them and demanded, “What are you two doing?”

Bram and Ghleanna landed in the courtyard just as Annwyl came stomping down the stairs.

“I’m not apologizing!” she yelled at her mate as poor Fearghus followed her. But he was laughing and having a hard time keeping up.

Bram glanced at Ghleanna and she immediately rolled her eyes. This was why they’d come with Gaius Lucius Domitus. The Rebel King had a strained opinion of Annwyl the Bloody, and Bram had been hoping to get a chance to talk to her in private before reintroducing them. But as luck would have it . . .

“Oh, Bram, good,” Annwyl said. “You’re here.” As usual, whether they were in their dragon form or human, Annwyl seemed to see them all in one way. She simply adjusted her voice so that it could reach their ears if they were dragon.

“My queen, allow me—”

“I want to go to the Outerplains and tear the eye out of one of the tribes’ leaders.”

Good gods, this female! “Perhaps this is something we could talk about later, Annwyl. I think it’s more important that you spend some time with Gaius Lucius Domitus.”

The queen frowned. “Who?”

“The Rebel King? Of the Quintilian Provinces?”

“I don’t know who that is. Am I supposed to know who that is?”

“Annwyl, you must remember—”

“Lord Bram,” the Rebel King gently cut in. “Don’t bother.”