Pia Does Hollywood (Elder Races, #8.6)(8)

“My husband is an idiot,” Pia declared.

Hey, Dragos said telepathically.

That meant he had followed the car to the airstrip. Dragos’s hearing was very good, but even so, he had to be quite close to hear her through the plane’s closed exterior. She imagined him in his dragon form, cloaking his presence as he paced impatiently around the jet, waiting for the engines to rev in preparation for taking off, and she had to suppress a smile.

If he was indeed in his dragon form and pacing around the plane, that meant he could look in through the windows and see her. She would not let him see that she was amused.

“Ma’am,” said Alex. “We certainly won’t take off until you say we can, but the weather has turned.”

“Yes, I know it has,” she said. She looked from Eva to Aryal and back again. “But I’m not going anywhere until I hear you all swear that you will get along on this trip and not cause me any headaches. Because guys, I don’t need any of you with me in order to make the trip to L.A. I could kick you all off the plane and go to the Light Fae demesne by myself. In fact, that idea sounds pretty good to me. We’re not at war with Tatiana. She’d look after me just fine.”

In her head, the dragon gave a warning growl, while Quentin lost his smile. Aryal straightened and stood.

Quentin told her, “Pia, you can’t go by yourself. That’s ridiculous.”

Crossing her arms, she retorted, “It’s not as ridiculous as the alternative could be.”

Because oil couldn’t help but be oil. And a flame burned where it would. At some point, it was inevitable that the two would connect and explode. She gave both Eva and Aryal glances filled in equal parts with exasperation and affection.

“What’s it going to be?” she asked. “Are you all going to get along on this trip and not give me any grief, or do I kick you all off the plane and go by myself.

You’re not going by yourself, and that’s final, Dragos growled.

Well, I know you’re coming too, honey, she crooned.

That’s not what I meant, Pia, he snapped. I might be in L.A. too, but you need to have someone with you inside Tatiana’s household as well.

While Dragos thundered in her head, Quentin, Aryal and Eva all started to speak at once.

She clapped her hands over her ears and exclaimed, “Do you see what I’m talking about?! Arguing is exactly what I asked you not to do!”

“I’m only trying to point out that some of us might promise, but what if not everybody does?” Aryal snapped in reply. “Do you kick them off the plane, and keep the others? It’s a legitimate question!”

As Eva glared at Aryal, Pia realized she was hearing more than Dragos growling in her head. Eva was growling too.

Because oil was oil. And flame couldn’t help but be flame.

She would not laugh. She wouldn’t. Instead, she rubbed the bridge of her nose and said pathetically to Dragos, I’m supposed to avoid stress, you know.

The dragon’s growling stopped as abruptly as if she had turned it off like a faucet. When he next spoke, his voice was quiet and nonconfrontational. I’m sorry, baby.

That solved the issue of his growling. She turned her attention to Eva, and met the other woman’s gaze silently. After a moment, Eva’s low growl wavered and stopped. Eva said apologetically, She makes me crazy.

And I don’t want to go visit the Light Fae demesne, Pia told her. Deal with it like an adult or get off the plane. If you make this trip harder on me than it needs to be, I won’t take you with me anywhere.

Eva glared. I wouldn’t make it harder!

Pia raised her eyebrows. And so?

Heaving an aggrieved sigh, Eva said out loud, “I promise to get along for the duration of this trip and not cause you any headaches.”

“Thank you, Eva.” She turned to Quentin and Aryal.

The amusement had crept back into Quentin’s blue gaze. Pia could tell that he had figured out that while she was certainly serious, she wasn’t really upset. He laid a hand over his heart and said, “Well, I promise, so that means I get to come too, right? I was looking forward to a sojourn in sunny SoCal, and Eva and I would be fine pair of bodyguards for the week.”

At that, everyone on the plane looked at Aryal, who had crossed her arms and wore a truculent expression. She angled her head to look at them all.

“So that’s it,” she said. “The whole trip is going to come down to this moment, isn’t it? Agh, people make me crazy. If anything happens, everybody’s going to say, ‘oh, Aryal, you were the last one to promise. We all knew you were going to be a hassle. You always are.’ Okay, okay! Of course I promise!”

Smiling, Quentin said to Pia, “She is the best, most perfect example of what a self-fulfilling prophecy is, isn’t she? I just marvel at her every day.”

Pia said to Dragos, I am not going to forgive you for this in a hurry.

It was a tactical decision, he told her. Did the dragon sound apologetic? Now, that was unusual. Pia was winning points all over the place. I wanted you to have the strongest defense with the least number of bodies, and Quentin and Aryal work very well as a team.

Uh huh. Pia walked over to Aryal and stuck a finger under her nose. Her finger was getting a lot of exercise that evening. She told the harpy aloud, “Do not make me regret taking you along. Because I can send you home from L.A. too, you know.”