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She narrowed her eyes. “Aye, but it doesna mean I shall walk the earth forever. I can be forced into theDreamingby misfortune—or choice. Malik reminded me of that. ’Tisn’t so different from being dead.”
“Not relevant.” Smoke puffed from the gold dragon’s mouth, and the low murmur of dragons conversing rose and fell around Angus. The dragon raised a taloned foreleg and flexed claws as golden as the rest of him. “You’re still immortal.”
Irritation rolled off Arianrhod, and the glow around her developed a reddish tinge. “What of Malik? Will he be punished? How about Connor?”
“Connor isn’t part of this. He sat out the disagreement.”
“Only because I disabled him,” Angus cut in, sick of the dragons’ arrogance. “What about Eletea? What can I report to Ceridwen? Have you had her read—or whatever it is you do—by a First Born?”
The gold exchanged a pointed glance with the green. “My but they ask a lot of questions.”
“Answer the one about Eletea. Tell me how Malik will be censured, and then we’ll be gone,” Arianrhod retorted.
“My decision regarding Malik is this.” The golden dragon eyed her so coldly, Angus wanted to strangle him. “He was given a choice regarding his bond with Rhukon, and he asked to maintain it.”
“We saw no reason to deny him,” the green cut in.
“No reason?” Angus stalked closer. “He and Connor teamed with Danne to kidnap Eletea.”
“They say they didn’t. That Danne acted independently.”
Arianrhod rolled her eyes. “I thought the Celts were insufferable protecting their own, but they’re pikers compared with dragons.”
Steam poured from the golden dragon, and he opened his jaws to speak, but Arianrhod held up a hand. “I’m not finished. When ye,” she swung her gaze to the green, “sent us after Eletea, ye said Danne drew power far beyond him. I believe your exact words were, ‘this holds the stink of dragon shifter magic gone bad.’”
The green’s scales rattled as she shook herself. “I overreacted.”
Angus moved to Arianrhod’s side. “We should leave.”
“Not until I receive a satisfactory answer about Malik and Rhukon. And we canna leave until we know about Eletea.”
“I can dream the truth of that,” he reminded her.
“Aye, but ye canna forge a fitting punishment for Malik that way. Or can ye?” She shifted her focus from the dragons to him.
“I don’t know,” he said quietly. “My magic is still showing itself to me.”
“The day you turn your power against a dragon will be the day we destroy you, Seer.” The gold angled his head and hurled smoky flames at Angus. He jumped to one side, narrowly avoiding them.
“What about dragon shifters?” Arianrhod continued. “The dragon who brought us here seemed to think—”
“You overstep yourself, Celt,” the gold broke in. “Dragons don’t court intrusion from others into our business.”
“We need to leave,” Angus said again. “Let Ceridwen handle this.”
“I can fight my own battles,” Arianrhod retorted.
“Be satisfied we’re allowing you to leave,” the gold dragon said through a shower of fire. “The last one from your bloodline who killed a dragon wasn’t so fortunate.”
Angus dredged through his memory and couldn’t come up with a single Celt who’d slain a dragon but kept his mouth shut. He’d take anything that got them out of this cave. He’d never looked at dragons in quite the light he saw them today. Alien creatures who interpreted the world far differently than humans. Dragons held one another to different standards that flexed depending on circumstance. No matter how long Arianrhod argued, it was clear the dragons wouldn’t lift a claw against one of their own.
Arianrhod clanked her teeth together and dropped her arms to her sides. “Ceridwen and the rest of my kin will receive a full report.”
Dragon laughter brayed, spraying Angus with bits of cinder and spittle. “You do that,virgin huntress.”
Color splotched across Arianrhod’s high cheekbones, and the glow around her made a full commitment to an angry red. “Why you pretentious, egotistical—”
“Enough.” Angus grabbed her arm.
