"And broken every bone in my body."

"No." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Perhaps one or two, but I am sure that would be the most damage."

I hitched my glare up another notch. The curtains burst into flame.

Drake sighed as he looked at them. "You must learn to control my fire, Aisling. I know you are angry at me for allowing the punishment to be carried out, but I assure you that it was by far the least objectionable of all the punishments suggested."

I growled something physically impossible, snatched a tiny fire extinguisher from the wall, and plastered the drapes with white chemical foam. "Oh, right, like I'm supposed to believe that? I could have died up there, Drake."

"But you didn't."

"No, but that's no reflection on you."

"I agree." I toyed for a moment with spraying him, too, but in the end set the extinguisher down and stared at him. His normally expressive eyes were unreadable. "But it is a reflection on you, mate." He stopped me as I made a disgusted noise, about to walk out of the bedroom. Just the feel of his hands on my arms sent little frissons of fire whipping through my body. "Aisling, I knew you would find a way off the bridge. You are smart and resourceful, and you command more power than you can imagine. I knew that you would either start a fire on the bridge, thus summoning aid, or summon a being to rescue you."

Damn. I hadn't thought about starting a fire. I bet that would have brought the fire department out pretty quickly.

"All right," I said, holding on to my anger just a little bit longer despite knowing it was mostly unwarranted. "That excuses you from trying to kill me. But you could have given me a couple of hints on how to get down off there before you went zooming off. You could have reminded me that I can bring up your fire."

His hands slid down my arms, a slight smile playing around his mouth. My anger melted at the sight of it. "You don't need me to rescue you, kincsem. You never did."

"That doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice once in a while," I said, relenting. I knew in my heart he was right—he hadn't left me in as dire a situation as I could have found myself. I did possess power, and although I didn't have the confidence he seemed to have in my brain's reasoning abilities, there was a certain satisfaction to be found in the fact that I didn't have to rely on a man to save me. "You're going to have to work very hard tonight to make up for all that time I stood shivering on the top of the bridge."

His hands swept up my exposed back, his dragon fire leaping between us. "I will do my best, mate."

I leaned forward to lick his lips. "I know you—oh, crap!"

The ornate carriage clock on the bureau behind him chimed the half hour.

I gave him a crooked kiss, then gathered up the skirt of my dress and ran for the door to the living room of the suite.

"Aisling? I thought you wanted me to bathe you in fire?"

The room was empty of dragons, but my purse and wrap were sitting on an end table where I'd thrown them before storming into Drake's bedroom to chew him up one side and down the other. I grabbed them, racing for the door. "I have an appointment with Nora. It's the apprentice ritual. It has to be done tonight or else I'll be expelled from the conference. Be back as soon as I can."

I started to close the door, then popped my head back through it to blow a kiss to Drake. "Keep your fire stoked, dragam. I'm going to need a lot of warning."

It was only thirty-five after by the time I ran, breathless,- into a now dark and empty coffee lounge, Nora was sitting at a table reading by the light of one small floor lamp. She looked up when I started sputtering my apologies.

"There's no need to apologize," she said, tucking a bookmark in the book and closing it carefully. "As long as the ritual is completed by midnight, you will be fine. Are you ready to begin?"

"Yes." I said, trying to catch my breath, calm my beating heart, and focus my mind to whatever task she was going to ask.

"Very well," she said, making a gesture to take in the immediate area. "The first test of the ritual is to locate the five wards that I have drawn. Please point them out to me."

I looked around the room. The coffee lounge was a large alcove off the main lobby, with a long counter bearing a couple of espresso machines, a number of small round tables, and a couch along one wall. I didn't see anything that looked wardish, not that I knew what a ward looked like.

"Um. Wards. Do I get a hint as to what kind of wards?"

She shook her head, her eyes dark and watchful. I frowned as I looked around again, walking the perimeter of the alcove, looking carefully at the tables, chairs, walls, pictures . . . everything. Nothing jumped up and said "Warded!" to me.

Even Nora's body language screamed that I was failing the test. I was going to be kicked out. Before I even had a chance to learn, I was going to be kicked out. It just wasn't fair! I didn't ask for this, it was pushed on me. One minute I was fine and dandy, and the next minute people like Amelie, the shopkeeper in Paris, were telling me I had to look at all the possibilities to see beyond the mortal world.

Hmm. I turned back to the room, my eyes scanning it again. Nothing. But what if I opened that magic door in my head? I closed my eyes and did that, released the power of my mental sight, and suddenly the room burst into glorious color. Reds, greens, deep indigos—all the colors that I had seen before were heightened tenfold, so bright it was almost blinding. And glowing a sparkly gold, five intricate, knotted symbols floated above various objects in the room.

"There's a ward on the big espresso machine, one on the tall palm in the corner, two more on the two windows, and the last one is on the tile at your feet."

"Correct." Relief was visible for a moment in her eyes, but it was gone before I could do more than smile weakly. "Now you will draw the following five wards on any object of your choice: binding, protection, restraint, luck, and forgiveness."

Panic, sharp and hot, filled me at her words. I didn't know how to draw wards! Jim had told me a little about them, saying there were various types used for a number of purposes, but other than that, I had no idea how to go about drawing one. I looked at Nora with my heightened vision, about to admit to her that I hadn't the slightest idea how to draw one ward, let alone five, but something in the aura that glowed around her kept my mouth shut. She was silent. But her eyes flickered to the wards that I had seen scattered around the room, then back to me, just as if she was trying to tell me something.