"She had arranged the terms so that I would be sure to win." Drake shrugged with nonchalance that I knew he was far from feeling, "The challenge was not seriously offered, nor taken by me or my clan. The scenario you offer that she posed a threat to the well-being of my dragons is thus negated."

"It would be but for one thing." Fiat paused, his gaze sweeping the table again. "Your sept conducted a punishment against Aisling just last night. If you and the green dragons did not take her challenge seriously, why was she formally charged and punished?"

Oy. He had a point. Both Drake and I knew that he was being a little less than honest over the whole challenge thing last month—although it was true I hadn't a clue what I was doing when I called the challenge, he did take it seriously, as did the members of his clan. Hence the punishment. While Drake might have been able to get away with blurring the lines regarding the nature of my challenge, he couldn't escape the fact that his dragons had fulfilled the terms of the challenge.

Before he could respond, Chuan Ren leaped to her feet and pointed to me. "The probity of this summit has been tainted and defiled by Drake's mate. Through her actions he has violated the laws of the weyr and thus has negated the precepts of wyvern. I move that the summit be adjourned until such time as a new wyvern for the green dragons comes forward."

"I second the motion," Fiat said quickly.

Pal leaped up to put out the three fires that suddenly burst up around Fiat. I stood up with him, slapping my hands down on the table, too angry to keep silent any longer. I'd be damned if I'd have everything Drake had worked for fall to pieces just because of something I did. "Look, I appreciate the fact that you two are clearly in cahoots and want to raise God knows what sort of trouble, but you are not using me as an excuse to do it! What I did last month has no reflection whatsoever on Drake! He has worked harder than any of you for this peace, devoted countless hours to keeping everyone happy, jollied you all along just because he feels it's important that you dragons live in peace. So cut him a little slack!"

Drake pulled me back into my chair, giving me a look that let me know he didn't appreciate my attempt to point the finger of guilt where it belonged. "Your motion is illegally presented and thus is not valid. As for Fiat's attempt to hide the truth by slandering my mate—"

"You defend your woman's actions?" Chuan Ren shrieked, her eyes spitting black fire at him. "You would defy the laws of the weyr for her? You are the one who is hiding the truth! This summit is a mockery of truth!"

"I have nothing to hide—" Drake started to say, but Fiat jumped in and added his voice for an adjournment. The blue, green, and red dragon bodyguards all leaped to their feet, yelling at each other, casting slurs and insults across the table while their bosses shouted their own abuse. I stayed in my chair, my gaze meeting that of Gabriel. He and his men were the only ones besides me who had remained sitting. His eyes were unreadable, a polite mask on his face. He reached forward to slap out a little flame that had suddenly come to life.

I wanted to curl up and die, I was so sick with despair, feeling for the first time the full weight of my responsibilities to the dragons. What on earth was I going to do to resolve the situation?

After ten more minutes of screaming from almost everyone present, Fiat regained enough control to demand an immediate vote on whether or not the summit would continue. Drake, cornered, had to allow it despite his obvious reticence. Fiat and Chuan Ren voted to scrap the whole thing and start again at a later, unnamed date. Drake insisted that they had made good progress and would continue if they all remained and dedicated themselves to the cause.

"And you, Gabriel Tauhou, what is your desire?" Fiat demanded hotly, his face flushed, his eyes, like the eyes of every dragon present, burning brightly with his fire. "Do you side with the green wyvern, or will you join us?"

I held my breath, unable to keep the pleading from my eyes as I watched Gabriel. He stood slowly, his face troubled as he looked around the table. Please, please let him do what's right, I prayed, hoping that if there was a tie in the vote, Drake might be able to hammer out some sort of an agreement to move forward.

"Like Drake, I have not been blind to the subcurrents of dissatisfaction that have been a part of these negotiations," Gabriel said in his quiet, warm voice, and my heart lightened. "I find your methods in casting aspersions on a fellow wyvern and his mate heinous and abominable to the extreme."

Thank God. He was going to side with Drake. At least the whole thing hadn't been destroyed.

"However, I believe the damage has been done, and no good can come at this time of further negotiations. I vote to continue them at another time, when the situation regarding the green wyvern has been resolved."

My heart fell. I stared numbly at Gabriel, unable to believe he would stab Drake in the back in this manner. The other dragons shouted their triumph, quickly gathering their things and leaving the room until no one was left but Drake, his two bodyguards, and me.

I turned to the man whose life I had just more or less ruined, unable to think of a single damned thing to say to him. He looked at me for a couple of seconds, then stroked my cheek, pulling his finger back to reveal a tear. He examined it carefully for a moment, then brought it to the spot on his collarbone where he bore the same brand I did, tracing the symbol of the green dragons with my tear.

He left after that, none of us having spoken a single word.

Chapter 25

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Nora asked in a whisper.

"No. But it's all I could think of, especially since time is running out."

"In more ways than one," Jim intoned from where it lay on its bed.

I cracked open an eye and glared at it. "Look, it's hard enough trying to meditate with you licking your privates and getting up to drink water and scratching all the time, but it's impossible with you making snarky comments. So unless you want me to command you to silence, zip it up."

Jim looked over to where Nora was curled up into a ball on the chair in her hotel room- "Isn't there some sort of Guardian rule about demon abuse?"

"No," Nora said softly, not wanting to break my concentration. "There are no such laws binding Guardians."

I flinched at the word "laws"; it still rubbed a raw spot after the scene that afternoon with the dragons. When I had gone later to talk to Drake about what happened— and to offer my help—he hadn't been in our room. Neither had Pal or Istvan. I hunted down Nora (who was demon-silting while I did the dragon thing), and despite my best intentions of not saying a word about what had happened, I ended up spilling every last bean. Nora was subdued and grim when I spoke to her about what had happened, which just deepened my conviction that the situation with the dragons was extremely bad.