Oh, a smiting. I haven’t done that in a long, long time. You know, it really is your duty to protect those weaker than you. You owe it to this poor, innocent woman to teach Fiat a lesson.

“I don’t want to belittle you in front of your dragons, but I will not stand by while you beat up someone who can’t strike back,” I said as evenly as possible.

“Do not mistake my tolerance of your past insolence as a given,” he answered, leaning forward, his voice low and so mean it raised the hairs on the back of my neck.

I took a step closer. “As long as we’re into the warnings, let me remind you who I am and what I control. I may look like a squishy little Guardian, but I assure you I am as badass as they come.”

“Oui,” Rene said, taking up a position on my left. “As am I.”

“I’m not bad…er…ass, but like Aisling, I will not stand by and watch someone being abused by you,” Nora said, moving into a flanking position on my right.

My heart warmed with the show of support.

Oh, give me a break!

“It’s a weak man who has to prey on those weaker than himself,” Uncle Damian said as he emerged from the shadowed hallway that led to the bathrooms. He took up a position behind me. I flashed him a grateful smile.

“You mess with Team Aisling, you’re going to be kissing the pavement,” Jim snarled, showing its teeth as it marched over to stand in front of me.

“You dare? No one threatens me!” Fiat yelled, causing me to stumble backwards into my uncle. He righted me, keeping a warning hand on my arm.

He didn’t need to hold me back—Fiat’s face was suffused with anger, his eyes blazing as he suddenly leaped to the top of the bar. “You will not speak to me in such a manner! I am wyvern here, and you will show respect to me at all times! Kneel before me, Aisling Grey.”

“Oh, that is so not happening,” I told him, my arms crossed as I tried to decide if I needed to call in Drake or not. On the whole, I thought not. Uncle Damian and Rene were pretty intimidating.

“Still bullying women, eh, Fiat? I see you haven’t changed, not that I had any hope you would,” a voice said from the door. Fiat’s head snapped around, his shock at seeing the man standing there apparent for a fraction of a second before he turned to me and yelled something extremely unflattering.

“Cazzo! You did this!” he screamed. “You will pay for such treachery!”

A fireball hot enough to melt steel blasted me. Rene yelped and leaped to the side. Nora screamed as the fire engulfed her where she stood next to me. I hurled myself on her, throwing her to the ground and covering her with my body in order to protect her from Fiat’s fury.

“Stop it!” Bastian bellowed, marching into the room with three dragons in close formation behind him, pulling Fiat’s attention to himself. “This will stop now! Aisling is not to blame—it was inevitable that I face you again.”

The conflagration eased up on me, but judging by the sound of breaking glass, I suspected Bastian’s ploy at invoking Fiat’s wrath had worked.

“I am the wyvern here. You do not give me orders!” Fiat shrieked before erupting into violent Italian. The dragons in the bar were apparently frozen at the scene being enacted before them, all of them watching with shocked faces.

Clearly, there wasn’t going to be any help from them. “Uncle Damian, call an aid unit,” I yelled as I slid off Nora, hurriedly checking her over for injuries.

“I’m all right, I’m not hurt,” she said quickly, crawling backwards as the flames burning the floor crept toward us. “Just a little singed around the edges.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, helping her up. Uncle Damian, thankfully protected by being behind me, had escaped any injury. He checked Nora over quickly before giving a curt nod.

“No injuries, although that coat won’t be the same. Don’t these places have fire sprinklers?”

Fiat leaped off the bar and stormed over to Bastian, still blasting him with fire and Italian. He stopped long enough to call for his henchmen, pulling a gun from his jacket, which he leveled at Bastian.

“Most dragon establishments are heavily fireproofed,” I told my uncle. “They don’t need sprinklers.”

“Renaldo and Stephano won’t answer your call,” Bastian told his nephew. “They have been…detained.”

Fiat screamed even louder.

“Man, I haven’t heard language like that since Amaymon kicked me out of his legion. Fiat’s got quite the mouth on him,” Jim said, watching the dragons from behind the safety of my legs. “Go, Bastian! I never did like those two.”

“Do you think I am afraid of you?” Bastian laughed outright in Fiat’s face, causing the latter to turn an interesting shade of crimson.

“Bastian gets points for style, but boy howdy, I don’t think I could stand in front of a raving lunatic armed with a deadly weapon and mock him,” I said quietly as I helped Nora take off her still-smoking coat.

“And yet that’s pretty much just what you’re planning on doing,” Jim said. “Ash, I know you’re immortal and all, but I’m thinking you may want to get out of the line of fire until we see what shakes down.”

“I’m in complete agreement,” Uncle Damian said, taking me by the arm and pulling me over to a spot behind the bar. “Stay here.”

I would have protested being hustled out of the area, but given my present circumstances, I stood half-hidden by the wall and watched as Bastian and Fiat duked it out. The dragons in the bar had finally come to life at the appearance of Fiat waving the gun at Bastian. They formed a loose circle around the men, Bastian and his three buddies facing Fiat alone.

“The sept is mine, old man. Mine!” Fiat snarled. “And I do not allow disrespect in the sept, much less mutiny! You and Aisling may have thought you could get rid of me, but I assure you, I am in full control. And now you both will die for your treachery.”

“We are leaving,” Uncle Damian said, moving quickly to grab me and haul me toward the back rooms.

“No,” I said, grabbing onto the doorjamb and holding tight. “I can’t leave, uncle. Not until I see if Bastian is going to take down Fiat.”

“It’s too dangerous. That idiot dragon just threatened to kill you.”