I gently took his injured hand, turning it over to make sure there wasn't any residual burning or scarring, but it was just as hale and hearty as before he stuck his hand in the fire. "I'm going to be sure to send a thank-you note to the First Dragon just as soon as we get back to the normal world. But the question remains-how are we going to get back there? And just where is everyone else? Why aren't they stuck out here with us?"
"Only one person on the boat has to successfully complete the challenges," he said, eyeing the shore on the opposite side. "I suspect the rest of the passengers are quite content to let us do all the work."
"That's well and fine, but unless you've got a couple of asbestos blankets hidden on your person, I don't see how we're going to beat this one."
He looked thoughtful. "Why would Mrs. P want a dragon for this job if the fire was going to be harmful to us?"
"I don't know." I was silent for a moment as I mulled that over. "It must be because we can do something no one else can do. Change into a scaly beast?"
"Possibly. What are dragons known for?"
"Love of gold," I said, ticking the items off on my fingers. "Breathing fire. An interest in virgins."
One side of Rowan's mouth quirked upward. "Give me a lusty brunette widow any day."
"You get an extra fondle on your noogies for that. Later, that is." I bit my lower lip as I continued to dredge through my memory. "You can heal yourself, but there's no way you can walk through that fire, let alone me do the same."
"Fire," he said thoughtfully, and with a face filled with concentration, set his hand on fire.
"That's your fire," I said, clicking my tongue at my inanity. "Sorry for being Captain Obvious, but that's not the same fire as what's all around us."
"No, but this fire doesn't hurt us. And it's what dragonkin are known for, right? So perhaps this is the answer."
"You're going to try burning the fire in the lake with dragon fire?" I asked, confused.
"No. I'm going to use my fire as an asbestos blanket." He took a deep breath and flashed me a smile. "Ready?"
"For what-Rowan!" I screeched, and tried to grab his arm when he plunged it back into the fire. This time he didn't yelp and he didn't pull his arm out instantly. He swished it around a few times, then stood up straight and held the arm out for me to examine.
It was uninjured.
I stared at it for a few minutes, then looked into his eyes. Quiet triumph was there, tinged with some well-deserved pride. "You're a genius. Except … can you cover your lower half with fire?"
His brows pulled together in concentration. Fire sprang up at his feet, spreading upward over his knees, and continuing to spiral up to his waist. He let it get as high as his stomach, then looked at me speculatively. "Can you do this?"
"I don't know. I've never tried. The best I've done is the ball I had to splash repeatedly on your neck." I closed my eyes and tried to find a place in my head that would allow me to access Rowan's fire.
Three tiny little lemon-sized balls formed in my hands. I tried to smear them on my bare legs, but they just went out.
"That answers that question." Rowan looked out at the shore. "We're just going to have to risk it."
"Risk what? You carrying me?"
He nodded. "Actually, I'm going to put you up on my shoulders. Just pretend you're a small child trying to see over the heads of others."
"You're kidding," I said, looking from his shoulders to the fiery inferno all around us. "I'll crush you into the fire and then we'll both burn to death. And I won't be able to heal up. Not that, obviously, you can heal yourself from death. At least I don't think you can. Can you?"
He laughed, and kissed me so swiftly I wasn't able to respond before it was over. "I appreciate you thinking I can conquer death, but no, I'm certain that even wyverns can't do that. We are both immortal now; according to Gabriel, you became so the second you accepted either your husband as your mate-assuming you had time enough to do that-or accepted me. And since I know you did the latter, you, my adorable half-naked nymph, are practically immortal."
"But we can both still be killed, right?"
"Yes. It just takes a lot more to accomplish that."
I gestured to the fire. "Seems to me that would do it."
His smile faded. "It would if we didn't have my fire. Ready?"
"Not even remotely," I said, shaking my head and backing up the one step that was all the available landscape.
"I won't let you get hurt," he promised. I smiled a little to myself-that was most definitely the wyvern talking. The question was, did I trust his newfound wyvern abilities to handle this seemingly impossible position?
"All right, but if you drop me and I die horribly in the fire, I'm going to haunt you 'til the end of your days."
"I should hope so. Up you go."
It took a bit of time to get me hoisted up onto his shoulders, and then my balance was so wobbly I had to clutch his head.
"Sophea, I can't see if you're going to cover my eyes like that," he pointed out.
"Oh. Sorry." I adjusted my grip, my legs tucked back underneath his arms as if we were in a pool playing chicken fight.
"Here we go. Flame on!"
"Ha ha ha, very funny. I just hope-aiee!"
Rowan stepped down into the fire, his body up to his adorable belly covered in dragon fire. I curled my toes into his sides and clutched his hair as he walked toward the far shore, praying to any and all gods I could think of (including the First Dragon, should he be listening) that the lake got no deeper.
It didn't.
"Well now," Rowan said twenty-three minutes later when he deposited me on the bank at the other side of the lake. He leaped up to join me, the sweat beading on his brow the only sign that he was as nervous as I was. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
I stared at him. "It's as if you are a normal person, and yet you're speaking utter and complete tripe. Not so bad, Rowan? Not so bad? We could have died out there! Immortally died!" I clutched the dried grasses of the bank and contemplated just what we'd been through. "I almost fell off you seven times."
"Six. I wouldn't count the time I stumbled as being your fault."
I held up my foot, which was now sans one tennis shoe. "I'm lucky that it was only my shoe that got it when you almost fell and I slid around the front of you."
He had the nerve to smile when he pulled me to my feet, wrapping an arm around my waist and turning me so the fire lake was to our backs. "Ah, but I greatly enjoyed you twisting around my body to get back into place. I would have liked it more if you'd done as I suggested and gone commando."
I glared at him and limped forward. "It's bad enough I'm just wearing your shirt, and don't you think I'm not going to have a lot more to say to you about your fantasy about me going commando, but right now, I just want to get back to the ship, take a very cool shower, put on my Xena outfit-assuming the laundry people finally got to it-and make sure that hussy Mrs. P and her gaggle of sexy girls haven't had some horrible accident while we were stranded. Following which I may lie down and refuse to deal with any more shenanigans of this type."
Rowan took my hand, whistling softly to himself. Part of me was annoyed that he wasn't as traumatized by our near miss as I had been, while the other part was filled with admiration. I hadn't been sure when we started across the lake, but now I had every confidence that Rowan would make an admirable wyvern. If the man could handle walking through a fiery hell with a panicky woman clinging to his head and still make it out alive, then he could handle anything other dragons threw at him.
The bank rose in a gentle slope, and as we crested it, we could see the ship sitting placidly on the river some two hundred feet away.
Cheering broke out on board the ship as we approached, all the passengers lining the upper deck waving and calling congratulations at yet another challenge bested. I glared at them all, making a mental note to speak to them about someone else taking a turn, but realized as we entered the relative coolness of the lowest level of the ship that the final challenge was personal to each individual.
And as soon as it was over, Mrs. P would present the ring to her boyfriend.
As we stepped on board, the captain greeted us, saying, "You completed the challenge."
"We did," Rowan said, and I felt a little flame of ire within him.
I couldn't blame him. The way the captain stated the obvious made my hackles go up a bit. If I didn't know better, I'd have sworn he would have liked us to fail.
Captain Kherty watched us for a moment, his expression completely unreadable, before giving a brief nod, and gesturing us toward the stairs. "You will no doubt wish to celebrate your accomplishment at the party later this evening. You will be my guests of honor."