Free Dance of the Gods by Nora Roberts

Glenna’s hands were steady now as she measured the tea leaves. “To risk it all? Isn’t it true that any one of us might not come back each time we walk out the door, each time we pick up a weapon? How many times have you picked up a weapon and the gift you have and risked it all?”
    â€œI couldn’t count the times. This is different. You know it. Larkin and I…we need you. We need the rest of you strong and healthy.”
    â€œYou nearly died today, didn’t you?”
    â€œThanks to dragon-boy—”
    â€œBlair.” Glenna turned, took the steps over and closed her hand tight over Blair’s.
    Connections, Glenna had said, and Blair felt it now. Youdidn’t evade the truth, Blair decided, with someone you were so closely connected to.
    â€œOkay, yeah, it was bad—bad enough I wasn’t sure we’d get out of it. But it could’ve been worse. We all did our jobs, and now I’m having a beer and you’re making tea. Good for us.”
    â€œYou’re better at this than I am,” Glenna murmured.
    â€œNo, I’m not. Just more used to it. Being used to it, I can have a beer because I know we not only beat her today, Glenna. We insulted her, and that feels tingly right down to my toes. And you know what I’d like?”
    â€œI think I do. I think you’d like to go back there and do it all again.”
    â€œBet your ass I would. Nothing better, that’s the pure truth. But it would be stupid, self-indulgent, and it would probably get us all killed. Take the victory, Glenna, ’cause you sure as hell earned it. And accept you may not be able to do it just that way again.”
    â€œI know it.” Glenna walked back to the stove when the water began to boil. “I know you’re right. It’s hard to accept you’re right. In the past few weeks, I’ve held magicks stronger than anything I ever dreamed existed. It thrills—and it costs. I know we’ll need more time, more preparation if we try to do what we did today again.”
    She poured the water into the pot. “I thought we’d lost Moira,” she said quietly. “I felt her falling away, slipping. She’s not as strong magically as I am, certainly not as strong as Hoyt.” As the tea steeped, she turned back to face Blair. “We let her go. We let her go, only an instant before it exploded. I don’t know what would have happened to her if we’d held her in with us.”
    â€œWould you have gotten so many out without her?”
    â€œNo, no we needed her.”
    â€œTake the victory. It was a good day. One question though. How did you know where to send them? Not the magic stuff, just the logistics.”
    â€œOh, I had a map.” Glenna smiled a little. “I’d alreadycalculated the quickest routes to hospitals, in case any of us needed one. So it was just a matter of, well, of following the map.”
    â€œA map.” After a laugh, Blair took a deep drink. “You’re something, Glenna. You are something else. Vampire bitch had you on her team, I think we’d be sunk. Hell of a day,” she said with a sigh. “I rode on a freaking dragon.”
    â€œIt was cute, wasn’t it, how surprised he was we didn’t have any.” Chuckling now, easier now, Glenna got down cups and saucers. “What did he look like? I paint them sometimes.”
    â€œLike you’d expect, I guess. He was gold. Long, wicked tail—took a couple of them out with it. And the body’s more sinuous than snakelike. Yeah, long and sinuous, the body, the tail, the head. Gold eyes. God, he was beautiful. And the wings, wide, peaked, translucent. Scales big as my hand, that went from pale gold to dark, and all the shades between. And fast? Holy God, he’s fast. It’s like riding the sun. I was just…”
    She trailed off when she saw Glenna leaning back against the counter,