“It’s okay—you don’t have to be worried I’m trying to steal Jim from Aisling,” I said in a soothing voice. Honestly, the man looked worried to death over the idea that Jim wasn’t with his former boss. “It was an accident, and we’ve already met with Aisling, so it’ll be all straightened out in a bit.”

“Ah,” Rene said, absently patting Jim on the head. “It is not ideal, though, is it? Jim and Aisling made a strong team together. And then there is Jim’s beloved Cecile. What will become of her if he is not there to molest her ears?”

“Ew!” I looked at Jim. “You molested some poor woman’s ears?”

“I did?” Jim looked as horrified as I felt.

“No, no, Cecile, she is the small dog from Wales. She has no tail and snaps most vigorously if one attempts to pet her, but for Jim, she is all that is amiable. It is true love between them, hein?”

“Jim the demon has a Welsh corgi girlfriend?”

“Cool!” Jim said. “Are there pictures of her?”

“Alas, I do not possess any, although Cecile’s owner might. She lives here in Paris.”

“Gotcha.” I thought about making a comment regarding the size difference between a corgi and Jim but decided there were some things best left unsaid. “Well, at least that makes the ear molesting a little less creepy, Jim.”

“A corgi, huh?” Jim said thoughtfully. “They have those cute little stubby legs, don’t they? Yeah, I can totally see why a hot corgi babe wants me.”

“And we just crossed over the line back into ew-ness. No more comments about hot corgis and yourself, please. Rene, do you happen to know if Aisling is back in Paris yet? I tried calling her en route, but her voice mail was on, and she hasn’t called back.”

“That I do not know, I’m afraid. Will you enter?” He held open the taxi door for me.

“Shotgun!” Jim said, and leaped in through the open driver’s door to take up a spot in the front seat.

“Thanks. What… er… what are you? I take it you’re not a dragon because you can talk to Kostya.”

He smiled. “What I am is not so important as the fact that I am the very great friend of Aisling and thus will be delighted to help you and Kostya while you are in Paris. One cannot have too many friends in a time of war, can one not?”

I bit back the urge to press him for more information, but Kostya had finished his business and got into the backseat alongside me.

“Greetings, Rene.”

“And to you, Kostya Fekete. You are well, I see.”

“No thanks to the red dragons. Have there been any sightings of them in Paris?”

“Not that I have heard.” Rene started up the car and swung in a big arc on the tarmac to exit the small airport on the outskirts of a Paris suburb. “The Venediger is most adamant that the war not spill over onto her domain. She already warned Drake and Aisling that she would not tolerate any dissonance from dragonkin.”

Kostya said nothing, but looked thoughtful for a few minutes.

“The Venediger again,” I said softly, not entirely sure that I wanted Rene to hear all of our business. Jim was chatting up a blue streak in the front seat, keeping Rene laughing and answering his questions about Cecile the corgi, so I felt it was a good time to ask my question. “She doesn’t like dragons?”

He made a face. “She fears us because she has no power to call us to heel. But she won’t stop from harming us if we are to bring the battle for the weyr onto her territory. She all but threw me out of Paris the last time I was here. Do not expect a welcome reception from her, Aoife.”

“I wasn’t expecting much of anything, to be honest. Although that statement kind of indicates that you view me as being on par with a dragon, such as, oh, I don’t know, a wyvern’s mate?”

“You are a mate?” Rene asked, jerking the steering wheel when he was about to plow into oncoming traffic. He eyed Kostya with speculation in the rearview mirror until I squawked and pointed out the front window. “Pfft. I was not even close to that lorry. There was at least three inches of distance between us. So, Kostya has found his mate? Again?”

Kostya looked irritated. “There is no again. Cyrene was never my mate.”

“And yet you declared her such, or so Aisling told me,” Rene commented, deftly avoiding mowing down a family that was crossing at an intersection.

Kostya glared into the mirror. “Trust Aisling to tell everyone about that unfortunate episode.”

“Ah, my friend,” Rene laughed, “it is the way of women to keep us humble, is it not?”

Kostya said nothing but studiously avoided meeting my eye. I couldn’t help but smile to myself, but by then, we were reaching Paris proper, and my attention was drawn by the magnificence of the city itself. “I haven’t been here since I was a little kid, when my parents moved to Sweden. Oooh, Jim, look: Eiffel Tower!”

“Huh,” Jim said, sticking his head out the window. “Can we go up to the top and spit off it?”

“Whereabouts is your place?” I asked Kostya, ignoring Jim as he speculated how much impact his drool would have falling from the topmost platform on the Eiffel Tower. “And don’t think I didn’t notice that you didn’t deny I was your mate, because I did. But obviously, now is not the time to continue that discussion. You may thank me later.”

Kostya started out by looking annoyed, but to my amusement, chagrin immediately followed and changed into resignation. “I have an apartment in the Latin Quarter, but I seldom spend time there since it is not very well protected. That is not where we are going, however.”

“Oh?”

“No. Despite the Venediger’s dictates, I do not doubt that the red dragons would attempt an attack upon us, and my residence is known to dragonkin. We will stay with Drake and Aisling.”

I clicked my tongue in irritation. “Aisling said something about that, but I didn’t think you’d agree. Kostya, you can’t be in the same house as Drake! Hell—”

“Abaddon,” Jim said, then looked surprised at himself for making the correction.

“You could barely stand to be in the same airport as him. How on earth do you expect to keep from killing each other if you’re in the same house?”

“Drake’s house is equipped to handle attacks; mine is not. The curse notwithstanding, it is there that you will be safe, and that is where we will go.”