“Rene?” I asked, worried now.

Aisling was talking, striding over to us, her hands gesturing as she spoke.

“Oh, good,” Jim said, then nudged my hand with his nose. “She says she’ll summon me as soon as you release me. She also said that Suzanne is a great cook and that she has a liver recipe that I evidently used to love. So if you don’t mind, I’d appreciate it if you’d let me go so I can have some liver.”

I patted the demon on his head. “I’m so glad to know you won’t miss me.”

“I didn’t say that.” He gave me a wink and bumped my thigh. “But you gotta admit that a good cook who is willing to make me liver stacked up against you and Slick is going to be no contest.”

I laughed and bent down to hug him. “True, but I’ll still miss having to be responsible for you. Kind of. I won’t miss the potty walks. Are you ready?”

He sat and nodded. “Yeah. Unbind me, baby!”

“Jim, I absolve myself of responsibility for you. I will no longer take care of you and protect you and take you for walkies. I won’t rescue you from Kostya when you annoy him, and I won’t change you into a human again, even though you weren’t bad-looking once you got past the part where you were stark naked. I release you back to the demon holding area and disclaim any and all ties and binds thereto.”

Jim opened his mouth to say something but suddenly disappeared in a wisp of black smoke.

Aisling clapped her hands and cheered, then immediately began drawing a circle on the ground and doing some sort of ceremony where she faced in four different directions.

“Ah,” Rene said, moving over to stand next to me as we watched her. “She is calling the quarters. It is exciting this, no?”

“Very.” I took a look over my shoulder but saw no sign of Kostya in the kitchen. He must’ve still been making his phone calls. “While she’s doing that, can you help me with Drake?”

“But of course.”

We skirted Aisling’s circle and went over to where Drake was keeping guard from the depths of his doorway. “Please tell him that I know Kostya promised him a certain something I have in my possession for rescuing me, but we’ve changed our minds, and now he can’t have it.”

Rene gave me a curious look but repeated the words.

Drake stopped leaning against the door and frowned at me. I wanted to smile at the frown—it was nearly identical to Kostya’s.

“He says that is not acceptable, and that Kostya agreed to a price, and that you must uphold that agreement.”

“Cow cookies,” I said calmly. “Tell him that instead of the item in question, I’m giving him Jim.”

Drake sputtered and spoke quickly, quite obviously arguing the point. I held up my hand and said simply, “He can’t have what Kostya said he could have. End of story. And if Drake wants to get snotty about it, then he can’t come to the wedding.”

A twinkle appeared in Rene’s eyes as he dutifully repeated my words.

Drake was about to protest, but he checked himself and repeated one word.

“Married?” Rene translated.

“Yup.” I smiled at Drake. “I’m going to marry Kostya just as soon as this business with the red dragons is taken care of.”

An odd look passed over Drake’s face, part amusement and part something that looked a whole lot like pity.

“Hey!” I said, pointing at his face. “I can only hope I’m reading that expression incorrectly, because otherwise, I might have to deck you, and that would be a shame. I want us all to get along. So you can start with the congratulations and the acceptance of Jim as your fee for helping get me out of hell—”

“Abaddon,” came a familiar voice. We turned to see Jim standing in the circle, tongue lolling and tail wagging.

“So get with the program and stop being a dick,” I finished up, following which I surprised myself and Drake by leaning forward and hugging him.

“Heya,” Jim said, sitting and eyeing Aisling. “You know, you’re right. This does feel different. Comfortable, almost. You’re not going to order me to do stuff like Aoife did, are you? ’Cause she was always, ‘Effrijim, do this,’ and, ‘Effrijim, be a naked man that,’ and I tell you, a demon can only take so much. Besides, she never fed me as I should be fed. When will Suzanne be making me the liver, and can I get some fried onion straws with that?”

Rene and I looked at each other. “All is well with the world,” he said.

I laughed. “At least he’s no longer my problem. I’ve got enough going on to be thankful Jim is back where he belongs. I don’t suppose you happen to know of any Charmers who are hanging around Paris, do you?”

“A Charmer?” he thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No, but I am not very conversant with who is in town. You would do better to speak with the Venediger.”

“Kostya’s planning on doing that. I just thought you might know of someone. Where is the Venediger? Does she have some… I dunno… big palace or something?”

“No, she has G&T.”

I looked askance at him. “A gin and tonic?”

“No, no,” he laughed, waving a hand. “Goety and Theurgy. It is the bar in Paris, the center of all things Otherworld, and the business belonging to the Venediger. Aisling owned it at one point, when she was acting Venediger, but she did not seek that job and passed it on to the current Venediger.”

“Gotcha. I’ll go tell Kostya and see if he’s done gathering his people.” I looked over to where Drake was now standing with Aisling while Jim announced that he had to pee. Aisling looked pleased as punch. Drake looked a little weary, and Jim… I felt a little pang of sadness at the thought that Jim was no longer my problem, but the truth was that he was where he should be.

Without another word, I left them to their reunion and returned to my room to tell Kostya about the proceedings.

“I told Drake he couldn’t come to the wedding unless he backed down with regards to his demand for the ring,” I finished, watching Kostya as he typed on a small laptop. I wanted badly to sit on his lap, run my fingers through that silky black hair, and kiss the tongue right out of his mouth.

“My brother will not be moved by a human convention like marriage,” he said without even glancing at me. “If he allowed you to substitute Jim for the ring, it is because he values Aisling’s desires more than his own. He has always been foolish that way.”