Kostya squinted at the door for a moment, then breathed fire on it. For three seconds, a symbol lit up gold in the doorway, an intricate design that looked somewhat like a Celtic knot, but with a few extra twiddly bits. “Protection ward. She’s keeping out the dragonkin.”

I waggled both arms through it. There was nothing there, not until I tried to lean in with my torso. Through the open door, I could see chairs stacked neatly on tables, evidently waiting for the club to open.

“Why doesn’t she want you going inside?”

“She believes we’ll bring the war to her patrons. That is foolish, because she has enough power to keep G&T neutral. We could not war inside without the most extreme of repercussions.”

“Extreme, how?” I couldn’t help but ask, my curiosity piqued by the idea of a woman who had enough power to keep the dragons from attacking each other.

“Death,” he answered succinctly, turning to look behind me. “Rene should have parked his car by now. I will have him call the Venediger and ask her to allow us in.”

I eyed the door again. “You said Aisling used to be a Venediger. Could she help us get through it?”

“Yes, but I will not ask her to risk the welfare of her child to help us.” His eyes scanned the street, clearly looking for Rene.

I looked down at my hand. “I wonder,” I said softly to myself. The ring had protected me against Asmodeus… would it do so against the bit of magic keeping us out? I made a fist and held it out to the door.

Nothing happened.

Well, obviously, I told myself. You have to will it to do things. Accordingly, I closed my eyes and thought about what I wanted. I thought about Kostya, and how he filled my thoughts, and how my life was now bound to his. That didn’t seem to do much for the ring, so I thought about how nice it would be to have the curse taken off so the dragons could talk to one another without murderous thoughts, but again, the ring didn’t seem to be impressed. I moved on to the altruistic intention of keeping it out of the hands of Asmodeus and his demon horde.

Still nothing.

“Oh, screw this!” I snapped, my patience at an end. “Let me in the damned place so we can talk to this chick and find a stupid Charmer. NOW!” I bellowed the last word at the same time I charged forward, and evidently, the ring decided to cooperate, because the next thing I knew I was running into the wall across from the door.

Kostya whirled around and stared at me. “How did you do that?”

I held up my hand. “I got pissed, and the ring listened to me. Let’s see if it works for you.”

It took a good five minutes for me to figure out that it wasn’t so much getting angry that triggered the ring to heed me, but any strong emotion.

“Arouse me,” I demanded, having gone through the door to where Kostya stood and wrapped my arms around him.

His surprise almost made me laugh, but I licked the tip of his nose instead and wiggled my hips against his. Instantly, his eyes adopted that look that I thought of as smoldering, and he grabbed my butt, his fire twisting itself around us. I slid my hands into his hair and kissed him, allowing the fire to burn deep within me.

He was just getting into the kiss, his tongue going all bossy on mine, when I started moving backward, pulling him with me. He was about to break the kiss, no doubt to ask me what I was doing, but I bit his lower lip and sucked it into my mouth while continuing to back up. By the time I was out of breath, we were inside the club.

“Emotion,” I breathed onto his lips, giving him one last kiss before stepping away from him. I knew I had to put a little distance between us or else I’d simply wrestle him to the ground right then and there and have my way with him. “That’s what the ring responds to. It likes me emotional.”

He blinked a couple of times, then tamped down on his fire and looked around. “Ah. Just so.”

“What is the meaning of this?” A woman strode out from what must be the back room of the club, a seriously pissed look on her face as she moved around the tables with the upturned chairs. She wore a beige power suit, had sun-streaked blond hair done in a short bob, and was followed by a nondescript middle-aged man who held a tablet computer. “Guillaume, examine the ward. It must be weak in order to allow dragons inside.”

“Jovana,” Kostya said, bowing low to the woman when she stopped in front of us. “I assure you that we do not enter with any intention of violence.”

“It is not your intentions I have argument with,” she snapped, giving me a visual once-over. “Who is this?”

“Her name is Aoife. She is with me,” he answered before I could do so.

“Your mate?”

I rubbed my arms against the chill of the darkened club and smiled at Kostya. He looked uncomfortable and was about to answer when the guy named Guillaume returned from his visit to the front door. “The ward is intact, Venediger. It is not weakened so far as I can tell.”

Jovana’s eyes narrowed on us. “How did you get through it? Is the Guardian outside? I have strictly forbidden her to tamper with my protections, and if she has disobeyed that order—”

“Aisling is at home,” Kostya interrupted. “She has not aided us in entering the building. We are here, as I said, not to conduct violence but to get information. You are the Venediger; you are familiar with all the denizens of the Otherworld in Europe. We seek the services of a Charmer, preferably one located nearby.”

She held up her hand to stop him, marching over to look at the door herself. “I do not understand how you got through the ward if no one was helping you. You will tell me how you achieved entry.”

Worriedly, I curled my fingers into a fist and slid a glance at Kostya. He crossed his arms and looked bored, an act that made me want to cheer. I loved the fact that he wasn’t in the least bit intimidated by this apparently all-powerful woman. “That is not pertinent to my request. Do you know of a Charmer who is reasonably close to Paris?”

“I know of two, one of whom has been in Lyon on assignment, while the other is in Seville, but their information will not be given to you until you satisfy me regarding this door,” she answered, gesturing toward it.

Kostya raised one of his eyebrows at her. “We seek aid in ending the dragon war. You, yourself, have stated that you desire it to end so that you need not fear repercussions on the Otherworld. Our means of entry pale in consideration of that goal. What is the name and phone number of the Charmer in Lyon?”