“Asmodeus poses the only serious threat to the throne. If you refuse me, I will assume you desire him in power and will treat you accordingly.”

My blood curdled at the unspoken intent behind his words. I walked slowly out the door, down a wood-paneled hallway to what I assumed was a front door, wondering how my life had gone so wrong in such a short amount of time.

Ariton followed me to the door.

“Be warned. Aisling Grey.” Ariton’s voice stopped me as I reached for the doorknob. I fought the unspoken command he had issued me but decided after a brief battle that it would do me more damage to fight his compulsion. “I intend to rule Abaddon. Heed my warning if you wish to survive.”

“Good luck with that,” was all I said as I opened to the door and walked out.. . until I got a good look around me. The line of white stone houses, the black wrought-iron fences, the intersection were horribly familiar— goose bumps marched up and down my arms as I spun around to face the demon lord.

“You know, you might get a little more cooperation from people if you didn’t try to shoot them first!”

Ariton’s eyes narrowed. “You try my patience, human. You have been warned.”

The black lacquered door shut with a solid click, leaving me to stare at the house and wonder whether my eyes had been deceiving me. I was willing to swear that the expression that flashed in the demon lord’s eyes was blank confusion.

Was he working with the red dragons? He had to be ... because if neither of them was responsible for shooting at me, who was?

13

“Hi. Do you think you can pay off the taxi guy? He seems to be a bit leery of me getting too close to him.”

Pal, who answered the bell to Drake’s house, stared in wordless horror at the sword that still stuck out of my stomach.

I stumbled past him into the hall, relief at being safe again causing my muscles to go all rubbery. “Thank god.”

“Aisling? Is that you? What happened to you—oh, merciful heaven!”

“Mon dieu!” Rene appeared behind Nora, the two of them frozen in identical expressions of horror.

“Yeah, it’s us. You wouldn’t believe where we’ve been,” Jim said, sauntering around me. “I stubbed a toe. Did we miss dinner?”

“What. . .” Nora took one step forward, stopping to gawk at the sword. It took her a couple of seconds to pull herself together. “Dear heaven. I’ll call a paramedic.”

“That won’t be necessary,” a familiar deep voice rumbled down the staircase. Drake stood at the top, his face impassive as I turned toward him. A shadow emerged from behind him and resolved itself into the hotheaded Dmitri.

I had been about to run screaming for comfort to Drake, but the sight of the other dragon had me stiffening my back instead. I might be willing to appear weak and needy in front of Drake and my friends, but a troublesome sept member was another matter.

“Hello, Dmitri. Hi, Drake. It would seem the red dragons are quite serious about war.”

“Indeed.” Drake sauntered down the stairs just as if the sword gutting me was nothing out of the ordinary. “Istvan?”

The bodyguard nodded and headed for the phone. Nora hurried over next to me, carefully putting an arm around my shoulders. “You should sit. Or lie down. Or...” She stopped and looked at Drake. “Aren’t you going to do anything?”

“Of course I am.” Drake’s voice was as smooth as his face was expressionless. I wondered what sort of trouble Dmitri had been stirring up to cause Drake to go so stony. “I am seeing Dmitri to the door.”

The situation was so ludicrous, I almost laughed. I had to struggle to keep my lips in a relatively straight line. I knew Drake wasn’t being callous. He could see for himself that I wasn’t in any imminent danger of corking off. I was certain he’d had Istvan call for medical aid, so I was quite content to stand around and act the brave, skewered Aisling.

Dmitri stopped in front of me, eyeing the sword. ‘This changes nothing. I will not accept your mate as my own.”

“You what?”

Drake ignored my outraged squawk, keeping his eyes on Dmitri much as one would a dangerous asp poised to strike. “Such a situation would require you to be wyvern, and as you have not beaten me in a challenge, the point is moot.”

“Yeah,” I said, moving to stand next to Drake in a wholly supportive manner. “And for the record, I do not go with the job.”

Dmitri gave me a scornful look before turning toward the door, tossing over his shoulder, “She is ignorant, this so-called mate of yours.”

I knew I shouldn’t do it; I knew I should let Drake handle anything related to dragon politics, but I’d had a trying day, and Dmitri seemed to be intent on insulting me. I’d had more than I could take.

“Hey,” I snapped, grabbing his arm to stop him. He turned back to me with a surprised look on his face. “I’ve tried to be nice, but you know what? Surviving a murder attempt and a kidnapping makes me a bit testy. Now, I am the first person to admit that I don’t know all the ins and outs of dragondom, but I’m trying to learn. And it would help if people like you would share information rather than just tell me I’m ignorant.”

“Aisling, release the challenger.” Drake moved around to my other side.

“No. Not until he explains what he meant. I may be a tiny bit clueless, but I’m not ignorant.”

“Mate—”

Dmitri sneered. “You really don’t know, do you? What you said before was wrong. A wyvern’s mate, a real wyvern’s mate, does go with the job.”

I blinked a couple of times and opened and closed my mouth twice before looking at Drake, who stood frowning at me. “Is that true?”

“Yes.”

“Do you dare call me a liar?” Dmitri asked, anger flaring up in his mossy green eyes.

“Does that mean if someone else gets your job—not that I believe anyone can beat you, because you’re just about unbeatable—but if someone did, does that mean I would suddenly be their mate?”

“We can talk about this later,” Drake answered, opening the door.

I closed my lips on the obvious comment, figuring I’d wait for Dmitri to leave before peppering Drake with questions.

“Afraid she’ll find out too much?” Dmitri asked, his fingers flexing. His smile turned positively gleeful. “She doesn’t know the truth about you, does she?”