“That is very interesting,” Amelie said, looking thoughtful. “And what of the fifth sept?”

“The what?” I frowned, setting down my wineglass. When I started mishearing things, it was time to switch to something a little less potent. “Fifth sept? There are only four dragon septs—red, blue, silver, and green.”

“Non, there is a fifth sept. I heard that a black dragon had been spotted in Germany. The local speculation is that he will claim the post of wyvern and bring the black dragons back.”

“There’s a fifth sept?” I looked at Jim. “Jim, how many dragon septs are there?”

“Now, or ever have been?” Jim answered. I ground my teeth a little. The dragons had a habit of answering a question with a question, and Jim had picked up that habit.

“Right now, how many dragon septs are there?”

“Four,” Jim said, pausing a moment. “Five if you count the black dragons, but no one has seen any of them for a hundred and fifty years.”

“Who’s the wyvern?” I asked. Neither Jim nor Amelie had an answer. “Well, then, why did they disappear? What happened to them? Why hasn’t anyone mentioned them before this?”

Amelie shrugged. Jim sucked ear. I glared at it.

“You never asked,” my demon finally answered.

“I believed you would receive answers to your questions from your mate,” Amelie said. “I am not au courant with all that goes on in the dragon world. I can only tell you what the gossip of the moment says.”

“Well, you can bet your bootstraps I’ll be asking Drake about that. If there’s another wyvern out there I have to make nice to, I’d like to know about it first.”

Amelie smiled again and switched the subject. “I know this will be of interest to you, since you had something to do with it the last time you were here—the office of Venediger has not yet been filled, although there have been challenges for it.”

“Oh, really? You know—silly me—I never was quite sure exactly what the Venediger does. It’s a position running the French Otherworld?”

“France, yes, and the rest of what is now the common market. Mostly all of Europe. It is a very big position, you know? Very important. To be Venediger means to have much control, much power. The challengers for it have been strong, but not strong enough.” She slid me an odd little look that I couldn’t read.

“Really? What happened to them?”

“They killed each other,” she said simply and held out a plate of cold, marinated mushrooms. She made a little moue at the horrified expression on my face. “Yes, it is shocking, but unfortunately, the people who first come forward at a time like this are not ones we want in control. Now that the feverheads and rogues have done away with themselves, the serious challengers will come out and battle for control.”

“I guess you’ve got to be a hothead if you end up fighting to the death for a job,” I said slowly, wondering what sort of person would end up in control of western Europe’s Otherworld society.

Amelie agreed. “But Aisling ... there has been some talk.”

“Oh? About what? Oooh, stuffed tomatoes! Thank you, they look delicious.”

I popped a tiny tomato into my mouth while she sat down opposite me, her hands folded together.

“Do you recall what I said the last time I saw you?”

“The last time? Hmm.” I thought back a couple of months. “Bon voyage?”

“Before that. It was right after you solved the murders of the Venediger and Madame Deauxville.”

I put down the scrumptious morsel of tomato and cheese, my blood running cold. “You said that since I had defeated the person who was going to take over as Venediger, that meant I was a candidate for the job, but it’s not going to happen, Amelie. I have enough on my plate as is.”

“It is the opinion of many here that you would be perfect for the position,” she said stubbornly as she poured herself another glass of wine.

“Much as I appreciate such a thought, I wouldn’t be perfect for it. I don’t even know what a Venediger does, for cripe’s sake!”

“You are a smart woman. You would learn quickly.”

I set my glass down and took a deep breath. “Thank you, but no. Seriously, no. It’s all I can do to keep up with Nora and the dragons—anything else would be absolutely out of the question.”

She shrugged, and without saying anything more on that topic, turned the conversation to personal subjects. I told her what I’d been doing the last couple of months, about our time in Budapest, and gave her a brief update on the situation with Drake.

“He ... betrayed you?” she asked, clearly surprised.

“In a manner of speaking. He kind of tricked me into becoming his mate while leading me to believe he would support my Guardian training.”

“That is very wrong of him ... but very like a dragon,” she said after a moment’s thought.

“Yes. I will admit that he was in a hard place, and perhaps I wasn’t noticing warning signs as well as I might, but hindsight and all that.”

“Hmm. It is difficult.”

By the time we were through dissecting my love life, discussing all the gossip of the Paris Otherworld, and allowing Jim to have quality Cecile time, I had only an hour and a half left before I had to get to the station to catch the high-speed train back to London.

“Would you like to go to G&T?” Amelie asked as I helped her clear the dinner table after we’d eaten a lovely meal of poached smoked haddock and potatoes, and wild mushroom ravioli that had me gibbering with pleasure as it melted in my mouth. “If it has bad memories for you, I will understand, but it is still the premiere place in Paris.”

“I’d love to. I don’t hold the bar at fault for all the stuff that happened there,” I told her as we gathered up our things. Jim was torn between leaving Cecile and missing out on potential snacks from unwary patrons at the Goety and Theurgy bar, where so much had happened a few months ago. In the end, it decided that although love was eternal, a sleepy Cecile was not as entertaining as G&T.

“I want a drink, though. And some snacks. That mushroom thing isn’t going to hold me over until morning,” Jim said as we headed for the metro.

“If you’d eaten the food Amelie provided, you wouldn’t be hungry now,” I said in an undertone, pinching its ear to remind it to keep its voice down in public.