The wary gaze slid to me, assessing me for potential hazards to his mate. I smiled at him, as well. “I just want a little information, and won’t require Aisling to do anything at all other than think.”

“See that you don’t.” He rejoined his mother and Kaawa after giving us both a warning look.

“Bossy,” Aisling muttered fondly as he left. “Oh, good, there’s Nora now. We have a little issue for you to work on,” she told the woman who entered the sitting room, Jim following her. Nora was, I knew, technically Aisling’s mentor, but I suspected their relationship was more on par with partners than a teacher and student. Nora was in her early forties, black, with warm, dancing eyes behind red-rimmed glasses.

“What sort of an issue? Good morning, May. I understand you’ve come to visit Aisling for a bit.”

“Just a few days until we can find a new house. Ours was demolished by a very angry dragon.”

Jim snorted. “Understatement of the year, babe.”

“Don’t you have something to do?” I asked the demon.

“Did it, and I won’t go into specifics because Ash’ll tell me I’m disgusting,” Jim said with a little Muttley snicker.

“You’ve been watching cartoons again, haven’t you?” Aisling asked it.

It did the wheezing snicker again.

I gave Nora a brief recap of the events of the last few days, including my visit to Bael.

Her eyes grew wider and wider as I explained.

“He gave you Magoth’s powers?” she asked in disbelief.

I nodded. “I don’t want them, so the question is, what can I do to get him to take them back?”

She looked at Aisling. Aisling gave me a half smile. “You know Bael as well as I do, May. Probably better.

Can you imagine making him do anything, much less take back something he forced on you against your will?”

“No.” My shoulders slumped. “You’re right, of course, but I was hoping one of you might have some sort of trick up your sleeve that I could use. I can’t keep them. Not with the dragon shard—it’s just too dangerous.”

“Absolutely,” Nora agreed.

“The only thing I can think of is to pass them on to someone else, someone you trust not to use them,” Aisling said.

“The people I trust I wouldn’t burden with the powers, and the ones I don’t trust I’d never consider, so I’m kind of at a loss—”

The door slammed open, startling everyone in the room.

“Thought you could hide from me, eh?” Magoth shouted, hauling a green dragon in behind him.“Thought you could simply leave me to sizzle away in the basement while you . . . while you . . .” He came to a stop, and not because the dragon who answered the door to him finally managed to halt him. He stared at me. He squinted. He stood, hands on hips, his mouth hanging slightly open as he examined me as if he hadn’t seen me before.

“I’m sorry,” the green dragon apologized, casting a nervous glance at Drake. “He got past me before I could tell him that I’d ask the silver mate if she would see him.”

“You’ve got dark powers,” Magoth said finally, just a split second before realization struck him.

“Oh, god, no,” I murmured, wanting to slip into the shadow world. I contented myself with slumping over and dropping my forehead to my hands.

“Hoo, boy, now it’s gonna hit the fan,” Jim said, sauntering over to me. “Man, Ash, I said ‘it,’ not the other word. Stop looking at me like that!”

“You have my powers!” Magoth bellowed, his fingers flexing as he stalked stiff-legged toward me. The dragon shard, riled up already, tried to push me toward him. “You treacherous little bitch! You thieving, conniving, despicable little two-timing backstabber.” The words evidently struck him, for he paused for a moment before suddenly throwing himself at my feet, prying one of my hands off my head and clutching it in order to press chilled, wet kisses to it. “Fire and brimstone! You are the most perfect woman I’ve ever met!”

“Oh, god,” I said again, head still in my remaining hand, squelching down hard on the shard. I would not give in to it. I had fought it and won, and I would continue to fight it.

Jim smirked. “Oh yeah. Nothing turns on a demon lord more than a touch of maleficence. Nicely done, May.”

“Oh god, oh god, oh god,” I moaned into my hand.

“I knew one day you would admit that you wanted me,” Magoth said, still pressing slobbery kisses onto my knuckles. “You’ve made me the happiest demon lord on earth. Take me, my adorably evil one. Take me like a two-bit gigolo! Ride me like a rented mule! Bitch slap me as you’ve never bitch slapped before! Only with your tail, because you know how much I love that.”

“I believe that will be enough,” Drake said, taking charge of the situation.

Magoth glared over his shoulder at the wyvern. “Who are you?”

“Drake Vireo, wyvern of the green dragons, and the owner of this house. I am also a friend to Gabriel, and I can assure you he would not appreciate you wiping your lips all over his mate’s hands.”

Magoth got to his feet, still holding my hand, tossing his head and leveling Drake a look that had intimidated many a minion over the centuries. “She is my consort. I have the right to put my lips wherever I like on her, dragon.”

“No, you don’t,” I said, finally managing to get my hand free from his grip. I shoved him none too gently aside. “You divorced me several weeks ago.”

He donned a sultry pout. “I didn’t mean it. I was angry. Besides, it takes more to divorce a consort than simply saying you want to divorce her.”

“Such as?” I asked.

“Death,” Nora said.

Aisling nodded. “Banishment works, too, although that’s trickier to pull off, since technically the banishee is still alive.”

“There is also a repudiation ceremony,” Nora continued as she eyed Magoth. He gave her a quick leer, then snatched up my hand again, rubbing my knuckles in a way that made my teeth grind. “But as that requires the sacrifices of fifteen virgin souls, it’s not often done.”

“Aisling did it with chickens one time,” Jim piped up.

I stared at her in surprise.

“Bael didn’t specify who the souls had to belong to,” Aisling said with a nonchalant gesture. “I thought roast chickens were ideal because they were an answer to his demands, and dinner, all in one.”