“Then we will bring him with us.”

“You don’t think he already has it?” I asked.

Gabriel shook his head. “Not now. The question of the bind runes aside, for there to be so great an effort made at concealing Dauva itself tells me the lair must still be there, and intact. There would be no other reason to hide the ruins otherwise. And according to your experiences with Kostya’s lair, he uses a different type of protection altogether.”

“Yes.” I remembered the bane drawn into the door to Kostya’s lair. It was exactly what I expected to find—theurgistic in origin. “That’s a very good point. So off to Latvia we go.”

“I’m too weak to travel anywhere,” Savian protested as I smiled at him. “I was almost killed!”

“Almost, but not quite. Get your rest,” I said, patting the blanket-clad foot nearest me before allowing Gabriel to draw me out the door. “We’ll leave for Latvia in the morning.”

Chapter Three

“Heya, István. Miss me? Has Ash popped yet? I don’t hear any screaming. She’s not gushing out baby juice and blood and guck, is she? ’Cause I’m going straight back to Gabriel’s pad if she’s in labor.”

“Jim,” I said, feeling obligated to chastise the demon dog even if it was my charge only temporarily. “That’s not very supportive. I’ve heard that childbirth can be a very frightening time for a woman. I’m sure Aisling would appreciate your empathy rather than your burning desire to escape what is an exciting time for her and Drake.”

“Lawdy, Miz Scarlett, I don’t know nuthin’ about birthin’ babies, and I don’t want to know, either,” Jim answered, marching past István, one of Drake’s personal guards, as he stood holding the door for us.

“That’ll be enough out of you, prissy,” I said, frowning at the demon. “And no more Gone with the Wind DVD. I take it everything is all right?”

The last question was addressed to István, who nodded as we entered the house. “Aisling threatened to go home to her uncle to have the baby. Drake swore he would tie her down to a couch if she kept insisting on doing things like walking and moving around. Nora and Pál had an argument over whether Aisling should be allowed to go to the bathroom by herself, and they aren’t speaking to each other. René has been teaching Aisling how to swear in French, which she does with frequency.”

“So all is normal,” Gabriel said with a little flash of his dimples.

“As normal as it gets around here,” István said with a wave toward doors that I knew led to a large sitting room. “Me, I’m staying out of Aisling’s way. She put a binding ward on Drake this morning that left him mad enough to burn down half the master bathroom before he escaped it.”

“Oh, man, I missed seeing that? Sucksville.” Jim’s eyes narrowed in speculation. “What did he do to piss her off so much, and do you think I could get him to do it again?”

I pulled out a small piece of paper from my pocket and showed it to Jim. “I have here the exact steps needed to banish a demon within my command to the Akasha. Would you like to go now, or later?”

“Geez! I was just teasing! No one can take a little joke anymore! Man, Gabe, I don’t envy you a life spent with a doppelganger without a sense of humor.”

“Now would be good,” István said from behind us.

Jim cast the dragon a look over its shoulder as it opened the door to the sitting room. “Et tu, István? Hey, Ash! Lookin’ good there, babe. Wow, I didn’t think you could get any fatter, but you did. You’re not going to, like, pop, are you?”

I sighed and wondered if Aisling would mind me banishing her demon less than twenty-four hours after it had been given into my care.

“Aisling, what a pleasure it is to see you again,” Gabriel said, his hand on my back as we entered the room. He took both her hands in his as he pressed a kiss to her knuckles. I stifled the urge to smack him on the back of his head, chalking up the sudden spurt of jealousy to the dragon shard. “You are glowing, as you should be. You do not mind that May and I have dropped in to see you?”

“No, not at all.” She was lying on the couch, a thick blanket over her legs and bulging midsection. “I’m delighted to have someone sane to talk to. Here, let me move so you can sit with me, May.”

She struggled to sit upright. Gabriel, with one hand behind her, the other on her arm, gently assisted her. Or he started to. . . . A sudden roar from the doorway, followed immediately by a fireball that shot past me and hit Gabriel with enough force to fling him backwards a few feet, ended his attempt at help.

“Now, that’s what I’m talking about,” Jim said with satisfaction as it plopped its big butt down next to Aisling. “Action at last!”

“Hello, Drake. He wasn’t really touching her; he was just helping her sit up,” I said as the green wyvern, and Aisling’s very attentive, very jealous husband, stormed into the room, his emerald eyes spitting fury at Gabriel.

Drake never took his eyes off Gabriel as he helped Aisling into a sitting position, carefully tucking the blanket around her before narrowing his gaze on the love of my life. I was a bit surprised to see Gabriel grinning in return. Although he had a much less volatile temper than Drake, he didn’t take kindly to being pushed around, especially by another wyvern.

“Well, I can see I’m not going to have to break up a fight between you two, at least,” I said, moving nonetheless to stand between the two men.

“Aisling is near her birthing time. It is natural that Drake should be intolerant of other males around her while she is vulnerable,” Gabriel said, his hand sliding around to my waist as he made a little bow to Drake. “Had I known he was right outside the room, I would have allowed you to assist Aisling.”

Drake looked like he wanted to pick a fight with Gabriel, smoke issuing in little puffs from his nose, but Aisling put a hand on him and tugged him down onto the couch next to her. That seemed to do the trick, for his gaze left Gabriel for the first time, and he acknowledged my presence with a nod.

“May, you are welcome here. Aisling will enjoy your company.”

The exclusion of Gabriel in the welcome was pointed, but luckily amused him.