My mouth had dropped open a smidgen as she spoke. When I realized what I was doing, I closed it, trying to process everything she’d said. “Your boyfriend has a wife?”

She shrugged. “Osiris is the lord of the Underworld, and Isis is his wife, although that has not stopped his eye from wandering. She has ever been jealous of me, but she shall not keep me from my true love. He is mine, now. Or he will be when I take him this shiny.”

“There’s nothing else you can give him?” I asked, torn between demanding she hand over the ring (which I had no right to do), and begging her for it, which I didn’t feel qualified to do since I had a tenuous grasp at best on the whole story, not to mention the fact that I should be thinking of what was in her best interest rather than my own.

“No. This shiny has the power he needs to escape this domain. No other will suffice.”

I stood up and silently opened the door, turning the lock in the knob as I did so. “I want you ladies to lock the bolt at the top after me, all right?”

“Why? No one will be able to get past us to our sister.” Ipy didn’t take her eyes off her cards.

“Right, but I took on the job of protecting Mrs. P, and I mean to keep on doing that.”

Ipy shrugged. “You will be right next door.”

“Not right away. I have to go apologize to Rowan. And that might take a bit of time because… er…”

“Because he has sublime buttocks,” she said, nodding. “If it will make you feel better, we will set the bolt so that you may enjoy yourself with your man without worrying that someone has defeated all six of us.”

“Thank you. Yell if you need me, Mrs. P,” I told her as I left.

She waved a languid hand toward me and inquired if there was going to be a round of Truth or Dare.

I took the precaution of locking the suite door, tucking the key into my cleavage since I wasn’t taking my purse with me. While I made my way up to Rowan’s deck, I glanced out to see the ship had pulled up to a small pier. Beyond it, I could barely make out the flat shapes of a small village. There wasn’t anyone on the pier, so I imagined we must have stopped to fix something in the engine or perhaps take on some supplies.

Voices drifted down to me from the upper deck, along with the sound of light music. Evidently our fellow passengers were enjoying the balmy night and romantic moon. “Whereas I have to apologize for being such an ass,” I said softly under my breath before knocking on Rowan’s door.

He opened it, making the apology on my tongue dry up into nothing.

“Chest,” I squeaked, my eyes eating up the sight of his naked chest. And arms. And legs. The only things covered were his naughty bits, and even those were noticeably bulgy in a pair of tight red bikini briefs.

“Yes,” he answered, his gaze on my Xena boobs. “Very much so.”

“I’ve come to apologize,” I said, dragging my mind back to what was most important.

He stepped back and gestured me into the room. I sat primly on the bed, hands folded on my lap, making no objection when he stood before me, although I had to admit that with his crotch close to eye level, my gaze might have strayed there once or twice. “I want to apologize for what I said earlier. Or rather, for throwing you out of the cabin.”

“I wasn’t aware I’d been thrown out.”

“Dude, I’m a dragonette. I kicked a demon out of the window. Do you think I couldn’t throw someone out of a room?”

One side of his mouth quirked. Goddess, I loved that quirk. “Quite possibly you could, although I am not without my own abilities.”

“Oh, I’m well aware you’re Mr. Martial Arts. You took care of the other demon quite handily. I’m just saying that I’m not a doormat or anything.”

“No,” he said, putting his hands on his hips. “That you aren’t.”

“I talked to Mrs. P. She confirmed what you said. I’m not sure I understand the whole bit about her going to see her boyfriend, who is some Underworld lord, but she refused when I asked her point blank to hand over the ring. She said it’s the only thing that will let them be together.”

“She said much the same thing to me.”

“So I was thinking—if she won’t accept anything else to substitute for it, then maybe the dragon people would. To save the world, I mean.”

“It doesn’t work that way. The ring has to be destroyed in order to safeguard the world from it ever being used by Bael.”

“That’s the demon head honcho?”

“Yes.” Rowan made an odd little face. “Evidently one of my sisters inadvertently released him from where he had been confined. It seems my family has a habit of doing things like that.”

“You have a sister?” I asked, somewhat surprised by that. I don’t know why I was, but I relished hearing something personal about Rowan.

“I have two, one older and one younger. Ironically, both are mated to dragons.”

“So you’re just surrounded by dragonettes, then, huh?”

He smiled and instantly, a little pool of fire formed at my feet. I absently tapped it out while changing my posture to be less forthright and more “let me see your nipple nubs.”

“I certainly know which dragonette I’d like surrounding me. Are you, by any chance, here just to apologize, or are you interested in continuing the activities we started last night?”

“Does a dragon breathe fire?” I asked, then thought for a moment. “Wait, they do, don’t they?”

He laughed and knelt at my feet, his hands warm on my bare knees. “I’m told they do, although I haven’t seen it for myself. Sophea, you understand the situation I’m in. I must get that ring.”

“I understand. And although I won’t steal it from Mrs. P or help you steal it, I will do my best to help persuade her that we really need it. Perhaps there’s some other way around the situation that we just haven’t thought of. We can brainstorm the issue tomorrow, okay?”

“Well…” His hands slid up my thighs, sending waves of anticipation rippling upward. “I suppose we deserve an evening off the clock, so to speak. How do you feel about oral sex?”

“I am so go for it right now,” I said, sucking in my breath when his fingers reached ground zero.

“Good. Because I’ve been wondering what you taste like everywhere.”