“It wouldn’t have been nearly as effective if I had,” I answered, fondling its ears before turning to Rene. “Are you OK? I didn’t mean to scare you, but—”

“You had a point to make, yes,” he said, nodding his head as he came forward. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Like Jim, I wish you had warned me of what you were planning, but eh. It is done, yes? And you have driven home the point you wished to make most dramatically.”

“You’re the daimon,” I said softly as we were escorted down the hallway after the man in the suit. “You should know better than anyone what fate has in store for me.”

“I do not make the path you follow, only help you find it,” he reminded me, taking my hand and pressing a swift kiss to the back of it. “But you get ten out of ten for style.”

Double doors at the end of the hallway were thrown open. I shot Drake a quick glance as we were swept through the door into a large, open room dominated by a curved, light oak desk.

“Did I worry you?” I asked him quietly.

“I was concerned that the others in the room did not know you as I did, and thus would not realize that although you might be a demon lord, you do not have it in you to be evil.”

I smiled, my heart warmed by the words. The feeling lasted until I saw the nameplate on the doors as they were closed behind us.

“You’re Caribbean Battiste, the head of the Guild,” I said to the dapper man.

He bowed slightly before sitting behind the big desk. “I have that honor. And you present the Guild with a very difficult situation, Aisling Grey.”

“I’m sorry. And I’m sorry about all of that business out there, but I knew I could tell you guys I’m not bad until I’m blue in the face, and you wouldn’t believe me.”

“So you thought you would prove to us that your intentions are pure?” Caribbean asked, steepling his fingers. “But now that you admit it was all a charade, can we not say that you are simply trying to lull us into a false sense of security, and that the danger you pose remains?”

I held his piercing gaze. “The power I could yield is beyond anything I have as a mere Guardian, or even as a wyvern’s mate. That I do not choose to use it has to show my true intentions.”

He bowed his head in acknowledgement. “There is that.” He glanced at the screen of the laptop sitting on his left side. “I’m afraid that much as I would enjoy conversing with you, I am very limited in time. What do you wish me to do about the Guardian who banished you?”

“Nothing. She’s not the problem, nor are any of them—they’re only doing their jobs. What I want from you is help.”

The tips of his fingers tapped against each other. “What form would this help take?”

I glanced at Drake. He nodded.

“I want to end the proscription. Drake has done what he can to find out information about how to end it, but with no luck. Today, another wyvern mentioned to me that he knew a way possible to do that. If he knew that, then the Guardians’ Guild must know as well. I’m not a bad person, Mr. Battiste. I was drawn into the situation partly through my own incompetence, but also through trickery and adverse circumstance. I want to be a Guardian again. I want to kick demonic ass, not have them work for me. I want to just be the simple demon lord, wyvern’s mate, and Guardian that I used to be.”

Jim snorted.

“Simple?” Caribbean asked.

“You know what I mean—demon lord to just one little demon. But most of all, I want this damned dark power to go away and leave me alone!”

I will never leave. I am as much a part of you as you are a part—

“I want to be me again!” I said loudly, drowning out the voice. “Can you help me? Please?”

“No,” he said.

My heart dropped. My hopes, dreams, everything that was anything to me—Drake excepted—crashed, burned, and turned to ash.

Caribbean Battiste pressed a button on his desk and stood up as the doors behind us opened. “But I know someone who can.”

7

There were dragons everywhere, green dragons, members of the sept gathered to celebrate our still-unachieved marriage. The nightclub that held the party had been reserved just for us; it was owned by a friend of Drake’s, an ilargi (reaper) named Traian, a man with a sweet smile that was at odds with his rather sinister job.

He was acting as bartender for the evening, Drake obviously not wanting to trust the job to anyone else from outside the sept at a dragon gathering. He nodded to me as I drifted down the bar, smiling at everyone as I hunted for the one man who filled my thoughts.

Music pulsed in the background, loud enough to mute the conversation around me, but not so loud that it dominated the scene. I smiled to myself as various dragons exited and entered the doors at the far end of the club, the atmosphere inside completely smoke-free. Drake had no doubt given an order that those members who smoked do so outside.

The main part of the club was given over to the dance floor. Like the rest of the décor, it was black with little twists of silver through it. Along the sides of the dance floor, curved alcoves made inky pools of shadows that made the occupants all but invisible. I shimmied through the crowd of dancers, unintentionally moving to the time of the pulsing music, smiling and nodding at people as they greeted me, but searching the whole time for one person, one man, the one being on this planet to whom I was willing to give everything I had.

Occasional sounds and glimpses of movement from the alcoves alerted me to the occupants, but none of them had the right feel. It wasn’t until I had shimmied my way to the end of the club that I saw an emerald glimmer from the last alcove.

I smiled and strolled slowly toward the man waiting there, skirting the small table to stand in front of the dark figure that all but blended into the shadows.

“Enjoying yourself?” I asked, brushing back an errant tendril of ebony hair that had fallen over Drake’s forehead.

“Not until this moment,” he answered, his voice smoky with desire. It sent a little shimmer of arousal up my back and arms.

“Dance with me?”

He shook his head. There was a candle glowing dimly on the table behind me, throwing just enough light on him for me to see the planes of his face, but his eyes were bright with passion, shining in the darkness like beacons that drew me closer. “We’ve already done that.”