István’s girlfriend, a lovely woman who acted as our chef, gave me a wry smile. “It’s your stepmother.”

“I thought she went shopping?” I asked Uncle Damian. “Didn’t you say Paula went out?”

“Yes. I urged her to. I figured you’d rather not sit through another lecture.”

I threw him a grateful smile as Jim piped up from where it was lying in front of the gas fireplace. “I thought Ash was going to throw everything to Abaddon in a handbag when Paula hit her with that last one.”

“The dark power is nothing to joke about, but I admit, I thought about it for a second or two,” I said, shuddering at the mention of the lecture Paula had felt necessary to release upon me when we returned from the blue dragon function. It had started with a demand that I call everyone who had been invited to the wedding with an explanation, and a new date and time of the ceremony, and ended with a general summary of what happens to women who are unable to bring a man to the point of marriage. “What’s going on with her now, Suzanne?”

“She can’t find her husband. Evidently she parked him at the British Museum, and he’s wandered off somewhere.”

I sighed and looked at the clock. “Like life isn’t complicated enough as is…Rene, will you tell Gabriel I’ll be back as soon as possible? Hopefully we’ll be able to find David quickly—”

“You stay here and have your talk,” Uncle Damian said as he got to his feet. “I’m the least important person here—I’ll go.” His bushy gray eyebrows beetled meaningfully at Rene. “I’m sure you’ll be safe enough here, with Rene and that thing.”

“Hey! I’m not a thing! I’m an extremely handsome, if cruelly starved, demon,” Jim complained, rolling over on its back. “Wanna rub my belly?”

Uncle Damian rolled his eyes and paused in front of me. “I told that man of yours I’d keep you safe while he was gone. He seems to think you’re unable to take of yourself. I know better.”

I smiled and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for the vote of confidence.”

“It seems to me that you’ve done some foolish things lately, Aisling,” he continued, my smile fading at the stern look he bent upon me. “I taught you better. And I expect you to not shame me by doing anything else stupid.”

“So much for confidence,” Jim said, sniggering slightly.

I sighed. “Pregnant does not mean made of glass, nor does it mean stupid. I’m not going to do anything to endanger myself or the baby. Or anyone else, for that matter.”

“See that you don’t,” he said with another piercing glance, then nodded his head curtly at Rene and left.

“I don’t know how I’m going to get through another six and a half months of that sort of behavior,” I said, grabbing a couple of tissues from a nearby table, using them to mop up Jim’s slobbery flews. “No more belly rubs; you’ve had enough already. What did you do with your drool bib?”

“Pfft,” it answered, standing up and shaking when the doorbell rang. “Looks like your boyfriend is here.”

“Boyfriend?” Rene asked, looking surprised.

“Ignore Jim. It was raised by sewer rats.” I slapped a polite smile on my face as Suzanne ushered Gabriel into the room.

“Aisling, what a delight it was to receive your message,” Gabriel said, taking my hand and kissing the back of it. All the dragons—except the female Chuan Ren—had lovely old-world manners, something that would have seemed pretentious on anyone else, but on them looked perfectly natural.

“Thank you for coming over. I appreciate your willingness to overlook my brusqueness at our last meeting. Do you remember Rene Lesueur?”

Gabriel made a little bow to Rene, who had moved over to stand next to Jim in front of the fireplace. Rene inclined his head, but his normally dancing dark eyes were watchful.

“Hey, Gabe,” Jim said, wandering over to snuffle his pants. “He’s clean, Ash. No guns or nuclear weapons strapped to his legs.”

“Oh, for god’s sake…go sit over there!” I said, pointing to the fireplace.

Jim grinned and retreated.

“I’m sorry about that. Jim knows better than to examine people without being so ordered.”

“It is nothing. I half expected to be frisked coming into the house,” Gabriel answered.

“It’s not necessary. You know how Drake is about gadgets. He had a millimeter-wave imaging system built into the foyer. It scans everyone who enters for weapons. If you’d been armed, you wouldn’t have gotten inside the house,” I said, waving him to the couch as I sat at one end.

He sat next to me, his dimples visible. I examined him for a minute, searching his face for any signs of deception. Gabriel was of Australasian and African descent, with brilliant silver eyes, long black hair swept back in cornrows, and a smile that could melt the coldest heart. He exuded a sense of warmth and friendliness that I had trusted until he’d proven he wasn’t all that he seemed. His dimples deepened as I sat silent, trying to put into words what I wanted to know without giving away too much of the current situation.

“I won’t bite, you know,” he said with a distinct twinkle in his eyes. “Unless you ask me to.”

“I’m pregnant,” I blurted out, my mouth temporarily overriding my brain. “Oh, god. I’m sorry. That came out a lot more abrupt than I meant.”

He laughed and took my hand again, giving my fingers a squeeze. “I know. I am very pleased for you. Drake must be ecstatic.”

“He is. I just wanted you to know…before, last month, before all the nastiness, you made a reference to you and me…to lusus naturae…to us…oh hell.”

“Abaddon,” Jim corrected. I glared. “Sorry. Lips zipped.”

“I told you before that the possibility of a pregnancy changed the situation,” Gabriel said, his fingers stroking mine. “I don’t say that I wouldn’t have challenged Drake for you, but not now. I am many things, Aisling, but I do not break up families…unless I am driven to do so.”

I searched his face again, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. “That sounded remarkably like a threat.”

“It wasn’t meant as one. It was simply a warning that I, too, have limits. As wyvern, I must do everything within my power to protect my sept.”