‘‘Did I tell you that the position comes with access to my powers?’’ he asked, strolling toward me. Magoth didn’t have the same smooth, sinuous, coiled-power sort of movements that Gabriel had, but I couldn’t deny that he came darned close. He stopped next to me, so close he was almost touching me, his body leeching all the warmth from the air. I shivered, due to either his proximity or nerves.

‘‘Er . . . no, you didn’t. What sort of power?’’ For a moment I toyed with the idea of accepting Magoth’s offer of consort, imagining myself in a position of power whereby I could escape his clutches and return to Gabriel.

‘‘Well . . .’’ He smiled and drew a finger down the line of my jaw, his touch sending icy little shivers down my back. ‘‘Let us just say that in Abaddon, a consort is viewed as an extension of the demon lord. You would be treated with respect by the other princes.’’

I thought for a moment, taking a step backwards as I did so. ‘‘Would I have the ability to banish you to the Akasha?’’

‘‘The Akasha!’’ Sally gasped. ‘‘You would send dear Magoth to limbo? May, dear, I know you are new to this position just as I am new to it all, but to even joke about such a thing—’’

‘‘No one has that power,’’ Magoth cut her off as if she hadn’t been speaking, his dark eyes lit with pleasure as he tipped my chin up, his thumb brushing frigid strokes across my lips.

‘‘Aisling does.’’

Magoth jerked his hand away, his eyes narrowing for a moment. ‘‘Aisling Grey, the prince?’’

‘‘Former prince,’’ I answered, having heard the tale of how Aisling had managed to escape her unwanted membership in the prince of Abaddon club. ‘‘She was tricked into destroying one of you demon lords, after which Bael made her fill the position.’’

‘‘She was expulsed, excommunicated,’’ he answered, but his nostrils flared a couple of times, and he didn’t make another move to touch me. ‘‘Stripped of all her powers.’’

‘‘Just her prince of Abaddon ones. I know this because Aisling is a good friend of Gabriel,’’ I added. ‘‘And me.’’

Magoth watched me closely for a moment, his gaze trying to strip away all my layers of protection to see deep into my thoughts, but if I had done nothing else during the six weeks since I’d gone dybbuk, I had learned how to hide my true thoughts.

Even so, he relaxed and gave me a genuine smile. ‘‘Your friend would find it difficult to send me to the Akasha. Such a feat could not be conducted without a great cost to herself, and I believe the dragon to whom she is bound would not allow such a sacrifice. No, my sweet May, I have no fear of your friends any more than I do of you.’’

‘‘Me?’’ I gave a soft, bitter little laugh. ‘‘I pose no danger to you.’’

‘‘Indeed you do not—if it was otherwise, you would not be standing here with your skin on,’’ he said simply. I shuddered at the truth evident in his voice. ‘‘However, the delicious Sally has brought to mind something that I had forgotten—written in the Doctrine are many rules that govern us, one of which is simple, but very pertinent.’’

‘‘What’s that?’’ I asked warily.

‘‘Oh, I know!’’ Sally said, raising her hand and waving it to get our attention. ‘‘I remember now what I was trying to think of a moment ago. It’s in the section of the Doctrine dealing with consorts. It says that just as a consort has access to the world of the demon lord, so the lord has access to the consort’s world. It’s sort of a reciprocal effect.’’

A deep sense of horror gripped me. For nearly the past hundred years Magoth had lacked both the power and the resources to step foot in the mortal world, something for which I was profoundly grateful. If I had even for a moment considered becoming his consort, the fact that doing so would leave the world open to him was enough to kill that thought entirely.

‘‘Exactly,’’ Magoth said. Some of the horror I felt must have slipped through the normally tight rein I held on my emotions, because he slid his arm around me and attempted to pull me against him. ‘‘Don’t look so distraught, sweet May! We’ll have fun together in the mortal world! Mayhem, destruction, perhaps some good old-fashioned pillaging and rapine—it’ll be just like the old days, back when I could come and go in the mortal world at will.’’

‘‘I can’t begin to name the deities to which I offer my soul-deep gratitude for the fact that you haven’t been able to do that for almost a century,’’ I answered, rubbing the goose bumps on my arms as I stepped out of his chilly embrace.

‘‘Come. We shall take care of this matter right now.’’ Magoth grabbed my wrist and started to haul me out of the room. ‘‘We will formally announce to the other princes that you will be made my consort in . . . how long will it take you to prepare for the ceremony?’’

‘‘A millennium?’’ I asked, feeling a familiar tingle start at my toes and work upward. ‘‘I think I’m being summoned again, just so you know.’’

He let go of my hand, surprising me with an expression of pleasure. ‘‘It must be your dragon again. Excellent. You have my permission to tell him of the impending consorthood. In fact, tell him he’s invited to the ceremony. All the dragons are! You may have five minutes to explain everything, after which I will expect you to return to me. I will begin the proceedings while you are doing that.’’

His image shimmered for a moment, then was gone, no doubt on his way to the room he called his library, although it resembled a porn museum more than any collection of literature.

‘‘Gee, thanks,’’ I told Sally.

‘‘Oh, I’m sorry, sugar; did I overstep my bounds?’’ she asked, sincerity filling her face, but I wasn’t fooled one bit.

‘‘You’ll make a grade-A demon lord, you know.’’

She flashed a smile at me. ‘‘Why, thank you, May! That’s very sweet of you to say . . .’’

Sally faded as I was yanked out of Magoth’s domain and back into the real world.

‘‘Aw, her face isn’t green anymore. And I got the digital camera out and everything! I was going to send Cecile a piccy to show her what doppelgangers were looking like these days,’’ a voice complained as I shook away the dizziness that came with such transitions.