‘‘Now!’’ I said, feeling the dragon shard take over as another climax crested. ‘‘For the love of the twelve gods, Gabriel, finish now!’’

He shifted, his cry of my name echoing in my ear as his body elongated and changed, and within me, the dragon shard rejoiced and started forcing me to change with him.

‘‘No!’’ I sobbed, clutching him as I fought back the need to answer his unspoken call.

Immediately he was back, his mouth hot as he kissed me, his body still trembling with little after-shocks of pleasure. ‘‘Do not fear, little bird. You did it, you embraced the strong emotions, and you did not change.’’

I clung to him as he rolled over, pulling me with him, mindless with pleasure on one level, but knowing just how close a thing it had been.

Chapter Twenty-two

Three hours later, we arrived at Drake’s Paris house. ‘‘So, what exactly are you going to tell Drake and Aisling about Fiat?’’

‘‘What they need to know to help us with Chuan Ren.’’

I waited until we entered the spacious entrance hall, divesting myself of my coat before stopping Gabriel. ‘‘Are you sure this is a good idea, involving them in the whole thing? Drake isn’t going to let Aisling do anything that will endanger her or the baby, and I just don’t know that anyone else has the ability to help us. Maybe if I was to force Magoth to help us, threaten him somehow—’’

He stopped me with a kiss so hot, it made me want to jump him right there, in front of everyone. ‘‘My fierce little bird. Just when I am convinced that you could not get along without me, your claws come out and I live in fear you’ll fly away from me.’’

I stared at him for a moment, my fingers moving against my legs to make sure that the claws weren’t evident.

The teasing light in his eyes faded when I didn’t respond.

‘‘There you are!’’ Aisling said, emerging from what I remembered as being the downstairs bathroom. ‘‘Drake’s in the lounge. Come in and have a drink. I bet you could use one after having to sit through all that bull from Fiat. I know I could, but the best I’ll get is juice. No reason you all should suffer, though.’’

‘‘I’d like a stiff belt, too,’’ Jim said, following her into the sitting room. ‘‘All that restraint you made me show has left a really nasty taste in my mouth. Scotch on the rocks, István. No, make that a double.’’

‘‘You let your demon drink?’’ I said as Gabriel, his bodyguards, and I entered the room. Gabriel passed me a glass of dragon’s blood, the spicy drink that only dragons could drink without lethal repercussions.

‘‘Not after the last time when it got drunk and called up Whoopi Goldberg to demand airtime on The View,’’ Aisling said with a dark look at her demon dog. ‘‘You’ll have ginger ale and like it, buster.’’

‘‘Bully,’’ the demon muttered, glaring at the bowl that Drake’s bodyguard set in front of it.

‘‘I don’t want to seem rude, but is this a social visit, or are you going to talk dragon business?’’ Aisling asked, sighing as Drake stuffed a pillow behind her back. ‘‘If it’s the former, no sweat, but if you’re going to talk about Fiat or Kostya, I’d appreciate it if you can do it in the next twenty minutes.’’

‘‘Why twenty minutes?’’ I asked, puzzled by such an odd request.

‘‘Baby’s right on my bladder,’’ she said, patting her bulging belly. ‘‘You’ve got my undivided attention until she makes it impossible for me to sit still any longer.’’

‘‘Oh, I didn’t know you decided to find out the gender. A girl! How exciting,’’ I said.

‘‘Aisling is having a boy,’’ Drake said, seating himself next to his wife. ‘‘Everyone knows that girls are nothing but trouble. We will have a son.’’

‘‘Ha!’’ Aisling elbowed him in the ribs. ‘‘You are so delusional. It’s girls who are easy, and boys who are trouble. We will have a daughter, a lovely girl who won’t put up with any of the medieval bossiness you’re sure to try to pull on her.’’

Drake sent Gabriel a long-suffering look that had me smiling. ‘‘I would caution you to wait before having children, but I suspect that May will do exactly as she wishes, including deliberately having a female despite the well-established fact that male dragons are much easier to raise.’’

‘‘The father determines gender, which you well know,’’ Aisling said complacently, beaming at us as we sat across from her. ‘‘So are we chitchatting or dragon talking?’’

‘‘Dragon talk,’’ Gabriel answered, his gaze flickering to Drake. ‘‘There is a situation with regards to the red dragons.’’

‘‘I suspected as much,’’ Drake said easily. ‘‘Fiat’s reappearance and claim are a bit too pat for my liking.’’

With admirable brevity, Gabriel recounted the experiences of Cyrene, Maata, and myself in Fiat’s underground environs. By the time he was finished, Drake was pacing the length of the room.

‘‘I’ve never seen people pace as much as dragons do,’’ I was moved to say in an aside to Aisling.

She nodded. ‘‘It’s all that pent-up energy—they have to move, or it manifests itself in fire, and frankly, I’d rather put up with a stiff neck from watching them march back and forth. Our fire-retardant bill is high enough as is.’’

‘‘Why didn’t you mention any of this at the sárkány ?’’ Drake demanded to know.

Gabriel glanced to me. Drake stopped in midpace.

‘‘Ah. The shard. Yes. I see you had little choice but to allow Fiat to continue unimpeded.’’

‘‘I don’t get it,’’ Aisling said, looking confused. ‘‘But wait, potty break. Explain it when I get back.’’

Drake hauled her out of the couch and sent her on her way.

Jim watched me with an avidity that made me uncomfortable.

‘‘Stop doing that,’’ I told it.

It grinned. ‘‘You know the rules as well as I do—I don’t have to do what you say.’’