“The ring is not yours either—it simply is content for you to be its caretaker for the moment,” Kostya warned.

“Right, but there’s one big problem with your plan that seems to have escaped you: Drake is just as much a cursed dragon as you are, which means that he won’t be able to use it.”

“We are both well aware of that fact.” Kostya looked up when Jim entered the room. “The possession he speaks of will occur once the ring has been used to break the curse. Until that time, it will be used for the purpose we most need it.”

“Hey, Eefs! Aisling says to ask you what’s the holdup, and if you and Slick are going to get busy, then to please take it to the bedroom, because she’s gonna be hungry and she can’t face the kitchen table if you guys are doing the nasty on it.”

“I really don’t like the idea of giving it up permanently,” I told Kostya, ignoring Jim. “Helping to end the curse is one thing, but to just hand it over to Drake… I suppose if that’s what it takes to get Jim and me out of hell—no, don’t say it, Abaddon—then I’m going to have to. But I don’t have to like it.”

“What?” Jim, sitting in the middle of the doorway, looked over his shoulder. “No, he’s got his hands on her boobs, though. I think they were playing sucky-face, but now Aoife is yammering at Slick about not sharing with others.”

“Jim, please stop—” I stopped, suddenly realizing something. “Are you talking to Aisling?”

“Yeah. She’s getting impatient with you taking so long.”

“Are you tattling to her about us?”

“Just keeping her up to date. She asked me to. She seems nice. Kinda emotional, but at least she’s not a space cadet like some people I could name.”

“I’m new to this!” I said in exasperation. “I’d like to see you be poised and hip if you just suddenly learned that the world wasn’t what you thought!”

“Hello! Memory wipe! I didn’t know I was a demon until Slick pointed it out. So we’ve had the same amount of time to get up to speed, and one of us is lacking.”

“Please tell me I have the time to talk to Aisling right now to give him back,” I asked Kostya. “I know you want to get out and about to find this charming person—”

“Charmer, babe. You’d think she could retain that longer than a few hours, huh, Slick?”

Kostya set fire to Jim’s head. He yelped and ran into the bedroom. Sounds of splashing from the adjacent bathroom followed.

“If your head is in the toilet, you’re going to get a bath before I pet you again,” I called out, giving Kostya a gimlet eye. He still held me, but he looked thoughtful now, as if he was plotting. I put my hand on his chest and stroked the heavy muscle there until he glanced down at me, a question in his eyes. “Part of telling me what you’re thinking about applies to non-sex times, too. Do you have an idea of something we can offer Drake instead of the ring?”

“No. I was considering your request. It makes sense. I will leave you here to work with Aisling while I speak to the Venediger about a Charmer.”

“Oh no, you don’t. Not with those red dragons just waiting to pounce on you.”

He stiffened. “You do not think I can handle a few red dragons?”

“I know you can. I’ve seen you do just that. I’ve also seen your almost-dead body washed up on a beach because the red dragons did something to you—what, exactly, did they do?”

“It matters not,” he said dismissively. “I am not a child to cower behind doors. I have been attacked many times in the past and survived. I will not let fear of what might be keep me from that which must be done.”

“It’s always amusing when you talk like something out of a Tolkien book, but as entertaining as that is, I’m more concerned with keeping you in one piece. Besides, if the red baddies catch you and take you to hell—”

“Abaddon,” Kostya and Jim said in unison, the latter having emerged from the bedroom with a sopping wet head.

“—then who am I going to get to save you? Evidently Drake isn’t inclined to help out without charging, and I have nothing with which to barter. Besides, I kind of want to see this Venediger person. After all, I faced the head honcho of Abaddon and she can’t be any worse than that.”

“Dunno, babe. Asmo was pretty bad. I think someone who’s even half as bad is still going to be dangerous,” Jim piped up, shaking himself so that the fur on his head stood out in spiky clumps. “Man alive, Slick. Next time just yell at me or something. You could have burnt my fabulous fur!”

After a moment of thought, Kostya gave a quick nod. “Very well. I will make some phone calls to rally the black dragons to Paris.”

“How many people do you have in your sept?” I couldn’t help but ask. The thought of Kostya leading a group of dragons to war had a heroic quality that I had to admit was highly enticing. I didn’t cherish the thought of violence, or the possibility of Kostya and his people being harmed, but it was undeniable that there was just something ruggedly masculine about the thought of a man who was willing to fight for what was important to him.

“Seven.”

“I think she’s coming, Aisling,” Jim said as he padded his way out of the kitchen. “Kostya set fire to my head. Dude seriously needs some anger management counseling. Hey, what time is lunch, ’cause Aoife didn’t give me much of a breffy, and I can’t maintain this level of gorgeousness on crumbs…”

Jim’s voice trailed off as he wandered back to the hall.

I admired Kostya’s thick eyelashes and handsome eyes and thought to myself that he really was the sexiest man I’d ever seen. “Really? For some reason, I assumed there were more dragons around than that. I mean, we must have seen at least ten red dragons. How many more of them are there?”

“Legions.” He was silent a moment, his jaw working; then he added, “The black dragons were almost entirely destroyed. A few escaped and went into hiding. We have only returned to the weyr recently.”

“Gotcha.” I patted him on the arm and gave him a quick kiss. “I’ll leave you in peace to make your phone calls while I figure out how to give Jim back to Aisling. Let’s just hope it doesn’t involve me having to run him down again.”