It was a wondrous moment, a profound realization of not just the meaning of love, but our place in the world. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long-lived.

“Really, is this what I can expect from you? I had hoped for something a bit more entertaining,” Bael drawled in a voice that fairly dripped boredom.

“I hear ya,” Jim agreed. “Slick’s just got his hands on her ass. It’s much hotter when he’s groping booby, and she has her hands heading for his zipper.”

“That is not what I meant, demon. You, Guardian. Release me from this circle.”

“Jim, will you stop staring at Kostya and Aoife? They’re in love and allowed to do things like that. Although, good heavens, Kostya, really?”

“Hoobah! Now that’s what I’m talking about. He’s going to do the nasty right here in front of us!”

The words filtered through the emotions that swamped me, and the need I had to get Kostya to the nearest bed so I could do all the things that filled my mind, and I realized that somehow, I had managed to wrap my legs around his hips and was pulling on his hair in a demand for more… more fire, more of his kisses, more of everything he was… just more.

I pulled my lips from his, blushing wildly when I realized that everyone (except Bael) was staring at us.

“Oh. Um. Sorry. We got a bit carried away,” I said, tapping Kostya on the shoulders so he would let me down. He looked like he was going to refuse but, in the end, sighed and allowed me to slide down his body until my feet were on the floor again.

I couldn’t help but notice that the ring was charged up, glowing slightly and feeling extraordinarily warm and heavy on my finger. At least I wouldn’t have to work up some emotions to get it to do what I wanted.

“Aoife is in love with me,” Kostya told Drake and Aisling by way of an explanation. “It is only natural that she wishes to express her affection for me.”

I reached around him and pinched him on his (adorable) behind. “You’re not supposed to go blabbing that to everyone!”

“Why not?” He looked genuinely puzzled. “You just got done declaring your love for me. You can’t have changed your mind so soon.”

I looked silently at him for a minute, then turned to Aisling. She pointed at Drake. “Blame him.”

“I am blameless in this,” Drake said calmly. “Kostya’s relationships with his women have nothing to do with me.”

“Except when you insisted on stealing them from me,” Kostya told him with a curl of his lip.

“I have never stolen a woman from you—”

“Paris, 1672. The barmaid with the red hair. She wanted to bed me, but you seduced her in the passage outside my door.”

Drake became absorbed in picking a microscopic bit of fluff from his sleeve.

“Reeeeally,” Aisling said, giving him a look that warned she would have more to say about that at a later date.

“Not to mention Ireland in 1711, when I was partaking of the dairy maids at a farm. I was all set to enjoy myself with the ripest of the maids, when you showed up, and not a single maid would give me a look after that. And then there were the triplets in Bavaria—”

“You know, I don’t think this is having the effect you’re hoping it will,” I told Kostya, my arms crossed as I considered punching him. “Assuming you’re trying to prove that you have suffered romantic disappointments over the years. It’s just making me a bit ragey, to be honest.”

“Did you believe me to be chaste before I met you?” Kostya asked me.

Drake choked on the word. Aisling had to pat him on the back in order to get him to stop.

“Of course not, no more than you believe I never had sex before I met you. But you don’t see me trotting out a list of every single man I’ve slept with, do you?”

His eyes narrowed. “How many men were there?”

“That, sir, is none of your business. Or at the very least, it’s a subject for discussion at another time.”

“I wish to know their names,” Kostya said. “You told me about the one who was so stupid as to spurn you, but now I wish to know the others who did not.”

“Oh, come on,” I said, distracted enough by Kostya’s ridiculous demand to ignore Bael for a few minutes. “I appreciate the fact that you think being jealous is going to make me all swoony, but it’s hardly realistic.”

“Oh, Lord,” Aisling said, giving her husband a weary look. “I’m afraid to tell you, Aoife, these guys don’t think anything is at all wrong with going after exes. I had to put down my foot with Drake—he wanted to take out my ex-husband.”

“The beach bum,” Drake said, his eyes glittering wickedly. “I should have done as I desired; he would not then have been able to pester you with repeated demands for money.”

“I told you, sweetie—murdering mortals is illegal, and I refuse to break it to the twins that their daddy is in jail because he got bent out of shape about a man who has meant nothing to me for more than ten years.”

“You see?” Kostya told me. “There are valid reasons why I should have the information about your former lovers.”

Drake nodded. “It is your right to locate and eliminate them.”

“It is not… Oh, this is silly. I’m not going to continue the conversation. We strayed from the initial point, which was the fact that you blathered to everyone that I have nice feelings for you.”

“Like I said, blame Drake,” Aisling said, and when her husband protested again, added, “Or rather, blame his family. The men all think it’s just fine and dandy to have women madly in love with them without once bothering to tell us that they reciprocate the emotion.”

“Really?”

I turned to Kostya. He looked profoundly uncomfortable.

“So, do you?”

“As you said, now is not the time for this discussion.” He waved a hand toward Bael, who was apparently ignoring us and was drawing symbols of his own in the air in a circle around his torso. “We have Bael to deal with.”

“Oh, do not worry about me. I shan’t be here for long,” Bael said, not bothering to look up from his symbol-drawing.

“What’s he doing?” I asked Kostya in a whisper, watching the demon lord with growing worry.

“Attempting to break Aisling’s circle with banes.”