“What he said. Although I think my left leg is frozen,” Jim said, shaking its back leg. “How do you tell if you’ve got frostbite?”

“About this, I cannot yield,” Gabriel said, his eyes steady on mine.

I hesitated, wanting to trust him. But I was putting myself completely in his power, giving him the opportunity to do god-knew-what with me.

Gabriel waited, clearly understanding my dilemma, but not trying to reassure me. I knew instinctively that Gabriel wouldn’t physically harm me, so I didn’t fear for the well-being of myself or the baby. The only thing he might do was betray me to Fiat or Chuan Ren, and if that happened…well, there was a way out of that problem.

So nice you remembered me.

“Aisling, I told Drake I’d protect you, and I’m going to,” Uncle Damian said grimly in my ear. “You’re not going off with that man without me to watch over you.”

It came down to a decision of Drake or me. And when put like that, there was nothing to decide.

I took my uncle’s gloved hands in mine, smiling up at him. “Thank you, Uncle Damian. I know this is going to be hard for you, but I’m going to ask you to stay here. I have to find Drake, do you understand? I have to find him. And if this is the only way I can do it, then that’s the way it’ll be.”

“I can’t allow—”

I shook my head. “I’m a big girl. I’ve got powers of my own, you know. I’m not completely helpless, and I’ll have Jim with me.”

“Oh, yippee,” the demon said, looking anything but thrilled.

“No,” Uncle Damian said, his face expressionless. “The subject is not open for any further discussion.”

I argued for another couple of minutes, but it did no good.

“This is ridiculous,” I stormed, stomping my way around to the far side of the car. “I’m freezing out here. At least we can be warm while I try to reason with you.”

Rene slid back into the front seat as I opened the back door. Across from me, Uncle Damian did the same. I waited until both men were in the car, their doors closed, before I slammed mine shut and drew the most powerful ward I knew on the car.

“Fires of Abaddon!” Jim said, its eyes widening. “You didn’t just—”

My uncle realized what I’d done almost immediately. He tried to open the door, banging his fists on the window when he realized the ward wouldn’t let him out of the car.

“We’ll be back as soon as we can,” I yelled close to the window, my voice faint over the howl of the wind. “Go back to town. We’ll meet you back at the hotel. The ward should wear off by the time you get there. And don’t worry about me; I’ll be OK.”

“Yeah, she’ll be OK. I’ll be minus several more toes due to frostbite, but Aisling will be perfectly fine,” Jim yelled as well.

“Not helping,” I told it.

Uncle Damian pounded some more and yelled a few choice words I decided I’d rather not acknowledge. I gave Rene a thumbs-up and hurried over to where Gabriel stood waiting.

My uncle was going to be furious at my actions, but we’d just have to live with that. There were more important things at stake right now…like finding Drake.

14

“Your uncle is going to be sooo pissed,” Jim said a few minutes later, as we were ensconced in Gabriel’s Land Rover.

“He’ll get over it. I think. I hope,” I said, rubbing my forehead with an icy glove. “Oh, god, no, you’re right, he’s going to be livid. But what choice did I have?”

“This is not going to be an easy trip,” Gabriel warned as the car bounced over a rough, snowy track that was apparently used by sheep or goats or some nimble animal that didn’t have a problem with horrible terrain. “We will have to climb part of the way ourselves. There is no road to the aerie. I will do the best I can to take the easiest route, but you should be warned there is not much I can do to ease your path.”

Jim opened its mouth to make a no doubt snarky comment, but I forestalled it by saying simply, “We’ll be OK.”

Seven hours later, as I crumpled into a small, Aisling-shaped icy blob of exhaustion, those words came back to haunt me.

“Define OK,” Jim gasped, collapsing beside me. “’Cause where I’m standing…lying…OK is pretty much synonymous for nearly dead.”

“We’re here,” Gabriel said, crawling over to where I lay, his voice thin and reedy with exertion. “The aerie is a short distance away. Are you all right?”

“Yeah, we’re fine. Just a little light-headed.”

“I’ll get the oxygen,” he answered, going back to where Tipene and Maata were lying alongside a rocky outcropping. I rolled over and cast an eye down the side of the mountain we’d just climbed, my eyes crossing at the nearly vertical expanse of snow, ice, and rock. Winds whipped through us with needlelike icy blades, making me shiver despite the arctic-class garments we’d bought on Gabriel’s advice.

I breathed deeply from one of the oxygen tubes Tipene had hauled up, feeling better almost immediately.

“Jim?” I asked.

“Hit me,” it said, its eyes closed.

“I’d have thought that being immortal and all meant we wouldn’t be prone to altitude sickness,” I said a short while later as I accepted Gabriel’s hand to get to my feet.

He shot me an amused look. “You would not be here now if you were not immortal. It would have been impossible to climb as high as this without acclimatization. That is one other reason we could not bring your uncle.”

“Oh. Well, then. Shall we?”

Gabriel nodded, unhooking the ropes that had connected us. “We won’t need these now. The aerie should be just around the curve. It is built into the solid rock of the mountain.”

I had no idea what to expect from a secret dragon aerie hidden on the side of the Himalayas, but the forbidding stone building set deep into a natural overhang sure fit the image.

“That’s one hell of an aerie,” I said as we picked our way along a faint rocky path.

“It is, isn’t it? I’ve only seen it once before. It’s hidden from aerial view by the rock overhead, and as you can see, it was built to blend into the background. Unless you knew to look for it, it would be all but invisible. We will approach from the side.”