“For that reason, I will extend to you my help with the matter of the proscription,” he continued just as if I hadn’t spoken. “There is only one way it may be lifted—the proscripted agent must reject the dark power possessing her, and a forbearance must be granted by the Court of Divine Blood.”

“The who?” I asked.

“The Court of Divine Blood is a counterpart to Abaddon,” Dr. Kostich answered, his fingers tapping against his legs as he strolled to the window and gazed out of it.

I glanced at Nora but didn’t find any help there. “Heaven, you mean?”

“No more so than Abaddon is Hell,” he answered. “The mortal concept of Heaven is based in part on the Court, just as their hell is based on Abaddon, but neither concept is truly accurate. Regardless, it is the Court you must convince to grant you a forbearance.”

I relaxed slightly, for some reason reassured that I wasn’t going to have to do something to convince Bael to let me go in order to end the proscription.

“That is after you have been granted an expulsion from Abaddon, naturally,” he added.

Well, merde!

“I have to be kicked out of Abaddon first?” I asked, a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“Yes. You will be required to give up your position as a prince, naturally, but I assume you do not object to that?”

My quasi-hysterical laughter was probably all the answer he needed.

“Very well.” He glanced at his watch. “I have an appointment I must attend. If you have any further need for assistance from the L’au-delà, I trust you will make it via the appropriate channels.”

“Appropriate—uh…but I thought you were going to help me?” I asked, getting to my feet quickly as he marched across the room and threw open the door, clearly about to leave. “Aren’t you supposed to tell me how to get kicked out of Abaddon and get this Court place to grant a forbearance?”

“It is not the duty of the L’au-delà to hold your hand,” he snapped, marching to the front door. Rene leaped ahead to open it for him. Nora stood in the doorway of the living room, my uncle directly behind her. “Miss Charles has volunteered to serve as a liaison between you and the Guardians’ Guild. It is unlikely that they will be able to provide you with assistance, but I will leave that to Caribbean. Good day, Aisling Grey.”

“But—”

Jim butted its head against my hand. I snapped off my protest, knowing full well it wouldn’t do any good.

A car was waiting out front for Dr. Kostich, the driver deferential as she held the car door open. The archimage paused at the car, his gaze piercing mine even across the distance of the sidewalk and entryway. “The answer to your question is no—you would not have been able to ‘take me,’ as you so quaintly put it.”

He got in the car before I could react to him reading my mind. I closed the door to the house slowly, glancing down at Jim as I did so. “You hear him?”

“Yup,” it answered, nodding. “He’s wrong. You could have beaten him.”

“I know. Scary, huh?”

“You have no idea, sister. You just have no idea.”

17

“I’m sorry about all that,” I told everyone when I returned to the living room. “Despite what Jim is about to say, I really don’t get my jollies from going all evil on people.”

Jim snorted. “I wasn’t going to say that.”

“Oh. My apologies for slurring your good name, then.”

“I was going to say that you’re a natural at it. Maybe Dr. Kostich was right and you should just dump the whole saving-the-world plan and go with global domination. It’d probably be a lot more fun. Ow! That’s demon abuse! I have witnesses!”

“Yeah, I’m really worried. OK, so what’s left on the big, big list of things I have to get done before I go insane, or the world comes to an end, whichever comes first?”

Nora smiled. “How I’ve missed your refreshing attitude. I suppose we should discuss the situation with regards to Abaddon before I leave.”

“Right, so that’s number one: find a way to get me kicked out of Abaddon. Two—”

The phone rang. I glanced at the ID—it wasn’t a familiar number. “I bet that’s two right there.”

The voice on the phone was abrupt and to the point. “It is arranged. Two o’clock, at the Wyvern’s Nest in Soho.”

“Huh? Who is this? What’s arranged—damn.”

The phone clicked off without the caller saying another word.

“What was that?” Uncle Damian asked, suspicion rife in his voice.

“A blue dragon, I think. It sounded like one of Fiat’s men…but they always deliver his messages in person. Maybe it was one of Bastian’s buddies.”

“Bastian?” Nora asked, sitting down next to Rene on the couch.

“Bastian is Fiat Blu’s uncle and the rightful wyvern of the sept, or he would have been if Fiat hadn’t had him declared insane and locked him up last century.”

“I see. And you’re helping him?”

I summarized the events of the last few days. “Bastian thought a direct challenge against Fiat was the way to go, but he wanted to meet with the few friends he had remaining before he acted. That didn’t sound like him on the phone, though.” I pinched my lower lip as I thought.

“And Bastian is the second thing on your list?” Nora asked.

“Yup. Number three is currently out of the house, although I hope he’ll be back soon, because I have about five million questions to ask him about his brother.”

“Oh, dear.” Nora’s hands folded together. “I feel so out of things. You are speaking of Drake? He has a brother? I’ve never heard of him having a brother.”

“You don’t want to go there,” Jim said, with an eye on me as I paced back and forth before the now-cold fireplace. “Aisling has her knickers in a twist because Drake has been keeping secrets from her.”

“Everyone has secrets,” Uncle Damian said unexpectedly.

I was about to tell Jim to pipe down, but looked at my uncle instead. He wore a cryptic look I could swear he stole from Drake.

To my surprise, Rene nodded. “It is the way of human nature, hein?”

“I’m not pissed at Drake because he kept some sept business to himself,” I told the two men. “I just don’t like it when something as personal as a brother is kept from me because Drake doesn’t trust me. It’s not like I would have rented a billboard with ‘Drake Vireo has a brother, and he’s alive and kicking’ on it!”