Silence filled the hall. I looked from Stephano, to Pál and István, finally to Drake, all of whom were standing with odd looks on their faces.

“What?” I asked.

Jim shook its head. “Just when you were getting a clue, too.”

“What’s wrong in my reasoning?” I asked Drake.

“A challenge for lusus naturae is different from a challenge for control of the sept,” he answered, giving me a reassuring squeeze. “The latter must follow the terms of the challenge specifically. The former…” He shrugged. “There is a mortal saying that all is fair in love and war. I’m afraid that would apply to a lusus naturae challenge, as well.”

“Well, hell,” I said, grinding my teeth just a little as I looked at Stephano. “What time is this conclave thing?”

“Noon.” Stephano named a well-known hotel that was relatively close. “I will tell Fiat you will attend?”

“Are you good on that time?” I asked Drake.

Stephano interrupted before he could answer. “The green wyvern will not be allowed to attend.”

“Sorry, I don’t go anywhere without Drake.”

His gaze moved warily between Drake and me. “No dragon outside the sept is allowed at a conclave. It is not done.”

“Is that kosher?” I asked Drake.

His jaw tightened as he nodded. “Unfortunately, it is a law most septs adhere to—only members of the sept are al lowed to attend formal meetings.”

“Well, the answer is simple then. I just won’t go.” I turned back to Stephano. “Please pass along my regrets to Fiat, and tell him it was a good try, but I wasn’t born yesterday. If he wants me at a meeting, he’ll have to make it a less formal function so that I can bring Drake.”

The blue dragon smiled. For some reason it wasn’t a reassuring gesture. “Fiat assumed you would refuse, and instructed me to tell the green wyvern that if you do not attend the conclave, he will consider that an act of war and will reciprocate as necessary.”

Drake stepped forward, his hands fisted, clearly bent on telling Stephano what Fiat could do with his threat.

“Wait a minute,” I said quickly, moving between the two men. “This is stupid. The green dragons don’t have anything to do with my decision to not go to the conclave. Fiat can’t war with them because I don’t want to hang around with him.”

Stephano’s smile changed to a smirk. “You live with the green wyvern. You bear his child. You are treated as a member of the sept. If you do not attend, it will clearly be due to influence by the sept, and thus Fiat will be within his rights to reclaim his mate by force.”

I bit my lip as Drake said something to Pál and István in their native Hungarian. The two men closed ranks on Stephano, whose smirk, I was momentarily gratified to notice, took on a strained cast.

“Now, just wait a second, guys. Nothing is going to be served by beating the crap out of the messenger. Let’s think this out.”

“You will not go to the conclave,” Drake told me. “I will not allow you to go there unprotected.”

I nodded. “I have no intention of putting myself in Fiat’s control, but at the same time, I’m not going to allow another war to be declared. We have enough on our hands with the red dragons. There has to be another way around the situation.”

You are so foolish. You could end the situation so very easily.

“Argh!” I yelled, startling everyone in the hall.

“Ash,” Jim said.

“I’m sorry. It was the voice. Man, I’m sick and tired of it yammering at me day and night. What I’d give to shut it up…”

Everyone was looking at me oddly again. I cleared my throat and reminded myself that professional Guardians didn’t rant in front of others about the evil voices in their heads. “Sorry.”

Jim sighed and said, “You’re not thinking.”

I looked at it. It cocked its head. As a demon, Jim was bound by some silly rule that said it couldn’t come right out and tell me something helpful unless I asked for specific information, but it could—and often did—hint when I was missing something obvious.

Obvious like…“Oh! Brilliant! Jim, you get two dog cookies when you go to bed tonight. Stephano, you said I couldn’t bring a member of the green sept, correct?”

“No other sept may attend a conclave.”

“Gotcha. The answer is simple, then.” I turned my smile onto Drake.

He frowned.

“It is?” Pál asked, looking confused.

“Yup. I’m a prince of Abaddon, remember?”

“It’s not something we could easily forget,” Drake said dryly.

“Yeah, well, as a big, bad demon lord, I have scads and scads of demons under my control. If Fiat won’t let me bring a green dragon bodyguard, I’ll simply call up my demon legions and bring them instead. There’s nothing in the sept laws that says a mate can’t bring demons, is there?”

Stephano’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he finally answered. “No.”

“Good. Problem solved.”

“Er…” Jim said.

“It’s not?”

Drake took my hands in his, his thumbs gently brushing over the backs of my hands. “Kincsem, it would not be wise for you to summon your legions.”

“Why not?” I looked deep into his eyes. Regret was in there, as well as something extremely distasteful…pity.

Do not listen to him. You have struck a perfect solution.

I closed my eyes for a moment, swamped with sadness. “You mean I’d have to use the dark power to summon the legions.”

“Yes.”

“But I don’t use it to summon Jim or Tr—the steward,” I said, careful not to say Traci’s name out loud. For some reason we had yet to figure out, I had the demon on auto-call, and just saying its name summoned it to me.

“They are your personal servants. Legions are different.”

“All right then,” I said, nodding as I turned back to Stephano. “If Fiat wants to play hardball, I’ll play hardball. You can tell his royal majesty that I will attend his conclave—with a non–green dragon bodyguard sufficient to ensure my safety and general well-being.”

“Hoo boy, this ought to be good,” Jim said, its eyes lighting up as it realized what I was saying.