Anger, hatred, and impotent fury all took turns on Dmitri’s face. He swore, shoving the green dragon bystanders out of the way as he stormed back to the room.

“Someone badly needs to spend some time in his happy place.” Jim’s voice broke the tension.

I laughed at Fiat’s carefully masked expression. “Oh, come on, Fiat—don’t tell me you didn’t think this idiotic plan through. You’ve known Drake for what—a few hundred years? Do you seriously think he’s going to do something so asinine as to hand over his sept to someone else just for me?”

Fiat just smiled. Drake said nothing, but I could see the tension in his hands. “That’s just about the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard today, and let me tell you, I’ve heard some pretty ridiculous things. The sept always has and always will come first to Drake. I know that. I accept that. You’re deluding yourself if you think it’s not true.”

“I believe that the situation has changed now that you are breeding.”

There were a number of surprised noises from the dragons behind Drake. I glared at Fiat. “I am not pregnant! And even if I were—and for the hundredth time this week, I’m not!—it still wouldn’t make a difference. Drake is wyvern of the green dragons. He will be wyvern until the day he decides he wants to pass the job on to someone else. Isn’t that right, Drake?”

Drake looked at Fiat, not me. “The sept and Aisling are both mine. I will not give up either of them.”

“We shall see,” was all Fiat said.

Gabriel stepped forward, putting his arm around my shoulder. “I think it would ease everyone’s minds if I escorted Aisling to the challenge.”

“Oh, don’t for one minute think I don’t have a thing or two to say to you,” I told him as he gently pushed me down the hallway. Drake stood to one side, waiting until we had passed before following. “Mediating is one thing, Gabriel. But this is not mediation. This is siding with Fiat for some bizarre reason. Do you really want to see Dmitri in Drake’s place?”

“Of course not. If I thought that would happen, I would have done everything in my power to stop Fiat. But you have not considered all the possibilities as a good Guardian should.”

“All the possibilities? What other possibilities are there?”

He smiled, his dimples flaring. “Has it not occurred to you that a show of force by Drake will do much to weaken Fiat’s determination to war with him?”

“Hmm.” I thought about that for a couple of seconds. He had a point. Perhaps Gabriel wasn’t the villain I’d begun to paint him.

“I see you appreciate the fact that while Dmitri may have the letter of the green dragon law to back his claim to the position of wyvern, it has always been might that has held septs. Drake has shown time and time again that he has the might to keep the sept. He simply needs to remind Fiat of that. And this is a perfect opportunity for him to do so with little threat to himself or you.”

It made sense, but it still left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. “You could have told us ahead of time what you were going to do.”

“What makes you think I didn’t?” His dimples deepened. I recalled the night when Gabriel had healed my wound. Obviously, one of the things he’d spoken to Drake about after I left the room was this situation. No wonder Drake didn’t seem particularly disturbed about me being in Fiat’s power.

But what about poor Istvan? Was he in on it, too, or was he really dead? I had to know. If he was OK, then I could relax and just go along with things.

“Jim?” I gestured for the demon walking slightly behind me. “Heel!”

“For crap’s sake, it’s all I can do to walk missing three—that’s three—toes now!” Jim grumbled, but obeyed and scooted over next to me.

“Would you like to go for four?”

“Bah!”

Gabriel laughed.

“Sorry, demon and demon lord talk,” I told him, not wanting him to overhear what I was going to ask. “Would you think me horribly rude if I had a few minutes with Jim?”

“Not at all.” He walked a few steps ahead of me, giving us a bit of privacy. Behind us, Drake, Fiat, and the rest of the dragons marched along in silence.

“That time-and-space-ripping thing,” I asked Jim in a quiet voice. “Can I do that for you, too?”

Jim shrugged. “You’re the boss. Pretty much whatever you want to do, you can do.”

“Great. I want you to go to Drake’s house and look for Istvan.”

“Ew. What if his body is all bloody and stuff?”

“There may not be a body. That’s what I want you to see—if he’s there, fine, or hiding or something.”

“All right, but if anything exciting happens here and I miss it, I’m going to hold that against you for the rest of your existence.”

I stopped in front of the door I’d spotted and smiled a toothy smile at all of the people behind me. “Bio break! Be right back.”

Drake frowned as I grabbed Jim’s collar and dragged the demon into the ladies’ room with me. “What do you need— No. I don’t want to know.”

“Smart man,” I said, blowing him a kiss as the door closed. I turned the lock and faced Jim. “Right, let’s do this.”

I took a couple of deep breaths to clear my mind, focused on the thought of Drake’s house, and reaching out, selected the possibility that I wanted to use.

Nothing happened.

“Hmm. I don’t seem to be able to do it.” I tried again, with the same result.

“That’s because you’re using dragon fire. This is a demon lord skill, Ash. You gotta use demon lord power to do it.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I’m not using that dark power again. That stuff is bad, and if by some miracle my soul isn’t already damned for having inadvertently used it to banish Ariton, I’m not going to risk using it again. It’s evil.”

“Power is power,” Jim said, putting its paws on the counter so it could check its teeth in the mirror. “It’s neither good nor bad. The person using it determines what it’ll be.”

“Oh.” I thought about that for a few seconds. I wasn’t quite buying what Jim said—I’d felt that power, and there was evil in it—but perhaps I had the ability to neutralize the bad. I weighed the revulsion I felt at using dark power with the worry that Istvan could be lying injured or dead somewhere, and decided I’d have to risk using it once more.