Fiat brushed off my statement as if it were a piece of lint. “Are you aware of how much your desires play a role in my plans for the future?”

“No.” I frowned, confused even more. “How much?”

He didn’t bother to look at me when he answered. “None whatsoever. Renaldo, Pietro, we depart. A pleasant evening to you all.”

Fiat gestured toward the door. His bodyguards fell into place behind him as he started for it.

“Do something!” I demanded of Drake.

He raised both eyebrows. “What would you have me do? I am in control of the sept again. Dmitri will be taken care of the rest of his life, but he poses no more of a threat to us.”

Jim shook its head. “Missing the obvious, man.”

And how. I frowned up at Drake. “Yes, you’re the wyvern again, but perhaps it’s escaped your attention that Fiat challenged Dmitri for me, which, unless I’m confused about all those bizarre and outdated dragon laws, means I’m now a blue dragon.”

“You are mine,” Drake said, his eyes blazing. “You will always be mine. You belong to the green dragons. Nothing Fiat can do changes that. This is merely a political move on his part to gain leverage over me, nothing more. He does not expect you to fulfill any duties as the mate to the blue wyvern.”

Fiat, for a change, said nothing. But he smiled.

It made my skin crawl.

“Don’t think I’m going to let this situation pass without correcting it,” I called after Fiat as he opened the door to the hall. He paused and glanced back over his shoulder at me.

I smiled a grim little smile of my own. Drake’s arm tightened around my waist, giving me strength. “You may think I’m a pawn in this horrible game you’re playing, but you’re wrong. I have a whole lot more going for me than you can possibly imagine.”

The condescending look on his face made my hand itch. “You have power, cara . . . but you are too pure of heart to use it.”

The pressure of Drake’s hand on my side kept me from making wild threats. Evidently I was back in the business of being politically correct.

“That does not mean you never will, though,” Fiat added, his mind brushing against mine. I have high hopes for your future.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re here,” Nora said what seemed like an eternity later, as she opened the door to Drake, Pal, me, and two of the green dragons who insisted on escorting us home. “Someone attacked Istvan, but he’s going to be all right. Rene is with him now. Jim was here briefly, but it disappeared before I could ask what was going on. I was just leaving you a note and was about to find you ...”

“Drake!” Catalina stood at the top of the stairs and glared down at us as we trooped in the doorway. “Where have you been? This woman here, this Guardian I do not know, has been giving me orders. Me! Make her leave.”

I wrapped my arms around Drake and buried my face in his neck, allowing him to just hold me. The events of the day had taken away most of my strength, leaving me weak and boneless.

“She would not help with Istvan,” Nora said in an apologetic tone. “I was a bit sharp with her, I’m afraid. I apologized, but it didn’t seem to do much good.”

“Make her go away! She is rude to me. I don’t like her.”

“Mother, cease.” Drake’s voice rumbled in his chest. I melted against him, breathing in his delicious scent, filled with so much love it almost drove out the horrors of the day.

Almost.

“I will not be spoken to this way in my own home,” Catalina huffed, twitching herself by Nora as she approached us.

“This is my home—mine and Aisling’s. You will not insult our guests.”

“She has bewitched you,” she said, frowning at Drake. “She has cast a glamour on you to make you believe she is right for you, but we all know that is not so.”

I sighed into Drake’s neck and lifted my head to look at my future mother-in-law. “Boo!”

She gasped, a hand at her throat as she took a couple of steps backwards. Quickly she crossed herself. “Madre de dios! You are marked by the evil one!”

Nora’s startled intake of breath quickly followed, her eyes huge with horror behind her glasses. “Aisling! Dear god. What have you done?”

“You know that badass demon lord who was after her blood?” Jim asked.

Nora didn’t back up the way Drake’s mother did, but she did wrap her arms around herself, as if in protection. She nodded.

“Well, guess whose ass is the baddest now?”

The color drained out of her face as she reached blindly for a chair next to the window. “You didn’t... you didn’t... you’re not...”

“She has sold herself to the devil,” Catalina announced to everyone, her hands waving dramatically. “I hope you are happy now, son of my loins. You are bound to the devil! Pah! I wash my hands of you both. I am returning to Rio. If you come to your senses and rid yourself of the she-devil, you may call me.”

I sank wearily onto the bench that sat between the arms of the stairs as Catalina made a grand exit, muttering under her breath about exorcisms and the possibility of demonic grandchildren. It was all so horrible, I just wanted to laugh, but I was afraid once I got started I wouldn’t be able to stop.

“Aisling?”

“Yes, it’s true,” I answered Nora’s unasked question. “I did. I am. You’re looking at the newest prince of Hell.”

She took a couple of steps toward me. Beyond her, Drake stood silent, his arms over his chest as he watched me. I gave him a minuscule little smile to let him know I appreciated his letting me deal with the situation. I knew from our discussion in the car on the way home that he would be much happier taking charge of my life for me.

“I’m sorry,” Nora said, stopping several feet away.

“I know you are. It was an accident. Another demon lord tricked me into banishing Ariton.”

She shook her head, interrupting me. “No, I mean I’m sorry that I won’t be able to continue to mentor you.”

“What? You said earlier that we’d just go on like before, even though the committee had stripped you of the official title.”

“It’s not that—” She looked from Drake to Pal, then back to me. “You are a demon lord, Aisling. I cannot harbor a demon lord. I cannot mentor one. To be near you is dangerous to me. The power you wield now ... I am a mortal. It would be too much temptation for me. It grieves me greatly to say this, but I cannot remain in the same house as you.”