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.
Drake rubbed his chin and looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. “That will do.”
Pál and István exchanged glances before István asked, “Who will be bodyguard?”
“Aisling’s going for blood,” Jim said, snickering. “I can’t wait to see what Uncle Damian makes of Fiat. You think I could place a bet on who’s left after the dust settles?”
Stephano’s smile faded completely. I leaned into Drake and breathed in his dragon essence, allowing it to seep deep within me, content in his arms.
“Don’t worry, sweetie. Everything is going to be all right. You’ll see—Uncle Damian can be a badass when he wants.”
4
C old air suddenly swirled around me, causing my bare nipples to harden painfully. Startled, I jumped, and was grabbing for the towel when a familiar voice said, “There you are. I wondered where you were hiding.”
I let the towel drop and smiled as Drake stood in the doorway of the sauna, quickly removing his clothing. “You’re letting out all the steam,” I pointed out.
The look he gave me could have melted asbestos. “I assure you that you’ll have as much steam as you can stand. If you don’t mind me joining you, that is?”
“That ‘Occupied’ sign on the door to the sauna doesn’t apply to you. Although…how did you know Paula and Dad weren’t the ones in here?”
He laid the last of his clothing on the bench outside of the sauna, closing the door behind him. His emerald-eyed gaze took its time moving along my body, making me shiver a little with its intensity.
“They just went to bed. Paula said you were going to take a late night swim,” he answered, dumping a ladleful of water on the hot coals. Steam boiled up around him, obscuring the sight of his body for a moment.
“Yeah, well, there’s nothing like a relaxing steam after a nice dip.” I lay back on the bench, my breath catching in my throat at the sight of his sleek muscles moving as he picked up the towel that had fallen on the floor. “So, I was thinking about