‘‘Exactly. To be honest, I think he has a form of demonic attention deficit disorder. But this… this is different. He seems much more focused on the phylactery, and that worries me greatly. I can’t let him have it. But I can’t see a way out of obeying a direct order.’’
‘‘Sometimes when Ash gives me an order, there’s wiggle room,’’ Jim said. ‘‘What did Magoth say exactly?’’
‘‘He told me to bring him the phylactery. There’s no wiggle room there that I can see.’’
Aisling looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘‘What that means is that if you physically have the phylactery in your possession, you must give it to him.’’
‘‘Ye-es,’’ I said slowly, not seeing where she was going.
‘‘So that means we simply don’t let you touch it. If you don’t have it in your possession, you can’t turn it over to him, right? Easy as pie-you may be a renowned thief, but the green dragons are no slouches when it comes to stealing things. And Drake is
‘‘I thought of that,’’ I said, despair digging into me with sharp little jabs. ‘‘The L’au-dela vault is sure to be heavily protected. It will surely be beyond the means of even the craftiest of dragons to enter it… but I can get in places where no one else can. It will be up to me to locate the phylactery. And if I’m that close to it without anyone else around who might conceivably oppose me, it would constitute a dybbuk if I did not take it into my possession. I just don’t see a way around it-that’s why I thought you might have an idea about defying an order.’’
‘‘I’m afraid I am just as helpless,’’ she said with genuine regret. ‘‘Jim?’’
The demon shook its shaggy head. ‘‘Nada. Dybbuk is the only thing I can think of, and I wouldn’t advise it. Magoth may be a few dinner rolls short of a smorgasbord, but he’s no idiot. He’ll be bound to make an example out of you for the rest of his minions.’’
I swallowed back the hard lump of fear and guilt that made my throat ache.
‘‘I take it you haven’t mentioned this to Gabriel?’’ Aisling asked, casting a quick glance toward the door.
‘‘No. It’s hard enough to keep him from going after Magoth directly-I really don’t want to inflame his desire to free me of my bondage.’’
‘‘I’ll talk to Nora about that, too,’’ she said, looking determined. ‘‘She’s my mentor, and she knows all sorts of things about what Guardians can do. I know it’s difficult, but stop worrying, May. Between us all, we may be able to find a way for you to end your bond to Magoth.’’
‘‘Trust Ash on this-she knows Abaddon. She managed to get herself kicked out, after all,’’ Jim said.
Aisling tried to look humble. ‘‘It’s my job-’’
‘‘-she’s a professional,’’ the demon finished.
‘‘Sorry!’’ I said less than an hour later, breathing hard as I raced up the narrow stairs of a small jet. ‘‘I assumed we’d be taking a portal rather than a plane.’’
‘‘Drake won’t let me,’’ Aisling said with a smile at the dragon in question as she adjusted her seat belt over her expansive stomach. ‘‘He says they aren’t safe for pregnant women. Of course, he says the same thing about airplanes, but I really feel there have to be some perks that go along with being immortal, and one of those is being able to fly while preggers.’’
‘‘Ah. Well, I do apologize for us holding everyone up. It’s my fault, not Gabriel’s-I wanted to call a doppelganger who lives in Paris to see if she could help us with the L’au-dela vault, since it’s bound to be extremely well protected. It took me forever to track down her number, but she doesn’t seem to be at home.’’
‘‘Ophelia?’’ Aisling asked, causing me to gawk slightly.
‘‘Yes, that’s her name. Do you know her?’’
A little smile graced her lips. ‘‘Yes. Amelie, a friend of mine in Paris, said she’s left the country. Her… er… twin was banished to the Akasha, you know. Ophelia suffered from depression after that, but last I heard, she was in Africa devoting herself to charitable works.’’
The pilot flashed on the seat-belt warning while Aisling was talking. I dug around in the comfortable leather chair for the seat belts, wondering what the doppelganger’s twin had done to leave her banished to the Akasha.
My phone rang before I could ponder much. ‘‘Oh, sorry,’’ I said as the pilot, a dragon who had been in conversation with Drake, frowned over at me. ‘‘I’ll turn it off. I just… Oh, thank the gods.’’ I was about to turn off my phone, but the caller ID number blinking at me was a familiar one. ‘‘Cy? Where are you?’’
‘‘Oh, Mayling, good, you haven’t left yet…’’ A loud roar from what sounded like a truck drowned out the rest of her sentence. ‘‘… kidnapped me, which was just about the most… me of all people!’’
‘‘What? Cy, I can’t hear you. Where are you? And what’s that about a kidnapping?’’
I held the phone a few inches away from my head as a loud truck horn threatened to deafen me. The pilot and Drake both glared at me.
‘‘I’m sorry, May, but you will have to turn off your mobile phone,’’ the latter said.
‘‘What’s wrong?’’ Gabriel asked at the same time, cleverly picking up on the fact that all was not well.
‘‘I don’t quite know. It’s Cy, and she’s evidently standing in the middle of some horrible traffic trying to tell me something… What’s that?’’
‘‘… the blackmailer! Can you hear me now? He’s…’’ More sounds of engines cut off what she was saying. ‘‘… horrible man! I tried to fight him off, but… please, I’m begging you…’’
‘‘Where are you?’’ I yelled into the phone, hoping she could hear me.
‘‘Is it Kostya? Has he attacked her again?’’ Gabriel asked, half rising out of his seat.
My hope was in vain. I could hear Cy attempting to speak over the noise, but couldn’t make out the words. Suddenly, the connection went dead and all was silence.
Everyone in the plane was looking at me. I ignored them to turn to the one person to whom I knew I wouldn’t have to explain. ‘‘No, it’s not Kostya. Cyrene needs my help with something else, a personal matter.’’
His silver eyes searched mine. I was torn between the need to help Cy and the urgency presented by the situation with the phylactery, but with Cyrene’s plea for help still echoing in my head, there was only one thing I could do.
‘‘I’m very sorry, Gabriel, but I can’t go to Paris.’’ I grabbed the small backpack I used as a purse and rose.
Gabriel’s face was a study in emotion as frustration, anger, and irritation all took a turn, but as he nodded and stood, concern was all that was left. ‘‘I understand. Your twin must come first.’’
‘‘You go to Paris. I’ll use a portaling company to get there as soon as I find Cyrene.’’
Regret filled his lovely eyes for a moment before it was blinked away. He turned to Drake. ‘‘We will join you as soon as possible. I assume you will do everything in your power to keep the phylactery from falling into Kostya’s possession again.’’
Drake’s lips quirked. ‘‘You would trust me with it?’’ he asked.
Gabriel was silent for a moment before giving him a sharp nod. The pilot had opened the door and lowered the stairs; Gabriel and I hurried down them, heading toward the nearest hangar.
‘‘You don’t have to come with me,’’ I told him as the plane taxied off.
He said nothing until we were in the back of a cab.
‘‘Where is she?’’ he asked as we got in.
‘‘We should go to Drake’s house. That’s where she was last.’’
He gave the instructions to the driver before sitting next to me.
‘‘Gabriel… you don’t have to do this.’’
‘‘Your twin is in danger. That must take precedence over the phylactery,’’ he interrupted.
I looked at the strong planes of his face, the high cheekbones sculpting lines that made my stomach tighten with happiness. The brown, elegant slashes of eyebrow set off his eyes so that they just about glowed with emotion. The phylactery was everything to Gabriel- if Kostya regained it, I knew without the slightest doubt that he would use it against the silver dragons. It was of tantamount importance that we get to it before he did… and yet Gabriel was willing to set aside his need to protect his people in order to help me with Cyrene.
My heart heaved a little sigh of resignation and allowed itself to do what it had wanted to do from the very beginning-I fell in love with Gabriel.
‘‘I think that is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me,’’ I said once I could manage to speak around the lump in my throat.
He gave another short nod, acknowledging the fact that I recognized his sacrifice.
‘‘Would it upset all sorts of dragon etiquette if I was to kiss you silly in a taxicab?’’ I asked him.
One dimple started to show despite his serious expression. ‘‘Not in the least.’’
