‘‘I’m sorry,’’ I told him. ‘‘This is no reflection on you. You seem to be a very nice man… dragon… but unfortunately, even if I agreed that somehow, I was meant to be your mate, there are circumstances that prohibit me from taking that role. I hope you understand.’’

‘‘I understand,’’ he said after a few moment’s silence, his voice rubbing along my skin like velvet.

Before I could stop myself, I took a step forward toward him. ‘‘Thank you.’’

The rest of the world seemed to recede until only a small stretch of wool carpet bearing Gabriel and myself existed. His eyes searched mine, searing a silver path straight down to my soul. It was as if our souls touched for one blinding moment of glory.

Drake’s voice lashed across me with the violence of a whip crack, dragging me back into reality with a painful jerk. ‘‘There is still the matter of Mei Ling.’’

I backed away from Gabriel, not trusting myself to be near him. For a moment I wished… but that was folly. I needed to stop moping over wishes that would never be realized, and instead work on getting us out of the situation. The doorway loomed behind me. Oh, how I wanted to race through it, grab Cyrene, and escape this house. But I couldn’t, not yet. Slowly, I examined everyone in the room, silent and still as if they’d been frozen into place. I avoided looking at Gabriel’s bright eyes, looking instead at the man who’d spoken. ‘‘What about it?’’

‘‘You are the thief Mei Ling.’’ Drake frowned for a moment. ‘‘You don’t look Asian.’’

‘‘I’m not. Or rather, Cyrene isn’t, hence I am not.’’

‘‘Then why are you called Mei Ling?’’ he asked.

‘‘Mayling,’’ Aisling said suddenly, smiling. ‘‘It’s a nickname.’’

I nodded, and decided to brazen it out rather than offer up a denial none of them would believe. ‘‘And if I said I was the thief Mei Ling? What would you do? Hand me over to the watch? Burn me at the stake? Wrap me in chains and toss me into the nearest dungeon?’’

‘‘There is a price on her head,’’ István said. ‘‘A large price.’’

‘‘That’s right,’’ Aisling said thoughtfully. ‘‘I heard about that earlier. You stole something from Dr. Kostich, and he put a whopper of a bounty on your head.’’

‘‘Is this the point where you blackmail me into doing your bidding?’’ I asked, shifting my attention to Gabriel. ‘‘Are you going to threaten to turn me in if I don’t steal for you, too?’’

‘‘Too?’’ he asked, jumping on the word, his eyes curious. ‘‘You do not steal for yourself?’’

I paused for a moment, damning my verbal slip before tightening my lips. Why did I care what he thought of me, what any of them thought of me? Why did I want to explain to them how I had been bound to Magoth even before I’d been created, how I had no freedom in my life, no ability to make my own decisions. Why did it matter that Gabriel’s words stung me until I wanted to scream my innocence? I owed them nothing. They were no different from anyone else who tried to use me. ‘‘I am a doppelganger, a shadow walker. There is no end of people who have offered to hire me for one illegal purpose or another.’’

‘‘Then you will have no difficulty undertaking this task for Gabriel,’’ Drake said.

To my surprise, Gabriel turned to the other wyvern with a frown. ‘‘Drake, you are interfering with my mate.’’

‘‘I’m not your mate! And you needn’t couch your demand in such polite terms, dragon. There are those in the world who don’t bother with the niceties. They are the ones who use force to make me do their bidding.’’

‘‘I am not interfering,’’ Drake told Gabriel, totally missing my sarcasm.

‘‘You are, and I don’t appreciate it. May is mine, not yours. I won’t have you giving her orders or threatening her.’’

‘‘Oh, for mercy’s… I am not anyone’s mate!’’

Everyone ignored me. The green wyvern looked surprised at Gabriel for a moment. Aisling covered up a little chirp of laughter by suddenly taking a sip from her glass.

‘‘Might I point out that you have interfered with my mate on numerous occasions?’’ Drake said. ‘‘You even planned to challenge me for her.’’

A little spike of pain stabbed inside me. Gabriel flashed a glance toward me that I had no trouble deciphering as embarrassed. ‘‘That was before I knew… That doesn’t matter. The fact remains that you are interfering, and although I know you mean well, I would appreciate it if you would allow me to handle my mate in my own fashion.’’

‘‘The situation concerns us, as well. I believe that we have a right to ensure that matters are concluded satisfactorily.’’

‘‘You know, I think I’m with Gabriel on this,’’ Aisling said, putting her hand on her wyvern’s arm. ‘‘Maybe we should just butt out-’’

‘‘Kostya is not Gabriel’s problem alone,’’ Drake told her.

‘‘We are the only ones who are threatened by him,’’ Gabriel argued, taking a step toward the other dragon. ‘‘You are not fighting for your survival as we are ours.

We are the ones who must deal with Kostya.’’

‘‘That doesn’t mean-’’

‘‘Yes, it does!’’ Gabriel interrupted, the two men now toe to toe.

Their respective bodyguards lined up behind them as the wyverns slipped into a language I didn’t understand.

‘‘What are they speaking?’’ I asked Aisling, as she hoisted herself to her feet.

‘‘Bah. Baby’s sitting right on my bladder. Hmm? Oh, that’s Zilant.’’ She smiled at my look of confusion. ‘‘I only just found out about it myself. It’s a language that all dragons were taught centuries ago, so that members of different septs could understand one another. It’s pretty much unused now that most of them speak English. Zilant had something to do with the origins of the black dragons-it’s a region in Russia, evidently, and took the name from there.’’

The two wyverns were still going at it, arguing with occasional intercessions from their bodyguards.

‘‘Are they always like that?’’ I couldn’t help but ask.

Aisling smiled at me. ‘‘Pretty much so. They’re arrogant to a man, and bossy, and they always think their way is the only way…’’ She tossed a fond look toward the dark-haired green wyvern. ‘‘But they’re also absolutely unswerving in their devotion. I know this whole thing with Gabriel has probably made you feel like the rug has been pulled out from under you, but he really is a sweetie, and I doubt if you’ll have the trouble with him that I had with Drake. He was absolutely impossible when I first met him.’’

‘‘I heard that!’’ the man in question said, interrupting his argument long enough to shoot a potent glare at Aisling.

She blew him a kiss, then excused herself and went off to the bathroom.

I started to edge my way out of the room. I made it to the stairs before Gabriel turned his head to notice I was nearly out of the room.

‘‘Mate!’’ he said, frowning.

‘‘Mate?’’ A voice came from behind me on the stairs. Cyrene stood there, her face puzzled as she glanced around the room. ‘‘You can’t mean… May? A mate? A dragon’s mate?’’

‘‘I thought you were tired and taking a nap,’’ I said, hurrying up to her.

‘‘I had a quick bath instead. I feel much better, although I’m confused about what’s going on here. Did that delicious Gabriel call you ‘mate’?’’

I opened my mouth to explain, but found it hard to put things in a manner that sounded like anything but mindless babble. ‘‘Er…’’

‘‘That is correct,’’ Gabriel said, moving over to stand next to me. He didn’t touch me, but he didn’t need to-to my embarrassment, I found myself leaning toward him, as if he was a lodestone and I was a magnet. ‘‘May is my mate.’’

‘‘But she can’t be!’’ Cyrene said, shaking her head as she marched over to us.

‘‘She can’t?’’ Gabriel asked, looking from her to me. ‘‘Why can’t she?’’

Gods, he was handsome. That warm brown skin, those liquid silver eyes, along with a strong jaw and gently squared chin that for some reason made me feel suspiciously weak in the knees. But he was a dragon, a wyvern, and I was Cyrene ’s shadow. I moved a step away and tried to ignore the sorrow that filled me.