‘‘What’s the silver dragon element? Earth?’’ Jim’s face screwed up as it thought. ‘‘Oh, man, that means he’s gonna want to do it outdoors all the time. Buck naked in the wilderness. My advice is to take sunscreen and bug spray. And maybe a spatula or something to dig the sand out of your butt crack, in case he takes you to a beach.’’

‘‘Jim!’’ Aisling said, wrapping her hands around the demon’s muzzle. She shot me an apologetic look. ‘‘I’m so sorry. It knows better than to offer unwanted sexual advice.’’

‘‘Just trying to be helpful,’’ it said in a muffled voice.

‘‘Well, you’re not. And you can just be quiet unless you have something of importance to offer to the conversation,’’ Aisling told it as she released its muzzle. ‘‘Go on, May. Tell me what it is you want.’’

‘‘It’s about demon lords,’’ I said softly, glancing toward the open door. No one was visible, but I wanted to avoid Gabriel overhearing us.

‘‘Oh, that’s right-your twin said you were bound to one,’’ Aisling said, nodding. ‘‘Are you having a problem with… er… which one is it?’’

‘‘Magoth.’’

She thought for a moment, and then shook her head. ‘‘I don’t believe I’ve met him.’’

‘‘You’d remember if you did,’’ I said with a little laugh. ‘‘He’s very attractive.’’

‘‘If you like the smoldering, sensual, silent-movie-actor type,’’ Jim said with a sniff as it licked down the fur on one paw.

‘‘He looks like a smoldering, sensual actor?’’ Aisling looked somewhat startled.

‘‘He was a silent movie actor, but that was only a phase he was going through.’’

Aisling mentioned the name of a famous actor of the 1920s.

‘‘That was him. He was always a ham. But that’s not the issue. My problem is…’’ I checked the hallway quickly. It was empty. ‘‘Is there any way for someone to disobey a direct order you give? A demon, that is.’’

Aisling blinked a couple of times.

Jim’s mouth formed an O. ‘‘You’re gonna defy an order? You’re going to go dybbuk?’’

‘‘What’s dybbuk?’’ Aisling asked.

‘‘In terms of folklore, it’s a wandering soul that enters a living body,’’ I said slowly.

‘‘In Abaddon terms, it means a demon who’s gone rogue.’’ Jim’s eyes were grave. ‘‘Dybbuks are usually destroyed by their masters for insubordination, although I have heard of one or two who survived in order to be perpetually tormented. Fires of Abaddon, May-lots of demons talk about it, but I never heard of one who was actually thinking about doing it.’’

‘‘I’m not a demon,’’ I pointed out, biting my lower lip nonetheless.

‘‘No, you’re not,’’ Aisling said in an abstracted voice. ‘‘Defying an order… hmm. That’s tricky. Maybe it would help if you gave me the specific circumstances.’’

I hesitated for a moment or two, unsure whether I wanted to entrust something so potentially dangerous to her. In the end, I decided that I had little recourse, and she was my best resource of information about demon lords. ‘‘Magoth ordered me to retrieve the dragons’ phylactery for himself. He plans on using it to bring the dragons to rein.’’

Aisling’s eyes opened wide. Jim gave a low, long whistle.

‘‘A direct order?’’ she asked.

I nodded, misery making my gut grumble. ‘‘I can’t do it. I just can’t do it. Even if I wasn’t mated to Gabriel, even if I didn’t give a damn about the dragons, I still wouldn’t do it. It has the potential for just too much power.’’

‘‘But… he must have had you steal powerful items before,’’ she said. ‘‘How did you get around those? Or did you?’’

I shook my head. ‘‘He’s never asked me to steal anything quite so important before. Magoth is…’’ I made a vague gesture. ‘‘He’s a bit of a flibbertigibbet, if you want to know the truth. He always has a hundred different projects going, and flits from one to another without following one through to the end, which, I have to say, I encourage.’’

‘‘It keeps him from becoming dangerous to the mortal world?’’ she asked.

‘‘Yes. All the other things that Magoth has made me steal for him over the past eighty years weren’t nearly as important as this phylactery. Although I don’t like being forced into the role of thief, it eased my worry somewhat to know that the things I was taking weren’t really going to matter, if you know what I mean. He was just too unfocused, too easily distracted.’’

‘‘Not the brightest bean in the Crock-Pot,’’ Jim said, nodding in agreement.

‘‘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 especiallygood at it.’’

‘‘I thought of that,’’ I said, despair digging into me with sharp little jabs. ‘‘The L’au-delà 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-delà 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.’’