Helori moved off, leaving me alone with Idris. “Yeah, it’s me,” I said, instantly realizing how dumb that sounded.

But his grin only widened. “God, Kara, you look so much better than—” He flushed. “I mean…shit. Sorry. You look great.”

I held back a low laugh. “Thanks. I feel a lot better, too,” I said with a sigh. “I’m sorry you had to go through so much to get me back. Running away to Rhyzkahl was about the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t know it was stupid at the time,” he said with a scowl. “It was Rhyzkahl you were dealing with. How would you know?” He shook his head. “I mean, back on Earth, that is. When you got here, Lord Mzatal should have…” He trailed off, then straightened his shoulders. “He should have told you more,” he said definitively.

Damn. Idris grew a spine while I was gone.

“Anyway, I’m glad you’re back,” he continued. “I, um, we were really worried about you.”

“Well, thanks for everything,” I said with a small smile. “I owe you, big-time.”

He flushed and smiled sheepishly. “Nah. It was no biggie. You’re kinda special, y’know?”

Special? Was he crushing on me? Weird. “No, I just managed to attract the attention of some powerful people. A perfect storm of Shit Happens.” Sighing again, I leaned my back against the wall. “The first time I summoned Rhyzkahl was an accident. I was trying to summon Rhyzel, a luhrek, at the same time that Peter Cerise—the Symbol Man killer—was trying to summon Rhyzkahl. The lord simply hijacked my summoning to escape Cerise’s binding.”

Idris began tracing a new ward. “Yeah, whatever. I couldn’t do it.”

I frowned and tilted my head. “Have you ever tried? I mean, summoning a lord?”

His gaze snapped to mine. “You gotta be kidding! No way!”

“Then how do you know you can’t do it?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Maybe when you get back to Earth you can try summoning Mzatal.”

He stared at me as if I’d tried to tell him that two plus two equaled three. “You’re serious.”

“Well, yeah,” I said. “I mean, as long as Mzatal’s willing. That’s what matters most. And I could show you the storage diagram I used so that I had enough power. What do you have to lose?”

“My measly life?” he said, then grinned and shook his head. “I dunno. Katashi is using four summoners to summon Lord Mzatal. And Lord Mzatal has always been willing.”

That didn’t make sense to me. “I always thought it was easier to summon Rhyzkahl because he was willing.” I shrugged and made a mental note to find out more later. “Well, if you do give it a try, don’t summon any of the other lords.” I wasn’t smiling anymore. “Especially not Amkir, Kadir, Jesral…or Rhyzkahl.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he assured me. “Even talking about summoning Mzatal is a stretch for me.”

“Yeah, well, don’t even be alone with any of them.” A shiver ran down my spine. “Especially Kadir. He’s twisted.”

He nodded slowly. “Yeah, his portrait freaked me out enough. Don’t need to see the real thing. Since I’ve been here, Lords Vahl, Elofir, and Seretis have been here a few times, but none of the others.”

“Portrait?”

“In Szerain’s gallery,” Idris said. “On the third level of his palace. There’s portraits of demons, humans, all the lords, all sorts of stuff.” He whistled low and shook his head. “And you know how Szerain’s paintings and sculptures are. Well, that portrait of Kadir felt like he was about an inch away, breathing on me. Scared the shit out of me!” He made a face at the memory.

“I didn’t know about any gallery. I saw lots of his stuff in the rest of the palace,” I said, then scowled blackly as a shadow memory flickered. Why the hell couldn’t I have had a fucking Elinor memory about the gallery when I was actually there at Szerain’s palace?

Idris shrugged. “Yeah, but no lords outside the gallery. At least none that I’ve ever seen.”

Helori returned and touched my arm. “Mzatal will meet you in the plexus.”

I nodded, then looked back to Idris. “I’ll see you later. Thank you for everything.” I gave him a quick hug, then turned and walked quickly away before either of us could get too embarrassed or maudlin.

Helori led the way, which was damn good since I didn’t know where anything was. When Mzatal had first brought me here, he’d taken me straight to the summoning chamber, after which we went right back to the grove, and of course, then I escaped.

My loss, though, because Mzatal’s palace was damn impressive, in a much different way than Rhyzkahl’s. Where Rhyzkahl’s palace rose to lofty white heights with a myriad of towers, balconies, and the feel of opulent indulgence, Mzatal’s curved with the flow of the cliff, dark stone accented with bursts of color from tapestries and intricate wall hangings. Glass comprised most every outside wall, floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall, like in modern high-rise buildings giving the place an open feel and loads of natural light. Helori led me to the spacious atrium with its rising mezzanines, then up stairs and more stairs, down a corridor, and then yet more stairs.

At the top, we entered a broad, high-ceilinged corridor carpeted in luxurious deep blue. “And now we enter Mzatal’s private area,” Helori said, indicating the narrow line of beautiful flickering wards inlaid in the paneling.

We passed several doorless arches leading to glass-walled rooms, including a library, a sitting area, a large barren room, and a solarium. I glanced at the double doors of Mzatal’s chambers—which I recognized only because of the Escher-like carving—odd because of the rarity of doors in the palace. Both Szerain and Rhyzkahl had plenty of doors, so Mzatal’s lack didn’t seem to be characteristic of the demon realm. At the very end of the corridor, we stopped before the only other door. Carvings of interwoven sigils covered it, and their intricacy and grace reminded me of Szerain’s work.

“He is engaged,” Helori told me, “but he is aware you are here.” He pushed the door open enough for me to pass. “Go. Await him.” Smiling, he bent and touched his forehead to mine.

I threw my arms around him in a hug. “Thank you.”

With a low chuckle, he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me close. Grinning, I blinked back the silly tears that sprang up, then quickly released him and entered the room before I could totally start bawling.

Windowless and close, the room crackled with potency. Mzatal stood on the other side of a stone pedestal topped with a basin, much like the one I saw in Szerain’s shrine. Intense focus etched his face while sigils and strands of potency danced from his fingers above the surface of the water. Fascinated, I watched the interplay of light and color. I had zero clue what he was doing, but it was still amazing and beautiful.

I closed the door quietly behind me and waited for him to finish. I didn’t have any sense he was making me wait on purpose, which made it much easier for me to be patient. It was like watching the coolest laser show ever, except without lasers. Instead, glowing streamers were caught and woven back into place, and wobbly things were set to spin smoothly. Mzatal moved around the table in a graceful flow, wasting no motion and doing things almost before I realized there was anything to engage.

Finally he lowered his hands and sent the remaining “stuff” down into the basin, then set a single orb about a foot in diameter spinning above it. He lowered his head, assessing its movement and moving fingers slightly until it spun smoothly.

Stepping back, he gave a little nod of completion, not unlike the one he’d given after that weird as hell kiss. What the hell had that kiss been all about, anyway?

He watched the orb for another few heartbeats, then turned to face me, eyes full of a deep resonant potency.

“Kara,” he said, speaking my name like an extension of that power.