hed. "i was just testing you, yolando, to see if you really learned anything from me, after all. you have,monami . you letnothing slide-nor do i . . . and weboth remembereverything ."

yonnie's and fallon's eyes met. it was a dangerous moment, and chambers became quiet.

"settleyourself ," nuit finally said. "it is true. you are owed two mates, actually. tara and, i believe, gabrielle. so, no, we will not interfere in youraffaires du coeur, from this point forward-even, as you say, those that are simple booty calls. satisfied?"

yonnie nodded and pointed at the crest in the table. "i want it on the record."

"fair exchange is no robbery," fallon said, standing and walking over to receive the blood bite.

"you're in too good a mood, brother," yonnie muttered under his breath as he and fallon passed each other.

"a good woman will do that for you," fallon said quietly with a low chuckle, so that only yonnie could hear. "just make sure you don't fuck up and try to drag an angel to a throne. i am not blind. take care. that could be disastrous. they'll nuke chambers."

yonnie turned away, unnerved by nuit's shrewd perception. "sebastian, i want it from you, too."

"i was not in the original transaction," sebastian protested. "why should i?"

"because i don't want any accidents in the future."yonnie looked at the countess and then lucrezia. "point of order, of all the feats, we could have a pissing contest about which one was the most insane to try to pull off, which took the most balls, and jeopardized the least resources-and then based on pecking order, or whose dick is the longest, we can reshuffle mates. guaranteed, if we play musical chairs, i'll have a seat. will you?"

"sebastian,"elizabeth remarked coolly, "unless you want to find yourself a bachelor again, i suggest you accept the man's very reasonable terms not to interfere with his personal affairs during our ruthless games of war."

lilith stood as sebastian grudgingly went to the crest. "then it's all settled."

yonnie smirked. "no offense, but do i look crazy to you?"

she chuckled and rolled up her sleeve. "you don't miss a trick, do you?"

"you did gabrielle . . . what can i say?"

"that i did," lilith said with a sigh. "and i suppose you want the wives to also commit?"

yonnie just folded his arms over his chest. "no offense but, one is good with poison, one has a penchant for torture . . . and anyone i mate will be a master-level female, with no available seats on the council, therefore at a power disadvantage. this is why i don't wantany bullshit."

"all right, yolando. you have certainly earned this one, easy demand. after this, i will be leaving for a while. there is much to do in preparation, and themiddle east beckons me. i trust that now that all dissension has been quashed, you can move forward with subtler, less resource-intense strategies?"

nods of agreement met lilith as her gaze slowly raked the expressions around the pentagram-shaped bargaining table. without further protest, everyone got up, extended their wrists to the crest, accepted the harsh bite, and then sat back down. only then did yonnie sit back in his throne and relax. his mind was racing a mile a minute. he had to take his time leaving and endure the politics for a while longer, but his main concern was what was happening with carlos and the family.

"it seems that there is perfect balance on this council," lucrezia noted in a cheerful voice. "you may take your leave with a clear mind. we are all prepared to work together to the common goal of neteru destruction. following your husband's initial assault, your majesty . . . fallon, sebastian, and elizabeth have hit the guardians hard with variations of a full frontal attack. then yonnie has come in through the back door to compromisean angel, who obviously had been sent to protect the most vulnerable member of their family-that horrid, screeching child. then i, with poison, can double back, just as they believe they are safe, to injure and hopefully eliminate more of their family members. perhaps even yolando and i can team up, to get the angel to deliver the poison, since he has a way with her?" she waved her hands with sadistic glee. "in any event, it shall be intriguing!"