He chuckled. “Not even going to hear me out? Or afraid, if you do, it might prove a more enticing offer than you’d like to admit? He is an intriguing one, isn’t he? So old and yet, in so many ways, such a child, a sweet, confused, beguiling child. How much of a child is he?” Another chuckle. “I’m sure you’ve wondered that as well.”

“Are you trying to lead me into temptation?” I said. “Or just annoy the piss out of me?”

Kristof glanced over at me. “Has he gotten to the sex part yet, or is he still working up to it?”

I sputtered a laugh.

Trsiel strode over, eyes going wide. “What’s going—”

“Dantalian is attempting private negotiations with Eve,” Kristof said, stifling a yawn. “Private negotiations of a private nature, I’m sure.”

Trsiel’s cheeks reddened. “That’s not—he can’t—”

“Oh, he could, but he won’t. And before you take offense, Dantalian, that’s no reflection on you. Many have tried. None succeed. Eve doesn’t whore herself for any cause.”

“This is going nowhere,” Trsiel said. “Asking for sex…? If he can’t come up with something better than that—”

“There is something better than that?” Dantalian said. “My dear boy, your innocence is showing. Surely you—”

“Ignore him,” I said. “This isn’t about sex. It’s about causing trouble. Sex is just a tool for achieving it. If I were a man, he’d ask me to go out and lop off a few heads in his name. Same destination. Different path.”

“Would you prefer lopping off heads?” Dantalian murmured. “I hadn’t considered that, but, yes, now that you mention it, I see how my request could be considered quite inappropriate for a woman of your nature. Lopping off heads would be more your style, so perhaps—”

“No lopping heads. No giving head. I’m not doing anything that would get you off…in any way.”

A moment of silence. “Well, that limits things, doesn’t it?”

“Eve…” Trsiel said.

When I looked at him, he jerked his head toward the door. I glanced at Kristof. He discreetly lifted a finger, telling me to wait.

“Those are her terms,” Kristof said. “She will do nothing to cause chaos. If that is unacceptable, then I’m afraid our negotiations are—”

“She will visit me,” Dantalian said.

I cast a frown in the direction of his voice.

“I have but a few years left on my sentence. She will visit me for a half-day each month until it ends.”

“If this is heading back to the sex thing—” I began.

“It’s not. I ask only for a visit.”

Trsiel wheeled as Dantalian’s voice glided past. “So you can spit poison in her ear? Try to turn her to your—”