‘‘She was an Aborigine, her roots firmly in the Dreaming.’’

‘‘I don’t know what . . .’’ I frowned.

‘‘The indigenous peoples of the Australian region believe there are two realities . . . this one, and the Dreaming. Those people who can inhabit both equally often exhibit abilities that mortals consider supernatural.’’

‘‘The ability to read minds is one of them? That must be handy in a wyvern.’’

His lips quirked. ‘‘Thus far, you are the only person other than my parents whose mind I can read.’’

I wasn’t sure I bought that, but it wasn’t something pertinent. ‘‘I don’t want you to use the word ‘sweet’ because the demon lord who is bent on seducing me uses that,’’ I said in a rush, the words tumbling over themselves in my haste to get it all out.

That had him sitting upright. ‘‘A demon lord wishes to seduce you?’’

I nodded.

His eyes narrowed, the silver in them turning glacial. ‘‘Which one?’’

‘‘Magoth. I am bound to him, Gabriel.’’ My stomach balled itself up at the startled look that flitted across his face. ‘‘I am a servant of Magoth. Do you understand now why I can’t be anything to you but a mate in name only?’’

He stood up slowly. ‘‘Why did you bind yourself to him?’’

‘‘I didn’t.’’ I hesitated a moment, not wanting to bare my dirty laundry, but knowing he wouldn’t accept anything but the complete truth. ‘‘Last century Cyrene ran into Magoth. I don’t know where, she never told me, but it really doesn’t matter. He is a very handsome man, and she is prone to falling in love, and . . . well, despite the fact that she was quite happy with a troll from Austria named Hugo, he seduced her.’’

‘‘That is regrettable, but not unknown,’’ he said.

‘‘It wouldn’t be anything but a sign of Cyrene’s weakness for handsome men if Magoth hadn’t decided that she was worth keeping for a bit. He enthralled her. Do you know what that is?’’

He pursed his lips slightly. ‘‘Is it a spell of some sort?’’

‘‘More or less, yes. He placed his thrall on her, and used his will to get her to kill off his competition, her lover, Hugo.’’ I looked down at my hands for a moment. They were balled into fists. I forced myself to relax my fingers. ‘‘Cyrene, in a drunken orgy that I really don’t want to know about, decided that it would be a good idea to have a doppelganger, and since you need to have a demon lord to create one, and she was considering becoming Magoth’s consort, she went ahead and started the ceremony.’’

‘‘It did not go as planned?’’ he asked.