And then he’d left. The second time he walked around my yard and my house for several hours, not saying much of anything at all, while I grew bored with watching him and dozed off in the swing on my back porch. He woke me up by doing interesting things to me, and we did the hot and nasty right there outside—a first for me. And I didn’t ask about Ryan, because I had a more pressing need to find out a detail about the warding structure in my storage diagram.

But last month’s had been the strangest and most surreal. I’d summoned him almost as soon as the sun set—as he’d requested. And then? We watched TV.

For two hours I flipped through channels, while he said almost nothing. Occasionally he’d lift his hand to indicate he wanted to see more of whatever was on. Everything from the local news and CNN to reality shows and HBO.

“You do realize,” I finally said, “that all of this isn’t really an accurate depiction of this world?”

He turned to me with a frown. “Truly? You are not forced to spend weeks on a remote island and engage in absurd competitions?”

I opened my mouth to explain, then I saw the amused gleam in his eye. Without thinking I grabbed a throw pillow and whacked him with it. “You ass!” I said with a laugh, then froze as shock coiled through me. Oh, fuck. I did not just hit a demonic lord . . .

The air in the room seemed to grow heavy as he lowered his head and regarded me. My mouth went dry as I dropped the pillow. But before I could stammer out an apology his hand shot out and seized the pillow.

And he whacked me right back.

I burst out laughing in a combination of surprise and relief. A slight smile curved his mouth and he carefully set the pillow back on the couch.

“Do not fear, dear one,” he said. “I am able to discern entertainment from information.”

I sat back and tucked my legs up beside me. “Okay, so why do you want to know all this?”

“Is this one of your questions?” he asked, eyes intent upon me.

I almost nodded, then I caught myself. “No,” I said. “There’s something else I want to know more.”

He smiled and took hold of my ankles, then pulled so that I was abruptly lying with my lower half across his lap. He released my ankles then slipped his hand to the waistband of my silk pants and began to tug them lower. “You wish to know how many times I can make you release before I return to my demesne?”

A wonderful shudder raced through me. Yes! “No! I mean, well . . . that’s not my question.” I dropped my head back as his hand parted my legs, then couldn’t speak for a few minutes.

“Ah,” he said while I tried to catch my breath. “I will have to keep guessing since you refuse to speak it.”

“Nice try,” I managed as I pushed myself to sit. “I want to know if Ryan—” An instant later my words were cut off by his mouth on mine and his hand on my breast. I wanted to be angry, but I found myself laughing against his mouth instead. He was so clearly enjoying toying with me, plus I didn’t exactly hate kissing him. He answered my laugh with a low chuckle, but didn’t release my mouth for several marvelous minutes. And, when he suggested something else with which to occupy my mouth, I eagerly complied.

For a few precious seconds he was the breathless one, but I wasted time grinning smugly. As soon as I began to speak he was on his feet with me slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I let out a shriek of protest, and he gave me a light smack on my naked rear as he walked me to the kitchen. He was openly grinning when he set me on my feet, then he turned me to bend me over the kitchen table.

“This isn’t fair,” I protested as he proceeded to demonstrate the quick recovery time of a demonic lord.

“You have only to say the word and I will stop,” he said as he thrust deeply.

I groaned and wiggled my hips. “Maybe in a bit.”

“Good. Because I intend to fuck you in every room of your house.” He stated it completely matter-of-factly and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I won’t be able to walk tomorrow!”

But I didn’t tell him to stop.

He lived up to his word, too. For the rest of the night we moved from room to room, always playful and laughing. My bedroom was the last to be christened, but instead of using the bed, he chose to press me against the wall, holding my wrists above my head while I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist as he drove into me. I twisted against his grasp and he tightened his grip, his azure eyes locked onto mine and a triumphant smile curving his mouth. But I wasn’t afraid. Excited, aroused, and extremely well-fucked, yes, but not afraid.

“I will take you back to my realm someday,” he murmured, eyes still intent on mine. “And I will fuck you in every room of my palace. A different position in each room.” His grip tightened very slightly and I let out a low moan. “And there are many many rooms in my palace,” he added with a low chuckle.

“Yes,” I gasped without thinking. But before I could say anything else his hand was over my mouth, and his eyes had gone dark and dangerous. Panic surged through me, and I struggled against him. Then I was coming, and screaming my release into his hand.

After it was done he carried me back to the living room and cradled me in his lap on the couch. I didn’t know what to think about what he’d said. And what I’d said. After several moments of silence he spoke, voice low.

“Ask your questions, dearest.”

I tipped my head up to look at him. For hours we’d been . . . lovers, and within the laughter and play I’d discovered a new dimension to the powerful lord.

I desperately wanted to know more about Ryan. I wanted to know why the demons called him a kiraknikahl, and how he could change people’s memories.

But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t ask about another man. Not after the incredible night we’d just enjoyed.

I gave Rhyzkahl a small smile. “Tell me of the demon realm . . . and your palace. Please?”

He closed his eyes briefly, then kissed me lightly and began to speak.

I still had no idea why Rhyzkahl wanted to be summoned to this sphere, but if his goal was to confuse the ever-living hell out of me, he was succeeding admirably. And that was one of the reasons why I was waiting until practically the last minute this time. However, it had been twenty-seven days since I’d last summoned him, and I did not want to break my oath.

I descended into my basement as soon as the sun dropped below the horizon. As large as my house, the basement had more than enough room for any arcane ritual I might ever want to perform. The southernmost third of the basement had long ago been converted into what I called a mini-office, but in reality was more of a relaxing/lounging area, with deep-red shag carpet, a large oak table, and a wingback chair. Somehow it managed to not look classy in the slightest, but since I had no intention of the general public ever seeing it, I didn’t really care. There was even a fireplace set into the wall, complete with a fire that I’d lit earlier, since the basement had a tendency to get seriously chilly. The rest of the basement was smooth concrete floor, upon which was chalked a large and complicated design of circles and glyphs. Off to the side of the larger diagram was a much smaller and far more complex one.

The smaller circle was the one I was most proud of. I’d discovered the means to store potency somewhat by accident, but that discovery made summonings about a thousand times easier for me. I’d been funneling arcane potency into the storage diagram for the past week, which meant I now had plenty of power to draw from to complete my summoning—far preferable to when I’d been forced to limit my summonings to the full moon, when available power was most abundant and stable.

So why haven’t I told Tessa about this? It was a question I’d asked myself before. She’d taught me how to summon and had frequently pointed out that the major limitation to summoning was the reliance on the phase of the moon.Yet that wasn’t the case for me anymore. True, summonings were still insanely easier on the full moon, but I wasn’t completely restricted because of a lack of available potency, as I’d been before.