nsciously, for some time, so perhaps
it wouldn't be too much of a risk using his own. It would take so
little to transport them to his realm, and Cortin should be either
asleep or too preoccupied to notice anyway. Giving in to temptation,
he kissed Blackfoot hard, pulling her blouse open to grasp her breast
as he set himself for the transfer.

Blackfeather gasped in startled joy as her lover's power surrounded
them for the first time in months that seemed like years. She felt a
sensation of movement, and they were standing before ruby thrones at
one end of a great hall hung with rich dark draperies, brightly lit by
flames that moved at random, without burning anything. This had to be
an illusion, she told herself at more normal moments, because they
could be here for hours, even days, with no time having passed when
they returned--but it felt real, and while she was in it, she didn't
question that reality. This was Hell's throne room, he its King, and
she his Queen.

She remained herself, only her clothes changed; instead of a proper
tailored suit, she now wore gold streamers generously sprinkled with
rubies. They hid almost nothing even when they fell quietly from
shoulders to feet; stirred as they usually were by her movements, they
swirled open at random times and places.

But he changed completely, more spectacular in his nudity than even the
most ornate robes could make him. Flame-red hair and amber
slit-pupilled eyes emphasized alabaster skin, as did huge wings with
gleaming jet-black feathers. This was her favorite of his
forms--though it shocked her to see that for the first time, he wasn't
erect. Taken aback, she stared at him. "Is something wrong, beloved?"

"That is." His wings spread, shadowing them. "I love you as well, you
see, which is why I cannot continue to let you love me. It must be
love, because I find your welfare more important to me than my
pleasure, which is the classic definition. It is also an emotion I
never felt before, in all my millennia, and one I find both unfitting
and remarkably inconvenient."

Blackfoot started to speak, but he stopped her. "Let me finish.
Despite your disbelief, I am Shayan, and I will prove it to you
shortly. Although I am inclined to keep you here with me, your welfare
demands otherwise. So you will go to Cortin, and you will become one
of her followers, perhaps even--" He broke off. There was that
possibility, yes, and if it worked it woul